Help: Red Fronted Macaw problems!

Hi Everyone.

I am a long time experienced parrot owner. I have an African Grey, a yellow shouldered Amazon, a Cape parrot, and I just got, what I thought was my final dream bird, a red fronted macaw. I have read that they are the most affectionate and friendly of the macaws, and I had met a few that charmed me half to death. About a month ago I was finally able to purchase one, an 11 month old hand fed female from a reputable breeder. She is terrified of me and my birds, and despite my patiently employing every tactic in the book, which have been effective for all of my other birds (two of which were untamed rescues!), I cannot seem to make any progress with this girl. My heart is completely broken, not to mention I spent an unthinkable fortune on her, and she can't stand the sight of me. Has anybody had a similar experience? Does anybody know if this may change when she reaches sexual maturity? Any tips? I have tried everything, given her her space, talked to her lovingly, given her treats, etc. I am seriously depressed and upset about this. Please help if you have any insight or tips. I don't know what to do

Thanks,

John

I’m not sure if this will be helpful to you but this article helped me
Working with Fearful Parrots: A Study in Videos | Learning Parrots

Hello and welcome!

Congrats on your new baby! This species is a bird of a dr bird for me as well. But keep those “affectionate” expectations in check. Birds are individuals: for every bird who fits the “species average” if you willl, there’s one that breaks the mold.

Patience, padawan. A month is often no time at all for a new bird to adapt to a new environment. Some birds take a year or more, others adapt right away.

Keep working at the birds pace. Try some hands off training methods, such as target training. She will come around, you just have to temper your expectations for her.

I just can't understand how I managed to turn around a violent rescue African grey in about a month, and a handfed baby red front macaw runs the other way. When you say "temper your expectations," do you mean it is a possibility that she will never be affectionate? That is my worst nightmare. That's the main reason why I bought her to the tune of $4,000. . . This has been traumatic. My heart and my wallet are broken.

PS. I'm located in MD too - Columbia

I’d give her more time before going to never being affectionate especially if it’s in her dna (there are exceptions). Take things one step at a time. Were you able to meet her parents ?

No, I wasn't. She will step up sometimes, but then seems to realize what she did and panics and jumps down and runs away. She will sometimes stretch and show off when I enter the room, but when I approach, she runs to the back of the cage. She is so scared of everything, even my little cherry headed conure. I never force her to interact or anything. She is unlike any parrot I've ever worked with. She just DOES NOT like me What's odd is that she seems like the complete opposite of every description I've ever read of a Red Front. I think I should have gotten to know her better before the purchase. I'm literally losing sleep over this.

Loose no sleep. Pull no hair. Regret this not. She is a sensitive young lady. Affection might need to be won in her case. I had an orange wing amazon, also noted for beng a easy going species of ;zon, who took months and months before he was not frightened to bits by me. Food bribery is your key, as you probably know already.

Wow, I’m maybe 20 min away in Ashton

This is some of the best advice you’re going to get: don’t put your own expectations on her and expect her to live up to them. She’s her own bird who goes at her own pace. “Species attribute” are averages at best, myths at worst.

She’s brand new to the home, it’s not unusual for new birds to be fearful when placed in a new environment, sometimes for protracted periods of time (months to over a year), before their true nature shows up. For all you know, you WILL get the affectionate bird you wanted. It may just take her time to adjust.

You can’t compare turning around an aggressive grey to this situation. True aggression takes time to work through - you likely stumbled onto an easy case. Every situation is unique. Don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself, and certainly don’t put that on the bird!

Littleredbeak last post hinted at a question that’s on my mind as well: what was she like at the breeders? Have you spoken to the breeder about this? How as she weaned?

This is going to seem highly unusual, but if you’re at all interested, since I live so close I’d be happy stop by sometime to look things over for you, second pair of eyes so to speak. I’ve got it on my mind to potentially start a small training side business for dogs and birds sometime in the medium term future, but before I can start charging and taking on official clients, I need to get more hands on experience/practice with other peoples animals, especially the bird side. I dogsit as a side business so I have others dogs in spades. Birds are harder to come by.

wrench13 said:

Loose no sleep. Pull no hair. Regret this not. She is a sensitive young lady. Affection might need to be won in her case. I had an orange wing amazon, also noted for beng a easy going species of ;zon, who took months and months before he was not frightened to bits by me. Food bribery is your key, as you probably know already.

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Brilliantly said, my friend!

Has it occurred to you that you may resemble someone who mistreated her? I wouldn't force any interaction. Let her see loving interactions with your other birds and let her come to you. Good luck!