Buckbeak was among several birds rescued in Brooklyn, New York, by the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos in 2023. Kaporos is a religious ritual in which live chickens are swung by their necks over participants’ heads as the holiday of Yom Kippur approaches. It is important to note that many people now participate in this tradition without using animals, as Jewish Veg writes. 

As timing would have it, this group of 11 birds was ready for the journey to sanctuaries just as other birds in Brooklyn needed help: several crates filled with chickens had fallen off a transport truck at an intersection, leaving 30 birds to be rescued. In all, the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos arranged for 41 birds to come to us at Farm Sanctuary.

Cornish roosters like Buckbeak can be hard to place because of their social and dietary needs, but after a lot of work, we helped Buckbeak become good friends with another rooster named Mario. Unfortunately, Mario passed away last year, and we knew that Buckbeak would miss his companion, so we set to work finding the best social arrangement for him.

Our dedicated onsite teams spent weeks doing socializing experiments and many brainstorming sessions to find:

“This discovery not only relieved us of much of our worry concerning Buckbeak’s quality of life but also serves as an important reminder when caring for non-human animals to recognize everyone as an individual with preferences and to try to avoid projecting one’s assumptions of what they want,” says Kayla.

“While considering an individual’s natural species-specific needs is vital to creating a life where they can thrive, it is also important to remember that some aspects may vary from person to person depending on their preferences and where they’re at in life.”

Some chickens prefer to surround themselves with feathered friends, forming complex hierarchies among their social groups. Buckbeak seems happy to soak up some peace and quiet for now – and enjoy some company when he feels like it.

“Buckbeak seems to be at a point in his life where he enjoys the single life and appreciates occasional visitors,” says Kayla. “We will continue to check in with him to ensure we’re offering him social opportunities he can choose to opt into and providing him with his preferred living style!”

As a nonprofit organization, Farm Sanctuary relies on individual support to care for hundreds of rescued animals and give them the lives they deserve. Your gift today will support the care of our resilient residents like Buckbeak.