Two of my four poor black australorp girls were being used and abused by their rooster, Warf. When he climbs on to do his business, he's a bit rough and ends up tearing feathers out and even skin.
I needed to put a stop to it! So I asked around and found out about a "chicken saddle" ... basically a piece of cloth that is worn by the girl chicken (pullet or hen). The rooster climbs aboard and instead of holding on to the feathers or skin with his beak, he holds on to the saddle. No damage to the birds.
Found a good explanation and pattern at a "back to basic living" blog. I started to give instructions here on how I did it but really ... hers work just fine! I didn't have any elastic or snaps so I used a crocheted "string" and safety pins until I could get to the store. But it was too big. Still, since the hen was bare of feathers on most of her back and parts of her wings, we put her in a different coop with a gentler boy.
The next day (Saturday), during an errand trip into town, we got some elastic and snaps, and I worked hard to make a smaller version. Put it on Saturday night. Fit much better. Made a second one for another girl. I took pictures so I'll post them another time.
Turns out, tho, that someone bought that rooster Sunday night, so Warf is now gone, and the girls now have a gentler rooster, Lenny.
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