Seventeen chickens and counting—Pascack Valley Internship Program Coordinator and River Vale resident Laura McSpirit has opened up her home to many chicks that have been rescued locally.
As a pet sanctuary volunteer and pet owner, McSpirit has always had a soft spot for animals, so when her daughter brought her a box of six chickens, she knew that she would create what McSpirit describes as a “forever home” for the chicks.
“We have now grown into an entire chicken society,” McSpirit said. “We have different coops too. We have Chicken Court, Chicken Town, and a little community center with a sandbox in the middle to connect them. I also have four dogs and two cats; I’ve got a whole farm at home.”
All of the chickens have unique names and personalities.
“We have my blind hen, Maril-hen Monroe,” McSpirit said. “She lives with Martha Washing-hen. Then we have Goldie Hen, Amelia Egg-hart, Barbara Streis-hen, Irene, Elphaba, and Glinda.”
Every time McSpirit gets new chickens, there are different themes to the names.
“I have one rooster,” McSpirit said. “And his name is Situa-hen because he is a dude and his breed is a Jersey Giant.”
Each of the chickens lays about six eggs a week, leaving McSpirit with 102 eggs a week, which she sells to her colleagues and friends to pay for the food and maintenance of the chickens.
“I just love [the chickens], and they make great eggs,” McSpirit said. “I have Easter Eggers or Olive Eggers, and they lay blue and green eggs. And then I have the Rhode Island Reds and other white chickens, which I don’t know what breed they are because they are rescues—they lay brown eggs.”
Many of McSpirit’s chickens are rescues, which she gets from TevaLand—a non-profit animal sanctuary in the Ramapo Mountains of Rockland County, NY—where she volunteers.
“We have horses, pigs, alpacas, guinea pigs, chickens, and bunnies at the sanctuary,” McSpirit said. “We use them to run our educational programs. For example, we do a lot of educational programs with local Girl Scout troops.”
All of the chickens rescued by TevaLand are divided among the volunteers to rehome.
“We’re always getting rescues,” McSpirit said. “People are not taking care of their birds. Schools allow their teachers to have chicks, then they incubate them, and after they have nowhere to put them. So this past year, we ended up with 76 chicks we had to rehome.”
TevaLand also made a name for itself at Pascack Valley when it brought its farm animals to the lobby of PV for students to interact with the day before winter break in 2022.
Students had the opportunity to pay money to spend five minutes with a bunny, goat, or guinea pig.
“The fundraiser at this school really helped to support the farm,” McSpirit said. “The fundraiser for Tevaland has been set for December 22 this year.”
To help TevaLand you can visit their website and make donations, which are used to support the non-profit by helping to pay for farm maintenance and food for all the animals at the sanctuary. Make sure to stop by to check out the petting zoo fundraiser this year to help out and continue PV’s connection with TevaLand.
