Health

Free Chicken Saddle Pattern with Wing Protectors and Tail Guard

By Chicken Fans Editorial Team

A chicken saddle pattern is made of protective fabric to guard the back of a hen during mating. Roosters can be aggressive and grab the hen’s feathers in full force.

If you find your hens running around with damaged feathers or bald spots, you can use a chicken saddle to protect its plumage.

There are plenty of chicken saddles on the market, but creating one yourself with a sewing pattern is relatively easy.

Remark: if you are planning to make saddles for bantams or large breeds, check our other chicken saddle patterns

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Features

This sewing pattern includes the following:

  • Sizes: Medium, Large
  • Difficulty: **
  • Fabric: old clothes
  • Print Size: Letter
  • Parts: Saddle, Wings, Tail
  • Binding: elastic around the wings

The elastic is freely adjustable and can move through the saddle; this makes it much easier to put the saddle on.

Most Suitable Use

This chicken saddle pattern can be used for:

Needed Material

To create the saddle and the wing protectors, you will need the following:

  • some fabric from old clothes, left-overs from a quilting-supply store, or fat quarters with a print you like
  • essential quilting tools like scissors, rulers, needles, and pins
  • elastic band
  • a sewing machine
  • our chicken saddle sewing pattern

How to Make

Time needed: 45 minutes

To create the chicken saddle with extra protection:

  1. Print the Chicken Saddle Pattern

    Download and print the pattern on US Letter paper. If you don’t have US Letter available, you can use A4 paper.

  2. Create the basic Chicken Saddle Pattern

    Create the basic pattern following our visual guide on how to make a chicken saddle pattern

  3. Add the Wing Protection

    Print and cut out the wing protection. The protection is made as wide as the saddle and should go on the shoulders. Adjust the size of your chickens. Sew the wing protection on top of the chicken saddle following the attachment points as a guideline.

  4. Add the Tail Protection

    Print and cut out the tail guard. Use the template as a guideline and adjust to the tail size of your chickens. Some breeds have large tails, and others have almost no tails. Sew the tail guard underneath the back of the saddle, using the attachment points in the pattern as guidelines.

Adjustments

Some possible adjustments:

  • You can put some extra filling to make the harness more sturdy
  • You can leave more fabric on the neck if you have trouble getting the elastic in
  • For breeds without tails, like Araucana’s, you can remove the tail protection
  • Most hens will do well with a basic chicken saddle without the extra wing protection.

Alternatives

Some possible alternatives:

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Chicken Fans Editorial Team

The editorial team consists of 3rd generation chicken owners Kat, journalist, editor-in-chief, and Nick, working with illustrators and specialists in the field.