What’s everyone’s favorite saddle?

[SaraJean0989]

Ok, so it’s become apparent that my cockerel is just too much for my 9 pullets- he has started to strip feathers off of all of their backs I thought maybe he’d calm down as he’s coming up on being a year old and they are all finally able to be out all day again, but going into spring/summer when I’m hoping they’ll be able to free range I want to make sure my pullets’ backs are protected from the sun, and prevent Fred from doing anymore damage. What is everyone’s favorite saddles?
My pullets are a mix of
5 Rhode Island Red
2 Barred Rock
1 australorp and
1 sex link

Bonus questions- are they one size fits all? My reds and sex link are all significantly smaller than the Australorp (BR’s are in between)but are all about the same age. And would introducing more pullets this spring stop the feather loss from Fred next year?

 

[leighks]

I liked the Hen Saver saddle. I ordered large and used it on all the hens: red sex link, buff Orpington, australorp, barred Rock, and Wyandotte. The hens didn’t like them at first but got used to them in a day or 2. My buff Orpington got her side sliced by his spur so I had to make and add side patches (see photo).

My roo is coming up on 2 years next month and he’s relentless too. Last summer he mated all my hens bare. I shouldn’t have let it get as bad as it did, these were my 1st chickens and I didn’t know what to do. Last July I finally separated him and the hens are soooo much happier and relaxed. He still has access to the coop and run, but it’s divided with chicken wire so he can see the hens but not get to them. For supervised free ranging, I let the hens go out and the roo stays in, then vise versa. I’m also hoping he mellows in time but apparently age 2 is not that time!!

 

[leighks]

Oh and maybe adding more pullets would help, I thought about that too. But I would hate to subject new pullets to my rough roo. I think some Roos just are over zealous with their mating, more pullets just means spreading the feather loss around.