Bird Harness

Hello,
We are new bird owners with a young Quaker Parrot. he is currently clipped as he came that way, but has some flight. We're still researching the whole clipped and unclipped thing for the future. I definitely want him to have some flight always. Hi is about 5 1/2 months. We've had him about 2 weeks as his previous owner could not keep him due to problems with the children.

Hal has quickly become a part of our family, and my sons have asked for the bird harness so he can sit outside with them in the summer time in our garden.

We are basically novice parrot owners. I've had a few smaller birds years ago, and temporarily cared for a few more, but this is something completely different and Hal has already become irreplaceable. No other bird or pet could take his place if anything happened - He's the best bird in the world as far as we are concerned - so we really don't want to make any horrible mistakes.

Has anyone used these harnesses? are they safe? Do the birds like them? We'd love to have him with us all the time, indoors and out. The boys hope they might even be able to take him to the beach ( we use a very nearly empty one). he will definitely be going with us when we spend time at the caravan as I can't imagine he would be happy being left alone. I could easily arrange fresh food and water for him, but not adequate attention or exercise time.

Also - I can't find my previous post so can't answer any replies. Still looking fun tricks, games or toys. It doesn't matter so much what he does - just looking ways to interact besides holding, talking to and patting. We're wondering if we could train to recognise a small container, put treats in it, and get him to fly about to find it? In short - we recognise that this is an exceptionally curious and intelligent animal. This probably holds true for all parrots, but he obviously is not going to be like a canary that can just sit in a cage. As a young intelligent animal he will need stimulus for his mind - and were hoping to find ways to keep as content as possible and to allow him to use his natural curiosity.

Thank you all

I have 3 harnesses. Are they safe? Well, they can be. Likewise, they can also be dangerous. Almost anything could pose a danger however, even multiple toys. If a bird somehow manages to escape your grasp while wearing the harness they could potentially get caught in a tree and be unable to move. The alternative is that the bird escapes without harness (clipped or flighted). Clipping should be no guarantee that a bird can't escape outside. Do the birds like them?

Well, out of a flock of 7, I only have one bird who wears a harness. None of the others are currently trained to wear it.

I have two Feather Tether harnesses and an Aviator. IMO, the Aviator harness is safer to use because it's one piece. There is less chance of birds escape and they have removed bulky, heavy clips. The Feather Tethers have metal clips (except the smaller one has a plastic clip on it) and they are two pieces - the harness and the leash. Ease of getting onto the bird however is the Feather Tether. It's easier to put a harness on Charlie when I can put the harness underneath his wings rather than having to pull his wing through a loop.



As far as some training.... here, these links have some ideas.

Bird Whisperer of Las Vegas: The Magic "8" Tricks
Bird Trick Training

Some books, such as "Clicker Training for Birds" by Melinda Johnson have tricks you can teach inside the book as well as how to teach the trick. There are also Youtube videos of how to teach bird tricks.

I use the Aviator. I currently have two birds that wear it and am training my newest to accept hers.