After being stressed out and pecked out in dark corners of crowded barns, thousands of rescued factory farm hens are recovering thanks to the help of charitable knitters, who have been making little sweaters for their feathered friends.
Members of the charitable knitting club at the Monkton Elm Garden Centre began knitting sweaters three weeks ago, after their last effort ran its course. They had made so many blankets for premature babies that the hospital told them they had enough.
"We've got loads of jumpers done and we're trying to do them really fast," Craft Centre supervisor Miranda McPherson tells PEOPLEPets.com. And she has no shortage of volunteers. "We've got quite a good knitting club, a lot of people who come because they need a little bit of relaxation. They tell each other their life stories."
The colorful hen-fits go to the Little Hen Rescue run by Jo Eglan, who first designed the sweaters over a year ago because her brand-new rescue lacked heaters, and really needed a way to keep her "girls" warm.
Now, after all the publicity the sweater-clad bald birds have received, Eglan is overwhelmed, and has had to put knitters on standby.
"It's 'awww' most of the time, because they're ever so sweet," Eglan says. "People don't expect to see these skinny little chickens running around, multi-colored."
She has had much more interest from potential adopters, many of them people who had been buying their chickens from a breeder, not knowing that rescues existed. She asks for about $3.75 per hen to help pay for transportation costs.
McPherson recounted the story of a woman who had recently adopted nine hens and was thrilled with the decision.
"She said they were like little feathered ballerinas, jumping around in the long grass," McPherson says. "The first time they felt rain on them, the first time they saw snow and the light and the moon, they just blinked. They didn't know what to do."
Read about other animal rescue efforts on PEOPLEPets.com:
'CSI' Star Jorja Fox, HSUS Team Up Against Dogfighting
Female Prisoners Give Last-Chance Pups a New Lease on Life
Your Reaction
