In our last episode of Copper Chronicles, Lady the hen escaped her new home to avoid being tagged by a well-meaning farmer. She is loose in western Massachusetts, and I am concerned for her well-being.

I don’t know about you but being “tagged” can be detrimental to a hen’s health. Whether a tag is a digital one for ‘safety’ or any kind of tag or label- not everyone who tags or labels a hen is qualified to do so. No chick dreams of being “Hen number A7B12” when she grows up.

Lady is much more than a number. Lady has heart!

The situation Lady is escaping is like Animal Farm and Brave New World combined AND on steroids. Perhaps this is the “Horror” the Joseph Conrad character speaks of in “The Heart of Darkness.” Human Imagination detached from any restraining influence of culture or moral law.

People posit that Lady’s ordeal is punishment because she is victim to the random will of some deity. Her ordeal has a purpose to be sure. She is looking for her friend Copper, who was taken away in the same box she arrived in at the Old Wendell Road Farm. Copper was her friend and fearless leader at her first pen.

Copper was bright and shiny like a copper tea kettle. Cheery and happy, too! Diligent and careful about her hen friends. She was the mother hen by nature, and she excelled at her duty. Everyday Lady and her three friends had adventures and challenges. Everyday Copper’s light and love lead the way.

Things made sense, she lived securely free from farmers’ conveyor belt lifestyle with commercially produced food. Compacted compounds in little capsules! How convenient is it to get processed food delivered to your box to be fattened up for slaughter. Maximizing profitability for the farmer and misery of the hens.

Who does the FDA work for anyway? Clearly not hens. When is maximizing profit the whole goal of our existence?  

Run, Lady, Run!!