[Fleecewife]

Does anyone use hen saddles?  Do you recommend them?  Some of my poor hens are red raw on their backs and the tops of their wings from a very overenthusiastic young cockerel.  I see that the saddles don't protect the wings.  The ones I have been looking at after a quick google search are at www.orpingtonsuk.com  and are about £14 each.
How long are the saddles left on, and how do the birds preen?  Do you wash them?

[Fleecewife]

I looked further and found Flytes of Fancy, who make saddles with wing protectors.  So I've sent off for some, plus some plain ones from orpingtonsuk. 

If no-one else has used them, I'll report back my findings.

I hope they work - my poor bald girls 

[lord flynn]

let me know how you get on-I have a similar problem, damn cock has 14 hens and its still not enough. As soon as I can get him away the better (he's sold). My last one was such a gent!

[chrismahon]

We've used both the ordinary saddles and the ones with wing covers. Some hen take to them straight away and some definitely do not. The ones with the wing covers are most disliked and we haven't been able to keep one on a hen yet.


They come in different sizes -rather vaguely described. We ended up buying smaller ones because the large kept slipping off. The difference in sizes is hardly noticeable when you overlay one to the other though.

[Fleecewife]

I chose 'medium', suitable for hybrids.  I thought that was the best bet for my Black Rocks and Maran crosses.  I'm hoping the two hens with wing defeathering do accept the wing covers, as they are Porthos' favourite hens and he's a heavy chap.
If this doesn't work, then Porthos is for the chop 

chrismahon, did you have problems with mites under the saddles?  Our hens are all clean at the moment, but it would be awful for them to itch and not be able to scratch  .   I thought to put diatomaceous earth powder under the saddles.  Do you take them off so they can dust bath?

[chrismahon]

I think the powder may cause them to itch Fleecewife. We've never had mite or lice problems. It helps if you regularly take them off to give them a chance to soil bathe- I suppose ideally they should be taken off every night. We did have a problem when it rained as they got soaked (couldn't feel the rain?) and didn't dry out, so we kept spares.

[Fleecewife]

Thank you    Taking them off at night, at least in summer, would mean the hens could be trodden for several hours in the morning, as we don't let them out til about 8, so Porthos has a captive audience.  I wonder if we could move the affected ones to a different house at night, once they've settled and it's dark.    Our hens are not very handleable, so I suppose they're going to have to learn if we have to take the saddles off frequently.  I get your point about the DE.

[AnnaB]

Our hens too look featherless and sore.  Ordered the Flytes of Fancy saddles which look very nice on my Dorkings    So are others taking them off regularly or not ?  It was such a fuss getting them on our 4 girls, who don't like being handled, wouldn't want to do it often.

[Fleecewife]

Our saddles arrived AnnaB.  Mr F tried to put one on one of the hens this morning with no luck at all.   What's the trick?  I watched the Orpington's you tube clip without enlightenment.  There doesn't seem to be room to get the wings through the loops.  When I was a child and forced to play with dolls (would much rather have got my hands on the train set and Dinky Toy cars my brothers had) I would take their arms off to dress them - can't do that with my chooks 

[AnnaB]

Hardest part was pinning them down, even when they were sleepy needed 2 of us.
Undo the popper on the right hand side and pull as much of the tie through to the left as possible. Thread left wing through the loop which I didn't think would be big enough but it seemed to be.  Then pull the free end so you have enough to wrap that round the right wing then fasten the popper.  I got the biggest size for my Dorkings.  This is a hen who when she moulted her feathers came back with white bits .....not sure why ....but she was the one who posed best !

[Fleecewife]

Thank you AnnaB.  Your hen looks perfectly settled and comfortable in her saddle.

We tried with two of us today - the hens went berserk    We don't handle them much so they were most indignant.  We eventually got the first butterfly on after a couple of (long drawn out) tries, but we came close to divorce with the second hen  .  Eventually I gave up with the butterfly and put the plain saddle on instead (on my own by now)  with a much more settled hen, after spending ages calming her down.  That fitted her fine, although I found it very fiddly.   So I've emailed Flytesofancy for their advise on sizing, wondering if the second butterfly was accidentally a larger size.  Although they are adjustable, only for so much, and the flaps just wouldn't stay on properly.  I think we'll check the tapes in a couple of days to make sure they're not digging in.  After a few minutes they both were perfectly happy and wandered off.  So one is well protected, but the second still has exposed wing tops.   Also it's recommended to spray the butterfly with waterproofing wax, but I was a bit exhausted and forgot today.  We'll get her while she's sleeping.  The other one is apparently waterproofed already.

[Eve]

Is the fit on the Dorking fine or was it a bit tight / large?
The sizes listed on the website are so close together.