Well its another weekend over and kids back to school tomorrow (Saturday) after 2 weeks on holiday and I've been to the gym and started knitting a new sock project. I've given up on the Pembrokeshire Pathways as it, well to be honest, bored me silly, but maybe it was the colour choice that was wrong. In any case it was taking me weeks to only get 25% finished on one sock only so it has now gone into hibernation. I may go back to it, I may not.
I am now knitting the Pathos sock with the Six Sox Knitalong group and finding this one very interesting so hopefully will have it finished in a few days rather than weeks !
Thursday we went out on a trip to find sand roses in the desert and to have a BBQ. It was just too too hot but we managed it amidst the sand storm (okay sand blowing about) eating our sand accompanied prawns, salad with sprinkled sand and melon and grape fruit salad with sand sprinkles... mmm yum ! We also ran into a huge herd/caravan ? of camels which were incredibly friendly ie., came up to us for a pat and no spit or froth or bite in evidence. It was a real treat to chance across them and their owner who came to greet us. We took some sand roses, and a leg bone from the pretty fresh'ish camel skeleton home with us, along with most of the food that we'd given up trying to eat.
Innovative Knitting For Bald Chickens
Decided to flick thru one of my mags (Knitting) whilst the kids and hubby went off to play bowling this afternoon and came across an article (which I thought was a joke at first) about knitting jumpers for chickens! Well it turns out that these battery hens need little tops to keep them warm after being rescued as they had lost most of their feathers due to stress of their previous battery farming life. I went onto look at one of the many websites where you can download a pattern to knit for one of these poor little chux and here is a little piece taken from one of them taken from www.eveningnews24.co.uk website:
..."Many of us groan about the prospect of another knitted jumper from a distant relative at Christmas, but for featherless hens who have escaped a life of battery farming they are delighted by the festive offering.
The chickens, at Little Hen Rescue in Newton Flotman, have been taken in by Jo Eglan and her family in the hope of finding new homes in the New Year.
Mrs Eglan, 29, who is married to Steve, 30, and has two children, Jay, five, and Bobby, three, has been a vegetarian since her childhood and has dedicated her life to helping rescue the battery laying chickens who would otherwise be killed and turned into pet food.
But because the bald birds lose their feathers from stress and the cramped cages they are forced to live in while laying eggs, they are too cold to cope in winter - so Mrs Eglan has been encouraging anyone who can knit to make jumpers for the hens.
Mrs Eglan, who keeps the chickens at a farm in Greenways, Newton Flotman, said: “We have about 35 jumpers now. Evening News readers saw previous stories about the hens and started knitting jumpers for them.
“We had a nursing home ring us and all the old ladies are now knitting. Other people have sent the jumpers in too.”
The chickens were rescued by the Eglan family after 60 weeks of laying eggs, but Mrs Eglan said they will all go on for many months continuing to lay - although the number of eggs produced no longer meets the demand needed by farmers.
Kind Evening News readers have been knitting jumpers for rescued chickens. Photo: Simon Finlay.
The chickens will grow back their feathers after a few months but the jumpers, which have room for the chickens to move their wings, allow them the warmth to do so.
The mother-of-two, who also works as a teaching assistant for Harford Manor Special School, said: “We have about 400 chickens at the moment but they are ex-free range birds. We are expecting up to 4,000 battery farmed ones in the New Year - and they will really need the jumpers.
“When we re-home them they go with the jumpers until they have re-grown their feathers - and then ask for the owners to give them back.”
Mrs Eglan said as well as more knitting nanas they still need homes for the birds they currently have, many of which are ex-free range Amber-Link hens.
She said: “Re-homing is a constant issue, even for the ex-free range.”
Depending on the farmer Little Hen Rescue offers about 30p for each bird but needs £1.50 to cover costs.
To see video footage of the hens in jumpers go to www.eveningnews24.co.uk
To offer a home to the chickens call Jo on 07717 757596 or go to www.littlehenrescue.co.uk
SOURCE: www.eveningnews24.co.uk
Here's another website I found on these chickens: http://littlehenrescue.co.uk/jumpers.aspx
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