Soon to be GW owner questions

I'm sure these questions have been asked here a 100 times, but honestly, I suck at using the search tool so here are my questions...

1. The cage I'm getting for my Mac is 48x36 and I'm planning on putting it in my livingroom, the issue I have is that I'm a night owl and I'm regularly up past 2AM. How is the noise and light from the TV going to affect my bird? I don't have room in my bedroom for a cage even nearly as big; should I get a smaller "sleep" cage for my BR? If so, how small can I go?

2. Part of my deck is covered and I am planning on "enclosing" it to have a nice place where my Mac can go outside. My wife would perfer I just use screen to enclose the space, but should I use something more like wire mesh? If so, any recomendations as to what kind of mesh I should use?

3. I am down to two different breaders both about a 10 hour drive from my home; which would be less tramatic to the bird the 10 hour drive or shipping via flight?

I'm sure I'll have other questions, but those are the starters.

Thanks,

Shane

Hello and welcome!

1) if you cover the cage and are relatively quiet it shouldn't be a problem
2) with a beak that powerful, either is fine as long as the bird is constantly supervised. The problem is a Greenwing macaw has a very strong power in its beak so screen or mesh, the bird can break it. Must be supervised at all times.
3) I would assume a car ride would be less traumatic. Planes are not atmosphere they controlled in the cargo hold where animals are kept. Your car would certainly be a more comfortable ride.

I fully agree with my Good Friend above!

If you have not worked with MAC's before, you really need to build your knowledge base quickly. I recommend that you send a lot of time reading in the MAC Forum. Read anything you can find regarding MAC's by Birdman666!!!

Regarding Breeders: You really want to assure that your Breeder will NOT offer you that baby MAC before it is FULLY weaned and FULLY on Solid Food! Do not push a Breeder to offer you a Parrot early just because you want the Parrot ASAP or because you 'heard' that having the baby earlier will help it Bond to you sooner, that is just pure BS!.

The best Parrots are the ones (rarely done now a days) are fully Fledged and Socialized before released from the Breeder. So understand, that you will need to Socialize your Parrot and let it learn how to fully fly before its Wings are sightly trimmed.

Read the MAC Forum and come back with questions!

Good thoughts, all.

I'll second the driving option. I once drove from New Mexico to Ohio with the Rbird. It can be done, although my ears rang for a month afterwards. Kidding. Sorta.

I would also ask the breeder's advice on getting a travel carrier that resembles enclosures familiar to the baby.

Best of luck.

SailBoat said:

I fully agree with my Good Friend above!

If you have not worked with MAC's before, you really need to build your knowledge base quickly. I recommend that you send a lot of time reading in the MAC Forum. Read anything you can find regarding MAC's by Birdman666!!!

Regarding Breeders: You really want to assure that your Breeder will NOT offer you that baby MAC before it is FULLY weaned and FULLY on Solid Food! Do not push a Breeder to offer you a Parrot early just because you want the Parrot ASAP or because you 'heard' that having the baby earlier will help it Bond to you sooner, that is just pure BS!.

The best Parrots are the ones (rarely done now a days) are fully Fledged and Socialized before released from the Breeder. So understand, that you will need to Socialize your Parrot and let it learn how to fully fly before its Wings are sightly trimmed.

Read the MAC Forum and come back with questions!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I have been reading and watching videos for quite a while now and I will continue to do so. I have been reading a lot of Birdman666's threads, I especially like the DIY jungle gym.

I'm glad you said something about the bird being fully fledged. The original plan was to pick the bird up after a holiday in Orlando but it looks like the baby will only be about 17 weeks and a few days old, so it may not be fully fledged, the so we may have to fly it.

Lastly, after a lot of reading on this site and countless videos, I have decided that I am not going to trim my bird's wings. I know this may be ambitious, for a first Mac owner, but I'd like to get to the point where the bird if free flight trained; that's my goal.