pros n cons of harnesses

[jimpierce7]

I was just wondering about harnesses as I have seen a few photos of birds with them here. The lady where I got Zoey kinda twitches and steams at the mention of them. I keep my birds wings clipped as I like taking them outside. I would rather not if I could. What arew the pros n cons of harnessing my birds. Well Zoey and Sophie anyway.

[FeatherLover]

I tried to put a harness on Togo (CAG). He literally froze. He went limp and started to fall off his T-stand. I grabbed him and he began to violently rip his chest feathers out until I got the harness off. Scary.

Needless to say, Togo and I didn't have a very good experience with a harness.

[The Outlaw]

I also have mixed feelings. Most are woefully inadequate and many birds have wiggled out. My own Ekkie did on more than one occasion and I eventually stopped using it. However, its better than nothing and an absolute necessity if you choose not to clip your birds.

There is a new harness on the market that is designed for re-call training and it looks pretty darn impressive. I'm actually thinking about giving that one a go. I'll have to find out the name. Its patent pending.

I also tried flight suits and they actually worked a bit better. I suggest that anyone thinking they would like to harness train, be sure to start it early on. Adult birds object, A LOT! My macaws have actually destroyed the clips AS I was trying to put them on.

[Vankarhi]

I have made one for Skye (have posted picture before) and am in the process of making another one. Trying to see if securing it on her back instead of front is better. I am going to start training Rani to wear one soon. Not looking forward to that, but I know she will be ok when used to it. skye is, she did not like the new one last night she did try to chew the back latch. I will see if she gets used to it. Other wise I will change it back to a front clip on thingy. I bought a heap of cat collars and leads so I can play with the attachments and chop up the leads

[Alyce Johnson]

I got 2 of my little girls (GC conures) into flight suits. They didnt make a harness small enough. They totally hated them, and getting them into the suits involved getting the C#@$ bit out of both of us - it took 2 of us to get either of those tiny birds into the suit.

That said, they totally loved going out & about on the shoulder. Even fully clipped they can still fly just fine, so the flight suit was the only way. Now I have a chest carrier and I just put all 3 inside it. I have given up on having the little ones out on the shoulder in public. It was a major tactical op.

I do think a flight suit is a bit of a better design than a harness. Do make sure you get it big enough, though, or it will be really miserable on them. (too big and they'll escape, but still, it's easy to get them too small) And they really can fly in them, too, although they just hang in the air & dont go anywhere. So it's good exercise for them, if they will try to fly in it.

Berta doesnt try to fly, but Pico might (he was an escapee bird once before after all). So, I'm going to have to try a harness for him, or take him out in the back pack thing too. I am hoping that even thouh he's older, he will adapt to a harness. We'll see, I guess. I'm going to wait to try it till the weather is nicer so he has more incentive. Besides, fingers grow back quicker in the Spring, right?

[Vankarhi]

Well we took a ride into town and I had Skyes new harness on. We took a child to the movies (with his girlfriend ) then went to Mcdonalds for an ice cream......................the harness was chewed up . Luckily she is quite happy to sit on my shoulder. I will not use plastic connections again. so back to the drawing board.

[volvobirds]

Jasper(B&G) and Peaches(M2) are both Harness users. they have learned, no harness, no leaving the house. I have also seen the other Harness that is available at Parrot University, it looks worth checking out.

We got darned lucky, they both took to the harness with minimal fuss. now Sylvester is another story. tried one on him, you would of thought his life was coming to an end!

[Stizby]

I use the Aviator Harness and find it is much, much easier to put on the bird than others on the market. There is no hardware on it. Here is a photo of one and then a photo of my U2 wearing it. But yes, you really need to start using harnesses when the bird is young to get them used to it.

[Kristi]

I have a flightsuit for Goliath. I LOVE it. He hated it at first, but now he realizes that when Mama is putting the flightsuit on that we're going Bye-Bye. Now he gets pretty excited when he sees me getting his flightsuit ready. It just took a little patience, and getting it on him the first few times was definitely a challenge.

[jimpierce7]

Thank you all for the input. I guess I will look around and see what is available!