HELP! Should I be dressing my bald battery hens?

[chickdom]

Here in chilly Christchurch, New Zealand, I have concerns for my newly acquired battery girls. Most of them are little bald badgers, and I cant be keeping them in the shed for too much longer! I have a 2-3 day window of good weather and wondering if I should be letting them out now to meet the others...but what about the bad weather that is coming? And we are having some pretty hard frosts at night. So my question is, should I be trying to "dress" the baldies? Just by wrapping their bodies up at night? Or does that sound odd? Am I worrying too much? Please help, as Im getting quite anxious!

[bluebell]

I'm sure Wendy said on a post that she has tried making one of her hen's a little top, by cutting out a piece of fleece and making a couple of holes in it to be worn by a hen.

WENDY!!!!!! Anyone else help here!

[manda]

I don't think they will need jumpers to be honest...I think if you bite the bullet and let them get the handbags out todays not warm but it's sunny.
They will huddle up together at night if they get cold...have you felt them without their feathers how hot their little bodies are?
I know they aren't going to be in any danger of overheating here at the moment but I think they will be ok...as I said in another post Flick was almost bald and she was like that on her own..she just buried herself in lots of bedding (because the others were obviously unhelpful / unsympathetic!) and she was fine (and that was in the snow).
You could try giving them some extra protein and see if you can encourage the feathers back quicker (cat food, fishmeal, sardines, mackerel...anything lke that).

[wendy]

Yes I make a fleece.
Cut a round, about dinner plate size in an old fleece.
Put a slit near the top for the head and two slits either side for the wings. You can make the head slit a little further into the middle if you want to cover the chest.
They don't get their feet caught like they do with knitting and it is more water resistant than wool.
Sorry I am on so late, been teaching the dog club all evening
Wendy