Outdoor questions

[Sorechia]

This is an informational post....

How many of you take your birds outside?
What types of birds do you take outside? (toos, budgies etc)
Do you harness them, cage them, or have them free?
If they aren't harnessed or in a cage how do they not get away from you? (even a clipped bird can flutter)
Anyone have any cool stories of their parrots outside?

I am looking for the advantages and disadvantages of taking parrots outside. I think that my moms eclectus could benefit a lot from being outside.....So any additional information would be great! Thanks!

[loyallyroyal]

I take Dewey out in a little travel carrier (just a dog crate) he loves going outside.

[New Ekkie Mom]

I have an Eclectus. Now that it's finally warm enough to take him outside, I've done it a few ways.

Sometimes I just wheel his regular cage out on the deck. I put it against the wall, so that he does not feel completely exposed, and I make sure he is able to get out of direct sunlight if he wants to.

He has been outside in his travel cage a few times, but that's not my favorite option, because the travel cage is pretty small, and I do not want him to feel trapped in a small space.

I have an Aviator harness that he's used once to go outside. We are working on making the process of putting it on a more calm and pleasant experience.

Most often so far, I have taken him out without a harness or carrier. He is clipped, and I know there is still risk, but at this point, I feel the benefits outweigh the risk. Once we are able to not attack the harness while it is being put on, we will use the harness more and go more places...picking up kids from school, the hardware store, karate practice, etc.

I also plan to build an aviary this summer. I think this is by far the best option for getting our birds some safe time outdoors.

[chapala]

We have an outdoor aviary, and the Macaw and Grey take turns going out there and spending several hours. The recently re-homed Amazon is not tame (taking treats from my fingers though!), so I wheel his cage onto our terrace two to three mornings a week where he can get some morning sun. The P'let is flighted, so only goes out in his cage, again onto the terrace for morning sun. He gets to fly around inside the house!

[becca623]

I take my birds outside either in a small travel cage (a cockatiel cage) or in a harness. My eclectus loves wearing his harness. My amazon hates going outside but does okay if she's in the little cage. My macaw is just learning to wear a harness. I never could get any of the small birds (senegal, conures, lovebirds) to wear a harness so they went outside in cages. My mom's cockatoos have a small aviary for outside time. Gabe may go play there some this summer if he and Cici get along. The cockatoos are harness trained too. My mom has taken Cici outside without a harness (she's flighted). She got scared and flew off my mom's shoulder to a tree. She went from tree to tree to tree then thankfully back to my mom. I didn't know until after the fact because she knows I would have a fit.....and I did. I told her she CAN'T do that because even though she knows Cici won't fly away (eye roll), she doesn't know what hawks, buzzards, dogs, etc might be looking for a big pink dinner. I did take a macaw outside once without a harness. She was severely clipped and I held on tight but I won't do it again and I don't recommend it.

[Razzle]

I've never taken any of my birds outside - period. Our cats are strictly indoor pets - period. All three of our current pets (2 cats and 1 conure) seem to be completely satisfied with this.

[ROYJOY]

my birds enjoy freeflight outdoors, weather permitting. please dont try this without 99% recall.

[Sorechia]

Originally Posted by ROYJOY

my birds enjoy freeflight outdoors, weather permitting. please dont try this without 99% recall.

What do you mean 99% recall?

[ROYJOY]

recall is a condition response tought indoors, first for obvious reasons. use positive reinforcment to train your bird to come to you. he must come to you every time he's called, before you try this outdoors. you must get him acostomed to the outdoors, first with harness, or cage. he must get used to disractions like: traffic, sirens, dogs, children, airplanes, other birds, gun fire, people, laughter, screeming, and etc. please visit Index for more information about this fast growing way to keep a pet bird healthy both mentaly an physicaly.

[Razzle]

Originally Posted by ROYJOY

my birds enjoy freeflight outdoors, weather permitting. please dont try this without 99% recall.

I don't think I would even want to risk that 1% chance of losing my bird!