Affectionate, ballsy, she thought she was a dog, and taught me how social and intelligent chickens can be
S
tevie and her siblings were the first batch of chickens I ever owned. I fostered them from a nearby animal shelter in 2021. Stevie was the most vocal of the three so I named her after one of my favourite musicians, Stevie Nicks.
I live on a huge plot of land in Malibu which I treat like an animal sanctuary – any animal that I can rescue and help, I will. I’ve been that way since I was a little kid. When my parents gave me a small allowance I would run to the pet store and bring a new animal home. Sometimes, I would find animals on the street and take them in.
Stevie, a Buff Orpington chicken, was different from the rest of her siblings. She had a confident, outgoing personality. As soon as she arrived, she ruled the yard. In particular, she took to the dogs – she wanted to be just like them. She would hang out and run around with them, sometimes I would find her curled up in their bed inside our house. Stevie would copy their every movement, she would run up to me and let me pick her up like a dog, falling asleep on my lap.






