Health

Free Chicken Saddle Pattern for Regular-Sized Hens (Printable PDF)

By Chicken Fans Editorial Team

A chicken saddle is a fabric shield that protects a hen’s back from a rooster’s claws during mating. The saddle is attached to the hen with elastics and safeguards the hen’s feathers.

Without a saddle, many hens get bald spots on their backs. Luckily, it’s quite easy to sew your own chicken saddles with any fabric you have left. You can also use some fat quarters with a nice print to give the saddle a designer look if you want your flock to run into a fashion catwalk.

Remark: This is the pattern for regular-sized fowl, ranging from medium to larger birds. We have several other chicken saddle patterns, including a chicken saddle pattern for bantams and smaller birds and chicken saddle patterns for large chicken breeds.

Download

preview of chicken saddle pattern for regular sized breeds

This chicken saddle pattern contains:

  • Main saddle or apron
  • Medium and Large Patterns (regular-sized fowl)

Leave your name and e-mail, and you can open and download the free PDF immediately.

By giving your e-mail address, you’ll subscribe to the newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Features

This sewing pattern includes the following:

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

The elastic can move through the neck of the saddle, which makes it much easier to put the saddle on

Most Suitable Use

This chicken saddle pattern can be used for:

Example

This is how the finished chicken saddle looks like:

chicken wearing a chicken saddle made with the chicken saddle pattern

To get an idea of the sizing, this is the Large sewing pattern in the template put on a fairly large Easter Egger hen.

The saddle is attached to both wings and follows the back of the hen. The back of the saddle follows the round tail line. The sides of the saddle are covered by the wings.

chicken wearing a chicken saddle on its back, with the wings covering the saddle and the saddle following the tail

When you put it on, it will take a minute for your birds to get used to it. Here you can see the chicken above getting used to her saddle:

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

Follow the instructions on how to make a chicken saddle pattern.

Download

preview of chicken saddle pattern for regular sized breeds

This chicken saddle pattern contains:

  • Main saddle or apron
  • Medium and Large Patterns (regular-sized fowl)

Leave your name and e-mail, and you can open and download the free PDF immediately.

By giving your e-mail address, you’ll subscribe to the newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Adjustments

Possible adjustments:

  • You can add extra fabric on the neck if you have a large elastic
  • You can add wing protectors if your hens need it
  • You can add a tail guard if it’s needed for your hens

If you need patterns for the extra protection parts, you can use our chicken saddle pattern with wing protectors and tail guard. It contains the same medium and large sewing pattern sizes but has an extra template attached for the protective components. It also contains some indications of the attachment points.

Alternatives

Some alternatives:

share
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.