Hey guys, i was wondering if any of you had taken your birds out for a walk and how did it go?
We haven't done this with any of our other birds as they're not clipped. Echo is and he is also very happy to see new people. He doesnt bite them or run away from them. So I was thinking, since it is spring and the weathers getting warmer, I'd like to put him on my shoulder and take a stroll in the park. I'm just scared that he'd freak out when he sees a barking dog and jump off....and then..well it would be a disaster.
i would suggest that before you take him for a walk, you carry him in a carrying cage for parrots, or purchase an aviator harness and train him to wear it
just because so many parrots get lost, for owners taking them out without anything, and loose their parrots.
even if they are flighted or clipped, the slightest breeze of wind can carry them off.
Hey!
I'm not so worried that he would be carried away by the wind because he has a full clip and not partial. So he sort of flies with a downward 2 meter heading. But I think the idea with a transporter is a good one. I have one of those but it just never occured to me. Thanks really The prices for flight harnesses here are extremely high, as they're not very popular. So I'll try your transport box idea.
either option would be better than losing a precious fid even if your sure he wont fly away there are always things that can startle a bird into a dangerous situation
Thanks guys but I checked ebay uk for a flight or aviator harness. Didnt come up with anything cheaper than 30 pounds. So I'm sticking with the transporter idea and then in slow doses take him out of it.
I once read about a guy that walked around town, with his Amazon on his shoulder. I guess I'm stealing his idea
Has anyone here ever walked out and about with their bird? How was your experience?
This is an older post, but thought I'd put in my two cents. My husband and I run an in-home daycare and when we take the kids outside, Skye gets up on my shoulder and goes out with us. She has a designated spot to "play" and forage in the yard that the children know to walk carefully in, and she loves it. She does very well but when I go out to check the mail I make her stay inside as we live on a busy road. The children's play area is surrounded by an eight foot fence so I feel safe with her there since she is clipped. If she ever discovers the weeping willow though I am toast!
We've had some bad experiences with taking Janey outside... so much so, I've never tried with our second IRN (Charlie).
When she was young, I used to take Janey out for small walks down our driveway. We live in a cul-de-sac so we don't get much traffic. However, something would always scare her and she'd go for a fly. Her wings were clipped so she didn't get very far. I'd run after her and she'd step up onto my hand straight away. I was so scared she'd end up in our water feature and drown. One day, I took one step onto our balcony to talk to someone who was downstairs.... and she was ok for a while and then she was freaked out by him and went for a fly... with me running after her.
The last time we tried it, it was to take her on a trip in the car. We thought we'd try letting her sit with me in the car rather than putting her in a cage. Big mistake! She got scared again, and went for a fly. Even though her wings were clipped, our yard is extremely steep and even though she was flying downwards, towards the ground, the ground was falling away rather quickly and she ended up in a tree in our shed. My husband took off after her, and managed to get her out of the tree. That was so scary, that that was the last time I ever tried to take her outside.
Then we tried a travel cage. We repurposed a cheap cat cage... put a perch and things in it. We used it a few times until she got her head stuck between the grid-shaped bars. I will never forget that traumatic night! We hadn't realise that the grid in the bars were just big enough to stick her head through but not get it back out... and the bars were really strong so they were impossible to bend. She was struggling the whole time and was really panicked (as were we). We tried putting oil on her neck (at the suggestion of a call to the after-hours vet) but she kept trying to bite it off. Eventually, we found a pair of wire cutters and my husband cut the wire... the gap was so small, I was frightened that he was going to cut her by accident! It was a very stressful evening!
...so now, if we want to take them anywhere, we take them in a proper bird cage that fits in the car.... it has meant that we travel with them far less than we would like.
I have a harness but haven't been able to train either of them to wear it. Mostly because it's the sort they have to put their legs through. I think I need to buy one that's easier to fit.
Looking back, I guess I was extremely foolish for trying such things with her and I wish I had never done them.
Any way, just thought I'd share these cautionary tales!
