Rural Gardening: I made a chicken coat because of a rescue., 1 by DrDoolotz

DrDoolotz wrote:
Yesterday, I acquired 21 new chickens in an unexpected way. A woman had advertised laying hens on Craig's List on Thursday afternoon. She said she had 25 and wanted $75 for them all. I wrote her an email and asked if she would possibly sell 8 or 10 hens at $4 apiece. I didn't have any response from her on Thursday so I figured she had another buyer. Then, on Friday morning, I had an email telling me to get over there if I wanted any because her son had let them out of the pen and they were all over her yard and her dogs were killing them. I scrambled to get crates together and get over there, even though I was supposed to be going to work. I took my chicken net and was shocked at the scene. Chicken carnage doesn't describe it - body parts laying around and about 25 or 30 bulldogs all over, mostly chained to trees. The bulldogs were looking well - in good condition overall, but the chickens, not so much. The woman explained that they were her 7 year old son's responsibility and that he had ADD and was not good at remembering to feed or water them, so she wanted them gone. I had not planned on taking them all, but at that point I could not help it. They were in rough shape, traumatized, skinny, thirsty, and sad. So I packed them into crates and drove them home. Yesterday they spent out in the enclosed coop and hoop pen. This morning I inspected every one.

No mouth sores and no pox.
No vent mites or lice found.
Almost all have bumblefoot on one or both feet.
Almost all seem skinny.
Many are missing feathers, some more than others.
Some have superficial wounds from the dogs.
Some are very pretty and look like they will be very nice hens.
There are 3 roosters and 17 hens. I think she had more than 25 birds.

Anyway, because of the major missing feathers, I decided to learn how to make a coat for chickens today, because it is cold here (we had snow yesterday) and I can't stand the thought of them being out in the cold without feathers. So I am making fleece coats. Sorry if anybody is offended by chickens in coats, but I hope you can see why these girls need them.