Aviator harness?

[Tay2000]

Ok, so I am looking into buying an aviator harnes to possibly take my bird out side DAILY as we live on property. But what I was wondering is if anyone has had their bird harness trained, and if so, was it difficult? I know alexandrine arent very touchy feely, so I was curious as to how this concept would work? Thanks in advance

 

[Dinosrawr]

Hey Tay!

There's been lots of discussion on the aviator harness, so I suggest doing a search and reading those forums for lots of feedback info and views on the harness. There's no guarantee your bird will either love or hate the harness, and while a lot of it does come down to training there's no promise that a bird will like the harness despite being a hands-on bird. Generally, a bird that is comfortable with being touched all over, is well exposed, and has a very adventurous personality would very much so enjoy harnesses!

But it can take a LOT of training and preparation, or very little. It all depends on the bird and how much time you're willing to put into harness training every day. I would first work with getting your bird used to being handled enough to put the harness on (touching over the head, extending the wings, touching the chest, having them close their eyes), and then work on getting the bird used to being touched and being around the harness. Then, you can move onto trying to put it on.

 

[SoCalWendy]

My bird happens to be one of those that hates the harness. I tried the aviator, she freaked, and I had to cut it off of her. I bought a new harness / flight suit, she hates that one too. I can't even get it near her without her attacking it. So, unless her wings are clipped she stays inside a cage when outside.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Rosie my galah cockatoo uses a aviator harness, it's a fantastic thing to have! I love the safety the harness offers when taking birds outdoors. Rosie is well adjusted to the harness, I didn't train her well with the original harness I used (feather tether, not recommended) and it took a long time to get her out of the habit of grabbed the collar as I try to out it on.

In comparison I wouldn't be able to harness train Kenji right now, it would do is scare him. It's best to be able to touch your bird all over before attempting to harness train them so they trust you.

 

[khaiqha]

I haven't seen too many people with Alexandrines that are willing to wear a harness. Mine hates the harness. In the beginning I was able to train him to put his head through the loop just fine. I did this for three weeks without any issues. One day when his head was through the loop (but the rest of harness wasn't fully attached) he got bored and flew off, resulting in an massive tangle where I had to cut it off him.

Since then he hates the harness. In desperation I even forced it on him just to see how he would like the outside (I don't recommend doing this). He did like going outside, playing on trees, seeing new things, but he was still fixated on the harness and kept trying to chew it off.

Now I just use a Bird Pak to take him out. He loves going out, isn't scared of new people that look at him (because he's safely in the Bird Pak), I give him treats, it's a win for both of us.

 

[Mattroma]

My macaw hates the harness, I can't get anywhere near him with it. He starts lunging looking to kill. I even tried hanging on his cage, he cowers in the back of his cage, until he sneaks over rips it down.

 

[amjokai]

My drogo (eclectus) was about 5 months old when I started putting an aviator on. He is clipped but clipped birds also fly away so it gives me a little bit more piece of mind. He doesn't mind it so much but I did get a few war wounds when trying to train him to not mind me putting it on him.... it took about two months before he decided to allow me to put it on and take it off without biting me. there were also a ton of sunflower seeds eaten lol.... He is a pretty mild mannered bird, and i can touch him anywhere.... I am working on training him to wear the flight suit, hopefully that will work also soon. My daughter just got a cockatiel, and i will have to help her to harness train her so that we can take her places, she is 4 months old now, i am hoping she will accept the flight suit and harness also, hopefully with less fight than drogo did, but drogo's beak can do much more damage than the tiel lol....

 

[amjokai]

Any bird we get in the future will be bought from a breeder willing to start putting flight suits and aviators on them daily from before they can walk..... and if I were to ever decide to breed, all of my babies will be harness and flight suit trained before they leave me. It is just so much more convenient to be able to harness them easily.

Drogo also has a pak o bird, I put him in the pak o bird for the car ride, then take him out while still in the car, put his aviator over his neck, and under his wings, then walk around outside while tightening it so he is distracted while i am adjusting the tightness, that is when i usually get bit. Then I pull the excess through the first part of the buckle to loosen it (it makes a big loop), once in the car, i pull it all the way through and quickly let one wing at a time loose, sometimes i get growled at when i am trying to move it to get the other wing loose..... then over the head..... and he goes back in the pak o bird for the drive then if we are home he just goes inside but if we are going to another store or something the aviator goes back on.... I never allow him to ride in a carrier with his aviator on because i am terrified he will get caught in it and strangle himself.... It is much easier as he gets more and more used to having me take the aviator off and put back on...... it was not easy the first month or so and i have scars and bled a lot...... i would distract him with sunflower seeds when i was training him to let me put it on him.....

 

[echoskybound]

I've been trying forever to get my conure comfortable with the Aviator, lol. He panics when his head goes through the neck loop. I've been target training with him for months just trying to coax him to put his head through. I'll see where it goes!

 

[Frumpydumple]

My Blue Crowned Conure enjoys wearing his Aviator harness, but he enjoys being touched all over anyway, so it wasn't a problem to get it on him. Since Alexandrines generally don't like being touched, it would be more difficult to get one to wear a harness, but I have seen a few Alexandrines wearing one without any problems.

I did try my Green Cheek Conure with the Aviator once, but she got stuck in it and I had to cut it off of her, but only because I scared her by forcing it on her.

If you slowly train your bird using positive reinforcement to wear a harness you shouldn't have a problem. It is also easier if the bird is still young (less than a year). It is worth trying to get your bird to wear a harness because it really improves their life and it means you can take them out freely without clipping their wings.