Traveling with a grey

[bandits_mom08]

One of my biggest questions is how do I travel safely with Bandit and cause the least amount of stress on him?

 

What is the best way to travel with him in the car? He hates being in his cage when we are in the car but doesn't mind standing on it. I think he likes the freedom of being able to get to me whenever he wants. The cage I have is to inconvieniently big to take everywhere (the smaller of the 2 I have).

 

Has anyone ever seen the birdie harness? Do they work good? Are they safe? I do not particularly care for the leash that hooks to thier leg that just spells disaster to me.

 

The reason I ask, and this may sound crazy, but I want to be able to take him horse back rididng with me. I am (pardon the pun) killing two birds with one stone, spending time with Bandit and spending time with my horses. I have had them out together in the field and they seem to be fine with each other but am afraid while I am out riding Bandit might decied to jump or accidently fall and I would like a way to hang onto him. (my little Grey Bandit is missing most of his little toes and can not hang on well. no one would ever know he is missing them unless you move to fast while he's on your shoulder.)

 

I think being outside like that would be good for him, right??

 

Anyones advice, in put, anything would be great. I don't even know if this is a good ieda. This is the first bird I have owned that I can accually do this with.

[Talon]

I think you are CRAZY to even think you can take him with you on horse back. But this is only my opinion which I have, based on MY experience. We have 3 horses, have owned and run a boarding stable for 20 years, I grew up with horses, and I know what they are capable of, how easily ANY horse, no matter how bomb proof they are, can spook at the least little unknown thing.

 

Either your grey would get spooked, thus spooking the horse, or your horse could spook thus frightening your bird. Then a terrible tragic accident would happen. At the very least, it would affect your bird causing it to never trust you enough to ever want to go outside around your horse with you ever again.

 

I have witnessed many a freak accident with horses, and I would never risk my bird or their experiences around our horses. They see them from our house, but I would never consider ever riding with one. :ohmy:

 

Your animals safety and well being, both physically and physiologically are your responsibility. They rely on YOU to keep them safe. What a disaster in my mind of even attempting this with these 2 types of animals based on their temperament.

Both of these types of pets have an instinct, no matter how well tamed they are to RUN, FLEE, BOLT, GET AWAY AT ANY COST when they are frightened. They won't look to you for reassurance or trust to help them when they are scared. They will go with their natural fleeing instincts no matter what you do.

 

Please reconsider.....for their safety.

[Dave007]

I totally and completely agree with Penny ( Talon). That idea is INSANE. Wat makes you think that a bird will take to a horse. Penny is right. They spook very easily. So, you're gonna be holding onto the horse's harness and the bird's harness. Scenario..The horse spooks. The bird jumps. You've got 2 harness. The b ird's harness isn't long enough. You hold the bird's harness. The bird is swinging in mid air and is frantic. No where to go. Possible injuries to bird. In the meantime, you're calming the horse while the bird is swinging in mid air.

Second scenario--the bird's harness allows the bird to land on the ground. The bird is still frantic. The bird is attached to the harness and is near the horse's hoof. One quick move and the horse's hoof squishes and splatters the bird all over the place. How quickly can a horse spook? Well, at race tracks, the racing horse has to be walked out to the starting gate and needs to be accompanied by another horse who it's friends with. The horse walking with the race horse is the one that keeps the racing horse calm until it gets to the starting gate.

I won't even tell you to think about. I'll simply say FORGET IT.

Recently, we had a person here who got the crazy idea of putting his bird on a motorcyle and riding in the back woods. Well, I'm not gonna tell you what happened.

Bird harnesses aren't made for the reasons you're thinking of.

[Sallas]

I think I agree with Talon on this one. Both of those animals are so easily spooked, I think that would be a disaster waiting to happen.

 

To answer your question, I travel with my grey quite often. I have two travel cages that I use. When we go back home to visit my parents, I have another full size cage at my parents house...I call it my birds vacation home...

 

But anyway, My travel cages are made 100% of clear plastic (well the front has a metal cage type door), so the birds can see what is going on around them. So fat tey both like going for rides in the car. Once I get them seat belted in and we get on the road, I will pull the blanket (I always travel with a cover as birds can get car sick also, and covering their cage will help that)off of their travel cages so they can see me.

[bandits_mom08]

That is exactlyl why I asked before I tried it. I have never delt with these types of birds before. But thanks for being so defensive on the issue!!

 

I guess I know not to (in your opinion).

[bandits_mom08]

I do want to thank Sallas for the cage advice. How much did one of these clear cages cost? How big is it?

 

Ok so know one answered my question about the harness. Are these safe for the birds or should I just take him outside and hope he doesn't fly away (natural instinct)?

 

Right now he is mainly in the house because I am afraid one of our many cats might get him (keep in mind one has attacted a wild turkey) I am most definanly certin they will have no prob catching a little grey!!

 

So, are the harnesses safe or not? Bad idea? Good idea?

[Jane08]

You can get great harnesses nowdays for them, like the aviator harness and they are fantastic. We are working at the moment on training our 2 to put on these harnesses.

 

We also take our ones in the car and always have them in a cage. We use a small dog cage and have it sitting on the back seat between the 2 front seats and our female stands up the front of the cage so she has a clear view of us and out the windscreen. I can easily turn around in the front seat and talk to her. Our male likes to sit at the side window and look out at everything.

[bandits_mom08]

Thanks for the input. I did find a harness for him. The first one I picked up was a death trap after I looked at it. if he could get a foot neer the under belly strap the neck tightend up.

 

The second one I found everything had its own adjustments so this could not happen but it's to big. I decided that there is a way to modify it. I am going to give it a try.

[Tycos_mom]

They do make harneses just for birds if you google aviator harness for parrots you'll see what they look like they also come with a instruction cd to teach you how to harness train your bird they come in different sizes so you can buy the one thats right for your bird. There are a couple other brands on the market also one is called the feather teather and the other is a flight suit.