Dancing Hens

Backyard Poultry

New Saddles

This is such a funny picture! I took it right after we finished putting the saddles on. Cherry, the Rhode Island Red, seems to be helping Midnight out with her saddle! I read, in the same book where I found the saddle pattern,

Your hen may do unusual dances trying to get the saddle off her back.
Please respect your hen’s dignity and do not laugh at her.

I thought, "How could you really laugh that much at a chicken?" but now I understood! Some of the hens went wild trying to 1) get really short to get out from under their saddles, 2) throw them off with excessive wing flapping (which sometimes was successful), or 3) rip the elastic in two by with their beaks. All the chickens below are trying one of those methods. I don’t blame them, they weren’t used to wearing “dresses” (as some of our neighbors have called them!).

Red Saddle, Blue Saddle