Chickens don’t show much empathy or community when it comes to eating worms or bugs or feed. They squabble and cluck and race around all day. Nighttime is different. Maria and I love to come into the barn at dusk and watch our four chickens hop up onto the roost, gaze out the window at the valley for awhile, preen and cluck and clean themselves, and then squeeze together until each one is touching the other. Then they settle down and take in the night.

I hope for as peaceful a night for you. I love taking photos of the chickens, with their odd shapes and colors. Is there a market, I wonder, for a chicken photographer?