Woolly Jumpers for Chickens in the Icy Weather
Woolly jumper weather…
The weather has been a little bitter recently to say the least. For one woman, the time had come to protect her chickens from the icy weather by knitting woolly jumpers for each of her 1,500 chickens.
Jo Eglen from Norwich works at the Little Hen Rescue Centre in Norwich and thanks to Jo 5,750 battery chickens have been re-homed and saved from their tortured and captured lives.
Eglen still had to worry about a further 1,500 chickens, but her solution was to knit each of them woolly jumpers to save them from the cold – now that is caring!
A little help from her friends…
Eglen didn’t of course manage to knit all the jumpers herself, but instead asked the local community to pitch in and give her a hand, and they ran to the chicken’s rescue.
After a life-changing trip to a farm, Eglen had an epiphany and the teacher and mother of two started to turn her attentions to caring for the shunned birds and providing them with some solace.
“I went into a battery farm and saw how they lived and died. I just thought it was such a waste of life.
“Some battery farms have up to 10,000 hens of the same age. But when the birds stop or start to slow lying they are sent to the slaughterhouse - not to be used as meat, but just to be culled.
“We know that once they’re out of the farms they start laying good eggs again. They get quite thin and bald because of the stress and heat. About 60 per cent of the hens that come through are bald,” said Jo.
Everyone has been pitching in…
According to Eglen, people from all over have offered their services to rush to the aid of the freezing chickens.
“We have patterns on our website that are straight-forward and simple. We’ve had 1,500 jumpers come through in just the past two months. We’ve had so many different kinds - Christmas-themed jumpers, multi-coloured ones, some with bows and stripes,” continued Eglen.
Eglen managed to get hold of the use of some farmland for free through the good will of a local farmer and managed to set up the Little Hen Rescue Centre to care for unwanted battery chickens with a volunteer friend of hers, David Doy.
Could you provide bed and board for a little chicken?
It’s a nice little story, but hopefully with enough people getting the message and feeling the same way as Jo then there could possibly be a number of safe havens popping up around the country for our feathered friends who are all worked out.
March 19th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Just to say how much your story touched my heart; my mother and father once found a little battery hen in the road that had obviously fallen off a lorry going to the slaughterhouse. They took her home and nursed her back to health; she couldn’t even stand or walk to begin with. She grew to be a real family pet - Clara - and she used to live just outside their French windows in a large area screened off so she couldn’t get out onto the road. When they opened the French windows she would come inside and join in whatever they were having for tea. My mother used to comment that Clara seemed particularly fond of “Mr Kiplings Cherry Bakewells”. She lived a good life and started to lay again, and died naturally of old age. I used to keep hens in my garden in Hertfordshire, but I no longer have a garden. I would really love to adopt two or three hens but sadly have no garden or other outside space, though if I find I way I certainly shall. Love and all best wishes; keep up the good work Jo - Christine