Dressing Up Chickens Part 2

Perhaps we won't have to kill the rooster after all.  

Just the thought of MAYBE having to do that has been keeping me up at night.

The "protective apron" for the hen came in the mail the other day and just as I suspected, ridiculously easy to copy.  Do I feel guilty for doing so?  Not really.  

Okay, a little.  

But still--I spent (with shipping) over $11 on the item.  I could have copied it from the little catalog photo with no problem.  What made it worth ordering one of theirs was the handy-dandy instruction sheet.  Thank goodness it explained that it's normal for the hen to walk backwards, to flop around and act generally crazy until she got used to the apron.  Without that guidance, I may have given up and decided that the hen doesn't like it or it doesn't fit her properly.  After just a few minutes, she was back to her normal self.  

Later my husband and I observed the hen and both agreed that she is actually carrying herself with more self-assuredness than ever before.  Are we imagining things?  Also, the rooster does not seem to want to mount her which is excellent and unexpected.  

This might just work!

The next day I purchased enough supplies to make 8 more which cost me a whopping $3.85.  What a bargain!  Last night I stayed up until a little after midnight and finished the homemade aprons.  They look exactly like the original one.  All I did was trace the shape, add a seam allowance, stitched around the edge but left openings for turning right side out and also for inserting the elastic pieces.  Once I turned it right side out and pinned in the elastic bits, I top-stitched around the perimeter.

Super easy.

You can see the wyandottes in the foreground are not yet wearing the apron.  Notice the bare skin showing on her lower back.  This is why.  Far back right is the "little rooster".