Raeza
Hatchling
Posts: 33 
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Post by Raeza on May 15, 2016 19:00:38 GMT -5
www.flightquarters.com/bird-diapers/category/flightsuit-bird-diapers.htmlAnyone ever used anything like this with their Quakers or other birds? These people have their birds in them constantly when they are out of their cage and say the liners on them pull away from the birds vent and only need to be changed roughly every 3-4 hours depending on the bird. Basically what sparked my interest in this is my boss. I work in a group home for people with special needs, mostly people who are deaf or have other communicative issues. The house I am working right now is basically the only house that the company has that is not allowed to keep pets due to lease issues. She has basically told me that she has heard of people that have brought their parrots with them everywhere and said that should bondi ever be trained well enough (basically is friendly and not a biter, and tame) and I could make sure that he would not leave a mess everywhere that she would love to see him accompany me to work... which would be freaking awesome. Having one of these and training the bird with it would basically make that idea a reality, if he takes to it anything like the birds in the video they have there. Thoughts? alternatives? advice? Concerns?
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Post by Caseysmom on May 15, 2016 19:54:08 GMT -5
beccilouise Has been training her Quaker to use a harness, she will be able to give you training tips. We tried it with Casey but she wasn't a fan. Maybe you could start with bringing Bondi there in a travel cage. Casey has a nice plexiglass one that she enjoys going out and about in. It might be an easier way for both of you.
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Raeza
Hatchling
Posts: 33
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Post by Raeza on May 15, 2016 19:59:08 GMT -5
The idea is that she be more of a thing that the guys I work with can put attention into. Help with training, teaching them to handle the parrot. Sitting there in the cage was not really the idea, more... like a therapy animal of sorts. Of course the no mess thing is the most important thing to my boss so this would basically be an essential to having her with me.
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Post by biteybird on May 16, 2016 2:10:03 GMT -5
I bought one of these and first signs were promising. I much prefer the design over the Aviator harness. We tried Bonnie with the Aviator and she hated it - it now gets the alarm call whenever she sees it. Unfortunately I left the flightsuit lying on the bench amongst other things (to get Bonnie used to seeing it and not being afraid of it, which was working) and my husband accidentally threw it in the bin with some papers that it was lying amongst. Damn! It was expensive, too. I do intend to buy another, it just got put on hold for a bit. I've heard very positive reports about the bird diapers (the name still makes me giggle!). Until I get my act together re getting another harness and actually training Bonnie properly to accept it, I'm considering the 'Pak-O-bird' medium size backpack carrier. Aaron put me onto this a while back - expensive too, but they look great and we could take Bonnie outdoors in it until she's flightsuit trained: www.celltei.com/products/pak-o-bird-medium-size.html |
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Post by easttex on May 16, 2016 5:49:45 GMT -5
I have a hard time seeing a Quaker as a real therapy animal, honestly. Or any parrot. No matter how they're raised or handled, they are not truly domesticated and they still have elements of the wild in them. The biggest issue I would anticipate would be in the handling of him by people who don't know anything about parrots and the subtle signals they give. I would just about guarantee there will be bites, unless all the handling would be done by you.
As far as flight suits go, I haven't used them, but will say the earlier you start with Bondi, the better. Allowing someone to put something like this or a harness on requires them to suppress a whole lot of instinct. They are more pliable as babies than they will ever be again.
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Post by wsteinhoff on May 16, 2016 7:56:12 GMT -5
I do use the flight suits for Skye. She isn't a parrot who is going to tear your flesh off if she doesn't like it though. If I tried to put one on my quaker Bishop I'd be bleeding everywhere. Bishop is 10 though and really not easy to train like a baby would be so if your quaker is a baby then it's possible he may wear it. Give him at least a few days to get used to it first. Just let it be in his sight. Then start moving it closer to him and if he's still fine with that then eventually get it close enough that it can touch him. If he's still okay with it let him step into it and if he's fine with that strap it onto him. It might take a few weeks or more but at a young age there's a good chance he'd allow it over time.
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Post by julianna on May 16, 2016 13:48:04 GMT -5
Well... I might be the only one to say this but you can potty train a Quaker and my Oscar is potty trained for the most part. He will not poop on me but will let me know he needs to go so that I can hold him away from me over a piece of paper and then he goes.
This took a lot of time but it worked. Every time I would hear him poop I would say "good poop" and you can imagine how many times I have said this. I still do to this day.
When he was on my finger and I could feel him squeeze my finger a little, (indicating poop time)... I would quickly get him over to a paper and tell him "good poop". I would not leave the paper until he completed his job.
At first when he would poop on my shoulder (I could hear him doing it) I would ask him loudly... did you poop... did you poop on mommy.... bad boy... and I would bring him to his cage ...show him the poop he made... and then ignore him for a while.
It took about a year in total but I swear to this day... he does not want to poop on me and always looks for an alternative.
If you have the time and the patience... in a loving way... this can be done.
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Post by Angela on May 16, 2016 23:47:36 GMT -5
Skye I think is mostly toilet trained too. Right from day 1 he wasn't keen on pooping on me. So I would watch him like a hawk and if I say him doing his little squat (so trying to find the right position to poop) I would quickly take him back to his cage. Most of the time he would then fly the last bit to his cage and poop. I would go crazy saying 'yay, good poop' and clap and cheer and of course he loved it! So for the most part he'll go back to his cage now and we still cheer and yell out 'good poop'. We've only had him since January this year. Where as Loki on the other hand is not flighted and poops CONSTANTLY on me!! I have a towel on my shoulders (cut out a hole for my head) all the time! Not sure how to go about toilet training him.. What you did Julianna sounds good so might have to give that a try.
Julianna is it something I should be trying now do you think or leave it a little longer for him to continue to learn to trust me first??
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Post by julianna on May 17, 2016 13:07:41 GMT -5
Because Loki is just starting to trust your hands... I would wait a little. Loki might learn from Skye as well? As soon as he can sit comfortable on your fingers and let you walk around with him like that... then I would start.
Also... these little guys poop around every 20-30 minutes (unless they are holding it in) so when he is on your shoulder, try and time it to bring him to his cage and encourage him with the words like you did with Skye. They love the praise and eventually catch on.
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Raeza
Hatchling
Posts: 33
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Post by Raeza on May 17, 2016 18:52:57 GMT -5
I know that they can be trained, and that's the idea for home... we're talking about going out, to other peoples homes. Not exactly the same thing. Hence the flight suit idea, almost a more immediate solution than what could be weeks or months of training around the home only to find out the bird wont do it in other environments.
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Post by Angela on May 17, 2016 19:36:05 GMT -5
Thanks Julianna. Very sound advice as usual  Ironically Loki does lots of little poops where as Skye's seem to be bigger and more time between lol! |
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Post by julianna on May 19, 2016 15:13:51 GMT -5
When Oscar is in his condo (in the bathroom) he will hold his poop until he can get out... and that means I take him out. But boy... what a bomber after that... lol
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Raeza
Hatchling
Posts: 33
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Post by Raeza on May 19, 2016 19:23:42 GMT -5
So I got out suit in the mail today, this one is a little big on him, so they are sending me a smaller one, in the mean time we have a few days of conditioning to do! Wish us luck! I would love to be able to take Bondi with me for walks and such.
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Post by biteybird on May 20, 2016 4:42:02 GMT -5
Good luck! I am ordering another one...fingers crossed it works, but I think it will. |
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Post by zim on May 20, 2016 11:12:47 GMT -5
What size did you guys get? The website says medium for quakers but that just sounds a bit big to me.
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Ironically Loki does lots of little poops where as Skye's seem to be bigger and more time between lol!