When I was collecting fabrics for my chicken quilts I made sure to find some fabrics that read "solid" to use for backgrounds. Chicken wire fabric in tan, light blue or black and white is great. I also found a shirting (I think it may have been by Judie Rothermel who does a lot of CW fabrics) that had little tiny chickens on it.
I also bought several panels that had chicken blocks on them. They are fun to fussy cut and use in the center of a star block, for example. Smaller ones also make great little filler blocks.
When you are making blocks, some of your chickens will face the left and others will face right. I try to also have some chickens that are facing the front-like they are looking at you. They are harder to find, but balance the quilt better.
Just some advice (my two cents worth).....you can all take it or leave it-it won't hurt my feelings!!
Here is a shirting background fabric
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Three little chickens that I fussy cut and used to fill a space.
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Here is an example where I used a chicken I cut from a panel in the center of my star block
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