Introducing a Bird to a "Flightsuit"?

[MysticRealm]

So I just looked up online and ordered my lovie a 'diaper' or 'flightsuit'. I love little Turkey, the only thing I DON"T love is the poop all over my house!
I have read a bit on the website I ordered it from on how to condition a bird to it (putting it in sight for a few days, slowly bringing it closer so the bird is accustomed to the sight of it, petting him with it, putting it on and immediately giving favourite food)
Turkey loves to be with me out of his cage, but he's not so much a fan of hands, so petting him with the suit probably won't be helpful in conditioning him to it, and he probably won't be the hugest fan of me putting it on.
Any tips on this?

[Maxie]

I would lose the diaper. Let the little bird be a bird and just buy more kleenex to pick up after him. Look, none of us enjoy cleaning up after our lovies but I think it's so unnatural for a bird to be wearing a diaper. Ridiculous and kinda cruel, if you ask me. I know I wouldn't want that thing on me!

Just my two cents worth :)

[Pips mom]

I bought one of these for my larger bird, a pionus, and she refuses to sit still for or held down in any way! So, I'll probably just re-sell it. If your bird is not happy about having it put on, probably best to not do it. I know they are somewhat expensive........you could always re-sell it to someone with a much more handlable bird. You can give it a try, but it's not worth stressing your bird out. Some are ok with it, some aren't! I put newspapers around on the floor around the cages, this keeps most of the poop off the floor!

[MysticRealm]

Thanks.
I wish that just putting paper around his cage would help, but it's the couch, coffee table, kitchen counter, fabric accent chairs, me, etc. that get covered in poop. I can do his wing clipping without assistance, and I'm hoping that he will realize that he can't come out of his cage unless he has it on and will accept it. I guess we'll only be able to tell once it gets here, I just want as many tips as I can so I can give it the best try.
I'd love to be able to 'potty train' him but he goes SO often I'm not sure HOW I could actually do it. Sometime he'll go once, then what seems like 30 seconds later he'll go again. And though he'll certainly take food from my hands, it's because he's 'stealing' it. If I were to just shove something in his face to offer it to him to eat without him realizing it's food (because he's seeing me eat it), that I think he'd be all hissy at it and not want it. So 'treating' him for doing something, like pooping in/on his cage would be hard.
Maybe I'll try to really work on his handling till the suit gets here. See if I can make decent progress and hope that it helps. Maybe clip his wings for a bit too to make him asks for assistance to get up (though he can still get enough altitude to get up on most of my furniture even when he has pretty much all the recommended feathers trimmed)

[longobongo]

I got a flight suit for Bailey when I first got her. I thought it was adorable and my favourite part was that it came with a landyard that you velcro to the suit. My motivation had less to do with bird poop and more to do with having her on the patio with me.

Can you pick your bird up, and essentially lay him on his back in your palm? The woman at the pet store showed me on a larger and older bird how to put it on and it basically broke down into: you have to man-handle the bird. It's not just a quick, they step inside you velcro up the back. You have to hook the opening over the wing, as well as under the foot. It's very difficult to put on. Needless to say, Bailey wasn't comfortable with me touching her like that when I first got her, and since then, I can't see her ever being okay with having something like that on her body.

As for the bird poop, does your bird experience polyuria? Where there are not much solid white urates, but instead it is just.. watery? My male, Boco, experiences polyuria often and sometimes it can be uncomfortable (like when he goes straight down the INSIDE of the BACK OF MY SHIRT - hahah!) For the most part though, my other two have normal droppings pretty much always and I've noticed that if you kind of pick it up.. carefully, not really "smush" it down, but just sort of place the tissue or toilet paper on top of it and then lift the toilet paper, it removes the entire dropping without really rubbing it into the furniture. When your bird is out, does he sit with you most of the time? With Bailey and Boco, and slowly with Pekoe, I've learned to watch for the "signs" of needing to go. Bailey kind of backs up and hunches down and then in a moment her tail lifts and she goes. She often will fly to her cage (or a cage) to go because when I saw she had to go, I would jump up and hold her over her cage and praise her profusely when she went over the cage. If he sits with you often, maybe you can try watching for the signs of him needing to go, and hold him over his cage (or the floor, even) and that would protect your clothes or furniture.

Alternatively, you could keep a few shirts known as the "bird-shirts" (I had these for a while when Bailey was in her chewing phase). And maybe some old sheets, that way whenever he goes outside of his cage, he is going on things that you know he's going to go on, and you've prepared for him to go on it.

Anyways, sorry about this novel! Just, I don't have high-hopes for your flight suit, and certainly not to put it on him every time he's out of his cage. Good luck :)

[MysticRealm]

He definitely has a lot of watery stuff (some normal, but a lot watery). It really has pretty much ruined my one cream colored chair. I try to keep paper towel on the parts he tends to sit on, and old blankets on my 'kitchen' chairs. I try to keep a blanket covering my couch but with my dog and I getting on and off it always slides around and doesn't keep it covered. My kitchen chairs and my couch are both 'pleather' but you can still often see 'streaks' still after I have cleaned them.

I do have 'bird poo' clothing for at home, but it still doesn't stop my from either getting my hands or feet in poo, or if wearing something short sleeve, the wet stuff will run down the sleeve and get on my arm.

Part of the problem with trying to teach him to go back to his cage and potty there is that even if I can catch the signs, it would be hard to get him back to the cage since he doesn't like to get up on or stay on hands. I'm sure if I clip his wings and really work with him on his handling he would get much better but it seems like such a large project to first get him really hand friendly, then yet try to catch him every 30 seconds thinking about pooping with enough time to get him over to his cage, then find a way to 'treat' him for it so well that he wants to do it.

[longobongo]

Hmm, if it were me, I would consider scheduling an appointment with an avian vet. Has your bird seen an avian vet? Polyuria isn't normal and there could be an underlying cause. I mean, it's also definitely possible there isn't an underlying cause and this is just his own personal "normal." Boco, my male lovie, for instance has polyuria more often than my other two birds, but all of his tests have come back negative and he's as healthy and happy as can be!

However, it might be worth the trip, and if they find an underlying cause they could probably put a stop to the frequent polyuria. :)