Gentle hands lift a roosting chicken off the first branch of a Sacramento State tree as dusk settles on the early summer skies.

Some of the university’s feral chickens have found a home with Star Byles, secretary of facilities management, who took them to her hen house as the spring semester ended and the summer session began.

“They’re my babies,” said Byles, who now has 12 to 14 chickens at her house.

Byles, who was a student-housing employee last semester, said that she had concern for the chickens.

“They were breeding when students were coming on to campus for summer school, and I asked someone if I could take them home to care for, and they said it was OK,” Byles said. “I know about three other people I work with that have taken the chickens home.”

Byles said that Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez and Matt Altier, president of the CSUS Foundation and former vice president of facilities management, did not tell her to take the chickens from the campus.

“We didn’t get any kind of specific order to get rid of the chickens,” Altier said. “We told people they could have them … they just took the chickens home with them.”

Altier said that when the CSU Board of Trustees revised Title V, requiring that university campuses clean up their facilities, he told employees at facilities management that they and their friends could take the chickens and care for them.

Clara Potes-Fellow, spokeswoman for the chancellor’s office, said that the revision of Title V gave all university presidents the authority to make decisions about pets and wildlife on campuses. The CSU Board of Trustees wrote the revision in January.

Ann Reed, associate vice president for public affairs, said that Altier and Gonzalez had a discussion about the feral chickens on campus when Altier was vice president of facilities management.

Reed said, Gonzalez felt it was time for the chickens to be removed as health concerns, like the bird flu, were beginning to surface. She also said that Altier understood Gonzalez’ concerns and thought the easiest way to remove them was to have people volunteer to take them home.

“A public order for people to remove the chickens was never ordered as there was such a small number of them … about 40 to 50 chickens,” Reed said.

Some students are confused with how the administration handled the campus wildlife.

“Students should always be in the loop with issues on campus,” Associated Students President Josh Wood said.

Wood said the administration told him very little about the chickens, and the information was given to him after the birds had disappeared.

Patricia O’Brien and Pam Hawkins, both seniors and government majors, are circulating petitions asking that the chickens be brought back to the campus and requiring the president to adhere to a shared governance policy.

“I think students should be told the truth,” Hawkins said. O’Brien and Hawkins attended the ASI meeting Sept. 29 to ask that ASI present their petitions to the CSU chancellor and the board.

They said that they miss the chickens and want to know of their whereabouts.

“That’s part of the reason I came to this campus,” Hawkins said.

Other students said they have begun to see some chickens on campus. Jessica Upadye, senior and government major, said that she saw two chickens by Alpine Hall.

“I saw a hella big rooster by Mariposa. He was just chilling by the door,” said Sarah Reyes, senior and interior design major. “Obviously not all of them are gone.”