Chicken Sweaters?!?
When these chickens got a little too chilly this winter, their human-mother-hen had the perfect solution — chicken sweaters! Nicola Congdon, a 25-year-old English gal, knitted woolly sweaters for her chickens.
But these chickens weren’t cold for no reason; they are battery hens and have spent most of their lives in a cage laying eggs.
This means that they don’t have many feathers, and they have trouble adjusting to the weather, which is no problem when it’s sunny side up outside. But when the frost sets in, these chicks will need extra help keeping warm.
“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,” Nicola said. “The tank tops are also something really different that provide some fun for the chickens. They keep them warm and makes the chickens easy to identify.”
Nicola has about 60 chickens, but 30 of them are former battery hens. The other chicks have been free-range all of their lives. That’s a lot of chicken sweaters.
*Clears throat* Nicola, do you think you can make me one too? I’ll take one in stripes, please. Thanks.
Nicola and her mom are receiving tons of orders for chicken sweaters, and whatever money they make will go to benefit an AIDS orphanage in South Africa.
Now, not only must I have organic free-range eggs. But my eggs must be organic, free range and from a chicken that wears one of these little sweater vests. 😉
h/t: Mashable
