Retirees Knit Sweaters For These Chilly Chickens And Now They Produce More Eggs

Why did the chicken cross the road? Why, to go to the Fuller Village Retirement home just outside Boston for a homemade sweater, of course! A knitting club at the Fuller Village started an unusual project to knit stylish and colorful sweaters for chilly chickens that don't grow plumage in the winter.

"I don't think in my wildest dreams I ever thought anybody made sweaters for chickens," Barbara Widmayer, 76, told CBS News.

The kicker? The chickens are really digging their new duds. The lucky recipients of the sweaters are dozens of hens at the Mary M.B. Wakefield Charitable Trust in Milton, Massachusetts. Estate spokeswoman Erica Max said that egg production has risen considerably since the chickens started wearing their new sweaters. We don't blame them: Who wants to lay eggs, naked, in the middle of the harsh New England winter?

The knitting club has some seniors thinking big for their next project — Libby Kaplan, 76, joked that she's heard of a wildlife refuge for elephants that's in need of some warmer clothing for their largest residents.