Finished Ponchos

I made 2 and finished them both. These can be done in a matter of minutes.

How To Make a Poncho For a Plucking Parrot: A Step By Step Guide with Pictures

The first is to buy your things. You will need:

• fleece - You can buy remnants from Walmart or any fabric store. Use fleece because it will hold up to lots of pulling and tugging from your parrot.
• toddler socks - Depending on the size of your parrot. Mine is a Nanday Conure, one of the larger conures so toddler or young child socks work best. For a smaller bird such as a lovebird, infant socks should work fine. 
• embellishments - Buttons, felt,beads, feathers...something big enough that they can pick at but not harm themselves if they get it off. 

Next, take your piece of fleece and fold it in half, like so...

Remember, my bird is a Nanday Conure, so I am using a piece of fleece that when folded measures 5 inches by 5 inches.

Then, you're going to make a neck hole in your fleece. An easy way to do this is to fold it in half again and cut the corner of the fold. Like this...

Perfect neck hole.

Now, if I was making a night time poncho I would stop there. Sisco will pull and tug at the turtleneck part and make it unravel. The poncho we're making is to be used during the daytime, preferably during supervision. I have yet to find a sock that won't unravel...

Anyway, next comes the sock part. You're going to cut the cuff part of the sock off for the turtleneck. More of the sock you cut, more of the sock is left exposed for unraveling... So, just try to cut as close to the cuff as possible. 

Next, we're going to sew the sock cuff into the neck hole. We're going to make knots as we sew so that with one tug, the thread doesn't pull on the neck hole and strangle your baby. Make tiny stitches because we don't want the stitches to irritate her delicate skin.

When you have sewn completely around, tie off under the sock cuff on the inside of the poncho. Again, we don't want that knot to irritate her skin.

Next, trim, if needed and embellish! Have fun and get creative. Think preening fun :)

More About Sisco

I found the cutest buttons at Walmart while grocery shopping and decided to buy them to use on some of Sisco's ponchos. These buttons are lightweight and made of felt. So cute!!

The one with the little collar is for day time and the one without the collar is for night time. The reason for that is because she will pick at the collar and make it unravel.

Life

Sometimes the only thing keeping me on this planet is that little green ball of feathers, asleep in the next room.

Two years have gone by

In just a few days it will be 2 years since I lost my Baby Joey.

June use to be such a happy month with lots of occasions and events to celebrate. Last day of school, my birthday, Peanut's birthday, Kiwi's homecoming, my son's birthday, and my wedding anniversary. I remember when I was little, my birthday and the last day of school coincided with each other. Even though that only happened once, it was still pretty cool!

Now most of that is overshadowed by one event. One event that I won't ever forget - the day Baby Joey flew away from me into the trees. It was an accident, but I will never forget that last sight of him as he rounded the corner of the camper and up, up, up. My heart broke that day and has yet to be repaired.

To this day, I can still hear his little voice, in my birds here at home and the birds outside.

I hope where ever you are, my sweet baby, that you are safe and loved as much as I loved you and took care of you. You were one special birdie that will live forever in my heart. I will love you forever and always. 

***Please, let our mistake teach you not to take your birds outside without some sort of restraint, preferably a carrier or a harness. Baby Joey wasn't outside when he flew away. He was, or so we thought, safely tucked away in our camper, only to be swept away by one careless mistake - an open door. Clipping a bird's wings does not mean that your bird can't or won't fly away. Neither does an overly bonded bird. A small bird can easily get lift off on a windy day. There are thousands of both small and big birds reported lost on the internet every year. Don't let one of them be yours.

Happy Birthday to my awesome little man!

In 2 days, June 20th, my sweet baby boy will be 5 years old! Gosh, I don't know where the time went. It seems just like yesterday that I brought him home. We learned so much together, I learned not to stress out over his stages while he learned how to trust me. I treasure our times that we spend together, but especially our night time snuggles. Those night time snuggles are the best time of the day for me! I look forward to those because it is just me and my baby, I relax and let the world take care of itself. He is the light of my life. My Peanut!

Sisco Sissy Sissybug or Sis

Whatever you want to call her. She's my nekid Nanday Conure whom I love with unconditional love. I have to, she's nekid and I don't think that'll change any time soon. I have been trying new things out to see if I can get her to at least lessen up on the plucking. The other night I heard what sounded like a painful scream but since she is normally making some sort of noise, I didn't really think much of it. The next morning there was dried blood on the bottom of her cage and she has a sore under her leg. I don't want to put a collar on her, it won't change the fact that she plucks. I want to trade her bad habit of plucking to something better.

The changes that I am making:
Soaking bathes at least once a day.
Outside time if weather permits.
An occasional outing with me.
An occasional walk.
More veggies and fruit.
Different ponchos to deter plucking but to encourage playing as well.

She also gets my undivided attention at least 2 times a day. We sit and snuggle and she normally falls asleep on me. Once in the morning and once in the evening. Sometimes, if I'm not running errands or doing some work we will sit in the afternoon and she'll take an afternoon nap. If I'm not holding her, she doesn't nap.

Today she is playing with toys!! What's different today than any other day? Well, I am home and the curtains are closed. Nothing else is different. I don't get it.

I have to modify her poncho a little because it is too loose around the neck. She is able to get to her shoulders with this one on. She has plain ponchos for night time just in case anyone was concerned about her getting a bead stuck in her beak or something...