TURNER — Beverly Cameron spends six hours a day sewing duck diapers and chicken aprons.

Beverly Cameron and her daughter, Karrie Berry, of Turner run the Etsy shop BoNanas Pet Boutique, making duck diapers, chicken aprons and bow ties for ducks. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Really. Duck diapers and chicken aprons.

“Actually, the chickens kind of saved my sanity,” Cameron said. “I didn’t know what I was going to do after I retired. Now I keep quite busy.”

Busy, as in more than 1,600 orders and counting on Etsy.

It started a little more than years ago, when Cameron’s daughter, Karrie Berry, asked if she could try sewing something to give her chickens’ backs a little relief.

“Her rooster was getting a little rowdy, and on the backs of the hens feathers were being pulled out and they were getting sores on them,” Cameron said.

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Her mom had taught her to sew years before. She had not done it in a long while, but she was game.

Beverly Cameron and her daughter, Karrie Berry, of Turner run the Etsy shop BoNanas Pet Boutique, making duck diapers, chicken aprons and bow ties for ducks. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Cameron measured from the wing joints down to the tail feathers, made a pattern and affixed two elastic hoops to fit around the wings.

Berry liked them and so, seemingly, did the chickens, who walked around with them on, unfazed and sore no more.

“He gets on their back and his talons or fingernails kind of dig into the hen’s back while he’s doing his thing,” Cameron said. “With an apron on, the talons can’t go through the fabric.”

Berry gave a few to a friend, who liked them, too. Etsy felt like a natural next step.

“I told her, ‘I’ll do the labor but you have to handle everything else,'” Cameron said.

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They named the shop Bo Nana’s Pet Boutique, after her granddaughter’s nickname for her.

Beverly Cameron and her daughter, Karrie Berry, of Turner run the Etsy shop BoNanas Pet Boutique, making duck diapers, chicken aprons and bow ties for ducks. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Then came another request, this time from one of Berry’s friends: Could she try sewing a duck diaper?

“I said, ‘Well, I don’t know,'” Cameron said. “Everybody laughs about it, but it’s amazing how many people have their ducks in the house. We tweaked it and tweaked it and tried it on several different ducks and it became a hit.”

The duck diapers, which fit around their bottom and between their legs, hold a newborn baby diaper inside and take the wearer, be it duck or goose, a bit of getting used to.

“People send us pictures of their ducks and they’re in their house, they’re in their car and they’re everywhere,” Cameron said.

They tend to use daisy patterns and solid colors on the diapers, and little calico flower prints on the chicken aprons, “so they look kind of girly and country,” she said.

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They ship all over the country and take requests.

Beverly Cameron and her daughter, Karrie Berry, of Turner run the Etsy shop BoNanas Pet Boutique, making duck diapers, chicken aprons and bow ties for ducks. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

“I’ve sewn a lot of (duck) tuxedos,” Cameron said. “I had a lady that was getting married and, because of the virus, she couldn’t have the wedding she really wanted, so she was going to have one in her backyard. She got a hold of me and asked if I could do seven different bow ties. She said, ‘If I’m going to get married in my backyard, my ducks are going to be there.'”

Berry, a home health nurse, said they heard from another customer last winter looking to make a splash on her Christmas card.

“We had fun,” Berry said. “We went and picked out special material for each of the chickens, and we had 15 different aprons for her.”

It has been fun working with her mom, she said, and seeing her get excited each time an order rolls in.

“We thought chicken people were crazy, but duck people are crazier, and I can say that because I’m one of them,” Berry said. “As soon as a new pattern (is introduced), a lot of repeat customers come back.”

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