My little sock puppet

Lola is our tiny, half naked bantam. She is a red Frizzle bantam who fried. That happens when a breeder, breeds two Frizzle's together, they come out fried (two curly feathered birds as apposed to one curley to one regular). She has hardly any curly feathers or feathers at all for that matter. Just quills' with half a brittle feather that will break off. Lola has exposed dry chapped skin, a long naked neck with a few tufts of a feather here and not there. She is about the size of a dried up maple leaf.
Lola spends her time like any other normal chicken doing chicken things with her best friend Zelda. Zelda is a black Frizzle bantam also but with normal curly feathering. They grew up together, they play, sleep and lay eggs together. Lola and Zelda spent many nights snuggling, tucking herself under Zelda in a small wooden box stuffed with chips. All the other Bantams and Standard chickens would roost, up high on their perches. Not Lola, she would be to cold to sit outside her box, exposed all night long. Every night I would stuff those two safely into their box, fluff the chips around them and say good night to everyone. Zelda has always stuck by Lola's side.
Eventually they decided not to use their box. I don't know why, maybe some one made fun of them? Now they sit huddled in a corner under a ladder roost where her other bantam friends Coco and Lucy perch. This broke my heart, Zelda huddling with Lola to keep her warm, never abandoning her friend.
It's cold outside, winter is here and Lola is half a naked chicken. She would go outside, hanging with her peeps, shivering in the sun on days that were sunny. On gloomy days she would have to stay in the barn trying to keep warm. Then it started to get colder in the barn, I caved, out came the heat lamp, life for Lola was much better now. She had a nice warm spot all day and night now. Don't get me wrong, she is one tough, egg laying, little scrapper. I tried to pick her up once and she did a classic Kung Fu spin, kicking both feet, flapping her little wings screaming her naked head off out. She easily won that battle. No one picks on Lola, ever.
One morning we went out to the barn and the water froze under the heat lamp. This is where Lola spent all of her time and it was still cold enough to freeze the water. I could see her feathers shaking on her as she shivered. That was it I reached what may seem a crazy point of naked chicken desperation. Lola needed a sweater to keep her warm, comfortable and alive. I went searching thru my sock draw. Found a white cotton ankle sock, cut off the toe part, made two little holes on each side for her wings and Walla! Lola had a stylish (okay not) sweater. Now I have to capture the little crazy creature and dress her! Yeah right, this should be interesting.
Bruce is enlisted in my "dress Lola with a sock" escapade. He feels sorry for her also, how could you not? I do a few laps around the pen, finally capture Lola and hang on for dear life (my dear life) with both hands. She does fit in one but with her kung fu moves, it was too tricky to hold her with only one. Quickly we whip out the scissors, make last minute alterations and dress the bird. Honestly I have to say, we did a marvelous job! I put her down; she immediately started walking backwards in an attempt to free herself from her new sweater. I tried to explain to her how other little chickens freezing in the world wished they had sweaters like hers. Luckily I had researched chicken clothing before my attempt with Lola. This reverse behavior is normal. "They" said she would adjust after a day or two with her new outfit on.
After a few minutes she seemed fine. We kept checking on her and she was not shivering, seemed nice and cozy in her snappy new outfit. I lowered the heat lamp to help bath her in a little more warmth, hoping that between the lamp and outfit, she would be warm enough. Before bed we do one last check on the birds to tuck them all in. There is Lola, perched on a block of wood, under the heat lamp, sleeping. Not a shiver to be seen. We were very relieved to see her comfortable, able to sit by herself, styling and warm. Normally she would have been under Zelda by now trying to keep warm.
Luckily we did take these measures, that night was the coldest yet this season. I think Bruce told me it 3 or 4 degree's when he woke up with a subzero wind chill. Our little Lola did just fine. She even came outside to sunbath, wearing her new sock. That darn sock kept her warm enough to go out on that brutal cold morning to catch a few rays and hang with her peeps.
Lola is doing very well, I will be designing a few new outfits for her to keep her styling. Below is our first prototype "Sock" design. Her name is Lola, she was a show girl, with no feathers in her hair and a sock cut down to there.......