Woman Knits Tiny Sweaters For Rescued Chickens To Keep Them Warm
Two kind-hearted women are rescuing retired battery chickens by giving them a new home. They own around 60 hens and half of them are former battery chickens, who, unfortunately, having spent all their lives in cages, are not able to acclimatise to normal weather conditions.
Nicola Congdon and her mother Ann from Falmouth in Cornwall, England came up with a novel way to keep them warm – they knit woolly chicken jumpers. “It’s important to make people aware of the poor conditions the hens live in and the fact that they have no feathers when they are retired,” says Nicola.
“We’ve also had inquiries so far from Canada as well as local people asking for the jumpers. If anyone would like to purchase one we ask for a donation for an AIDS orphanage in South Africa,” added Nicola.
You can also check this post about Australia’s oldest man who knits tiny sweaters for injured penguins!
More info: youtube (h/t: mashable)
“We’ve been knitting chicken jumpers for the last six months”
“We are doing it for the ex-battery hens for when they come out of their poor conditions for them to put on in the cold weather”
“There’s not a problem with them actually putting the jumpers on, they just stand there and they do everything they should be doing – as a chicken would”
Watch the video here:
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It's people like her who make the world a better, nicer, happier place to be.
I love these two ladies for what they're doing. It's such a great way to help animals and people and to make people aware of the poor conditions chickens are kept in factory farms. And also to help them see how beautiful birds hens are. That they actually are living beings that deserve to live and be cared for rather than killed and abused as it unfortunately "normally" is.
1) Those hens were never in battery cages; they're not commercial laying hen breeds. There's a Polish, an Americauna, a Rhode Island Red...but no commercial birds. 2) Birds molt. Twice a year they lose their feathers and regrow new ones. 3) With a body temp of 102F to 107F, birds regulate their warmth with their feathers (which will grow back very quickly if you don't put a damned sweater on them). By "fluffing" their feathers, they create a nice toasty layer of air next to to their skin. By putting the sweaters on them, she's removed their ability to do this and will actually cause them to be COLDER than if she left them uncovered. 4) LOOK at those birds...they're well-feathered. It's people like this who create a more ignorant, more dangerous world for animals.
CHICKENS DON'T NEED SWEATERS! Sweaters harm their natural ability to fluff and retain warmth! Thank you for trying to spread the word and ACTUALLY help animals. PS If this was a real "rescue" charity, they wouldn't donate the money they get from the sweaters to ANOTHER charity. No internal logic.
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I think it is kind, sweet and loving and we need more and more people like this.
The chickens don't have feathers because they are usually removed from the flock when they go into the molt, sometime in their second autumn. The feathers will grow back in; and this is something chickens do no matter how they are raised. I have some backyard birds who enjoy their own private patch of greens and all the slugs, snails, and insects they can catch - in addition to layer chow - and some of them are just about featherless now.
my first girls were de feathered, took them ages to walk out of the shed to roam free, but they loved it... bless them.. I had bought about 4 in the end to start a collection... cruel folk keeping them caged 24/7 no fresh air... just picked feathers out of them and the others all day long... thousands in the sheds cooped up in a small coop they could hardly turn around as they had other hens in with them.... would the farmer like that done to him, I bet not.
I think it's a very dear thing to do. I just wonder if the chickens can still fluff up whatever feathers they DO have left, as I have always understood that birds stay warm by trapping air within their feathers... Hope for a bit of input from our resident ornithologists. I'm sure that if the birds had NO feathers, the little jumpers (or sweaters, as we call them in the U.S.) would definitely help keep them warm. But I think she's saying that they have less feathers than they should have AND don't know how to use them to keep warm...I would've thought that part was instinctive. Anybody know?
Amazing! Not only did they rescue these hens but they are taking such good care of them. Bravo
What angels. So beautiful that they not only rescued these hens but are taking such good care of them. Bravo
Animals shouldn't suffer. Doesn't mean that we're humans and we treat them as "animals". We are sharing this world with them. We love how these two women are affectionate and of kind heart to give a warm care to these chickens. We are created to take care of this world including animals. Thanks for sharing this Humanity is well served! www.andreibeauregard.com/blog-masonry-full-width
Chickens often do not like being touched when they are molting. It can be painful for them.
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I would love doing some for a friend of mine, do you have a pattern?
It's people like her who make the world a better, nicer, happier place to be.
I love these two ladies for what they're doing. It's such a great way to help animals and people and to make people aware of the poor conditions chickens are kept in factory farms. And also to help them see how beautiful birds hens are. That they actually are living beings that deserve to live and be cared for rather than killed and abused as it unfortunately "normally" is.
1) Those hens were never in battery cages; they're not commercial laying hen breeds. There's a Polish, an Americauna, a Rhode Island Red...but no commercial birds. 2) Birds molt. Twice a year they lose their feathers and regrow new ones. 3) With a body temp of 102F to 107F, birds regulate their warmth with their feathers (which will grow back very quickly if you don't put a damned sweater on them). By "fluffing" their feathers, they create a nice toasty layer of air next to to their skin. By putting the sweaters on them, she's removed their ability to do this and will actually cause them to be COLDER than if she left them uncovered. 4) LOOK at those birds...they're well-feathered. It's people like this who create a more ignorant, more dangerous world for animals.
CHICKENS DON'T NEED SWEATERS! Sweaters harm their natural ability to fluff and retain warmth! Thank you for trying to spread the word and ACTUALLY help animals. PS If this was a real "rescue" charity, they wouldn't donate the money they get from the sweaters to ANOTHER charity. No internal logic.
Load More Replies... I think it is kind, sweet and loving and we need more and more people like this.
The chickens don't have feathers because they are usually removed from the flock when they go into the molt, sometime in their second autumn. The feathers will grow back in; and this is something chickens do no matter how they are raised. I have some backyard birds who enjoy their own private patch of greens and all the slugs, snails, and insects they can catch - in addition to layer chow - and some of them are just about featherless now.
my first girls were de feathered, took them ages to walk out of the shed to roam free, but they loved it... bless them.. I had bought about 4 in the end to start a collection... cruel folk keeping them caged 24/7 no fresh air... just picked feathers out of them and the others all day long... thousands in the sheds cooped up in a small coop they could hardly turn around as they had other hens in with them.... would the farmer like that done to him, I bet not.
I think it's a very dear thing to do. I just wonder if the chickens can still fluff up whatever feathers they DO have left, as I have always understood that birds stay warm by trapping air within their feathers... Hope for a bit of input from our resident ornithologists. I'm sure that if the birds had NO feathers, the little jumpers (or sweaters, as we call them in the U.S.) would definitely help keep them warm. But I think she's saying that they have less feathers than they should have AND don't know how to use them to keep warm...I would've thought that part was instinctive. Anybody know?
Amazing! Not only did they rescue these hens but they are taking such good care of them. Bravo
What angels. So beautiful that they not only rescued these hens but are taking such good care of them. Bravo
Animals shouldn't suffer. Doesn't mean that we're humans and we treat them as "animals". We are sharing this world with them. We love how these two women are affectionate and of kind heart to give a warm care to these chickens. We are created to take care of this world including animals. Thanks for sharing this Humanity is well served! www.andreibeauregard.com/blog-masonry-full-width
Chickens often do not like being touched when they are molting. It can be painful for them.
Load More Replies... I would love doing some for a friend of mine, do you have a pattern?
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