Home Made Happy Hut or Budgie House
Today I was left to baby-sit a freshly washed white baby budgie (It wasn’t me who washed it!!). It was the coldest day so far this year, so to keep it warm and get it dry it sat for hours inside my jumper against my skin. When it was finally dry I let it sit on my desk. I was mortified when it lay on its side and went to sleep.
Tired of being a budgie mum I put it back into its cage but it was in a cold room – no one else at home and I wasn’t turning on the air conditioner for a bird and I wasn’t wheeling the cage into the study so I decided to make it a budgie house.
There is a lot of controversy over these houses, many saying that they encourage females to nest and that the birds can get caught in them or eat them and injest fur. This bird is male and as yet doesn’t chew anything – it is also very cold at the moment and budgies live in flocks in the warmer parts of the country. It needed a home!
This took very little time, used materials that I had around and looks good. Sizes are very approximate:
Materials
- 1 piece of polar fleece 70cm x 18cm
- 1 piece of wadding or thin foam 35cm x 18cm
- 1 piece of plastic cut from the lid of an ice cream container 10cm x 13cm
Construction
1. Lay out the polar fleece in half, right sides together, put the foam on top. Sew through all three layers down both sides. It is easier if the foam is put down against the bed of the machine.
2. Turn right side out and sew down both sides and across the folded end (just to keep the foam in place).
3. Sew across the body about 1/3 of the way down the fabric (about 10cm). Insert the cut plastic, and stitch beside the plastic to hold it in place.
4. Edge the open end of the fabric, turn it inside out (the padded side of the plastic is the inside) and sew the ends together. Turn the right way.
5. Sew on two rings and attach cord so it can be tied to the roof of the cage.