Flight or not to flight ?

427HISS · Mar 13, 2012

I would like to chat with all of you that let your birds to fly, with a harness. Since we have a small home, we don't like the idea of indoor flight, but we're considering buying a harness for outdoor flight. This particular brand has some great features, especially how all the straps don't seem to cause any restrictions of movement and the attachment slides all around the harness.

The Aviator Harness The Parrot University

Click on the video, "Product Video".

Bird Travel & Outdoors: Aviator Flight Harness and Elastic Leash by Parrot University

It may, make your bird happier by flying like she's supposed to do and gets a lot more exercises. There are many,....videos on youtube.

So, let us know your experience good & bad, about your birds being able to fly outdoors and what happens in you home with having flight feathers ?

Kevin

roxynoodle · Mar 13, 2012

I've always let my conures fly around my house, and there haven't been any problems. I will let Pete fly once he gets his wing feathers back. It will take a bit of getting used to since he is so much bigger, lol! So long as he isn't getting himself into trouble I don't want him into, I'm good with it. I don't think Merlin is going to fly with her eyesight issues. She hasn't yet. And when she tries to get away from the vet, she has fallen onto the floor, so it looks like those muscles are not developed in her anymore. She probably hasn't flown in quite some time.

Mayden · Mar 13, 2012

I love the aviator, and would love to have Merlin out in it all the time but he just hates hates hates the harness.

If you and your bird can use the harness, I'd definitely recommend it, I'm sure your bird would LOVE to be outside

&Roxyn, sorry to hear about Merlin's muscles, my Brucey boy is the same, he doesn't fly much anymore, prefers to climb and so when he does try and fly, he doesn't get very far and just kinda... flops.

427HISS · Mar 13, 2012

Cool.

I just weighed her at 445 grams. I need to get Patty's sewing cloth measuring tape out and get Shelby's neck and chest measurments for the harness.

On the Parrot University, these are the sizes for the weightof the bird.

SMALL-

190-425 grams
Amazons (Lilac Crown, Blue Front) Timneh grey, Yellow Collar Macaw, Sm. Cockatoos (Goffins, Major Mitchell, Galah, Lesser Sulfur) Lg. Parakeets, Chattering Lori, All Pionus.

MEDIUM-

425-600 grams.
Eclectus, Med. Macaws (Severe, Red Fronted) Lg. Amazons (Double Yellow, Yellow Nape) Umbrella, Congo Grey, Eclectus.

The medium size mentions for the Umbrella, but Shelby is smaller than them.

So Shelby being 445 grams, what size should we get, I assume the medium ?

Mayden · Mar 13, 2012

Yeah, go for the medium. The size is mainly for the neckloop really, and although U2's are huge in comparison to greys, their heads arn't THAT much different in size really, which is what they're looking at.

Medium will fit fine, the strap is adjustable so as long as the neckloop fits, no problem

427HISS · Mar 13, 2012

Sold,...sold,...sold.

luvmytooo · Mar 13, 2012

Are you goint to match your T-shirt to Shelby's aviator color harness ?

MikeyTN · Mar 13, 2012

I only clip my babies after they learn how to fly so I can train them. I allow my birds to fly in my house except most of them rather stay on you or crawl to get around instead of flying.

427HISS · Mar 13, 2012

luvmytooo said:
Are you goint to match your T-shirt to Shelby's aviator color harness ?

Well of course, my thong underwear too !
Wanna see ?

lene1949 · Mar 14, 2012

Max is flying around inside... I have cathedral ceilings and that half of the house has no doors...

I do have a harness for him, but I've only ever put it on once..

It would be nice to take him out for a walk, but there would be so many things out there, that would scare him - I think... lol

luvmytooo · Mar 14, 2012

No , no thanks Kev , we are all good here. :54:

echoskybound · Mar 14, 2012

My conure loves flying around the house, I think he does it to get his energy out. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get the harness on him yet. The Aviator harness is probably the best for flight since it's super lightweight, but it involves getting a loop around the bird's head. I've been target training with my bird to get him to stick his head through the loop, but he pulls his head back out as soon as he can. I'm afraid of making the harness a scary thing, so I'm taking the training very slowly. Meanwhile, the weather is beautiful! I can't wait to get him outside in the sun!

roxynoodle · Mar 14, 2012

Rowdy so far has been my only bird that loves to fly just to do it. She often flies in circles around the room for several minutes at a time. Then when I hold my hand up, she comes and lands on it.

I, too, have so many scary things outside. First of all 2 neighbors who let their dogs roam. Both dogs have bitten people, and have killed cats and other smaller animals. Then there are the hawks and bald eagles. Even some of the large birds that aren't birds of prey like buzzards and Blue Herons have scared my birds.

Luna · Mar 14, 2012

Hi, Everyone except my wife and I fly in our home. If you can get the bird to wear a harness let it spend as much SUPERVISED time as possible out side. My girl being born and climatized a Canadian citizen goes out with me any day of the year for as long I am willing to stay in shirtsleeves. D.D.

roxynoodle · Mar 14, 2012

I wish I could fly around the house! I wish I could climb upside down like they do, too.

427HISS · Mar 15, 2012

Shelby scared the hell out of me !

The last 5 days we've taken her outside and has done very well. We were in the front yard for a while and decided it was time to put her on the ground to chew on grass, sticks etc. She followed me around the yard, then all of a sudden, she took off and flew over the house ! :11:

I ran as quick as I could hoping to see if she landed, and she did land in a neighbors tree about 35' up. I tried to coax her down for an hour with no luck. She was comfortable enough that she was grooming herself and even talking now & then. A neighbor had a telescoping pole and we fastened a large fishing net on the end. It took around 6 tries, and finally nabbed her !

I was very stressed because we live in a small town in the country so, we get hawks flying around, and it was 6:00 pm and the sun goes down 7:30 pm. If we could not fetch her by dark, we may have never got her back.

The thing is, her flight feathers were cut before she was shipped to me, for safety !

I don't know how,.... she was able to fly so well ?
Heck, she doesn't even flap her wings in the house, or even after her shower. We both though she may not even fly when we get her harness and leash next week.

Well,.....we know now !

I don't blame her, it's my fault. When I first placed her down, she wanted to be on my foot. I'm sure she got scared being on the grass and not higher up, so she acted by instinct and flew away to safety.

WHEW,....I'll never do that again ! :headwall:

Kev

Mare Miller · Mar 15, 2012

How does a flight harness work? Is it to give your bird exercise? I'm imagining flying my bird like a kite! Or is it just for safety measures?

When Amigo started to fly in the house, he banged into a few windows during his learning process. I'm thankful he didn't break his neck, so be aware of that.

427HISS · Mar 15, 2012

It's a harness that wraps around their body, but leaves the wings able to move with freedom. You can also just use it for walking and safety when your outside.
You can also get a leash that has a long bungee cord so they don't get a whiplash when they've come to the end of the leash. YouTube has many vids showing the flight harness.
Also, click the links on my first post on this thread.

Mare Miller · Mar 15, 2012

I free flight my bird every day that weather permits. He comes in a few times every day and for bed time. In the early days of this journey, there was a time when he didn't come in and scared me so bad, I felt so guilty knowing I was the cause of his death. My husband and I didn't sleep a wink that night, we were both up before the sun, calling and looking for Amigo. He was in the tip top of a large bull pine and so happy to see us!

I've discovered since this episode, that...if you don't have your bird safely in the house by the time the sun goes down, you are not going to see him till morning. Once they decide it's bedtime, they move into roosting mode.

lene1949 · Mar 16, 2012

That's how I lost Cory... I thought he couldn't fly, but the wind took him... I got him back after an agonising week... He was feathers and bones...

Clipping often leads to a false sense of security... which is why I no longer clip my pet birds.

427HISS said:
Shelby scared the hell out of me !

The last 5 days we've taken her outside and has done very well. We were in the front yard for a while and decided it was time to put her on the ground to chew on grass, sticks etc. She followed me around the yard, then all of a sudden, she took off and flew over the house ! :11:

I ran as quick as I could hoping to see if she landed, and she did land in a neighbors tree about 35' up. I tried to coax her down for an hour with no luck. She was comfortable enough that she was grooming herself and even talking now & then. A neighbor had a telescoping pole and we fastened a large fishing net on the end. It took around 6 tries, and finally nabbed her !

I was very stressed because we live in a small town in the country so, we get hawks flying around, and it was 6:00 pm and the sun goes down 7:30 pm. If we could not fetch her by dark, we may have never got her back.

The thing is, her flight feathers were cut before she was shipped to me, for safety !

I don't know how,.... she was able to fly so well ?
Heck, she doesn't even flap her wings in the house, or even after her shower. We both though she may not even fly when we get her harness and leash next week.

Well,.....we know now !

I don't blame her, it's my fault. When I first placed her down, she wanted to be on my foot. I'm sure she got scared being on the grass and not higher up, so she acted by instinct and flew away to safety.

WHEW,....I'll never do that again ! :headwall:

Kev

Flight or not to flight ?

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