SRSeedBurners Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Greycie's got about 15-20 hours logged in her harness. She's been on bicycle rides, to Lowes and Home Depot, the local plant nursery, and bike race venues plus around a 100 trips to the chicken house and back. In all that time, she's diligently working on her harness. The breast strap is about half severed. We bought the Aviator harness. Question, is there a better harness out there that can't be so easily destroyed? Doesn't matter if we use the trick of putting a dog leash on her in the off time - she's smart. She knows the harness is capable of being chewed off and she's one determined birdy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave007 Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 (edited) If you've been leaving it on your bird for longer than needed ( before or after) then yes, they will pick at the harness. The harness isn't a natural item on a bird even if some birds won't pick on it. it should immediately be put on before going out and immediately taken off when it's not needed. There's no way to stop a bir from picking at an alien product on the body that may be uncomfortable. Edited April 21, 2013 by Dave007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acappella Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 I'm wondering if you could wrap a piece of untanned leather around the breast strap and hand stitch it in place. Make another layer for her to chew through that may be more resilient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray P Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 I don`t know if there is any way of stopping any bird from destroying anything that they have set their mind on destroying in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRSeedBurners Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 If you've been leaving it on your bird for longer than needed ( before or after) then yes, they will pick at the harness. The harness isn't a natural item on a bird even if some birds won't pick on it. it should immediately be put on before going out and immediately taken off when it's not needed. There's no way to stop a bir from picking at an alien product on the body that may be uncomfortable. We don't leave the harness on, the non-detachable leash prevents doing anything like that. I was refering to Jayd's tip of putting a cut dog leash on them - she chews that too. I'm not asking if there's a way to stop her chewing, I'm asking if there's a better harness out there that is less easily destroyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave007 Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 We don't leave the harness on, the non-detachable leash prevents doing anything like that. I was refering to Jayd's tip of putting a cut dog leash on them - she chews that too. I'm not asking if there's a way to stop her chewing, I'm asking if there's a better harness out there that is less easily destroyed. All harnesses no matter what material are used is chewable. The main reason for the type of material that's used has to do with the weight of the harness on the bird's body. It has to be somewhat light weight. The best harness to use is The Aviator Harness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRSeedBurners Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Let's see, this harness lasted all of 4-5 weeks? Not great value for the money. Going to have to come up with a stainless option somehow. Will probably send pics to the manufacturer and let them know, their harnesses are definitely NOT African Grey proof as is. Notice the pak-o-bird had to come out with a grey proof carrier. I'm assuming a macaw would destroy one of these in a day if they set their mind to it. One completely severed attachment near the buckle and another halfway chewed through on the bottom portion of the neck loop: Gladly demonstrating her technique: Such a proud moment. Greycie will not be subjugated. Of course, no more trips to the hen house or rides on the bike. She didn't think about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbersmom Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Well, I guess you know what to put on your Christmas list. 12 Greycie harnesses! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave007 Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Let's see, this harness lasted all of 4-5 weeks? Not great value for the money. Going to have to come up with a stainless option somehow. Will probably send pics to the manufacturer and let them know, their harnesses are definitely NOT African Grey proof as is. Notice the pak-o-bird had to come out with a grey proof carrier. I'm assuming a macaw would destroy one of these in a day if they set their mind to it. One completely severed attachment near the buckle and another halfway chewed through on the bottom portion of the neck loop: [ATTACH]23843[/ATTACH] Gladly demonstrating her technique: [ATTACH]23842[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]23844[/ATTACH] Such a proud moment. Greycie will not be subjugated. Of course, no more trips to the hen house or rides on the bike. She didn't think about that. [ATTACH]23845[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]23846[/ATTACH] Not to insult you but all of your pictures concerning what's happened to the harness is your fault. Any harness no matter what it is shouldn't be in a situation that allows a bird to pick on it. Every picture shows the harness laying around with the bird very curious. This can happe with many items that have nothing to do with harnesses. Anyone will tell you that their birds find things that a person doesn't even know are there until the bird finds them and chew them. A flight harness should be ued in a certain way--- 1---the harness is put on the bird and whatever you wanna do is done and after finishing, the harness is completely removed from the body and put away. 2---the harness is put on and whatever a person wants to do is finished and again the harness is put away. The bird shouldn't be seeing something it enjoys chewing on if the person doesn't want it chewed on. 3---I don't know what you're using the harness for but even if it's for being used in the house, it needs to be removed. Hands, arms, fingers, playstands, learning to fly around the house don't need a harness. If you are using it for #3, you're dealing with the symptom not the cause. Most people use a flight harness when taking the bird outside. If the bird is outside, the last thing it wants to do is bite at the harness. BTY---the problem and shape your harness is in the pictures can be easily fixed. PS--when a dog is walked on a leash and then brought in the house, it the leash left on the dog? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRSeedBurners Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Not to insult you but all of your pictures concerning what's happened to the harness is your fault. Any harness no matter what it is shouldn't be in a situation that allows a bird to pick on it. Every picture shows the harness laying around with the bird very curious. This can happe with many items that have nothing to do with harnesses. Anyone will tell you that their birds find things that a person doesn't even know are there until the bird finds them and chew them.A flight harness should be ued in a certain way--- 1---the harness is put on the bird and whatever you wanna do is done and after finishing, the harness is completely removed from the body and put away. 2---the harness is put on and whatever a person wants to do is finished and again the harness is put away. The bird shouldn't be seeing something it enjoys chewing on if the person doesn't want it chewed on. 3---I don't know what you're using the harness for but even if it's for being used in the house, it needs to be removed. Hands, arms, fingers, playstands, learning to fly around the house don't need a harness. If you are using it for #3, you're dealing with the symptom not the cause. Most people use a flight harness when taking the bird outside. If the bird is outside, the last thing it wants to do is bite at the harness. BTY---the problem and shape your harness is in the pictures can be easily fixed. PS--when a dog is walked on a leash and then brought in the house, it the leash left on the dog? The pics were taken once the harness was destroyed. I'm not sure how you arrive at the determination that I let her sit around and destroy it in her spare time from a few pics but so be it. Her typical wear pattern is: if I want to go to the barn, I put harness on, I go to the barn, she picks at the harness, we come back, we take harness off. If I want to go on a bike ride with her, we put harness on, I pedal, she picks, we come back, harness comes off. She does not live in the harness and anyone that would leave a harness on a bird with a non-detachable lead, well, you can't fix stupid. The only time she was ever exposed to that harness in a non-functional situation was when she was being trained to get used to it just as the DVD indicates to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) Oh Boy.... With a bored grey outdoors (Rare) the chewing is something you cannot really stop it, I don't think. My Grey will chew on the elastic line sometimes and that scares the hell out of me... they can chomp through it very quickly. You may need to purchase stock in the aviator harness company so you can keep several in stock at once and one in your pocket to replace one almost chewed through on a long walk. Edited April 30, 2013 by danmcq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingy Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 For the future you could get some sturdy cotton strapping sewn on the outside of the harness especially around areas that could be chewed. You want uncolored natural heavy weight cotton webbing, preferably marine grade (thats what life jacket straps were made from before the USCG approved the use of nylon). You will need to find someone with a heavy duty machine and needle that can stitch it on. This is not something that most people can stitch on themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kizzybird Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Would it be safe to wrap a knot/ piece of sisal rope on the breast piece in the hopes she chews on it instead? Would love to see a pic of the bike riding! Too cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRSeedBurners Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 Would it be safe to wrap a knot/ piece of sisal rope on the breast piece in the hopes she chews on it instead? Would love to see a pic of the bike riding! Too cool! I've been in contact with Steve at the ParrotUniversity. They're going to make me a reinforced version (additional cost but worth it) and then he recommended doing like you mentioned, putting something on there to divert their attention. I was thinking of wrapping it in small grade cotton rope with some little stainless loops attached to give her something else to go after and is replaceable. Maybe some plastic buttons - she won't leave those alone when we wear clothes with buttons. Haahaa, she can pick at her own damn buttons!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbersmom Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Sounds like you have a good plan there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Lol, I'm sorry, I have to agree with Dave, the problem is the dog leading the owner, or in this case, the bird leading the owner. There's only one solution and that is to handle the matter like you would any other problem, teach not to chew and remove when not in use. If it's Tuesday? lol Thanks Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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