Free Chicken Apron/Saddle Pattern

[nancypo]

I found this free pattern on http://www.homesteadingtoday.com, from "Wisconsin Ann".

It has come to my attention that the thread we usually point to with the pattern for a chicken apron/saddle has broken links in it now so, I found the pattern on my harddrive, and here it is! I think. I know this one works, 'cuz I've used it. Cut on the fold (the narrow "neck" end is the fold) and turn thru the unstitched area on the butt.

Add either an elastic or a 1/3"ish wide twilltape/belting/whatever you have as armholes...attached at the foldline/neck, and the other end to the wide area. Most hens will wear them quite happily. They seem to adjust them a bit when you first put them on, then forget about them.

I'll keep trying to find more on the pattern.

 

[Creteloc]

I'm so new at this that I can't help out much, but I wanted to share my VERY rudimentary chicken saddle. This is for those of us that own sewing machines but aren't really good at sewing. I hand-cut out the pattern by measuring my pullet's neck, length from neck to tail feather base, and then around the widest part of her tummy. I folded a piece of paper in half and started cutting. I then held the paper up to the chick until it looked right.

Once it looked right, I cut two out of an old pair of jeans. I then measured from the chicken's shoulder, across her breast, to under her opposite wing. I used that measurement to cut out the adjustable portion of an old bra strap.

Let me tell you... the buckle part helped a TON in getting it on, and now as the pullet grows, I can adjust the straps. I made sure the buckle is over her breast and not under a wing where it might chafe.

Once measured it out, I set my sewing machine to a zig-zaggy type pattern, pinned everything where I wanted it, and sewed it all together. It's not pretty at all, but my pullet didn't seem to mind that it's not aesthetically pleasing. She more complained about putting it on. My sewing machine has some fancy stitching that I attempted to use, but it didn't turn out well. I tried though!

I'm fairly certain one could hot-glue this entire thing together with the same results.

 

[-kimm-]

Thanks so much for the pattern. One of my girls really needed it.

 

[Trampledbygeese]

Anyway, here is my attempt at sewing a chicken apron.

It looks more like a superhero cape to me.

I think it might be a bit large as she has almost no feathers. She is a really heavy and strong hen though. She's queen of the flock and now she has a royal robe to prove it.

 

[fishnet1971]

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Thank you Bogtown Chick. This is fleece?

Lacy, it's an old sweater from our "Tossed and Found Store" and it's a wool blend that I felted down in the washing machine with hot water. I think when you go to your thrift store for these old sweaters you want to find a blend of 60% wool or more. So it will really shrink or "felt" and the threads will tighten. I had some polar fleece around but it was bright colors and I like to keep the colors more muted or close to the chicken's coloring for free ranging-camouflaging purposes. Also the polar fleece seemed almost a bit to light and would flip up easily during mating. Unless you double layer it...then it might find more resilience to the "flipping" and add some weight to it. I love working with polar fleece in general but this felted wool sweater was pretty easy too.

 

[Southchick]

Here's another version. I doubled the fleece because my roo punched a hole in one hen's side. She needs extra insurance to heal, plus it's wintertime. I used the same pattern given here, but just shaved it off some at the tail area (this doesn't seem to be an issue with my flock), and lengthened the sides out to about 10".

 

[Lacy Blues]

Good to hear that. If that ever happens again I'll try that. I was for sure she was a goner so my husband put a shotgun to her

We are in MS, and in the county people shoot guns all the time and no one thinks anything of it!! That was our Christmas Eve. Thanks for responding! Just a few hours ago we had three chicken hawks attacking my chickens systematically. I had to run out in my underwear to save them!!!! My Ameraucana rooster lost a pile of feathers, and a hen has a bloody nose. Phew! I think they'll be alright! This country living is not for sissys. I'm freakin from Utah! We moved here two years ago. Thanks again! I'll be doing some more safety measures on our run today for sure!! Until then my chickens are in the house!

You'll want to check those birds that were attacked by the hawk. They can get small puncture wounds, impossible to see, and with the filth on that hawk's talons, it injects quite a load of bacteria into them. I've never been able to save one yet. Someone may have an idea on treating with a general antibiotic but I don't use them so I don't know.

I tried stitching up sunny too...but by the time I found her the flap was already contracting down and a taught stitch would just pull through the full thickness of her skin. Ouch. So we healed her up tertiary and let her granualate new tissue back in. I was amazed by her healing. 2 1/2 weeks or so for that mess. That's impressive to me.

Let me tell you about bringing in Hens!!! ugh. Bought a hen last fall and will never buy an adult bird again. Chicks or hatching eggs only for me. I've only just discovered lice and mites on a majority of my flock. I'm pretty sure that's where it came from. But I was using some oldish hay in nest boxes too...so it could be that. I know a smallish load of pests is normal..but gosh...I want my birds "normal" to be pest free I guess. What a mess. And that is my current project with the chickens.

I'll have to wait until spring to paint inside the coop when temps are right...but I could just kick myself for buying that bird, Im about 75% sure that's where this all came from.

Side tracked off the hen/saddle deal didn't I?! LOL.

You may have contracted those parasites through birds flying overhead. All they have to do is lose one at the time they're directly overhead and you have a problem. You may have to wait to clean and paint but you don't have to wait to treat. If you mix together equal parts sand, lime, and wood ashes it will give your birds an effective dust bath. You have to keep it dry though so someplace under a roof. It would be beneficial if you dusted each of your birds in turn. Put them in the dust bath and make sure you get some of that stuff everywhere under all their feathers. Then, if you don't see them using the dust bath, do it again about a week later. That should take care of the problem.

 

[kcpaull]

I have made these and they work okay if there are no barbed wire fences or green briers around. One of my Easter Eggers got hers caught on the barbed wire fence behind our house and one of my Buff Orpingtons got her caught in two huge green brier vines. It was quite easy to free the Easter Egger from the fence, but I couldn't find my BO until nearly 24 hours later. When I had gone looking for her the evening she disappeared, she stayed quiet because it was nearly dark. I had thought something had gotten her, but the next day, one of her sisters gave out an alarm call and I went to check because I thought whatever had gotten Betty Boop might have come back. It was poor Betty. She was so soundly stuck, I had to cut the apron off of her and it took months for her wings to go back to their original position. I have since used this pattern to make leather aprons that attach with snaps and elastic. As we are down to one rooster, they didn't really need them, though, but one of my Buffs was getting ridden roughshod so I put her's on and she seems to like it. I decorated them differently so I could tell one hen from another at a glance then rubbed them with olive oil to help make them water resistant. I also made them slightly smaller than this pattern because the cloth ones I'd made before were too big for my hens. I haven't taken any photos of the new ones, but this is a photo of Madeline and her chick Marco.

 

[nancypo]

Here's mine, made of polar fleece. Most of the ones you can buy are made of durable materials, denim, etc. Mine kept Sarah warm til she stopped molting... I shortened it after the pic...