Free Chicken Apron/Saddle Pattern

[Bogtown Chick]

Lacy blues: Here is a photo of the hen saddle/sweater without a chicken in it. Keep in mind that its been washed and didn't dry flat unfortunately and so the little wing slits are kind of rolled and twisted up a bit. I just basically used the general shape of the pattern they used on the initial pages of this thread. and then cut 2 inch slots along the area where the wing would be situated leaving a 3/4 inch margin from the edges.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thank you Bogtown Chick. This is fleece?

 

[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.

 

[Wrightsx4]

What about tail feathers?

Just started reading this thread because I'm looking for a pattern to add a wing protector to the aprons I already make, but I have had luck improvising to protect tails. While mine were young, someone was plucking tail feathers from two chicks (9wk olds). I made a mini apron for each of them and added a long ruffle to one that hid the tail area (gathered on one end and sewn to the tail area of the apron). For the little cockerel - didn't want him in a ruffle and I used pirate fabric!- I made a big pocket and sewed it to the tail area of the apron. It took a few tries to make one that his tail stayed in, but it worked great. Once the feathers got long enough that he needed to preen, I removed it.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Do you have a picture Wrightsx4? As I'm sure others have also seen tail picking happening in their flocks. I'm interested to see how it went. ...

 

[Wrightsx4]

Lol ...yeah I dug them out. Remember though, they wore them quite a while! When I made them it was a "chicks are bleeding!" emergency so I didn't take time to finish the edges - so they frayed. Here's what's left. I will re-do the pocket and post so others can see how it looked. The tail portion started out folded under then sewn on the left and right edges to make the flap look like an upside down pocket. As the tails grew, I cut open the sides so their feathers weren't restricted. The main idea was to keep the tail and back covered or at least not have any red skin showing so I put elastic under the back end so it didn't flip up over their backs. On the leopard one I sewed a pinch in the center so it stayed down.

the one in the back on left is wearing the pirate one.

shows elastic on pirate vest and a heavy patch added to the leopard apron to stiffen it from flipping up.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Nicely done and I love the ingenuity to figure out protecting that tail. Hats off to you figuring that one out.

 

[Wrightsx4]

Thank you - first time with feather pickers. That picture was right before I removed his vest. They wore them for about a month. I wish I'd taken pics when I first made them!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I know you are explaining away the fringing...but to me the fringing makes it look almost more natural. A tail in it's own right....

 

[Wrightsx4]

Haha - I thought the same thing while they wore them! I felt that maybe they wouldn't get picked on so much (excuse the pun) by the others for being tailless. Once the tails were camouflaged they were no longer targeted and I didn't have to keep separating them from the flock to heal.