So we brought Max home....

So I was out searching CL for a cage for my Parakeets (I dropped their new one and broke a corner) and someone posted a B&G in my little town and was giving him away. It was JUST posted so I called her. The poor parrot was in a nasty cage, his chest is plucked, wings are chewed and he lived on her lanai away from family.
I told her I wanted to see him so we drove right over. He is very friendly, sweet, steps right up. She did obviously love him but I think she kinda got pushed into taking him from the previous owners that couldnt keep him because they were in an apartment (and he had a home before that).
He is 7 yrs old and a male. Yes, we brought him home and he seems very happy. He hopped in the new cage (we were only going to use it till we power washed his) but he likes it. He started eating right away and drinking (it was really hot on the lanai, he was panting). He seems happy.
I'm going to change his pellets to Harrison's and no one has EVER showered him so we will be working on that. He loves toys so we will be buying a lot more of those
We have 1 Avian vet here and she took him to him and it didnt sound like she got much of an answer but I will call and see if I can get information from them.
I'm to new to add a photo but I put his picture in my album, heres the link:
Photo Album
I'm open to suggestions.

Vicki
Rescue Parakeets, Dudley & Gracie
Ducorp, Monty
Bolivian B&G, Marley
B&G, Max

Beautiful boy! Thank you for rescuing him and giving him a better life. Bless you all.

CherylCali

Congrats on your sweet baby boy!! I wish you guys the best of luck! ��

Looks like you have a wonderful baby there!

YOU ARE MY HERO(s)!


Welcome!


You'll get great support here. My suggestion, always... take any issue or topic which interests you, and use the Search Tab to read, read, read about it. I do that a lot. The people here are an amazing source of information, advice, and support.

I'm glad you found this place!

I was kinda afraid of who's hands he might end up in since she was giving him away for free.

One thing is he has really latched onto my 17 yr old daughter, to the point tonight when I reached over and told him to step up its night night time he gave me a warning (not a bite per say, but opened his mouth) and did not want to step up. I told him no and repeated myself and he did it this time but not happily I told him Good Max, Night Night and went on with business.

Vicki

Awesome, so thrilled for u and for him!

Max is so beautiful! I'm so thrilled that you saw the ad and brought him home

Congrats and thank you for rescuing him. I'm also on a macaw rescue and rehab journey. We are 2.5 months in, and this site has been enormously helpful in my efforts. Kid be careful. Those macaw bites can be nasty. Mine lost her balance and grabbed on to the nearest thing she could, which happened to be my hand and wrist, and did nerve damage severe enough that it might need surgery.

Thank you for rescuing him.
I love the macaws.
I'm sure he will thrive in his new home.

I suspect there's a happy bird that's finding his way out!!!

What you have undertaken is fantastic! Be sure, you are not on your own if it gets a bit tough! There are dozens, if not, hundreds of extremely knowledgeable folks here that will do most anything for you and your Max! There are several very good folks that live in your area! Max may start to test his boundaries with you, but you seem to be doing well!

Awesome! God bless you for taking him! What a hero!

Thank you everyone! He's been great, and as I said latched onto my daughter but that's ok. We are finding a little clown inside, which is actually pretty adorable. He loves rock music and hates pellets to the point this morning when I fed him he literally cleared the bowl and had the dogs running cleaning the mess with me and him just staring at each other...LOL I could just see in his little head "I told you I LIKE almonds" and me telling him "It's not healthy to eat almonds all the time"
He's really good at shaking his head no and uses it very appropriately. One problem we are having is he gets on my daughters shoulder and does not want to get off. This afternoon he would not step up and kept telling me no and doing his acting like he was going to bite so I used the stick to get him down but I would love suggestions. And suggestions on once hes on your shoulder how to get him down.
Vicki

Keep him off the shoulder for now.

Use hands and keep him away from your face or your daughters. Until he can be.. trusted.

Eventually allow him there when he properly responds to commands. Sounds like he is Bluffing and testing his boundaries with you. Charlie my Hans used to to that all the time xD

I'm not a Mac owner (but tbh whenever I read posts about macs makes me want one!) but there's a great deal of good info on the Mac forum. Birdman666 us the guru of all things bird...he has written awesome threads on macs.

jugoya said:

Keep him off the shoulder for now.

Use hands and keep him away from your face or your daughters. Until he can be.. trusted.

Eventually allow him there when he properly responds to commands. Sounds like he is Bluffing and testing his boundaries with you. Charlie my Hans used to to that all the time xD

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Sounds like a safe bet, he reminds of a 3 yr old testing us to see who will win. He even will hide behind her head and peak around to see if I have left and if not shakes his head no again, very adamant with the no.
Vicki

PasselOfKids said:

Thank you everyone! He's been great, and as I said latched onto my daughter but that's ok. We are finding a little clown inside, which is actually pretty adorable. He loves rock music and hates pellets to the point this morning when I fed him he literally cleared the bowl and had the dogs running cleaning the mess with me and him just staring at each other...LOL I could just see in his little head "I told you I LIKE almonds" and me telling him "It's not healthy to eat almonds all the time"
He's really good at shaking his head no and uses it very appropriately. One problem we are having is he gets on my daughters shoulder and does not want to get off. This afternoon he would not step up and kept telling me no and doing his acting like he was going to bite so I used the stick to get him down but I would love suggestions. And suggestions on once hes on your shoulder how to get him down.
Vicki

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I got a B&G from a very stressful place and he had self-mutilated a bit, however not as badly as yours. I have been through all of the same steps, you are going through. You are lucky yours is friendly, mine wasn't to begin with.

Regarding changing diet; We all want change to be as soon as possible for the good of the bird, however if they have been fed sweets (seeds etc) and you now feed them potatoes (good pellets), they will object. I made the food change gradual. To start with he would get his seeds and only a handful of pellets, then a little less seeds and more pellets. I have heard others where they make a quick food change, that the bird started to loose a lot of weight, as it did not want to eat the pellets.

I do not allow Sugar on my shoulders. I avoid this by having him on my lower arm and when he walks towards my elbow, I lower my upper arm so it is vertical. This way he can't just walk up my arm to my shoulder. If for some reason he has ended up on my shoulder, I would take the hand closest to him and move towards his chest and ask him to step up. I think in your case, it would be better for your daughter to remove him, as he would probably see you as an intruder of his time with his favorite human.

As for the self-mutilation I would recommend him to be as much out and about as possible. I have Sugar with me to the shops, on walks and on long car drives. If you could give him the opportunity to fly (we fly in indoor riding arenas), that will also help him to feel content and not have the need to self-mutilate. Sugar does not self-mutilate at all anymore

And last but not least; I am so happy you decided to help this poor guy and give him a better home

Got my first BITE!

So Max was on the end of my bed and I reached over to have him step up (and sometimes he is mouthy and licks everything) but he bit me this time! Not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough to hurt and unfortunately I yelled "Max!" but then told him No bite etc and used the stick to pick him up and put him back in his cage.
He really is attached to my daughter, is this good, bad? Should we make him except others? Did I do the right thing when he bit? I know I shouldn't have yelled, I was shocked and didn't anticipate it, I have been expecting it though.
Now I feel bad cause he's sitting in his cage saying No over and over :smile004:
Vicki

People say don't yell when Your bird bites you I call bs birds in the wild don't just sit there and take abuse they yell and the other bird loses his friend for awhile. So I just say loudly no and put my birds in time out and they have taken very well to it.