How do you get a harness on a smaller bird??

[lwis]

I recently bought a petite aviator harness for my Green Cheek conure. I would love some tips on how to train a small bouncy bird with lots of energy to wear a harness.
I have watched the instructional DVD that came with the harness, as well as many other people's videos of them training their bird to wear a harness. Their techniques seem to make sense, but I do not think their methods will work with my bird.
Most of the birds that are shown are larger and more calm, or at least seem less likely to jump away (or on on the harness). My bird is not at all scared of the harness and will try to play with it and chew it. I try to discourage this.

Here is what I have tried and what problems I ran into:

-Having him perched on my hand , and in the other hand I would hold a piece of millet behind the head hole of the harness so that he would have to go right up to it/ through it a bit to get the treat. This worked for a while, but he soon realized that he could just push the harness out of the way and go around it to get a treat.

-Putting him on a perch and used a similar technique as above, but would hold the head hole of the harness with two hands so he could not go around it to get a treat. - He tried perching on the harness instead. He Just won't sit still for any amount of time...I never really expected him to though.

-what I ended up doing was letting him munch on a whole bunch of spray millet while I touched him on the back, head, neck, and wings with the harness for a while. He was so distracted by the millet that he didn't react much at all to the harness touching him, But I don't really know where to go from here. Any suggestions are apreciated!

Thanks!

[marie83]

I have the same problem with my green cheeked conure not staying still enough. I have to try to keep him distracted with lots of treats and head scratches. I find he stays stiller if I keep him on my knee rather than on a table/chair or perch. Doing it this way with him perched on something other than your other hand also leaves both your hands free, one for the harness and one for distracting and treats.

I used sunflower seeds as treats as they are easier to hold and stop him getting the treat accidently if he hasn't done what was required.

Unfortunately I didn't manage to complete the harness training due to him having a problem with his wing but am hoping to start again soon, he was learning really fast before I had to stop. I found the neck collar part of the aviator harness quite tight to take back off which panicked him a bit so I practiced it to start with by making a loose loop with one of the longer sections of the harness straps, gradually increasing the tightness to get him used to it. Unfortunately I didn't get much further than that.

Tbh the only part that concerns me now is getting the actual neck collar back off the bird, it definitely seems a bit to tight but I think the next size up will be too large, it says the petite size is suitable for a cockatiel too but theres no way on earth I would attempt it on my 'tiel due to the tightness getting it back off of my gcc. Have you managed to get the neck loop round his head fully at all? if so are you having the same tightness issue?

[Michael]

You may have to grab the bird in your fist and hold it there while you slide things on and set it up. Having a second person around to feed millet every few seconds while this is going on is helpful.

[lwis]

Thanks for the input.

the only part that concerns me now is getting the actual neck collar back off the bird, it definitely seems a bit to tight but I think the next size up will be too large, it says the petite size is suitable for a cockatiel too but theres no way on earth I would attempt it on my 'tiel due to the tightness getting it back off of my gcc. Have you managed to get the neck loop round his head fully at all? if so are you having the same tightness issue?

I have not gotten the neck collar over his head yet, but now I am scared to, for fear that he will panic. I don't want him getting hurt.

You may have to grab the bird in your fist and hold it there while you slide things on and set it up. Having a second person around to feed millet every few seconds while this is going on is helpful.

I do sort of feel that this may be the only way to fully get the harness on him, but the instruction video that came with it warned against doing this, as the bird may begin to be fearful of the harness or other things. So I avoided grabbing him to get the harness on him.

[marie83]

I think it would be hard to say whether just grabbing him would make him fearful or not, the good thing about green cheeks is they are quite fearless in general so leaving things a while then starting from scratch may work if he does get scared.

I would definitely at least get him to put his head in it on his own free will and make sure he is ok with his wings being handled before you restrain him and just stick it on. You can by practicing making loops of decreasing size that he can put his own head through. I started with a really big loop to start with so that he wouldnt 'go around' the harness to get his treat, maybe even start with a loop big enough for him to step through if he is really hyper.

How old is he btw? I tried harness training when Ollie was about 3 months old but failed for 2 reasons, 1. I hadn't seen Michaels video, I was trying to follow the aviator DVD and 2. Ollie was way way to hyper in that I couldn't do much more than have it near him so I gave up. My second attempt was about 4 months ago after I had accidently found Michaels training video and I must say Ollie was loads calmer that time around (he is now 2 yrs old). Anyway don't give up, think of the benefits to your bird once you have both mastered it. It will be worth it

Oh and another thing I noticed with ollie is he loses concentration really quickly, I keep training sessions really short (no more than 5/10 mins) but repeat them 2-4 times a day if I get chance, it depends on what sort of a mood he is in and how busy I am as to how many we do but definitely end the session whilst he is still concentrating, also don't rush, I spent 7+ days practicing putting the loop over his head before I attempted the neck collar. (On that note I've actually e-mailed the manufacturer to ask if the xs size will be ok to use as I still think the petites too tight although I do realise its supposed to be tight-ish. Anyway just be careful and have someone else on hand to hold him when you try in case you struggle. I'm so glad my bf was in at the time)

I'm giving Olllie another week or so just to be on the safe side with his wing then giving the training another go.