10/14/2026
Grantee Highlight: Sweet Peeps Microsanctuary
In January 2019, eight baby chickens—Mette, Fannie, Rosie, Eleanor, Ama, Jain, Nunu, and Becky—were rescued from a chicken factory in Colorado and came to live with Tracey Winter Glover in Mobile, Alabama. Together, the nine of them co-founded Sweet Peeps Microsanctuary.
Tracey holds a law degree from the University of Michigan and always knew she wanted to use her life to help the most vulnerable members of society. The more she learned about chickens, the more she realized that chickens were those people. And the more she got to know them as individuals, the more she realized they were her people.
When she’s not caring for the animals at the sanctuary, Tracey spends most of her time writing and making films, all of which revolve, in one way or another, around creating a more just and compassionate world for all sentient beings.
The main focus of the sanctuary is chickens—mostly Cornish Crosses, rescued from the meat industry. We kill about 9 billion of them in the US alone every single year. Mostly they’re killed as 6 to 8 week old babies. But with some luck, and the right care, they can live a relatively long life. Because caring for them is a bit specialized, and we have learned so much about their special needs over the years, we have tried to maintain our focus on them. But over the years, we have also cared for many roosters of various breeds. And although it wasn’t exactly our intention, we haven’t figured out how to turn away a wayward cat. So in addition to our 24 chicken residents, we also have 15 cats, and one very gentle dog who loves all the rest of the animals here—or possibly is just a little bit scared of them.
Our oldest chickens, and our sanctuary, will turn eight this coming November. And at this point, the vast majority of our residents can be considered seniors. And so our focus is really on making sure that every single day is a good day for each one of them, that they all receive the individualized care that they need to live the best life possible for as long as possible. Although we have more animals here than we originally planned for when starting our “microsanctuary,” we have made sure that even as the population increased, the care we give them never diminished. And we will forever be grateful to the Microsanctuary Resource Center for setting high care standards and showing us how to give these individuals the conditions they needed to thrive, as well as through the grant program, helping us afford the care that is a part of that."
