Aviator Harness

[Wolf]

I was not speaking of what you were or were not feeding your birds, so I think that you misunderstood me. Not a biggie as it is normal that things written can be misunderstood pretty easily when you are new to each other. Most birds do tend to get nervous when they are in a new situation and this is more pronounced with cockatiels, but you may have the exceptional bird, I don't know.

[ParrotsForLife]

I was not speaking of what you were or were not feeding your birds, so I think that you misunderstood me. Not a biggie as it is normal that things written can be misunderstood pretty easily when you are new to each other. Most birds do tend to get nervous when they are in a new situation and this is more pronounced with cockatiels, but you may have the exceptional bird, I don't know.

he acts likes hes been outside before lol

[Pajarita]

Lots of birds bite at the harness they get used to it and then they stop I just went outside with Rocko he wasnt biting that much and the spray is johnsons anti-pek pump spray johnsons has lots of bird stuff and i said i have a cockatiel not a chicken

Johnson's Anti pek spray was made for chickens and just relabeled for pet birds. I looked and looked and could not find the ingredients anywhere. Do you have a bottle of it? If so, could you please list the ingredients so we can check them out. The pet industry is unregulated and often sells products that are not safe for birds.

It's not a matter of whether birds get used to the harness and stop biting it, It's a matter of the particular species of parrot, their size and how they fly and maneuver and the inherent risks flying one with harness might bring. Parrots might all be parrots but they are all completely different species and what you can do with one, you can't with another.

[Pajarita]

Sunshine is good for birds, of course, but stress is not so one needs to balance things out a bit. And there is no way on this green earth that anybody can tell if a bird is stressed out or not - not behaviorists, not avian vets, not anybody for the simple reason that they all react differently to stress and none of them reacts the way mammals do so we have no point of reference. There is a single way to tell and that is to measure corticol levels but you can't draw blood without stressing out the bird so the test is useless as you would ALWAYS get elevated values regardless. The other ways are indirect. A bird that lives under constant or often stress will have shorter telomeres (and we have a study done on African grays that tells us the birds that are single birds have shorter ones so no, no single bird, including a tiel, does 'fine' on its own regardless of what people want to believe and say) and a depressed immune system (birds would develop diseases that are happen when the immune system is not working right -like aspergillosis or clostridium, for example).

[ParrotsForLife]

Sunshine is good for birds, of course, but stress is not so one needs to balance things out a bit. And there is no way on this green earth that anybody can tell if a bird is stressed out or not - not behaviorists, not avian vets, not anybody for the simple reason that they all react differently to stress and none of them reacts the way mammals do so we have no point of reference. There is a single way to tell and that is to measure corticol levels but you can't draw blood without stressing out the bird so the test is useless as you would ALWAYS get elevated values regardless. The other ways are indirect. A bird that lives under constant or often stress will have shorter telomeres (and we have a study done on African grays that tells us the birds that are single birds have shorter ones so no, no single bird, including a tiel, does 'fine' on its own regardless of what people want to believe and say) and a depressed immune system (birds would develop diseases that are happen when the immune system is not working right -like aspergillosis or clostridium, for example).

Your wrong about that lots of birds have lived on their own and have lived long healthy lifes I know for a fact Rocko dosent need another tiel he has me and im with him all the time and my African grey has been alone for 6 years and shes ok shes with my mam all the time and they both get attention all the time and not all birds enjoy another birds company many birds like being on their own they dont need a friend to live longer thats just plain silly and a bird cant get stressed if they like being outside seriously think before you post birds are supposed to be outside so why would they get stressed if they like it and there no dangerous predators where i live

[ParrotsForLife]

Lots of birds bite at the harness they get used to it and then they stop I just went outside with Rocko he wasnt biting that much and the spray is johnsons anti-pek pump spray johnsons has lots of bird stuff and i said i have a cockatiel not a chicken

Johnson's Anti pek spray was made for chickens and just relabeled for pet birds. I looked and looked and could not find the ingredients anywhere. Do you have a bottle of it? If so, could you please list the ingredients so we can check them out. The pet industry is unregulated and often sells products that are not safe for birds.

It's not a matter of whether birds get used to the harness and stop biting it, It's a matter of the particular species of parrot, their size and how they fly and maneuver and the inherent risks flying one with harness might bring. Parrots might all be parrots but they are all completely different species and what you can do with one, you can't with another.

I tried the spray it didnt work and theres no ingredients it just saids contains Denatonium Benzoate and the aviator harness is a great harness and its comfortable when they are flying I wouldnt put any other harness on Rocko other than the Aviator

[Cage Cleaner]

Gl

[ParrotsForLife]

Can you send a picture of the harness on the parrot? It sounds like you bought the wrong size, or that you aren't pulling the wings through, etc.

Aviator harness is the best, with the best customer service. It would be worth contacting the manufacturer, too. They were helpful when I was first acclimating my parrot to the harness.

As for biting the harness, it's useful to just use the distraction method. Whenever the bird starts to chew, just get its attention onto something else. Going outside works well for this since there are a lot of novelties.

The harness fits ok on him The petite is for cockatiels but i got x-small because it fits better on him hes a big cockatiel I have it on him properly collar over the head wing through then tighten the first time i had it on him it was on wrong he enjoyed his day today we went to a shopping center and two petshops one petshop was were he was from lol he looked happy to be back I also met lots of bird owners and cockatiel owners and they were asking where i got the harness and he went for a few rides on my shoulder If i didnt walk he would bite in the harness so i had to keep going or i would scratch his head to distract him while in the petshop i asked could they cut his nails but they could not because they cut just the tip and he started bleeding well hes home now Relaxing in his cage I need to teach him not to bite the harness

[Pajarita]

Sunshine is good for birds, of course, but stress is not so one needs to balance things out a bit. And there is no way on this green earth that anybody can tell if a bird is stressed out or not - not behaviorists, not avian vets, not anybody for the simple reason that they all react differently to stress and none of them reacts the way mammals do so we have no point of reference. There is a single way to tell and that is to measure corticol levels but you can't draw blood without stressing out the bird so the test is useless as you would ALWAYS get elevated values regardless. The other ways are indirect. A bird that lives under constant or often stress will have shorter telomeres (and we have a study done on African grays that tells us the birds that are single birds have shorter ones so no, no single bird, including a tiel, does 'fine' on its own regardless of what people want to believe and say) and a depressed immune system (birds would develop diseases that are happen when the immune system is not working right -like aspergillosis or clostridium, for example).

Your wrong about that lots of birds have lived on their own and have lived long healthy lifes I know for a fact Rocko dosent need another tiel he has me and im with him all the time and my African grey has been alone for 6 years and shes ok shes with my mam all the time and they both get attention all the time and not all birds enjoy another birds company many birds like being on their own they dont need a friend to live longer thats just plain silly and a bird cant get stressed if they like being outside seriously think before you post birds are supposed to be outside so why would they get stressed if they like it and there no dangerous predators where i live

My dear, it wasn't me who reached the conclusion that parrots that live by themselves die younger, it was a scientific study (here it is: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 221746.htm) . But, even if we did not have the study, all we have to do is look to nature. Social animals that evolved to live in groups need the company of others of their own species. It doesn't matter what you or I think, it is what Nature decreed.

And yes, birds that were bred in captivity do get stressed out when they leave their familiar environment and exposed to strange sights, people, noises, smells, etc. Parrots and other tropical and subtropical species are actually more prone to it than others because it's not hard-wired into them to expand their territory - so much so that scientists believe that most tropical and subtropical species will become extict due to global warming precisely because they are not programmed to go exploring.

[Wolf]

So far everything that I have read that is of a scientific nature point to the fact that parrots all do better with a companion bird. It is usually better when they are of the same species, but they will accept other parrots as flock members. They don't even need to like each other enough to share a cage they just need to be able to talk to each other.
I know that it sometimes seems that they don't like or need other birds and there are many reasons for this beginning with them being imprinted on humans. This causes them to think of humans as first parents and then potential mates and once these drives are satisfied other humans can be flock members. They may not have even seen another parrot for years once they have a home with humans. But if introductions are carried out properly they will accept other birds as flock members as well as for potential mates and this creates a problem for the humans as then their parrot does not need them so much, which in my opinion is the true nature of the statements to the effect that their bird is happy and doesn't want or need other parrots.