Harness for Oliver!

[drlisaort]

After reading several posts warning our beloved parrots can fly away when taken outside I am afraid to let Oliver "sunbathe" for 15 minutes a few times a week. I used to sit out on the patio and let him rest on his basket but now I'm not so sure this is a good idea. Does anybody use a harness for their Eclectus? And if so, what size and brand did you order? Oliver is now 11 months old, very well behaved, and a total love to be around. If he took off I'd freak.

Also, I love bike riding and power walking in the morning. It would be very nice for Oliver to get out and accompany me but I'm not sure how to do this. I saw a couple with their birds on their bikes but I couldn't get close enough to figure out how they were doing this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[brianlinkles]

Is Oliver fully flighted? If so, yes you are taking a big risk by letting him outside without a harness. I would recommend the aviator harness, this is the best harness I have found. I have been using it very successfully with my rb2. It comes with a great dvd which explains everything really well.

 

[mtdoramike]

Well, not only flying away, but also you must keep a close eye on your bird when out doors especially in Florida. Snakes are a huge problem for me as it seems they can sense when a bird is around. Also hawks are another problem. So even on a harness, a hawk can grab your bird and be gone in a split second or less.

 

[mtdoramike]

Also, even if your bird is clipped, they can still fly a certain distance. If not then they could drop like a rock and hurt themselves after a clipping.

 

[drlisaort]

Oliver is clipped, to my regret, but I'm too afraid not to living in Florida and going in and out of our home regularly year-round and he is always out of his cage when I'm home. I never ever leave him outside too long and I am always with him.

 

[ShellyBorg]

Take a look at leathers4feathers.com I have two and I will be ordering more. vary easy on and off. Not great for flights but perfect for walks.

 

[dulphinz]

I have the aviator harness I got at mysafebirdstore.com. I believe it's small...not positive but the website tells you which one is good for Eclectus. My boy will be 1 this week and I've brought him out 2-3 times with the harness so far and it's worked well. Not sure how you'd bring him on the bike, maybe if you had a basket you could put him in with the harness on. Good luck

 

[drlisaort]

Thank you for all of the suggestions!!!! I think it would be so much fun to have Oliver with me on my walks. I did see somewhere a backpack made for hiking with your bird--had a screen at the front. But Oliver would probably chew his way out of it...and not seeing him behind me would bother me.