Great job!!And so cute,I think velcro works so much better and its faster putting them on them,Did you have a problem sweing the velcro on with your machine?My needle got all sticky and broke.
The friendliest small rooster breed
Porkpal - I was looking for something with a chicken pattern on it and just happen to find 2 types at Wal-Mart. I chose the one that I thought would match the ladies feathers the best. They also had one with white background, but since I don't have any white chickies I went with the brown and burgundy pattern. It would also have ended up reddish brown in time because of all the red clay that we have here.
Green - I found some that is specifically sew on...I've seen the glue on type too so maybe if you look for some without the glue it may save your needle.
One other thing that I'm not sure is mentioned in the instructions is that I used some medium weight interfacing to give it more strength so it wouldn't get torn-up as quickly as just using the fabric. I probably could have used denim fabric on the back and that would have probably been just as effective. It probably worked out the same price wise, but not sure about durability. They've been only wearing them a few months and are holding up pretty well so far. Only thing wrong with them is they have a little poo on them because of how the roosts are set-up.
I must say I am surprised (pleasantly surprised) by all this. You all are so creative and have solved the problem for the hens without getting rid of the roosters. Wow! I should have asked about this sooner.
The velcro (sew on kind) sounds like a great idea so I'll be shopping for that. I have plenty of interfacing and old blue jeans my son outgrew and quilting fabric.
Catmad, you sure seem to have a variety of chickens- so cute!
titanium, that chicken saddle almost looks too nice (professionally made) to stick on a chicken.
Wow!!!! I am new to chickens, still researching, hoping to buy this spring. This thread kills me!!! All these little chickens running around with aprons on! LOL i am so glad to know about this. Am i the only one who wants to add a ruffle to the edge!? :)
This thread has also been really helpful because i wanted easter eggers, but maybe i'll get just a few hens, and a blue cochin rooster. We plan to raise them for eggs and meat, so maybe it won't matter if the rooster is mean.... O:-)
Too bad you're no closer to me. I have three Blue Cochin roos looking for homes. But, Cochins are very NICE roosters, at least all of mine (and I have more than I should) are. Even if they were mean, they aren't fast enough to be much danger (again, at least mine).
ps. Ruffles don't work, they catch in the roosters claws...
(smile)
So you see Outlaw, if you run into a problem with your chickens (or rooster) you need only ask the friendly folks at DG Poultry and Livestock forum!
Now if I could just find a way to make my sewing machine quieter could sew some chicken aprons when everybody else is sleeping.....
Outlaw, good luck with the meat part, especially of you have only a few. Didn't work for me. They each have personalities, and can be very endearing. I'm not real sure that someone considering ruffles for chickens is gonna have much luck marching them to the chopping block....
There's no reason you can't have Easter Egg hens and a Cochin roo. But, my Ameracauna roos are also pretty nice, if not as friendly as the fluffy-foots. And Ameracauna's are much better layers than Cochins.
LOL!!! ok... Apparently i'm totally transparent, even online! No pokerface.
I will probably not be getting any meat chickens. :(
I have wanted cows my whole life. I am from the city. I meet a country boy, fall in love, move to the country, and we have 2.5 cows and a white picket fence..... The trouble is.... They were free martins. Sterile twins. They're supposed to fill the freezer. :( i may plan an escape for them! Mind you, as a rebellious young person i was a VEGAN!!! LOL
ah farm life!!! *cue green acres*
;)
You guys just keep talking me into chickens, and fire that sewing machine up for me! :) i have a feeling this obsession will end in a coop full this spring. :)
kissy cows. Lol
Start out with a few laying chickens, enjoy the eggs, and go from there: either to more layers or to meat chickens. Stopping with the original few will not be an option - they are addictive.
I never thought I could eat any of my flock 'til I got a batch of roosters that wouldn't come into the barn at night. At first they slept in the dogwood trees in our front yard but the wild life kept picking them off, 1-2 ea night. So they moved to the hanging baskets on my deck. The hanging baskets that HAD beautiful begonias. The hanging baskets that were right under the open windows of our bedroom. The roosters that slept in those baskets apparently detected dawn at 2:30am as they continued to crow from then until they finally got up for the day. They fertilized those baskets so thoroughly that I lost all the begonias that I'd been saving over each winter to decorate the deck ea summer.
Yep. Didn't really mind enjoying the delicious chicken noodle soup those roo's provided!
Tam
aaaahhh Tammy, that's too funny!!! Yeah, we've had those kind of roosters that want to be the first to wake everybody up (Uuuuugggh) They didn't last long around here either.
We have a Pomeranian who loves to chase chickens (saves me a lot of leg work) so when some chicken doesn't put him or herself up in the evening, I bring out the big guns (the pom.) and she chases them into the coop - makes both of us happy.
I'm sorry about your begonias getting squished and over fertilized - but you make a good point, it helps to be mad at them when you take them to the chopping block.
Oh I need a pom like yours! :-) What a wonderful image of that cute little puff of fur rounding up the stragglers for the evening.
Yep, it's good exercise for her too. We have had roosters that would turn on her and start to attack - that was pretty funny to watch. I have to go help her (stop the impending fight) and make the rooster move on toward the pen. She only likes to chase them when they run away.
This makes me long for my Corgi. He herded our cats, so I'm sure a few chickens would have been right up his alley. But Poms and chickens! Who knew Poms had a herding gene!
I have one Sex Link hen and every roo we have had has lusted after her, to the point that she got a bare back and shoulders. I got one of those aprons (Happy Hens, I think) and she took a day or so to get used to it, but is fine now. It has elastic loops that just slip over her wings. She still takes her dust baths. It is a two piece unit, with a second piece that attached to the first, and goes across the shoulders, with velcro. I did not put the second overlay on her -- though I should now since her shoulders are bare and it's cold in mid-Delaware. I worry about her being able to fly up onto the roost with that second piece on. Anyone have experience with that?
Hi Jennie,
I am just now able to start making chicken aprons since the holiday get-togethers kept me too busy to sew, and then this computer got a virus which we just got rid of so haven't been on DG for a while. I don't know if hens can fly with chicken aprons on but am eager to know the answer to that as well.
Don't know if all Poms have a herding instinct but ours seems to. Or maybe she just enjoys chasing them so much she seems to have it. She is, of course, an inside dog so chasing chickens (with supervision) keeps her from getting fat and lazy. Poms love to eat too much.
So how did your Corgi do that (herd cats) ? Must have been a sight to behold : D
My dressed hens fly just fine. Too well, sometimes....:)
Some hens get their wings clipped if they go over the fence one to many times around here. Do you clip your chickens wings, Catmad?
And I am curious how you chose the name Catmad.... I have a parrot named Pearl and I borrowed her name because I couldn't think of anything else. It's funny how fast and easy it is to answer all the questions they ask until they want to know what user name you want. It takes me an hour sometimes to decide that (LOL!) Anyway, it is interesting to see all the different (unusual) user names people pick......
No, I don't clip anybody's wings, they free-range, and need to be able to get away from the Bad Things. When I say too well, it's when they get up higher than I can easily reach, and decide it's a good place to spend the night. Then I have to find an appropriate Chicken Stick, and get them to climb on, and be transported to where _I_ want them for the night.
I've been involved it cat rescue for many years, so most of my user names have a feline component. I don't really remember where catmad came from, but it was like you stated, I had to come up with something. I'm not good at names. Even my critters' names evolve over time....
No wonder you were happy when I had this wild cat spayed. You should see her btw so fat and pretty now. She lets me near her, but no touching. Now a lot of other cats in the neighborhood are coming around for free food. They were fighting in the front yard last night, sounded like a small dog was out there, but no, it was the cats making weird sounds.
Sometimes the cats go in or near the backyard and scare the chickens. The hens huddle all up in one spot and won't move. So far, no casualties.
One of "our" feral cats was stalking a hen when her friends suddenly saw it. They sprinted over to see what was going on and the cat fled! We've never had a problem with cats harming the chickens but they are large breeds and don't free range as little pullets.
I have a "new" kitten that has come to visit, and seems to want to saty. He's betwenn 5-7 months, and about 4 pounds. At first. he tried to stalk the chickens, and actually went after one Silky Roo. The Roo was so surprised that he squeaked *G*. None of the many local cats has EVER gone after him. Yesterday he was eyeing a tiny roo, but the roo puffed up at him, and he halloweened at it. Seems he wants to play, not eat.
I don't trust any cat with chicks, but once they're big enough to fly well, the cats pretty much ignore them.
I did see the kit sitting on the porch, watching my big Cochin roos. He just stared at them for while. Then walked slowly over to one, sat next to him, and reached up a paw to pat the funny looking thing. Did it once more, and turned around and came inside. Apparently not much fun....
My blue silkie rooster was a mean SOB, so he had to go. He was mean to the girls. But my BB red bantam is adorable and perfect. He gets along great with the ladies and loves to be held if you can catch him. I love this little guy. Crows like crazy, though.
That' a beautiful little man!
Thanks! Can you believe for a while that I was trying to give him away on Craig's List for free (b/c of the incessant crowing), and that I couldn't find a taker? In fact, this is his Craig's List photo. So I decided to keep him.
Finally I have pictures of my girls. Their feathers have grown back and they are beautiful again. I haven't had time to make them all aprons but hope to do so soon so I can get a rooster (hope one of them will be broody this spring - chicks!) Normally there is some grass in their pen too but because of the drought last summer the ground is bare. The green grassy area to the left of them is the garden. They get big bunches of that grass to eat everyday along with their grain. You can see part of the fenced run going off behind them which they police for bugs and invading bermuda grass (they keep it out of the garden). There is a little chicken sized gate in the garden fence so we can let them in the garden sometimes. And of course there is a big gate where we turn them out into the main yard. They have to be supervised though or they will get into my flower beds and tear them up.
This time of year the flower beds have arugula, lettuce, collards and radishes growing in them (no bugs/pests to fight with!)
It so nice to see green!Can`t wait for us to be green,just another3 or 4 months, Nice looking buffs
This message was edited Jan 25, 2012 3:50 PM
This message was edited Jan 25, 2012 5:51 PM
Yes, here it is "winter" in Texas and it's green - after being various shades of grey and brown all spring and summer!
Lady Pearl, you have a beautiful place. Just gorgeous.
Thank you Light. We have a long way to go on this place yet....
The nice thing is, like you say Porkpal, the winter has been rather mild, and we have had rain, so it is greener now than in the summer (2011.) The last few months have been a such a relief for everything (because it isn't HOT and DRY).
Thought I would add a picture of me at the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed store in Missouri a few months ago. That way you all know who the dingbat is that got rid of her rooster before she asked the DG people what to do about the feathers getting scratched off her hens. LOL!
Oh, wow...
I am very jealous. I am also very glad that store is nowhere near me. I would need at least a wheelbarrow...
Funny, I have a Baker Creek order waiting on my computer. I have learned to give these orders at least 24 hours before I send it. That way I don't have to re-order when I remember the other things I must have. At least not for a while :)
Ladypearl, you don't look like a dingbat. You can't help what you did before you found Dave's.......
You are better now.
You are a beautiful woman, LadyPearl and wise too.
If I had more energy I'd do more gardening. The heirloom seed are the only way to go. Maybe, God willing, I will be able to do something this spring. I want to SO badly, even if it is just some carrots and onions or something simple like that. Of course it would help if I could disconnect myself, at least a few hours a day, from this computer. :D
I was thinking yesterday, isn't this about the time of year to start planting seed in the house? I should do that. I have a couple of grow lights, I should plant some tomato seeds and put the lights over them. That isn't too difficult to do.
Thanks ya'll, you're sweet.
When we went to the register at Baker Creek that day, and my husband saw how many seed packets I had, he told me to put them on the counter and go to the car. He is so funny, he didn't want me to see how much it was going to cost. And he never did tell me. But we don't go to Missouri very often so he told me when we went in to pick out what I want, and I did! Although I'm like you Catmad, I would liked to have one of everything!!! But then I would have had to sell our first born LOL!
Yep, Light, tomatoes usually are pretty easy to grow if the weather/rain cooperate. But gardening can be addictive you know. And now that they (Mansanto/Dow) are trying to get the spraying of crops with that herbicide that is related to Agent Orange approved, it makes you want to grow your own food even more. It's bad enough that so many crops are Round Up ready and it (the glycophosphates from Round UP) is being found in ground water. (The weeds are becoming resistant to RU so they have to go to something stronger.) You probably already know all that though.
OT; LfJ, if you just want a few 'mater plants and such, but don't want all the heavy work of a traditional garden, wander on over to the Strawbale Gardening Forum. I started that several years ago, and it's the best thing I ever did....
Catmad, how much do you pay for a bale of straw there in SC?
Last load was $2.50 each, instead of $3, because they'd been partially rained on. Ask for old or "wet" bales, they're often cheaper, and perfect for gardening. Truth is, I use hay to grow in, but most people use straw, I think.
Hay for the cows in $3.00 per two string square bales, $30 for the big round ones.
At the moment, due to the drought, poor, stemmy round bales for cows can be $140 here...
Wow. Several years ago, ours got to $80, and I had to re-home most of mine.
That really sucks....
Here in the panhandle of Texas, a large round bale is going for $120. Last year it was $60. Many if the farmers and ranchers are just unloading their entire herds at the auctions. They just cannot afford to feed them.
Our extension service recommended selling out when the drought was obviously going to be severe (actually rated "exceptional"). Cattle prices were good so many ranchers did. The breeders of purebred stock moved them out of state if they could. Some predictions are for the drought to continue until 2020. I sure hope they are wrong! So far I am holding onto my cows and recent rains have been encouraging. We'll see...