Funny saw this yesterday and I had just ordered two harnesses. Anxious for them to arrive also. Want to start my birds while they are young. Douie is 4 months and getting my Gcc next weekend. Seems we are in the same boat. Good luck to all of us in trying to get our birdies to accept their harnesses.
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Just ordered three harnesses
- Thread starter JAM
- Start date
Sauly
Sprinting down the street
BarbaraAguirre2
Moving in
- Joined
- 4/16/13
- Messages
- 14
i am shifting to hilly areas permanently so can anyone tell me what birds to look for that may survive easily in cold conditions easily
Peacelovepets
Jogging around the block
I am at a similar place as you guys! I got my harnesses a while back, but I want to actually get my birds into them! I really want to be able to take them out this summer! Right now, Eilley attacks it...
Sauly
Sprinting down the street
Okay....slow wins the race.....Tequila is responding well to the 1,2,3, wing hold and seems to be comfortable now with the harness. He thinks its a toy. He is excepting treats through the harness now. As soon as I make the gesture of putting one of the large wing loops over his head, he backs up scared! I can touch his tail with it. I am suspending any progress for now and will continue in a few days. I have to tell you guys how cute the 1,2,3 wing hold is with him. When I pick up his wing, he squirms and cusses! once I start counting he FREEZES and sits there nice as pie waiting for the end of the count. Once I release it, he gives a small "squee" happy as a clam. I love the little turd!! 
Sauly
Canada
Sauly
Canada
Update from us....
Red we can almost get the harness on him, it's the wings that are the problem, so need to work on touching him there.
M-Star working on touching her wings as she is flippy when it comes to them.
Millow was a surprise, turned into being able to get the harness over his head, nearly over his wings then he flipped out.
Blue is the freaked out one and we will be working on her with being touched before harness approach.
Both the harnesses we have on our hands or hanging in the cage where they are actually comfortable rubbing against it and checking it out under supervision.
It will be a long process by the looks of it, but one day at a time!
Red we can almost get the harness on him, it's the wings that are the problem, so need to work on touching him there.
M-Star working on touching her wings as she is flippy when it comes to them.
Millow was a surprise, turned into being able to get the harness over his head, nearly over his wings then he flipped out.
Blue is the freaked out one and we will be working on her with being touched before harness approach.
Both the harnesses we have on our hands or hanging in the cage where they are actually comfortable rubbing against it and checking it out under supervision.
It will be a long process by the looks of it, but one day at a time!
Wow, seems to be quite a few people starting out at around the same time, its good to see cause u's can all learn and train together. 
Im also in the process of training Taz, tho im a couple months in progress. Ive gotten to the point where I can sit the loop around his neck and leave it there for about 10ish seconds before he squirms and tries to get out of it, I can somewhat open his wings for a couple secs (needs more work). Im actually at a stand still, the actual neck loop to me seems too small and it makes it hard to get it off from around his neck and it stresses him out so im gonna buy the next size up and see if it fits his neck better (I hope it does).
Goodluck everyone, JAM ur progress sounds good so far and I hope it continues to be this way.
Im also in the process of training Taz, tho im a couple months in progress. Ive gotten to the point where I can sit the loop around his neck and leave it there for about 10ish seconds before he squirms and tries to get out of it, I can somewhat open his wings for a couple secs (needs more work). Im actually at a stand still, the actual neck loop to me seems too small and it makes it hard to get it off from around his neck and it stresses him out so im gonna buy the next size up and see if it fits his neck better (I hope it does).
Goodluck everyone, JAM ur progress sounds good so far and I hope it continues to be this way.
I'm enjoying sharing our journeys in the midst of others, it's great seeing what stages everyone else is at, keep sharing and thank you for doing so!!
Today we had a break, mainly because I was out most of the day and the FIDs need a break too, so this morning and evening was kicking back with them and occasionally touching them under their wings to get them used to the sensation.
M-Star thinks its a cue for nipping and wrestling the little ••••.
Today we had a break, mainly because I was out most of the day and the FIDs need a break too, so this morning and evening was kicking back with them and occasionally touching them under their wings to get them used to the sensation.
M-Star thinks its a cue for nipping and wrestling the little ••••.
Sauly
Sprinting down the street
ya know Taz93, the neck loop looks nervously small to me as well! The instructions say petite size is for 75 to 110 gms. Tequila is 67-68 grams. It's amazing how small their little necks our under all the feathers!Wow, seems to be quite a few people starting out at around the same time, its good to see cause u's can all learn and train together.
Im also in the process of training Taz, tho im a couple months in progress. Ive gotten to the point where I can sit the loop around his neck and leave it there for about 10ish seconds before he squirms and tries to get out of it, I can somewhat open his wings for a couple secs (needs more work). Im actually at a stand still, the actual neck loop to me seems too small and it makes it hard to get it off from around his neck and it stresses him out so im gonna buy the next size up and see if it fits his neck better (I hope it does).
Goodluck everyone, JAM ur progress sounds good so far and I hope it continues to be this way.
Sauly
Canada
Very true.
Ive only had the neck loop over his neck twice since ive had the harness, it does fit nicely around his neck but its really hard to get it off lol especially with his crest in the way. Ive got the small and Taz weighs around 385g, im gonna try out the medium and see how we go.
Ive only had the neck loop over his neck twice since ive had the harness, it does fit nicely around his neck but its really hard to get it off lol especially with his crest in the way. Ive got the small and Taz weighs around 385g, im gonna try out the medium and see how we go.
This morning was a learning lesson because I remembered what the DVD said about the best time to work with birds on the harnesses - morning not being one of those times.
I had Blue on my shoulder and she just was not interested in anything other than head bobbing and doing her mating ritual with me, she refused to be touched anywhere near her wings, so I gave her a kiss and put her back for some morning food.
I ran out of crackers for the DVD cheesiness.......it went on and on a bit didn't it! They seriously need to update their instructional DVD and it'd also be nice to see sections on smaller birds too like ones the size of our lories rather than seeing the harness being worked on a macaw. (Very pretty macaw though! Meaning the scarlet not the stuffed B&G LOL ).
I had Blue on my shoulder and she just was not interested in anything other than head bobbing and doing her mating ritual with me, she refused to be touched anywhere near her wings, so I gave her a kiss and put her back for some morning food.
I ran out of crackers for the DVD cheesiness.......it went on and on a bit didn't it! They seriously need to update their instructional DVD and it'd also be nice to see sections on smaller birds too like ones the size of our lories rather than seeing the harness being worked on a macaw. (Very pretty macaw though! Meaning the scarlet not the stuffed B&G LOL
).
I 100% agree with u on this, I would also like for them to do demonstrations on both large and small birds, also on birds that show unwillingness, that macaw was so well behaved and co-operative which made training look easy but in fact most birds aren't that easy. And haha yeh the DVD did drag on a little bit, defiantly can and should be improved. But all in all still an alright vid.This morning was a learning lesson because I remembered what the DVD said about the best time to work with birds on the harnesses - morning not being one of those times.
I had Blue on my shoulder and she just was not interested in anything other than head bobbing and doing her mating ritual with me, she refused to be touched anywhere near her wings, so I gave her a kiss and put her back for some morning food.
I ran out of crackers for the DVD cheesiness.......it went on and on a bit didn't it! They seriously need to update their instructional DVD and it'd also be nice to see sections on smaller birds too like ones the size of our lories rather than seeing the harness being worked on a macaw. (Very pretty macaw though! Meaning the scarlet not the stuffed B&G LOL
Maybe we should get together and do a bit of feedback for them? If enough of us send emails then maybe they will change it?
I was playing around with rat bird/bead monster (M-Star) last night and she was really grumpy with my playing around her neck and I found (after I showered them all) that she has TONNES of pinnies, as does Millow and it looks like Blue and Red are also pinning it up at the moment.
So it's probably not the right time to be trying to annoy the crap out of them with harness work as on closer inspection I noticed a few of M-Star's pinnies are tiny blood feathers so I can imagine she is uncomfortable as hell and the experience of harness work would make it very unpleasant indeed.
At this stage, our harness work is going to be limited to in cage hanging and allowing them to familiarise and investigate it without us trying to get it on them for the next few days till the blood feathers turn into workable pinnies.
I was playing around with rat bird/bead monster (M-Star) last night and she was really grumpy with my playing around her neck and I found (after I showered them all) that she has TONNES of pinnies, as does Millow and it looks like Blue and Red are also pinning it up at the moment.
So it's probably not the right time to be trying to annoy the crap out of them with harness work as on closer inspection I noticed a few of M-Star's pinnies are tiny blood feathers so I can imagine she is uncomfortable as hell and the experience of harness work would make it very unpleasant indeed.
At this stage, our harness work is going to be limited to in cage hanging and allowing them to familiarise and investigate it without us trying to get it on them for the next few days till the blood feathers turn into workable pinnies.
We had a good move with the bead (M-Star) today, it looked ridiculous but I poked my tongue through the head piece as she loves trying to lick at my mouth and gently slipped it over her head. She was playful and excited and didn't mind the feeling, it was only when I tried to push her with the wings that she started to protest so I immediately stopped, pretended to wrestle and gently wiggled her out of it. Praised her heaps, bobbed my head with hers (stop laughing) and then mixed her up some banksia nectar Loritreat which she lapped up without taking a breath! Great work M-Star!
Red was more cautious insisting on grabbing one bit of the harness by his beak and the other with his claw to stop me putting it over him. I managed to loop it over him twice but then I could see he'd had enough so he got some treat and a wrestle to boot!
Blue was sadly just not interested. I managed to get her to step onto my hand with it draped over but only when she was allowed the treat and it was in close proximity of her. I managed to stroke it down one side of her and the other side. Stopped and finished up with praise and the rest of the treat.
Millow surprisingly wasn't in the mood at all even when the treat was offered, he gave me the stubborn quail look and refused to cooperate, little monster.
That's it for us for today, they are now bathing....grrrrrrrrr.
Red was more cautious insisting on grabbing one bit of the harness by his beak and the other with his claw to stop me putting it over him. I managed to loop it over him twice but then I could see he'd had enough so he got some treat and a wrestle to boot!
Blue was sadly just not interested. I managed to get her to step onto my hand with it draped over but only when she was allowed the treat and it was in close proximity of her. I managed to stroke it down one side of her and the other side. Stopped and finished up with praise and the rest of the treat.
Millow surprisingly wasn't in the mood at all even when the treat was offered, he gave me the stubborn quail look and refused to cooperate, little monster.
That's it for us for today, they are now bathing....grrrrrrrrr.
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Forgot to add that sadly it looks like the petite is too small for M-Star so will be buying an X-small for her now and will get that size for Millow too. When I was playing with her I quickly put the petite up to her head and it would be a really uncomfortable fit over her. The x small slipped over easily and didn't look like it would slide around too much on her.
Possibly but were probably gonna need a few more people. Anyways ur doing a great job so far, hehe what bad timing to get pinnies, tho I had the same problem with Taz when I first started. Blue and Millow will get there eventually, but im sure in time they'll get better and better.
Ive got one week before my bigger size harness gets here so ive got a bit of waiting to do before I can continue with training.
Aw that sucks, ive had to do the exact same thing. Well at least u will have som petite spares if u ever get smaller birds.
Ive got one week before my bigger size harness gets here so ive got a bit of waiting to do before I can continue with training.
Aw that sucks, ive had to do the exact same thing. Well at least u will have som petite spares if u ever get smaller birds.
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I haven't updated for a while, but that's because I haven't been able to concentrate on doing some work with them, so rather than rush a session, they've had a break for a bit and will recommence tonight.
How has everyone else been going?
How has everyone else been going?
Ok so an update on the harness training. I did watch the video and had my husband watch also cause I am a bit dyslexic and would have had the harness on side ways. I thought the video help me. Although I agree their macaw was amazingly cooperative. It would be good if they show birds of different sizes and cooperation. They made it look so easy.
So over the last week I have been practicing as they suggested. He wasnt at all afraid of the harness. I have found that I could cover his eyes when we are having snuggle time in the afternoon. I did hold his wings for various lengths of time he didn't seem to mind. Finally pushing him off center was tolerated pretty well too. So I thought today Douie might be ready. Douie was pretty good. The hardest part was adjusting the buckle. Getting it over his head was pretty easy, over the wings a little harder and adjusting the buckle the hardest. He kept getting his feet up and under the slack. I did get a bite but not too hard. Finally I got it adjusted and took him right outside although I was scared to death. What if it wasn't tight enough and he got out? I didn't fly him or anything and I could tell he was a little stressed. I was totally stressed. I couldn't find a marker that will show up on black to mark the strap buckle. All and all it went pretty well. Next time he might remember, and may not be as cooperative. I find birds have memories like an elephant (they say an elephant never forgets), I don't think birds do either. He hasn't flown to me since we have been back inside. He is just on his boing sitting very still.
Here are a few pictures of Douie in his harness!
So over the last week I have been practicing as they suggested. He wasnt at all afraid of the harness. I have found that I could cover his eyes when we are having snuggle time in the afternoon. I did hold his wings for various lengths of time he didn't seem to mind. Finally pushing him off center was tolerated pretty well too. So I thought today Douie might be ready. Douie was pretty good. The hardest part was adjusting the buckle. Getting it over his head was pretty easy, over the wings a little harder and adjusting the buckle the hardest. He kept getting his feet up and under the slack. I did get a bite but not too hard. Finally I got it adjusted and took him right outside although I was scared to death. What if it wasn't tight enough and he got out?
I didn't fly him or anything and I could tell he was a little stressed. I was totally stressed. I couldn't find a marker that will show up on black to mark the strap buckle. All and all it went pretty well. Next time he might remember, and may not be as cooperative. I find birds have memories like an elephant (they say an elephant never forgets), I don't think birds do either. He hasn't flown to me since we have been back inside. He is just on his boing sitting very still. Here are a few pictures of Douie in his harness!
