My Continued Adventures With Pea Fowl

My eldest daughter raises pea fowl.  She has been working toward getting a specific color for a long time and finally got that one elusive bird this spring in Artemis.  

I hope I get this correct, she is a purple, black shoulder pied female pea hen. 

 PHEW!  

She was being picked on in the barn and got ill so daughter took her to the peacock vet 

(yes there is such a thing)

They fixed her up but while being treated she had to stay in the house.  

Now it is COLD in MI and Artemis has not been outside long enough to develop her winter feathers so she will be staying inside for the winter.  

As you can imagine this presents some issues, especially bathroom issues.  

So...mom and her diaper making skills to the rescue!  

This is not my first time either.

I have made them for Gizmo, Beep and Stan in the past.  

Gizmo and Beep have passed and Stan lives in the barn.  

I know she really misses Gizmo and Beep so I won't be surprised if she keeps Artemis in the house.  She cleaned out Beep's bedroom so things are trending toward that.  

She has not been able to make herself clean out that room since we lost Beep.  

You can read about that here if you are interested. 

 If you want to read about Gizmo you can do so here.  

There are many stories about them in addition to these if you search my blog. 

I digress.  

Last night she came over and brought Artemis.  

She is a beautiful bird and very well behaved (unlike Beep).  

She doesn't try to peck you in the eye or eat your shiny bits and bobs.  

She even knows her name!

So the mission last night was to make a new diaper.  

My daughter chose a Philip Jacobs print and I set to work.  

(pretty proud that I centered those swirls on both sides)

I had a pattern I made last time I made a diaper for Beep so used that as a guide.  

Each bird is particular, like we are, so each diaper must be made to fit that bird.  

I made the pouch part pretty easily with a few adjustments then we had to try it on her to make sure where all the straps would connect.  

Artemis was a trooper with the on again off again nonsense.

This is the finished diaper.  

A plastic bag gets placed in the pouch and the pouch covers the cloaca to catch the waste.  

We started using velcro and that was MUCH easier then the safety pins she used to use with Gizmo.

This is my daughter putting it on her.

You can see the back part here.

The pouch connects to the back as does the harness that goes over her head and around her chest.

The harness is sewn to the back part, while the pouch straps connect with Velcro.

Everything fit well and they were ready to head home.

Exciting times at my house last night!  

I am hoping to settle down and work on my baby quilt commitments tonight or at least this weekend.

Do you have any exciting plans for the weekend?

~XOP~