Warm Chicken

It particularly touches my heart when people find it in their own hearts to care for the very least of us:  the animals.

Some of the animals most in need of help are the battery hens. The ones who have probably made your breakfast a time or two . . . or twenty.  

A battery hen is a hen that has been kept in a large egg-production factory farm all her life.  Their quarters are so tight and the conditions are so poor for these poor dears, they are often deprived of darkness (and therefore valuable rest) and even room to move.  And once these hens fail to produce eggs at their maximum rate, they are typically destroyed.  Quite a sad little life. 

The good news is, there are incredible human beings out there who rescue and rehome these hens.

Little Hen Rescue in the U.K. is one such collection of awesome human beings.

They take these hens from the battery farms and organize to find new, happy homes for them.

If you have it in your heart, you might consider adopting a few ex-battery hens.  How rewarding it must be to watch them roam free in the sunshine for the very first time. 

Perhaps you would like to help in another way, .  The way I have chosen to help in the past is to knit up some little hen jumpers.  That's right, chicken sweaters!  It's not as silly as it sounds.  Most ex-battery hens suffer from some degree of featherlessness.  When they are removed from their tight conditions, they are bald and cold -- having become accustomed to sharing the body heat of their neighboring hens.  While they regrow their feathers, they are helped by wearing a little sweater to help keep warm and secure.

Now how cute is that . . . 

If you're interested, you can find patterns for knitters and seamstresses here.  Just whip one up and send it to the address they have listed on their page.  I bet you can't make just one!

Decency and good deeds abound . . . if you only look for them.