Massachusetts seniors knit sweaters for chilly chickens

March 16 (UPI) -- Residents of a Massachusetts retirement home knitted sweaters for the chilly chickens living on a nearby estate -- and their owners say egg production is up.

Organizer Nancy Kearns said she and her knitting group at the Fuller Village retirement home in Milton found a chicken sweater pattern on Pinterest and used it to knit garments for some of the chickens and roosters living at the nearby Mary M.B. Wakefield Charitable Trust, where Kearns' friend, Erica Max, is program director.

Max originally asked the ladies to knit a sweater for rooster Prince Peep, whose species is native to warmer climates, but the first sweater came out too big for the small rooster, so they gave it to a chicken who had started molting.

The knitting group soon had sweaters ready for multiple chickens, and Max said the garments have caused egg production to increase.