Bird Harness for my Conures

[Aphios]

I need help finding a good harness for my Sun and Green Cheek Conures. I have looked into the aviator harness Aviator Harness: The Safest and Easiest Bird Leash Ever Made! and would love input before purchasing.

Thanks!

 

[ruffledfeathers]

The aviator is our favorite, but some people do better with others for various reasons. I only tried the aviator and a flight suit. The aviator has less to it, and my bird finds that easier to wear. I somehow feel like it is a little more secure and escape proof, but nothing is 100% (whatever you get, you will need to regularly inspect it before using or the bird truly can break free.)
Any harness will require some training too. They don't often take to them immediately. My bird was fairly easy but i started him with it when he was about 8 months old and he is a super chilled out bird in general.

 

[Peeko]

Most people recommend the Aviator, but I personally use Avian Fashions' "Flight Suit" for my green cheek and have never had problems with it, other than him not liking it at all. I'm told it takes a long time and a lot of training/conditioning and desensitizing for them to learn to accept to wear a harness/flight suit of any kind and that's definitely proving true with my little guy.

 

[MangieSun]

I have both the flight suit and aviator for Jasper. For him he prefers the flightsuit. On my conure though, I don't think she would tolerate either. I can imagine a fit of screaming and biting if I even presented it to her now. She just doesn't have the excepting personality that my cockatoo does.

 

[Aphios]

Thanks so much for all your quick replies. How much training and to what level of tame do I need my birds to be to put a harness on? They are both over a year old and neither will really let me pet them, they will step up and are very freindly though, and my gcc will tolerate some handling. Is there an online site that help me warm up my birds to petting without getting my finger chomped off and without taking years?

 

[SoCalWendy]

I tried the aviator, had to cut it off in 3 places, and I received a nasty bite to boot. I just purchased the flight suit (received it yesterday) I am introducing it to Rio slowly. I have used the flight suit with my Myers and even a parrotlet. It worked out fine. So we will see with Rio. If this doesn't work I don't know what I will do, either keep her clipped or she will have to go out with me in a carrier. Right now she is clipped.

 

[Peeko]

Thanks so much for all your quick replies. How much training and to what level of tame do I need my birds to be to put a harness on? They are both over a year old and neither will really let me pet them, they will step up and are very freindly though, and my gcc will tolerate some handling. Is there an online site that help me warm up my birds to petting without getting my finger chomped off and without taking years?

If they don't tolerate petting and handling, it may be difficult to wrestle them into a harness, maybe even damaging to your relationship with them. I've heard of some parrots holding grudges and losing trust over harness training, even. Peeko might just be different, but he has never bitten me any of the times I've put his suit on him. He makes a fuss and bites the suit itself, but never me. Once its on him, he calms down and if distracted by things new and stimulating (like going outside), he almost forgets that he has the suit on at all, otherwise he chews on it while its on him. I'm afraid I cant help with advice on how to get your birds to tolerate being petted and handled because I've never had problems with it myself, but I'm sure other people will chime in and help!

 

[Dinosrawr]

Avery is one, and I've had her for nearly 10 of those 12 months. I purchased a Flight Harness for her 8 months ago, and we're just getting comfortable with it going over her head. When she first saw it, she absolutely flipped! It terrified her.

So, after lots of patience and continuous exposure and positive reinforcement, here we are today! Some birds immediately take to the harness, but are often birds that like being handled. I do personally believe that once a parrot recognizes that flight harness/flight suit = flying outside, they really begin to tolerate it and appreciate it because of the association. Every time Avery is exposed to her harness, she knows she gets treats and lots of love, so I'm hoping once it's on all the way she'll love it even more. Here's my take:

1.) Positive exposure - every time your bird sees the harness, it needs to be POSITIVE. Treats, happy voices, lots of love, favourite foods, etc. This is often slow, because birds are afraid of the unknown. Just try to make sure you don't allow the birds to chew on the harness during exposure, otherwise they may learn that chewing it is okay. Don't underestimate the chewing power of any parrot. Eventually she let me lay it over her back, and every time she did I would give her lots of kisses and a great reward.

2.) Comfort in touching - your birds need to be okay with you touching their wings, touching their head, and closing their eyes. I began training with my hand and a hair band. With my hands I would touch Avery's wings for three seconds (and count out loud) and give her a reward after she tolerated it. If she didn't, I wouldn't force it but I wouldn't reward her either. I started lightly lifting her wings, and the longer she tolerated it the bigger and better the treat. As for her eyes/head, that's where the headband came in. I would ask her to touch her chopstick for target training through the hairband. Started far away and moved closer and closer until eventually she had to put her head all the way through. After she was comfortable with that, I would "drop" it on her and reward her when she tolerated it. Now we can do that with the harness.

I NEVER force it on her, ever. I don't want to damage our bond by MY desire to take her outside. Avery doesn't understand that I want her comfortable with it so she can fly, and she never will until we get to to that point. It may take a few months, it may take years. Every parrot is different.

 

[Aphios]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply! I wil keep what you said in mind as I work with my birds.

 

[kagan1042]

We have the aviator and I've used with all my previous birds. None of them liked the flight suit type ones, or the cheapy ebay ones.

They MUST be ok with you touching them, moving their wings, things going over and around their head.

Verde has only been home a week tomorrow but we've already started harness training. With the help of sunflower seeds and fun high pitched voices and scritchies; and best of all - when harness is on we go OUTSIDE!!, we've managed to put onto her head and under wings. haven't tried to moved the loops around and adjust or tighten yet.

With just a mere week of "training" she lifts both wings for me when I ask and lightly scratch under one wing. and the treat helps getting it over her head - she doesn't flick or head or follow it lol.

Next up is realising the bottom part is not to stand on

 

[NiRD]

Also love the Aviator. Unlike other popular harnesses, including the flight suit, they cannot escape the Aviator. I use a flight suit for a diaper, but it is dangerous and useless for a flighted bird to use the leash function.

 

[MamaFuzz]

If you get the Aviator make sure you get the right size. I ordered mine from Amazon and it turns out the reviews citing they got the wrong size harness even though they ordered the right size and the box said they got what they ordered. I ordered a petite for my green cheek and a x-small for my Senegal. The petite was larger than the x-small. Luckily it worked out that I just switched which harness the birds would be using. Not sure if you would have the same problem getting it from somewhere else but at least you won't toss the packaging so you can return it if needed. Otherwise you'd just have to get bigger bird to fit the harness.

 

[Frumpydumple]

I don't really like the Aviator harness because its very thin and you can't remove it easily if the bird panics. I had one for my GCC and I had to cut it off because it was stuck on her wing and she nearly dislocated it. She also nearly chewed through it many times. I prefer harnesses that are easier to remove personally. And yeah she is OK with me holding her, putting things over her head and stretching her wings out, but she still got the harness stuck.

 

[RavensGryf]

I like the Aviator. I personally haven't had a problem with it. None of my birds will wear one, but I had a bird 7-8 years ago who despite that she didn't like being touched, she let me put the harness on, and took right to it. On the other hand, my cuddliest most handleable bird will totally flip out at the sight of it. They're all so different.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

What a lot of others mentioned about the basic training to be handled is important. I used the DVD with the aviator and we did the exercises on it (hold up wing, count out loud to three, then release, other wing, count to three, release). After a while I switched it up to "do eyes" for when I put it over his head and "do wings" when I am going to handle the wings, just kind of a heads up for him to be ready to be touched on the head and wings.
And it takes a tiny bit of practice to be able to put the harness on and off with the least fuss from the bird. I was fumbling in the beginning and he would squawk when I was removing it but I found techniques that worked better. (open the buckle all the way to have the most free fabric and the wing fits through easier, and get the front of the collar part up around the bottom of the beak and then swoosh the whole thing up from the back of the head.)

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Hey I forgot to get a video when we put the harness on today but I got one with my phone as we were taking it off. It's our little demo. [ame=http://youtu.be/dn4opChNmms]Gilbert removing aviator harness - YouTube[/ame]