Chicken Aprons

I'm really not crazy..at least I don't think so...but I seem to do a lot of questionable things, like attempt to put aprons on my chickens.  No, I'm not one of those people who dress up their animals.  I don't judge.  If it's your thing, that's fine.  But it's not my thing...and it's clearly not my chickens' desire to don clothing.  

So, let me be more specific.  My chickens (all girls) have taken to (literally) picking on each other.  A few of them are pretty bald on their backsides.  When this happens, unless the chickens get bored of the activity, they tend to keep at it.  A chicken's tender skin is quite red from the irritation and chickens LOVE to peck at red things.  What to do?  I've read that chicken aprons (or saddles) will help.  To show you what I'm talking about, I could go take a bunch of pictures of my own birds, or you could look at this one from another blogger:

Pat, at Corn in My Coffee Pot, does an excellent job of showing you the same issue that I'm having with my birds.  This is one of  Pat's photos of her chicken, Ethel.  "Don't look Ethel..."  (Sorry.  Couldn't help it.)

Anyway, I've tried my hand at three fittings now.  I've failed each time.  At tonight's fitting, I took the girls some bread to lull them into a sense of security before I grabbed one and accosted her with the third revision of my apron.  Too small...after the first two were too big.  Ugh!  (Back to the sewing room, I guess.)  After I let the angry bird go, I noticed that I was pretty well covered in chicken poop.  That's alright.  The inside of my washing machine has seen far nastier things, I assure you.  One last check of the nesting boxes yielded me one final egg for the day, which I quickly tucked into the pocket of my poop covered pink John Deere jacket.  I threw the girls some meal worms as a reward for putting up with me and headed inside.  Not wanting to wear poop covered clothes through the house, as soon as I got inside the door, I took the offensive jacket off and chucked it downstairs because that's where my washing machine is located.  Then I remembered the egg.

*UPDATE*
After my hubby got home last night, he held Bully (yes, that's the name of this bird) and I managed to get the apron on her.  She seems very happy today and maybe the other birds will take the peace signs as a message.  Now to make a few more aprons for the other naked chickens...