Hand-knitted wooly jumpers for battery hens!

Today I came across a rather remarkable story.  As you know, knitting is something that I write about a lot and we have a Tea Cosy of The Week competition.

You may already be familiar with Jo Eglen, who has been in the media a bit recently.  She runs the 'Little Hen Rescue Centre', a home for 5,750 ex-battery hens.

A lot of the hens are bald when they get to her, so she came up with a novel and frankly brilliant solution; knit jumpers for all the hens!

The article in the Telegraph says: "The response was incredible and she has now kitted out 1,500 birds with woolly jumpers to keep the warm in the winter months.

"Some battery farms have up to 10,000 hens of the same age. They get quite thin and bald because of the stress and heat. About 60 per cent of the hens that come through are bald."

"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.  So many different kinds - Christmas-themed jumpers, multi-coloured ones, some with bows and stripes."

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