Littleton, Colo. — Ninety-seven-years-old is a great age to add "chicken rancher" to your résumé.
Thrive Care Assisted Living in Littleton found a lot of research claiming that raising chickens can have health benefits for seniors with and without Alzheimer's disease. In the last six months, the facility's residents have been raising a flock of hens together.
We visited their coup last week and helped a Vietnam veteran named Brian give them water, a woman named Joanne, from Wisconsin, collect their eggs, and a World War II veteran named George hold them and pet them in his wheelchair.
"They're the tamest chickens I ever saw," said George, who operated tanks during his time serving. "They kinda wander around under your feet... That's really nice that they're that friendly."
"I think it's something we forget about, not just with elderly people but those with dementia, they their mean and their purpose and having a sense of responsibility to take care of the chickens," said Erica Leno, co-owner of Thrive Care Assisted Living. "Even if it's just opening the door and letting them out or taking the water dish, rinsing it out and filling it back up with water, so it just brings back that ability to give them that meaning and purpose that we forget that we really do need. All of us need it."
In the above video, you can hear more from the staff on the benefits they have found for seniors taking care of the chickens.
