Echo a neglected macaw.

Hi. I'm Katrina and we just went and purchased/rescued a female macaw named echo. A little about me, I have had birds my whole life, but more small and medium sized birds. She is my first large and exotic bird. We found her on a classifieds ad for very cheap. When we went and took a look at her she is missing half her feathers, though you can see some starting to grow back, and she seems to not like men very much. She warmed up to me straight away. I've only had her for 2 days and she hates to leave my side.

A little about her history. Her original owner developed dementia. During that time he put echo and two other large birds in a cage, never took them out and sprayed them with water bottles. This is why all her feathers are missing and she is deathly afraid of water. The owner I got her from worked with her to get her more friendly again but only had her for about 2 months before she had to get rid of her. Now I have her.

I don't have much experience with large birds, but I just couldn't turn her away. So far the only things I'm seeing that need to be worked on is her fear of water and she will not play with toys. She will play with me all day long but as soon as I bring out a toy for her she runs from it. I've tried introducing her to old and new toys. I'm afraid she is going to get bored.

Any help or insight on getting her on the path of recovery would be greatly appreciated. I will post some picks of her as well.

Here are some pictures of her and her feather development. Again she is 8 years old.

Try playing with the toy yourself and let her see you do it. I'll bet she would become interested after a while.

I'll try that thank you. Ive been trying to play with her and she just walks away.

Congratulations on adding the Beautiful Echo to your family...it is so lovely that she has taken to you and trusts you. You will soon get her over her fear of toys and S_car_go gave you great advice...eventually Echo will grow less fearful of a toy especially if you familiarise her with just one toy for a while until she gets used of it

Hi and welcome
2 days is not long. I have had BB for a little over a year and he is still scared of water for the same reason as yours.

I had to sit for days / weeks teaching him how to play. Learning to trust. Time and learning all you can.

Lots of great advice on here.

I always wonder how frustrating it must be for any bird. I mean we can express our frustration but they can only do it with action / reaction. Must be so hard for them to understand at first that we are only trying to help .

We have a blue and gold, she has had a rich life also! And a plucker. We have had her for 3 months and she's just now starting to play with toys. We had to sit and play with them for days and weeks before she would even think of touching them. So hang in there!

Hi,

This is my first post so I hope I'll do good . From what I can deduct from your post it is that your bird has a big anxiety/stress problem and she has very little trust in us humans because of the unfortunate neglect. What I advise you is to get a good training program from a known parrot trainer that knows how to deal with neglected parrots. Learn clicker training, socialising to persons and objects, so you can help her get past her phobias. Clicker training especially is a great tool for this! Most parrots that have developed phobias for objects won't just accept the toy if you give it to them (they will just stay scared) and the more you try the bigger of a phobic problem it can become. This is why you can use clicker training to actually let her decide to come to the toy. This is all achieved with positive reinforcement! and there are many other things you can use clicker training for! I don't know on what kind of food she is but neglected parrots are usually on seeds so if she is, switch to a good pellet brand as soon as possible! Dietary problems often lead to extra stress because the bird is simply not feeling well. I suggest harrisons, zupreem natural, roudybush, tops. (not necessarily in order from good to bad as they are all fine brands). Also learn about foraging! This is a very important part of your birds health. Their mind needs to stay busy and challenged because they are very intelligent creatures and this is what they do a big part of the day in the wild. Keeps their minds occupied and happy when you're not around/ have time for her. This can be a tedious process since she is afraid of toys but in the end its totally worth it.

Barbara Heidenreich and Chris Biro are 2 of my favourite parrot experts but I'm sure you can find loads more on the forums! Oh because she is already bonding to you very quickly watch out with petting. Only pet on the head, neck (not below shoulders) and feet. Dont cuddle the bird too much as this can lead to mating behaviour. Top of the wings, under and belly are all sensitive parts that birds perceive as mating signals when touched there. Ofcourse we cannot full fill their mating desires which will lead to extra stress and feather plucking and even aggressive behaviour because of it which would be a shame!

All in a nutshell: Reduce stress, win trust, keep the mind occupied + pellets and healthy foods = Happy parrot

I wish you the best of luck and I hope you and her really gets happy!

-Michael

We have multiple rescues. One of the macaws we rescued there was a ezine article done on me, and her rescue. You will get great advice from a lot of people on here, another great suggestion talking to reputable bird stores. The first thing you should do though is a vet visit first.

How close to running water can she get before freaking out? Or is it even just seeing it? If she is ok seeing a shower running, then I would try having her in the bathroom while you/others take a shower, see you having fun in it and build from there.

2 days is no time at all, expect this to take many months.