help!! problems with 6 month old greenwing macaw

ok here it goes...

i have a 6 month old female greenwing. we brought her home about 2 months ago after visiting her at the aviary daily for weeks to establish a bond. khaleesi was my girl, i was her favorite and she would try and climb off other people to come to me and look for me no matter who was holding her. in our family here are cats, a dog, and two other birds as well as my boyfriend and myself.
on november 28th my father passed away at the age of 52, it was very sudden and i was and still am devastated. all my animals "knew" something was wrong. instead of being more affectionate like my other animals khaleesi was frightened of me, i was very gentle with her and coaxed her to me for affection. nothing has been the same since then. she always tries to get off of me to her stand and then walks away from me. she growls at me very often and gets semi defensive like i'm going to hurt her. she used to try and regurgitate for me but no longer does this, instead she does it for my boyfriend who hadn't spent half the time with her i have. i am still the one who takes care of her, feeds her, changes her cage. its seems as if i'm only good for these things and bath time (which she loves!!) i'm not sure what to do, i know forcing my affection on her isn't going to work but i'm very sad about the situation.
i suppose i should also mention that i believe in a bird with "manners" and am the only one who enforces this (in a stern voice/non-violent way) and i also have learned from past experiences not to stroke birds on their backs (i was new to the species....) and my other half pets her there as well.
please help, any advice is very much appreciated!!

Hmm... 6 months is still so very young. I agree that she's gonna "sense" when something's bothering you (just like they sense fear). She's probably not even close to knowing her own personality yet, but this is a important time for you and her. I would keep up working with her in the most positive attitude you can and possibly limit your BF's time with her. I say this because of what my breeder told me. When we got our 1st Zon, I was told to not interact with him at all so the wife would have a better chance of bonding with him (I already had a GW that was bonded to me). Well it worked, We now have 2 Zon's and both are the wife's hands down.

I'm gonna throw in a little "reality check" here as well....There is no way of knowing or controlling which person a bird will bond with IMO. When we got our 2nd GW I let my wife take care of her, handfeed etc. The bird still chose me over the wife.

Back to the Zon's, I think I just posted somewhere a day or 2 ago, I love the Zon's and I refuse to give up on them liking me!!! I have no doubt I will win them over some day even if they do stay bonded with the wife.

Our first GW, ReaRea is by far our best bird, bonded to me but easily handled by the wife as well.

As far as stroking the birds on their back, I've never heard of not doing it, both the GW's and the Zon's love to be petted like that as well as anywhere else on their body.

Perseverance will be your best approach IMO, just use common sense and watch her body language.

Good Luck!!

My deepest condolences over the sudden loss of your dad.

LOVE the name you chose for your GW. You must be a fan of Game of Thrones, correct?

Wharf has given you fantastic advice, and I wish you good luck with Khaleesi. As long as you are in deep mourning, she will sense this.

i will definitely talk to my boyfriend about this, he has "his" bonded bird too, the conure who he has had for 13 yrs. i unfortunately know that if she chooses him there's nothing i can do...but get another bird lol. i guess i don't mind if she loves him more, as long as she's not always looking to get away from me. thank you for the advice!!

Oh no certainly not a slave!! manners meaning that she won't constantly chew my clothes when I hold her (our conure will put holes in things very quickly if my boyfriend doesn't pet him when he wants it), be civil to the other animals (not try to attack like a aforementioned conure), and be "nice". I'm not expecting her to do math like Einstein and do my laundry, but I go out of my way to give her social time so she's accepting of strangers and different situations and not overly stressed when new things are introduced. She will step up, almost without hesitation onto strangers but does not want to be pet, which I find VERY acceptable. Is there any specific bonding practices anyone can suggest? It's nice to hear that other people pet their birds on their backs, we do go under her wings and thought she isn't fond of it she tolerates it. Is a growl or grunt always a noise of displeasure? "Puffed" up head with a growl? I guess because most of my experience is with dogs and cats, maybe I am misreading certain things? And also since you have a green wing, what activities do you do to have fun with your bird? She sees me as the playful one most of the time, I will pop up and down to play with her, and throw things in the air to excite her and sing with her, but maybe she needs more brain stimulation? We bought a king's cage 506 so there is plenty of room for brain toys if you know of any.

Well, I really don't "socialize" any of ours..........primarily cause we don't socialize with anyone ourselves. As for the puffed up head and growl, mine is usually very content when she does that. Eyes pinning and wings slightly extended is what I watch for (not really with ReaRea but definitely with Miri). Thought I'd post this for you, this is ReaRea with me spending some quality time, she is extremely content when we do this. Spending time with me is her most favorite thing, but I do spend alone time with ALL of them, even the Zons.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdOmZ45aDEM&feature=youtu.be]2012 12 22 22 41 11 404 - YouTube[/ame]

She does look happy , Khaleesi used to lay on my chest and scratch her head but then she started to nip my skin and I would lift her face away and say "gentle". Seems her favorite thing to do is mouth me... I've heard people say not to allow a large macaw on your shoulder, have you encountered any issues with yours being on your shoulder? I try not to be to tough with her, but since she mouths me alot it seems all I say is "gentle" or "no". So I end up putting her on her stand for a little play time (with her toys) and try again. Any other suggestions??

ReaRea is pretty dang gentle, however, Miri is another story especially on the shoulder. Actually my breeder disapproves of shouldering them but it's not how I look at it obviously, but it can be unsafe with a nippy bird. I almost always grab the beak to discourage biting along with 'No".

Yeah thats probably not such a good idea for us then, its not that she isn't gentle, she just loves to grab onto things and I can picture my ear being one of those things Your gw is very beautiful by the way!!

I have a six month old green wing. I think she is a female cause she is so big, the females are usually bigger than the males. Mango is just now starting to nip just a little and it's always while she is waiting to be fed. Yes, the big baby is still being hand fed. I will start getting serious on getting her off the syringe in the next few weeks. She isn't trying to bite me, she is trying to grab my arm while I'm mixing her food, she is playing. I can't scold her for playing, but I do grab her beak and push it away. I don't say anything to her about it. As far as the growling goes, she growls when I'm petting her under her wings, or when she rolls over on her back and I pet her tummy, she will growl but I think it's because she likes it. It's a different growl than when she is upset about something. Lately, I've noticed when it's time for her to go to bed, she knows I'm taking her to her bedroom for the night and she will grab my arm and growl, but she has never applied any pressure. She is talking now, says night might and mama. I'm sooo in love with this bird. Please continue to stroke Keeleeshi and let her know your love is unconditional.

I need someone to help me get my very big GW off the bottle! Help! I put her pellets in Apple juice and sometimes cranberry juice to soften the pellets up, I put grapes, rice, a few pumpkin seeds I guess everyday I put in different foods but always the pellets. A lot of the food I put in Her bowl is gone, but she still insists on two feedings per day. I won't or should I say I can't not feed her, I know she is big and has a very good appetite. On the other hand, I don't want to ruin my beautiful most precious bird on hand feeding all of her life. Please help

Hallie said:

I have a six month old green wing. I think she is a female cause she is so big, the females are usually bigger than the males. ....

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Ahem...NO. The MALES are usually the bigger ones

And as long as your baby is asking to be hand fed, just feed her. Some big macs wean quicker than others, but many GWs ask to be handfed until 9 months or longer. She will let you know when she doesn't want to be fed any longer. You won't ruin her by feeding her.

You said you offer her pellets and other foods, and that the bowls become empty. Do you offer ENOUGH??

I agree, if your bowls are empty you're not offering enough. My personal feelings is that there should always be a little bit left over. That way you know they are getting plenty.

And like Wendy said, in macaws the males are bigger, which to me is interesting because in some birds (like a lot of hawks) the female is bigger.

Set aside some time to spend some 1 on 1 time with the bird. Sit down with the bird on your lap, with some warm oatmeal or sweet potato and a spoon. Play games. Give the bird some undivided "happy" attention for a couple of weeks...

Watch how quickly this bird bounces back.

The bird senses your sorrow, and doesn't know how to react. She senses something isn't right with you right now, and doesn't know what it is. A little reassurance will go a long way towards normalization.

nickis715 said:

She does look happy , Khaleesi used to lay on my chest and scratch her head but then she started to nip my skin and I would lift her face away and say "gentle". Seems her favorite thing to do is mouth me... I've heard people say not to allow a large macaw on your shoulder, have you encountered any issues with yours being on your shoulder? I try not to be to tough with her, but since she mouths me alot it seems all I say is "gentle" or "no". So I end up putting her on her stand for a little play time (with her toys) and try again. Any other suggestions??

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Both my macaws and both my amazons are shoulder birds.

My CAG is not. (He tends to displacement bite when he gets nervous.)

If they are trustworthy I do. If they are being untrustworthy, they lose the privilege.

Birdman666 said:

Both my macaws and both my amazons are shoulder birds.

My CAG is not. (He tends to displacement bite when he gets nervous.)

If they are trustworthy I do. If they are being untrustworthy, they lose the privilege.

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How do you know they are trustworthy? I ask this because Skittles keeps wanting to climb up my shoulder. If we at alone, I have tested her to see how she behaves and she is very content. When she is preening my hair, no problem, but when she nibbles my ear, I have to admit, I get a little scared. So far, scared for no reason.

Well, I raised my RFM from an egg... and my Greenwing is as bonded as they come, both birds have been trained to control their bite pressure, and neither bird is a displacement biter.

Therefore, I trust them.

Thank you all for your helpful advice, Khaleesi has become quite the well mannered girl as she has gotten older. She is a very vocal girl and talks to me constantly. She really enjoys being out with the family at night and squeaks back and forth with our newest addition, a scaly breasted lorikeet named Squee

And Hallie, how is the weaning going at this point? As others have said, they just stop taking the syringe eventually. Khaleesi stopped earlier then most greenwings, but she didn't want it! She only wanted to eat out of her bowl at a certain point and would turn away from the syringe.