Soft collar recommendations?

[cerva0530]

TL;DR : I would like purchase recommendations for soft collars for lovebirds. Or, recommendations for making one. As well as advice for managing plucking, especially from other lovebird owners with experience.

Hi all, my sweet girl Beau has been struggling with feather plucking for a few years now, since 2020. I wasn’t able to bring her to a vet to properly address it because I got my lovies when I was a minor, and getting my parents to spend any money on them was like pulling teeth.

Regardless, because she’s been suffering with plucking for so long, I’m afraid it’s now become habit. Especially because it’s devolved into mutilation. About a month ago, I came home from class to find Beau covered in her own blood, perched next to Bean. She’d bit through the skin in her armpit area, and thanks to some bird first aid I was able to stop the bleeding and patch her up until I could take her to the vet. They gave her oral antibiotics and pain medication, as well as silver sulfadiazine cream for her arm(wing?)pit area. They also gave her Lupron, and it did mellow her out but it didn’t stop her biting her own skin. There was a few other tests done on this visit that I’ve not yet touched on as well- I’d be here all day!

I took her back to the vet two weeks after, and although she was healing, she hadn’t stopped picking at it. So, the vet advised me to get her a soft collar for an additional three weeks. I got the Jr. Size poncho from FeatherWearShop ( Jr. Size Poncho {Sizes 2,4 & 5} )

It’s been about five days, and she absolutely hates it. She just tries and tries to remove the collar, tires herself out, naps, and then begins to try again. When in her cage, she just sits in the corner and sleeps or shoves her face into one of her toys when she’s not trying to take the collar off I hate to see her like this. I trimmed a little bit off the end to help her not trip on it anymore, but still.

It didn’t take her very long to snap the bead in half, and I removed the little adjuster string out of fear of her getting it caught on something. Not to mention, she’s already managed to really fray and bite through some of the Velcro, which means I’m constantly having to adjust it so she can’t reach her plucking areas.

I’ve heard good things about Pam and her collars, as well as collars sold on Bird Supplies. However most (all, actually) of the reviews & customer photos are of larger parrots. Are there any small parrot owners with experience with their collars who could give some insight? And, much love to cockatiels and conures, but when I say small I do mean lovies and budgies I’ve realized it’s harder to find collars for sale for small parrots.

I found one on Etsy with many positive reviews from lovebird owners, and may try that out. But I wanted to ask for any of your experiences with these companies or with making your own collars. Thank you so much in advance and I apologize for such a long post!

 

[Zara]

I made my own. They are super easy to do. The important thing is getting the "head hole" the right size.
I had bought one before this for another of my birds, who wasn't using it at the time because he had chewed through it. And my Nube had an injury back earlier in the year, and toward the end of the healing process I was allowing him to be collar free for short periods during the day then collaring him for bedtime, and the plastic collar was a nightmare to put on and off, so I bought some felt and made a collar using the other one as a guide.

For any lurkers, these measurements are for a PEACHFACED LOVEBIRD. Even with other species of lovebirds, these measurements may need adjusting.

The head hole is 1.5cm diameter - when flat. When you create the collar, it creates the cone shape and makes the hole a little smaller. So don't cut it smaller than 1.5.
Get some felt or fleece.
You cut two pineapple rings. My recent one was 6.5cm diameter for the outer circle, but you can cut it longer if you want to cover more body. Each donut shaped ring, has a little piece missing that you glue a little off centre from each other so that when they over lap, they line up and pull the discs in to make a cone shape.

I know that sounds incredibly confusing, but I will add some pictures to hopefully help!

These are my collars, the plastic elizabethan is from the vet. Top one is the one my Jaime knackered and I made the one to the left,


Hopefully here you can see the chunk that is missing from the ring, the other side is turned a little so they will overlap and pull to make the cone;
You can use a pop button, or simply sew a button on and cut a slot in the other side, whatever you have


A little doodle to help;
Cut these twice, exactly the same

 

[Zara]

To add, I know that 1.5cm seems frightening, but it should be ok. You will know when you put it on. You should be able to turn it. If you feel it is too tight, don't close it, remove and trim it. But this was fine for two different peachfaced lovebirds.

 

[cerva0530]

Thank you so much!!! Genuinely a lifesaver because she figured out how to take it off like… not even ten minutes ago
Any adhesive recommendations?

 

[Zara]

Any adhesive recommendations?

To glue the rings together? I used a hot gue gun. You could sew them together either with a machine or by hand.
If you use glue like me, be careful not to use too much so the glue is hidden inside and does not spill out at all. Give a revision to the collar daily to be sure there's no nibbles exposing any glue (or other damage).

she figured out how to take it off

The one in the link has a drawstring to pull tight around the neck, I am not sure I like it. Just seems a bit dangerous to me, and you said you took the string out? so now there's a loose neckline, I think it is inevitable that she would manage to get it off in the end.

Please do let me know how you get on! The trick will be playing around making a few different types, seeing what works best, or what you have available to you. Either way, making your own collar for small birds is cheaper than buying one, and you will be able to replace them when they are damaged immediately.