I need help from the GOY members

Well Done Its Lovely of u 2 help these Poor Hens :D Iv some Wool Donna & can knit a little Coat/Jumper 2 keep them cosy for u i wouldnt want money for postage call it a Gift :)x

Thank you Jacque that would be great I will name one of the little hens after you. When they arrive I will P M you my address if thats ok Thank you

will see if i can cadge some wool from somewhere Donnah, not sure if it will look as good as that one though!! poor chucks

Does not matter Sewingkilla I am a very big meat eater but at this rate I could be a veggie before to long

there spent hens from a egg laying farm.there disgracefull places.they go in i think at at about 16 weeks and come out at 18 months or there abouts or when they stop delivering 2 eggs a day.the breed is called hisex .i think there a cross.the poor little things live about 4 to a 2` x 2` cage with no bedding.hence the baldness .there feathers will fully come back as it goes as ive done it myself. what they look like realy doesnt matter as long as there warm.what i did with mine and a couple of white broilers is made sure i gave them somewear warm to go to if they got cold.the cold never seamed to bother them even bald as they were so active .my broiler ie white chicken bread for the table and feathers got to 16 pounds in weight.my neighber over the back moaned about the cock a doodle doo bit in the morning so i had to get rid of it.on the way to his new home we came up behind a car with a parrot walking about on the parcel shelf.i got my son to put this massive white chicken on the parcel shelf and i overtook him lol.i cant imagine what he thaught.gives him something to tell his grand children lol. the shame is just before we got to his new home in the country he died of a heart attack but i guess he had a little taste of freedom .anyway though my art hasnt helped you hopefully my experiances just mite.i cant knit but i can sew lol take care bye for now

Thank you Mr Potter for that LOLYou no a lot about animals and thats great Thank you for your responce it put a smile on my face I am sure the feathers will come back given time and they will have plenty of TLC. WHY CAN YOU NOT KNIT ?

Perhaps you can sew a coat for them Mr Potter

the feathers will come back quicker than you would imagine and honestly there not the cleverset bird in the world but there not stupid enough to stand and freeze if theres somewear warm to go unlike turkies. fair play if you want to put jumpers on them.humans are the week animals who need coats etc.i always watch animals and documentries and ive worked in the chicken industry .your chickens were going to end up as flaverings.there called spent hens.i only cleared one shed out and i was disgusted with it.your chickens will or should lay an egg a day and big ones if there not already.thats why i grabbed some as i felt sorry for them and ashamed of myself.i look at knitting and its so repetative and boring or it seams to be so i never botherd.i try and be good at what i do do and useless totaly at what im not interested.

watch ya new chickens near your other birds as they could easily have mites etc and probably will.i put my arm in to pick one up and a rat ran up my arm.the farmers only care about the eggs

How can people allow any animal to be so maltreated? It's disgusting. It's all the name of profit and should be outlawed. I would like to see the perpetraters of this cruelty treated in a similar manner. The very best of luck to you Donnah I'm sure that your new charges will be strutting their stuff with a brand new set of feathers very soon.
Ethel looks a beautiful hen, very self assured and proud.

Hi Mr Nosey I dont care if they lay they will be pet chickens If they do they well thats a bonus. The weather is cold and they need some kind of warmthIf you was running around the woods naked would you not feel Cold. I should imagin your neather regions would. I bet you would want a coat of some sort on LOL

hi Donnah, my daughter and myself can both knit, so no problem helping out here.

Great irish Thank you both I will P M my address to you Thats great

no problem Donnah, i hate to see any cruelty like this , its shocking.

Well done Donna on helping these bald chickens.
If I can think of any friends who do knitting, I'll let you know.
The one person who might have helped has just fallen over in the snow and broken her wrist !

Yes, as NP says, it's worth taking care to make sure your new arrivals don't pass any diseases on to the birds in your aviary, or to the hens already in your garden.

Please let us know progress. Thanks. :o)

Donnah I have always hated knitting and been useless at it , I could never see the point when you can go and buy one for the same price ..

I enjoy embroidery /sewing I wish you luck and hope you get what you want to help the chicks .

I find it hard to believe that they can be treated so badly just to give us something a bit cheaper , I would rather go without ........

well said Ammy if we all had that appoarch this would not be happening.Can you embroider them a coat

Thank you TT yes I have already made sure that my other chucks are safe And when the new ones arrive they will be de bugged

Have to say Donnah,wonderful that you are doing this.From the response by caring Goy Members,you will have lots of lovely warmers for your chickens Well done

I hope Bokerstone other wise I will have to learn to Knitt

well im not a chicken and your right i would need clothes lol.like i say fair play if you want to warm them.looks like you have plenty of volantears anyway.your right about the eggs i agree eggs are only a bonus.here here amy lol and toto i agree.to stop it you need to stop the demand realy.you probably dont know this but your average chicken that you eat is only 6-7 weeks old.for the first few weeks they have to be kept warm.the loop hole in the law is having axcess to outside.they only open one door and bye the time they do.the chickens are to scared to apart from the odd one.the egg industry is the same.the only true way of having what i would call free range is either to have your own birds.or go see some one who has.honestly

all comercial meat or poultry products are treated like just products.they do this to keep the price down.if its from a supermarket supposadly free range or not there kind of force grown and overcrowded

Poor chickens. They will have a much better life soon - I'm sorry I can't help with the jumpers, but I know that other members will knit you some, Donna!

Good luck with this project.

Well, I don't know about the UK, but our broiler chickens had a good, if short, life. No rats or mice, but nice wood shavings about 6" deep, no cages, plenty of food and fresh water, always nice and warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I have heard that the egg farms are not as nice.

Sorry Donnah, I can't knit....I can crochet VERY slowly. Probably so slow that by the time I got a coat done the chickens will all have feathers and add to that the time the post takes from Canada. Sounds like you have a lot of volunteers though. Well done.

I adree mr Potter but have you learnt to KNIT its every simple No I can still not do i tAre my chickens going to to cold I hope not

thank you gilli

well thats fair enough gilli at the end of the day they got to die nothing wrong with giving them a bit of respect b4 they go.i dont want to learn the same as i dont want to learn car machanics .the oil ends up everywear but the engine.mostly on me lol. joking aside you mite be better getting a pattern from the one you have there.find a realy thick old blanket .cut 30 out and either run them through a machine or get a friend to.be a nice quick cheep (excuse the pun) fix for them that they need now.just a thaught

This is very sad Donnah, how the poor hens are cruelly treated, I've just read through the website to understand the rescue service and process. I cannot knit but I will be happy to take on 5 or 6 hens. We have a 15ft long coop which I designed and my husband built, it is divided into three one massive run and two smaller ones which house up to 5 hens comfortably. We use the smaller ones normally if a hen has chicks so she has her own pad and the other for come what may. Inside the coop are dividing doors so one can be open to make roosting space larger if need be and if the smaller ones are not in use. I notice on the site the next rescue time is March. We have our own hen crates for transportation. We use Tea Tree oil for mites (we have the bought powder stuff but thought we'd try Tea Tree oil as it is used for head louse on humans and it works a treat, also for their legs.

I will need to discuss this with my other half of course. I guess we keep checking the website for the actual day and time of pickup?

p.s. I just made a donation via PayPal for starters :-)
also, my Daughter Katrina who is studying Natural History at Cambridge started up an Group called Animal Respect she communicates it through http://www.facebook.com (search for Animal Respect) her and her boyfriend campaign and promote awareness for such cases as this so anyone who is on facebook can join to support their mission, its free, there are only 39 members so far (they started it summer last year so its still new and will have their own website in the near future, so the more people that register and spread the word the better, I will post the above website on my facebook profile (I notice the rescue centre is also on facebook so I will reciprocate and sure my daughter will do the same :-))

A great idea Donnah,
I'm sure it will give them all a better quality of life and I hope they all have 'designer' wolly jumpers -nothing made from synthetic fibres to irritate them!

I can't knit otherwise I would vounteer to help. Hope this goes well.

Donnah , I had an idea last night , I must have been dreaming about these poor chicks , If you have any old jumpers would it be possible to cut the sleeves off at the elbows , leave the cuff on to go over chicks neck cut the underneath length from the elbow to the cuff so that it layed flat on chicks back .. just an idea , I haaven,t tried it .........

Donnah, Kudos to you for what you are doing! I would help you in a heartbeat but I'm not really proficient at knitting. Looks like you have some volunteers though. Not surprising on a great site like this!! :)

good idea polly better than mine lols.and good on you norfolk

Poor chuck chucks...they must be so cold and unhappy...I have wool Donnah...Im just finishing a waistcoat for my granddaughters Teddy........is it a special pattern or would you just make it up?
That's a good idea Amy...and old fleeces would be good too.

Sorry Donnah but I can not knit at all...
Great blog....Your work with these poor animals is admirable.

i agree

on the subject of badly kept chickens. Here is my Daughters Respect Animals Group that her and her boyfriend started up last year
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=54050060987&f=1&e=0#/group.php?gid=28614707545&ref=nf

They have just appeared in the Cambride News

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=390359

My daughter is the one right at the front, Katrina. I will be posting their news on the River Cottage and Jamie Oliver websites.

i had trouble with that link norfolk

Donnah, would old long wooly socks work? You could just cut holes for their legs and cut the toe out and them pull them over the chickens body.

yes links can be a pain sometimes, I think certain links are made not to work to avoid spamming. Which link? the facebook link you have to be a member and login first which will then direct you to the Respect Animal profile the second link to the news article should work by copying and pasting it into the browser address field.

yes it was the face book one and i am a member.ill give it a go thanx norfolk