Oh my god she's so adorable!
no I cannot get an amazon as much as I want one
Stupid question but how do you harness train them? I was hoping at ask any breeders for a future feather baby if they can harness train them as I think I would struggle greatly
Thank you!
Hopefully one day you will if you're ready.
The best thing is to train them while young, but I think it is also more an acquired skill/experience that you learn while trying and training. I have read about it alot and I know how to approach them with it. I managed to train my 12 yr old red lored amazon (which was extremely aggressive, and it eventuelly worked. Time & patience is key to succeeding.. Many don't have that and many get frustrated and give up. But with the right training, I believe any bird can be harness trained!
Good to know. I did try teaching my GCC when I had him but the sizing wasn't right, despite being told it was the perfect size and he couldn't get his head back out which spooked him and made him scared of anything remotely similar to harnesses
We have 2 flying harnesses (from my earlier CAG and RB2). Åke the Mealy and Elli the CAG have completely destroyed them but that is the point, they are getting used of the material. Now they aren't scared of their own (not broken) harnesses and we can slowly train with them.
If you just put the harness to their neck they will freak out and for sure be afraid of the harnesses in future, get them slowly used of the material and the looks of the harnesses, then with any trick get them to put their head through them (not the smallest loop, use the bigger wing loops) like with treats or something they like. After a while you can get them to put their heads through the small "head loop". When this is completed and they let the loop be around their neck when they eat treats (or do something they really like, up to you) then one of the major steps in harness training is done.
Second one, letting them to put the bigger loops around their wings is easier but you cant complete this before your bird lets you to handle his wings, get him comfortable of you handling (lifting, spreading) their wings and when that is done you can start putting the harness to one wing, after a while the bird gets more comfortable with it and you can get the harness on him. When you have the harness fully on your bird be sure you do something extra exiting and fun (go outside quickly or something like that) so the bird gets familiar with the idea that harness means something super exiting and fun.
^that took 2 months with my earlier (RIP) CAG and almost 6 months with the RB2 (RIP). I've been doing this for 2 months now with Elli (CAG) and he now puts her head through the "head loop", Åke (Mealy) hasn't been training yet with the loops but we've been familiarising with the material for 2 weeks now.
Or the simpler way, get a baby bird and just put the harness on him from the start every day. Done, your bird is harness trained
We've used Aviator Harnesses, they are really good (im sure there are other as good harnesses too but i dont have experience with them)
https://theparrotuniversity.com/content/aviator-bird-harness
There is size for every bird and you can easily buy those from Ebay if you dont have them in local stores.
Medium is perfect fit for Elli the CAG and Large seems to be perfect for Åke the Mealy
