How To

barneyonbike02Biking With A Bird

There are many considerations to take into account before adding bicycle riding to your birds activity list.  While I cannot advise you as to how appropriate it is for you and your bird, I will share some of the things that we have learned in more than 2000 miles riding bike with our Yellow Naped Amazon Parrot Barney.  If done properly it will be enjoyable and stimulating for your companion parrot, and good exercise for you.  If not you may harm your bird and your relationship with him.

  1. Make sure that the environment that you will be biking in is safe and appropriate for the activity.  If you live in Manhattan or on Michigan Ave in Chicago, or a similar high density location, biking is not an appropriate activity for you and your bird.  You will need safe and smooth bike paths or lanes to bike in.
  2. Make sure that your bird is robust enough for this type of activity.  A small bird like a parakeet is not a candidate for this.  An Amazon Parrot is.  Use common sense and judgment.
  3. Make sure that you are an experienced cyclist familiar with the routes you will be riding.
  4. Make sure that you are considering biking with your parrot to provide bonding and stimulation for your parrot.
  5. Make sure that you are in tune with your bird so that you can sense when he is enjoying himself.  If he is not, then you will need to stop and rest, or if your bird does not enjoy biking generally, stop doing it.  My sample size is small, consisting of 1 bird who loves it.  That does not mean that your bird will.
  6. Make sure that you have the funds, tools, and mechanical ability to construct a safe and sound biking rig for your bird.

If after considering the factors above you are interested in bike rides with your bird, then please continue to the articles below, and we hope that you and your bird enjoy riding as much as we do.  In any case it is up to your judgement.  We cannot be responsible for any negative outcomes for you or your bird.

Materials

Now that you have a suitable bicycle you will need to build a secure platform for your birds fun cage.  I suggest that you mount a platform on the front of your bike rather that behind your seat.  First there would be a lot more vibration over the rear wheel than the front with a …

Mounting the Cage

The final step is to mount the cage. All that is needed are a pair of 12 inch bungee cords. I do like to fold a towel and place it between the platform and the cage. This helps to absorb the viration from your biking surface. (You should very much avoid biking on rough surfaces …

The Bike

My experience biking with Barney has shown me some important features a suitable bike should have.  When we looked at getting a bike to use with Barney we determined that the road bike that I was riding would not be a good choice.  Its carbon components and ride would have made it impossible to securely …

The Cage

We looked and looked and could not find what we thought was a suitable cage for Barney to ride in on his bike. We thought that it was important that the cage have the following attributes. 1. The cage needed to be robust and able to stand up to some vibration. 2. The cage needed …