What is the best harness?

Hi! I'm going to start harness training Lenny, what is the best harness do you think I could get for him? He is a Green Cheek Conure.

Aviator harnesses are generally considered the best as they are a solid piece instead of having clasps that could come undone and they come with a long, elastic, leash.

As in above, Aviator Harness is universally liked here and on many forums. It never worked for me though. My sun conure rejects and rebukes it. I followed the recommended introduction process, even extended the recommended period of training time, all to no avail. It's a combination of opinionated bird and difficulty of application. I was only successful in getting the loop through his head once and he freaked out like he was being suffocated to death (I had the appropriate size for sun conures).

I think the harness has a higher rate of success in slightly larger birds, but some have been succcesful with smaller birds. I wish you the best of luck, I hope it works better for you than it did for me.

I agree, the Aviator Harness is not only easier to use and get them to accept than any other harness I've seen, but it's also the safest harness. You never want to use any harness that attaches to their legs or feet, as they can actually dislocate their hips, break bones, etc. And the Aviator Harness, in the way that it fits on and around the bird, seems to be the most comfortable for them, or rather the less "intrusive"...like some of the flight-suit/leash combos, birds tend to hate having an actual "suit" on them, unless they were started with it as babies. So the Aviator Harness is definitely the way to go, and they come with a detailed instruction/training DVD that is actually extremely helpful, as the process can be frustrating at best, lol.

My Green Cheek Conure, Bowie, has been using his Aviator Harness since I brought him home at 11 weeks old. It took a good month to get it on him without any fuss at all, but then it took another couple of months of just having him wear it and taking him out in it for him to finally ignore it and not chew on it constantly. Since then he doesn't even remember that he has it on...

EllenD said:

My Green Cheek Conure, Bowie, has been using his Aviator Harness since I brought him home at 11 weeks old. It took a good month to get it on him without any fuss at all, but then it took another couple of months of just having him wear it and taking him out in it for him to finally ignore it and not chew on it constantly. Since then he doesn't even remember that he has it on...

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This makes me want to try again. Boomer was a little over a year old when I first introduced the harness to him. He did not like it so I went the route of birdie backpacks for outdoor treks. I wonder if, now at 6 years of age, it would be very hard to harness train him again?

Our amazon has the feather tether (the buckle on one). So far, no issues beyond him being highly resistant at first. In teaching him not to bite on/mess with the harness, he also learned not to bite on or mess with the buckles either. For some birds though, the temptation may be too great, so know your bird or if you just can't teach them to stop playing with the buckles, it may not be the right harness for your bird.

I will say, had the FT not been available, our bird would not be harness trained. There is no way he'd ever allow anything to be pulled on or off his head. I watched videos of both styles of harness being put on and off to decide which one looked more in line with realistically being able to get my bird to wear. Aviators seem better suited to birds who are very highly target trained and treat motivated. My bird is not either, so I wanted something easy on and off because we just desensitized him to it slowly and being able to unbuckle it was difficult enough, I'd have had to cut off the aviator and hope I didn't cut/stab him as he squirmed. Harness training is a difficult process for most birds who haven't been trained on one since they were babies and there is a lot of resistance involved in getting them used to the idea.

BoomBoom said:

This makes me want to try again. Boomer was a little over a year old when I first introduced the harness to him. He did not like it so I went the route of birdie backpacks for outdoor treks. I wonder if, now at 6 years of age, it would be very hard to harness train him again?

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Check out with the manufacturer if your Aviator is the current design or the old one (different materials used).
My Cytrynka is not fully satisfied with it, as one of the joints are irritating her belly. But yes, definitely try it again. Boomer is now a mature conure, who should know what's good for him

I've posed this question to the Forum here and a reliable source said it takes a year or more to get them acclimated. In other words, Rome wasn't built in a day. Very cool idea though. Wish I had more perseverance.

So far, mine hates the Aviator, but it has a good design, if she weren't so stubborn...Maybe if you have a young bird, it will be easier (mine was past puberty when I got her, and she is an Umbrella Cockatoo, so the struggle is real lol)

Charlie, my mitred conure, was 12 years old when he first wore a harness. Started off with the wrong size Feather Tether. I now have a proper sized Feather Tether and an Aviator Harness for him. The Feather Tether is easier to get on, but the Aviator is safer.

BoomBoom said:

EllenD said:

My Green Cheek Conure, Bowie, has been using his Aviator Harness since I brought him home at 11 weeks old. It took a good month to get it on him without any fuss at all, but then it took another couple of months of just having him wear it and taking him out in it for him to finally ignore it and not chew on it constantly. Since then he doesn't even remember that he has it on...

Click to expand...

This makes me want to try again. Boomer was a little over a year old when I first introduced the harness to him. He did not like it so I went the route of birdie backpacks for outdoor treks. I wonder if, now at 6 years of age, it would be very hard to harness train him again?

Click to expand...

I'd definitely give it try BoomBoom. You have to remember that when it comes to them wearing a harness, it's one of the few things that birds overwhelming hate as a whole, regardless of their age, unless they were introduced to the harness/flight-suit while they were still being hand-fed and un-weaned. Thus, getting a bird to learn to put on and then accept a harness can be done at any age, that doesn't make any difference at all.

I currently have 4 birds that I got in the last 4 years, 1 bird each year basically. And each one I got from a private breeder who hand-fed/hand-raised them from 2-3 weeks old. I got my Cockatiel 4 years ago when she was 8 weeks old, then my Quaker 3 years ago when she was 12 weeks old, then my Green Cheek 2 years ago when he was 12 weeks, and finally my Senegal a little over a year ago, when he was 13 weeks old. Every one of them HATED the harness! They threw fits, they screamed at me, they ran away, etc. So with each one of them I simply did it the "right" way, aka the "slow" way, lol. And each time it worked...

Each bird is going to be different, but on-average with my 4 birds, it took them between 1-2 months of working with them a bit every day to get them to put the harness on without any fuss or issues. And then it took another 1-2 months to get them to forget about the harness while they had it on and to stop constantly chewing on it.

My Green Cheek and my Senegal were by-far the easiest birds to harness-train, as they both took about a month to get through each "phase" of the process. Ironically, my Quaker pretty-much allowed me to put the Aviator Harness on her immediately without any issue at all right from the start, she never made a sound, never bit/nipped, never wiggled or pulled her feet/legs out, etc. I literally just put the harness on her after it had been hanging inside of her cage for a week or so. HOWEVER, she was doubly bad at accepting the harness being on her, she just chewed and chewed and pulled and ripped and wrestled with it constantly. It took her a good 2 months if not longer to finally give it up, lol. My Cockatiel hates the harness but has no problem putting it on or wearing it at all. However, I don't usually put it on her as #1 she can't ever fly again due to a wing injury, so I can just take her out on my shoulder, and #2 the few times I did take her out with the harness on she just looked so miserable. It was sad. She was like "Mamma I'll wear this thing if you want me to, but I refuse to have fun while it's on me"...

So it just depends on the bird...The harness is one of the few things with regards to birds that is pretty-much universally a process that is going to take a minimum of a month or two, and can take some up to a year or more.

The best thing I can tell you is that, at least in my own opinion, the reward for not only your bird but for yourself once you can take them out with you anywhere on your shoulder is well worth it...It really is. It's so nice to walk around with your bird on your shoulder, showing them off and having them have such a good time seeing new things every time you take them out. It's just not the same as having them inside of a carrier or a Pak-O-Bird type thing.