Food aggression and trying to hold my bird

Livburp

New member
Jun 4, 2015
8
0
Parrots
Gilligan-Blue and Gold Macaw
Hey guys! So far Gilli has been doing well. He's so talkative. Still not able to handle him, I'm a little nervous to try. Any tips on that? Also, when I try and take his food bowl, he starts screaming and trying to bite and grabbing the food bowl and kinda throwing it around. Definitely gets mean when it comes to his food and water. Any tips on how to handle that? Also, anybody know if cheese is okay for birds? I gave him a bit and he loves it and I wanna use it as a training tool because he likes it more than anything, but I'm not sure how much he can have.
 
Last edited:

JerseyWendy

New member
Jul 20, 2012
20,995
24
Some folks may disagree with me, but please don't offer cheese as a treat. Parrots cannot properly digest dairy products, even though many absolutely go GAGA over it.

You could try pine nuts as treats. Yes, they are costly, but a pound should go a long way if only used as treats/rewards. ;) The same goes for almond slivers.

If Gilli shows aggression while you are doing regular maintenance (like changing food bowls), I think it's important you get him out of the cage before doing so, or he'll make it a game of scaring you. (And it's not ok for him to behave like this.)

Big macs are incredibly smart, and if he senses the slightest hesitation/fear/anxiety in you, he will try and take full advantage of the situation.

Will he step up onto a rod/perch/dowel? The further you can get him away from his cage, the easier it will be to work with him. I'm willing to bet he'll turn into putty once you manage to get him into an entirely different room, preferably one he's not used to. :)
 

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