I have tried scores of photographs of chickens, but very few of them get posted. It’s hard to take the kind of photo I want to take with chickens, they are not co-operative, and I make them nervous.

I took one today that I like, the lighting in the barn was beautiful, and it also signaled that my relationship with the chickens had come a long way, thanks to much patience and a lot of mealworms.

We battled for a few years over whether or not they can come up onto the porch and crap there. I used to throw empty cans at them or spray them with the hose.

I don’t like tons of chickenshit on the back porch, the dogs eat it, and it draws bugs and flies. The chickens love to hang out on the back porch; they like to visit with the cats and try to eat their food if they can.

The cat’s food is another reason to keep them away.

As a result of all this conflict, they became understandably wary of me. I don’t love chickens, to begin with, Maria does, of course.

A year ago, I decided to improve my relations with chickens; I don’t like any of my animals fearing me. It’s not what the farm is about.

Chickens are, to me, not much different from single-cell organisms, they have enormous appetites and tiny brains. I won’t ever love them. But I like them; I even admire their industry and resilience.

They are near the bottom of the food chain, along with mice and rabbits.

Many living things – on the ground and in the air – like to eat them.

Thanks to the donkeys and secure roosts, we have kept ours safe. My campaign to get the chickens to like me more centered around large bags of mealworms, inexpensive, and easy to obtain.

I started dropping them on the ground and stepping back, and over the past few months getting closer and closer. Now, when I appear and cluck at them, they come running, and they’ll even stay close enough to me so that I can take the kind of photograph of them that meets my fussy standards.

Today, I stood inside the barn, the light streaming in shadow, and got a shot I liked. My chickens eating my mealworms, I feed it to them twice a day.

Chickens, like dogs, are not complicated. They love and trust who feeds them.

So here it is, a testament to the trust and connection I have re-established with my chickens. It’s life on the farm. It is just wrong to have animals around that are afraid of me. Plus, I love to take photos.