Franklin outside in his flightsuit pics

Hey all,

Last weekend was just beautiful and I had a chance to get our Franklin oustide with his flightsuit on!

As he's such a camera ham...he had no problem posing on various trees in our front yard.

Just had to share...

Enjoy.

Toni

And a few more....

That last one with our cockatiel "Chicken Little" he's looking at Franklin like..."OMG What has she done to you now...and Franklin's looking like "I know...DUUUDE! Help me get this thing off!"

Hahahaha!!

love Love LOVE 'em!

Toni

That is so cute! Do he try to fly away or anything? I've been thinking of getting one for my Jolene. How much was yours and what size did you get? I have a gcc too.

Oh my goodness, Franklin looks so proud of himself, lol. Beautiful photos!

Noo, Franklin isn't much of a flyer..he knows how, but he prefers to climb and run everywhere. However if he get's startled, he will fly so I use the flightsuit as a safety precaution for sure.

At avianfashions (I think that's the maker) they make a flightsuit specifically sized for Green Cheeks and that's what I bought Franklin. However, our Franklin is small, even for a green cheek (60-62gms) and this flight suit is a little big for him. I think I paid about $25.00 for it...TOTALLY worth it, but a headache teaching him to wear it.

I almost gave up, but I'm glad I didn't...he loves to go outside and go on car rides with me and this suit catches the poo's to help keep my car clean.

I also bought one for my pigeon and he wears it almost every day. I put it on him and let him fly about the house and I don't have to run around cleaning up pigeon poo's

Thanks for looking at the pic's. I love showing Franklin off

Toni

I always love Franklin's pics, and especially that sweet, little flightsuit

He does look very happy. If our birds could smile for us I know he would.

aww he looks so happy and his flight suit raises his cuteness factor by a million. XD

I'm curious about flight suits so if anyone can explain, it would be appreciated. Does your bird fly in them?, or are they there to keep your bird from flying? Is he able to fly like a kite?, like...does he get flight exercise?, and if so, how long is his leash? What do you do if he flies into a tree and gets tangled up like a kite? Just curious...

Mare Miller said:

I'm curious about flight suits so if anyone can explain, it would be appreciated. Does your bird fly in them?, or are they there to keep your bird from flying? Is he able to fly like a kite?, like...does he get flight exercise?, and if so, how long is his leash? What do you do if he flies into a tree and gets tangled up like a kite? Just curious...

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Yes, birds can fly with them on, my pigeon flies through out the house all day in his. I change out his potty pad every couple hours.

For Franklin, that little bit of weight that the flight suit, velcro and the little leash has, makes it a bit more difficult for him to fly with it on. And since he prefers to walk, run and climb everywhere, his flight muscles aren't very well developed. He's also only a year old and his flight feathers have only been with him for about 4 or 5 months now. (he was clipped when we bought him)

People use flightsuits for different reasons. I use mine so I can take my birds outside with me, and if they startle, or want to fly for what ever reason, they can only go so far away from me. Generally when they get to the end of the leash and can't get anymore forward flight, they just land.

My leashes aren't long enough for my birds to fly into a tree and get tangled up. I've heard of folks using kite string, so that they can let their birds fly a good distance in a open area, like a kite, others use some sort of a bungie cord, so that it's not such a sudden shock when your bird gets to the end of the leash.

For me, I purchased the flight suits so I can take my birds places and have the security that they can't fly away from me and loose my dearly loved babies.

Teaching your bird to accept the flight suit is often difficult and many people give up. But if you perservere, they can be a wonderful "tool" in your birdie box.

Take care,

Toni

I also forgot to mention, for you having a cockatoo...you might have quicker success teaching him to accept the flight suit and you'll find it easier to get him in it, than a smaller bird like our conure.

It's wayyyy more easier for me to "dress" my pigeon than it is to get it on little Frankie. He grips the shoulder straps with his little feet making it difficult to get them over his shoulders and pull his wings through. He's getting better each time though...



Toni

I love that last pic with Chicken Little looking all concerned for Franklin.

Rio Mom said:

I love that last pic with Chicken Little looking all concerned for Franklin.

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I knowwww, totally cracked me up! Chicken was incredibly curious, like I'd never seen before. He kept walking up behind Franklin, almost on top of Franklin and he'd tilt his head sideways and stare, his crest all straight up...then he'd pick up the leash and chew it, drop it down, pick it up, try to walk off with it.

Franklin's in his flightsuit was a source of entertainment for quite some time with Chicken.

Thanks for looking!

Toni

Great pics, and a Happy Belated Birthday to Franklin.

How did you get your bird to wear one. I have tried with mine and she extremely hates it with a passion. She sees me get the suit and she tries to fly away.

Isablahblah said:

How did you get your bird to wear one. I have tried with mine and she extremely hates it with a passion. She sees me get the suit and she tries to fly away.

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Well, Franklin wasn't the easiest to teach to wear it and he still get's upset with me initially, but once it's on and he gets to go bye-bye with me, he forgets all the drama

Anyway, when I first got it in the mail, I set it around for him to see and explore on his own...then I started playing with him with it, like play "peek-a-boo" covering him with it.

I also prepped Frankin by playing with his wings, pulling them away from his body, and yes..petting his back and rubbing and moving his feet/legs. Trying to get him comfortable with me having to "manipulate" his bodyparts to get him into it.

They day I decided to seriously get him IN his flightsuit, almost 6 months AFTER we got it, he chomped on me pretty good while trying to flutter away. I grabbed a rag and "towled" him to get it on and once it was on, he was all confused, but I hurried up and took him bye-bye in the car so he could associate "flightsuit" with "bye-bye" Of course, I praised him like no other the whole time I was getting him in it.

It's gotten easier ever since because Franklin absolutely LOVES to go out side and bye-bye. I don't have to use a rag to get him in it anymore. It's mostly difficult to get on him because he's so tiny. I can "dress" my pigeon - no problem - but little Franklin can grab ahold of that flightsuit with his little talons and NOT LET GO! And then, because he's so tiny, I'm always afraid of hurting him.

I have to say, I wouldn't recommend flightsuit training if you have a new bird, you definitely want to build a solid trusting relationship first. You can definitely loose some trust in your relationship of you don't take it nice and slow.

With Franklin, I had been exposing him to all kinds of other elements BEFORE the flightsuit so he could learn to trust that I wasn't going to hurt him.

It's amazing some of the things that will initially freak out a bird. One day, I was at the computer with him, he was being incredibly annoying, wanting to pluck the keys off the keyboard while I was trying to type. I kept picking him up and putting him on the back of my chair, and he'd hurry back to my keyboard, attack my fingers - for how dare they interrupt his destruction process.... So I took a clear ballpoint pen cap and offered it to him to destroy. HE FLIPPED OUT!! He squawked and took off running, then fluttered to the floor.

At first I thought I just startled him and didn't associate his behavior with the pen cap. I tossed the pen cap on the back of my chair, picked up Franklin and was going to put him on the back of the chair to play with the pen cap and he saw it, started shaking, gripped my finger so tight I thought he was going to draw blood!

All that over a PEN CAP! ROFLOLOLOL!!!!

It definitely distracted him from destroying my keyboard, but not in the way I had intended!

Flightsuits aren't for everyone, but if you do decide to try it, just take it slowwwwwww...and make sure you have a very good overall relationship with your bird making sure you can touch him/her most everywhere.

That's extremely important...if you can only touch your birds head and you expect him to wear a flight suit, you've got some work cut out for you. But if you are like me and love having your bird go with you and exposing him..then it just might be worth all the effort.

Good luck!

Toni

Franklin is so adorable in his flight suit! Thanks for sharing the pictures with us!

How did you train you bird to wear one? My GCC will try to fly away when ever i get the suit.