What skills does my bird need before using a harness?

We highly recommend having your bird target trained prior to harness training. Having your bird be eager move towards and to touch an target will allow you to request them closer to the harness. By having your bird target trained, you can encourage them to be confident around new objects. When you have target trained your bird you are able to speak the same language as your bird and let it know what you are asking! Using lots of praise and treats also helps let your bird know they’re doing well.

We also suggest having your bird trained to have their wings lifted. Some birds you may need to start with simply touching the wings and then rewarding them for not moving away. Young birds will often let you grasp their wing gently and move it. You always want to reward your bird for staying calm while you do this. Initially this may only be for short, couple seconds, touches. But slowly you can train your bird that picking up their wing is okay.

Finally we suggest that your bird be willing to be touched around the head and neck. Very few birds have ever had an object go around their head, and this can be very scary at first. Try first simply touching your bird with new objects, eventually try to have them be calm when you touch them along their head and neck. If they are comfortable with this then try making a large loop with the leash of the harness and having the bird take a treat from within the loop. You might have to hold the treat away from the loop initially, and slowly decrease the distance to the loop, but eventually it will be completely normal and your bird won’t second guess the new item.

What do I do if my bird’s toe gets caught in the harness?

When first learning to wear the Aviator some birds will experience their toe or foot getting caught in the belt or collar. This is more common with smaller birds. Once your bird is used to their harness this will stop happening.

This problem is usually caused, or made worse, when toenails are not trimmed. Anytime a pet bird’s nails are sharp enough to be even a bit uncomfortable on your skin, they are too long. The sharp point can get caught in the strap material and keep the toe from sliding off.

Another cause of toes getting caught is that the harness may be the wrong size and the collar is not tight to the chest. This usually means that the bird needs a smaller size of harness.

Your bird may also be trying to push the belt away. In this case try to tighten the slide on the side of the bird so the belt is being held tighter to his chest.

Progress slowly so you can learn to tighten the belt without pushing him off balance. Big human fingers often take a bit of training to tighten a belt on a tiny 200 gram bird.

Can I train my bird for free flight?

Most captive birds can learn free flight, but they need to be properly conditioned and trained. 

I have raised thousands of birds for free flight but I do not recommend any owner to free fly their birds. Very few owners are qualified to raise their bird to safely free fly. Training for free flight after a bird is 4 month old becomes harder because the bird has already passed the sensitive stage of development for learning all of the tasks necessary to successfully navigate. 

All of the babies we have raised at Hartman Aviary are trained to understand object permanence and learn significant flight skills within 1 week of their first flight. Any of our babies that get out of the outdoor nursery instinctively will not leave the compound. We raise our babies in a similar manner to what the parents would do. They understand that they have a place in the world and how to maintain an awareness of where this is. In the wild they do not get lost from the parents and the parents do not need to follow them outside of their home territory.

Even though our birds leave our facility being able to free fly we always expect the owners to use a harness when outside. As educated as our birds are we still have about 10% that get away from the new owners. However, because of the way we raise our birds we only know of one of our babies that did not make it back home.

The Aviator Flight Line is a very good tool for a bird to learn flying skills and how to turn around when they fly too far from the line.

We also have the Aviator Leash Extensions that allow a large parrot to fly as far as 40 meters.

Very few dog trainers would ever start training without a leash. Dogs are a lot easier to raise and train than birds and many dog owners do not walk their dog without a leash. The same concept applies to birds. Free flying your pet bird is possible with the help of a professional trainer.

My bird does not want to fly, what do I do?

Most likely your bird does not want to fly because his wings were clipped when he was young while his brain was developing. Other than a bird that has been injured, or wings clipped we have never seen a case of a bird that will not fly.

Humans often believe a clipped bird can glide to the floor safely. Your bird actually sees this as an unsafe and traumatic out of control ‘crash landing’. When babies experience unsafe situations the response is stored into the hypothalamus and becomes part of their instinctive behavior after adolescence. As an adult many they will not fly well, if at all’ because their brain is telling them that flight is dangerous and to be avoided. Sometimes you can slowly change his past brain experience by taking your bird to a large open area where there is nothing but short grass for at least 50 feet. There must not be anything but your own legs in the birds’ peripheral vision. Before you try this your bird must be comfortable standing and walking in grass. Place the bird between your legs and lift his body about one inch off the ground and gently drop him. It will take a few times for him to learn to use his wings to balance as he drops and lands. As he gains confidence you can slowly raise him higher for the drop. 

Developing the confidence to use the wings for balance and learning to glide to a controlled landing may take a while, so go slow. You are attempting to change a significant amount of life experience that developed when he was young and his brain was learning how to navigate. 

The next step is to work with your harnessed bird on a windy day. Perching your bird on your hand, face him into the wind. His natural instinct is to raise his wings. As he does this start to walk into the wind and encourage him to raise his wings. Take your time!

Other than this exercise, the best increase in flight and coordination skills is achieved by an accumulated positive life experience by getting out of the house while safely wearing the Aviator Harness.

How often should I replace my bird’s Aviator harness?

The Aviator Harness can last years for the birds that never chew on it. For others it can be as little as a few months. We have many Frequent Flyers that replace their Aviator every spring, and always have a spare.

The Aviator Harness is considered escape proof because a bird is not able to take it off the way we do. However it is not damage proof. The Aviator is designed so that an attentive owner, following the directions, will have plenty of opportunity to observe an issue before there is too much damage. Even if a bird that has been left unattended has enough time to significantly damage one part of the harness, he still cannot easily remove the harness before the owner will notice the developing issue.

We have designed The Aviator to work well for the average pet parrot. As you have seen on the video we try to cover all the possible issues while making a safe harness for a bird. To make the strap material strong enough so a bird cannot damage it would require very thick, heavy and uncomfortable material. We have to balance safety and comfort with durability. 

Most birds do not chew the harness enough to cause damage. If your harness does become damaged, please contact us and we will assist you in determining if the harness needs replaced for safe use.

Will my bird damage the cord attached to my harness?

The design of the Aviator Harness makes it unlikely that your bird will be interested in the leash and cause any damage. However, 400,000 Aviator Harnesses sold has provided us with a great deal of feedback.

Our choice of shock cord is difficult to chew through. It has a knitted nylon sheath that is very damage resistant. It is sort of like the difference between cutting a cotton t-shirt and a sweater. The sweater is much more difficult to cut through in one pass. We also have multiple rubber bands inside so they will not all be broken at the same time. Instead of the standard white rubber we use black. If the cord is damaged the rubber is the same color as the sheath and much less likely to hold your birds attention.

The position of the clasp that attaches the shock cord to the belt has also been well researched. Each size has a specific distance form a bird to the clasp that connects the shock cord.

With a little outside time experiencing freedom and flying longer distances your bird will become comfortable and have no interest in flying away, as well as becoming more used to the leash extension.

How do I help my bird become healthy enough to fly?

If you can see your bird panting after a little exercise he is probably not in very good physical condition.

Most wild parrots have evolved to fly up to 25 miles a day, while most captive parrots have not flown 25 miles in their life. These conditions make it difficult for an out of shape bird to fly and the resulting pain and lack of cardiovascular potential quickly teaches them that it is better to walk. Any bird with clipped wings will most likely have a high BMI, and be out of shape. Older birds that have not been flying will most likely have bad joints and weak bones. These issue often lead to a resistance to trying to fly.

Young birds have the same ‘I think I can, I think I can’ attitude that we do when we are young. They will repeatedly fly and with experience, learn how navigate without running into things. When their wings are clipped they have very little control over where they land. Eventually each landing is recorded as a crash landing and the bird learns flying is dangerous.

Developing a healthier mental and physical condition is important to teaching an older bird to fly. The fastest method to teach an old bird to fly is to get him a young flighted friend. The older bird will be encouraged to think a bit differently about moving and playing. His brain and body will automatically get more exercise. Get him outside as much as possible to encourage more exercise.

Go Slow.

A bird in poor condition that is forced to fly will become even more reluctant to try. Weak bones and sore joints can cause some pain when trying to fly and land. You need to work on getting him to flap his wings and move around the yard to help increase his cardiovascular condition. Learning to walk in the grass, perch on a wobbly branch and explore the garden will start the process.

Even a little activity will limber up his body enough to develop confidence. Start by holding him an inch off the ground and dropping him on a surface he is already familiar with. Every day let him go from a higher and higher position. He will slowly learn about lift, landing, and balance and he will be prepared to experience longer flights.

How long will it take to harness train my bird?

Every bird is different. I think of the Aviator in a similar manner to how I think about wearing a suit and tie twice a year. It bugs me all day long because it is constricting my body in several places. But if I were to wear it a few days in a row I adjust and no longer fidget. Your bird can feel the same way. I have been trained that I have to learn to tolerate and like new things. The only way to get over this is to make sure you use the harness often. At first it is important to do new activities right away to keep his mind off of the harness and on new things. Do not push the time limit. Try to get him mentally stimulated by being in a new environment like walk in the grass, then remove the harness before he gets worn out and starts to focus on the harness.

If you have professional training skills like myself or another professional trainer I would say it would take 7 – 10 days for a difficult but friendly bird. If you follow the extensive directions that came with your Aviator Harness, check out our blog, and search out other training tools you will soon know how quickly your bird will get used to his or her new harness. With a good training plan and a cooperative bird, you should plan on at least a week.

How soon can I start harness training my baby bird?

You can start harness training as soon as the feathers are mostly opened. This will be as early as 3 weeks old, depending on the species of bird, before your baby should be taking his first flight. 

1-2 weeks before his first flight he should be wearing his harness outside while following you through the yard learning to perch on everything that is suitable for landing on.  

 If your baby is used to the sights and sounds of outdoors before he starts flying he will naturally follow you (walk), just as he would follow his mom in the wild. If he is exposed to the outdoors early the baby will be raised properly to follow the flock, and once he starts flying will already have a good understanding about where he should and shouldn’t be.

As your baby goes in and outside the house they will be developing the idea of ‘object permanence’, which is basically the awareness that there is a place called home that I can go back to. 

Babies should always wear the Aviator outside, because you never know when he will take his first flight.

It is also never too late to harness train a pet bird. It just takes a little more time to teach an older bird new tricks.

What do I do if my bird is afraid of the harness?

It all comes down to the way we approach our birds with the new item. There is no difference between a new toy and a new toy that looks like a harness. If we tried to wrap a toy around our birds neck without taking the time to slowly let him know what we are doing he would likely be scared.

There is a temptation to use the harness right away, however it is important to watch and read the directions.

We need to remember we understand the benefits of using the harness, however most pet birds have no idea what is going on. Every bird needs to be slowly educated about all of the new things it will experience like having a collar put over its head and past its eyes, having its wings raised while the harness is put on, and having the collar end up around his neck. 

There are extensive instructions in the package that your harness came in to help acclimate your bird to their new harness.

Read the inserts, watch the instructional video and slowly go through all the necessary exercises. Professional trainers always take more time than necessary to make sure their students fully understand what is going to happen each step of the way. For a very docile bird that loves to investigate new things a professional trainer will take at least 3 days to introduce the harness. They will take at least a week with the average pet bird.

Once you learn about the training techniques required to educate a bird to wear a harness you will know most of the training techniques necessary to raise your friend to understand all the other things it needs to know to grow into a great lifelong pet.