Sisters Kelly and Sophie Burgess, volunteers at Fresh Start For Hens, were at a commercial farm looking for sickly chickens to rescue when they spotted a chicken who desperately needed their help. The chicken had almost no feathers, a completely pale comb and a sad look in her eyes.

The chicken’s body was weakened from laying so many eggs. Almost all of her feathers were missing, in part because of her general poor condition, but also because caged chickens sometimes get so bored and stressed they pluck each other’s feathers off.

At Fresh Start For Hens, a UK-based nonprofit that takes in ex-commercial chickens and gives them a second chance in life, volunteers take in the chickens who need the most help and nurse them back to health in their own homes.

That’s exactly what the sisters did. They named the chicken Cookie and immediately started giving her the TLC she needed. As a chicken in a commercial caged farm, Cookie had never been outside.

“It’s very rewarding to put them on the grass and see them experience everything for the first time,” Kelly told The Dodo.

The Burgesses kept Cookie inside their house for three months. Since she had almost no feathers, she would have been very cold if left outside in the UK winter. They fed her nutrient-dense foods, added vitamins to her water and generally gave her lots of love.

“It doesn’t take long for them to completely just be normal chickens again,” Kelly said.

Within a few weeks, Cookie had already started transforming before their eyes. And now, just months after she was rescued, Cookie is almost unrecognizable.

Since she’s been feeling better, Cookie’s true personality has been shining through.

“Cookie is a bit bonkers … she follows you around, and she’s obsessed with food. She’ll push anything out of the way to get to her food,” Kelly said.

Cookie has also had the chance to discover new foods she’d never tried before. According to the Burgess sisters, her favorite snack is blueberries.

Even though Fresh Start For Hens often sends their rehabilitated hens out to be adopted, the Burgess sisters were so in love with Cookie that they didn’t want to let her go. So the Burgess home is now Cookie’s forever home.

“We’ll call it a failed adoption,” Kelly said.