Hen Apron/Saddle, Single Strap, Large, Black

Dirk the Jerk. That's what we call him. He's like a porn star on crack. I've never seen anything like it in my life and sorry rabbits, you've got nothing on a rooster with a harem. Any hen is game but he's got one favorite and she apparently is too in need of rent money to tell him no. She doesn't have any kids yet but that's because I issue our own Plan B every morning by way of an omelet. So, getting back to the saddle, I noticed our beautiful hen was missing some of her feathers on her back which I knew meant he was being too demanding. Rather than tell her to move to a better neighborhood or issuing a hit out on Dirk (not quite ready for that experience yet) I decided to order her a saddle to help ward off his 50 Shades of Grey audition tape aspirations. As much as I have tried to condition them to being handled by humans this hen (an Australorp) has always been reticent so I waited until dusk to wrestle her into the saddle. Once she realized I wasn't going to steal her black velvet Elvis paintings she settled into my lap and let me manipulate her wings into this contraption. It took me a bit because I'm overly cautious and only had myself there; if I do it again (and I will, he's bigger, more amorous and the other gals are like "Dude, we got a boyfriend, quit buying us drinks!" He's not falling for it.) I would have someone else hold her and I'd get the saddle on her. It would probably take a minute in that case. In this first installation it took at least 5). My hen has had this saddle on, full time, since I got it 4 months ago and it hasn't budged. It will flip up occasionally if she gets into a skirmish with another hen (he's bad for her but she'll fight to keep him) but as she walks it will flip back down. It's not rubbing on her wings and seems to cause her no discomfort at all. I ordered a LARGE and it fits perfectly as well. She's an Australorp, probably 6-6.5 pounds so Baby Got Back. It hasn't failed her yet.

Lucky Roo likes only ONE in his entire harem. My poor black sexlink is over bred to the point that we lock her into a separate run for the day to give her a break. She had lost feathers across her back and I noticed he'd gotten her skin with his talons. Time to implement the hen saver. Now ms Hen is not that big. I'd consider her small for a chicken, but she's a full size black sexlink. Smaller than a Wyandotte or Orphington (I'm sure they'd need an extra large) but she took a size large. It covers her back well, stops at her rump and after a few shakes she had it on comfortably. She's healing and regrowing her feathers now thanks to this hen saver! I also like it because it's black and doesn't call attention to her back like ones with designs would.

I have had mixed results with these. Sometimes they help a lot, but other times the roosters manage to get their feet under the saddle and tread bareback. I ordered 3 of these, and 2 are the larger size in the pic attached while the 1 is way smaller. It makes a huge difference in the coverage, believe it or not. I have others that are large and extra large, so the true mediums must be the left side of the pic. I'm guessing the right side is a mislabeled small, so some people who say they are too small may actually have gotten a small! If I had gotten just that one, compared to my larges, I would have thought there was no option in between.

Works great for my road island red. She is the favorite of the rooster and he is pretty big. Poor hen ended up with a big wound under the wing.After separating and treating her (and trimming and filing down rooster nails) I put on the hen saver and put her back with the flock. It covers the back more than under the wing where her wound is but it is protecting that spot really well.It has come off once but over all it stays on good. She had a little fit when I put it on but she was fine in about 10 mins. She is pretty calm hen I am guessing any of my others would have had a fit for much longer.It also washes nice.

I had to buy 3 of these, so far, and it looks like I will have to order 2 more. I got a rooster by accident (thought he was a pullet) and he is enjoying taking care of the 6 other hens. But little by little, their backs are becoming bare. Someone recommended that I put a saddle over their backs. It has really helped save their backs from the activity of the overactive rooster! It will be interesting to see their feathers covering their backs again, if I ever take the saddles off!Update: I did take a few of the saddles off, and some of the girls did not grow feathers back yet, but, I know the saddles helped to protect the girls from ended up with bare backs and with the potential of getting infections. Some of their backs were red and irritated looking. I also think the saddles helped during the cold winter. I have 2 chickens left with their saddles on and it may have helped them to stay a little warmer during the winter when it got extremely cold out.

Hen saver indeed. Just in time for the frigid winter months, our poor Easter Egger hen suddenly had a bald spot on her back between the wings. Though not observed regularly, it is assumed due to some bullying from the other hens in the way of feather plucking. Worried that this would continue, and that unprotected skin would get frost bite, a solution had to be found. This was it. It is such a cute little apron looking thing but has a nice quality canvas to it. The elastic bands are not two separate bands sewn in, rather one long band which allows it to slide. This is important for handling the hens delicate wings. They don't exactly sit still while putting this on, so they pull and jerk while threading it on. Being the band slides, one side/opening can get quite large to help you get the wing through. Then slide it the other way and thread the other wing through. It can be done yourself, but bring a friend for quicker "install". This has been worn now for a couple months and the feathers have just about come all the way back in. The hen only fussed about it the first day, and now I can't even imagine her without it on. With these sub-zero nights coming, if she continued to lose feathers, it could have gotten really bad. This may have saved her life. Now if only there was something like this for her poor face muffs, as those have become the latest plucking target.