Well I spent much of this morning sewing a chicken saddle out of an old flannel shirt for my smallest hen, who has lost a lot of feathers from my rooster. (Many thanks to those who have discussed how to make saddles on this forum by the way! It's been very helpful) I just went out and put it on her. She spazzed out, as expected, trying everything she could to get the foreign thing off. I figured she would eventually get used to it and just forget all about it. The problem is my rooster also didn't like it, and started chasing her around the run pecking at it. It caused a pretty high level of panic all around. She finally ran into the coop and just hunkered down on the floor, exhausted and terrified. So I took it off of her. Should I try again? Has anyone else experienced anything like this? How long does the adjustment usually take? Thanks in advance!
Or try putting it on her just before she goes to roost tonight. Someone else gave me that advice and it worked for me.
Put it on at night. That works the very best and I can't emphasize it enough. After they've been asleep for a little bit, go it and put it on being very stealth and quiet. She'll be on the roost so it will be easier too. I use a headlamp because you really need both hands free to do it. Once you put it on, she'll still do a little dancing and fluttering and such but because she is on the roost, her space/movement is limited so she won't be falling off. She will sleep all night in it and get a chance to adjust to the feel of it before morning. I have not had any problems the next day at all. I bought mine to match their feathers as much as I could. For my Dominique I did get black since they didn't have a black and white combo color. Good luck!