Captain Jack

Hello all! I am new to the board, and have an awesome blue and gold macaw named Jack, non-creatively enough, lol. (Captain Jack Sparrow ) He is about three years old, and I have had him a bit more than a year.

I am not brand new to parrot care, I have worked in a lot of pet stores where parrots were raised from babies, of course have done a lot of baby feeding myself. Even had to "bring work home" a few times. I never dreamed I would actually be able to afford one, or at least not a big macaw like I have always wanted...but these days I grow coral for a living (if anyone needs advice for their reef tank feel free to ask) and I was lucky enough to run across someone who was willing to trade one hobby (birdkeeping) for another (reefkeeping) Honestly, it was tough to find enough to trade him, but the deal went down, and 800 in trade later I was the proud owner of Jack, his nice big cage, and some assorted food and supplies. The guy who raised him knew I could give him an awesome home, and he barely had room for Jack's cage, let alone a nice big playstand.

I started with Jack out in the living room, cage and all...then realized macaws need rest and sleep, and we were going to keep him awake watching TV. Then I tried the bedroom...but again I was not satisfied because now he is clanking around keeping us up, and even with a cage cover on we were disturbing him turning on the light.

Well, Jack needed his own room, that's all there was to it! We have a small office or storage room adjoining our kitchen, so we ripped out all the shelves and most of the cabinets and put his cage and playstand in there, and just left the door open in the daytime and closed it at night. Perfect!

Well, almost. Soon I started to wonder what the point of ever stuffing him in a cage was, and it sure was a pain to clean the cage and lift the playstand up to change paper under it. Scrubbing the pvc legs of the stand...another idea began forming.

Rather than go through a step by step of what I did, I am going to post a pic and invite you to ask questions about it if you have any. Just as soon as I figure out how, lol..it looks like I cannot upload directly here and may have to do some legwork.

Thanks for looking, I appreciate any tips anyone wants to give!

Welcome to the forum. We will look forward to your input and photos of Jack.

Welcome, Id love to see your pics

If you put your picture someplace like Photobucket, you can use the image icon above the post box (or img tags if you are familiar with html) and the picture will appear inline.

Welcome!

I'm willing to bet she went with a perch tree instead of cage I have known people who went that way. Oh and I love the Name Captain Jack I help train a B&G with that name (he was the one who said "Shut the "F" bomb" to the lady who kept saying "Give me Sugars!" instead of give me a kiss which he understood.

jacksmom said:

Hello all! I am new to the board, and have an awesome blue and gold macaw named Jack...

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Hey! I have one of those too Creative or not

Welcome aboard!

welcome! coral is so cool, it must be fun to grow it! cant wait for the pics

Hmm, well, pics are being difficult as I am posting from my phone for now...I am so sorry, we are ordering internet today and I will post pics as soon as it is live.

Almost a perch tree, not quite. While we wait on pics here is a short description:

As stated above, there is a small room his cage and playstand were in. I had already started tying the cage door to the playstand so he could climb back and forth. I took out the playstand and junked it, I hated the fake look of the pvc anyway. There was a large crepe myrtle tree that was encroaching too much on the house and porch and needed to be removed...perfect.

We chopped down the tree, cut it in nice size branches, and wiped it down with lots of peroxide. Then we got some stainless steel screws, and after the wood was dry we started screwing branches to the walls. It is not drywall in there, but wood panel. It is sure to be treated wood, however he has shown no interest at all in chewing it. (He could have chewed at it before I did this by climbing on the side of his cage had he wanted to)

I took apart a lot of his cage and put it in an outdoor storage barn. I left only the bottom half, without the door, and the back wall. This created a nice area with food bowls still attached. From the cage to the first branch is a rope, and the branches are screwed close enough together that he can easily climb them all. The branches go along only one wall (long narrow room) and opposite of them is a window he enjoys looking out of. And, um, a radio...and recently added, a TV and DVD player, lol. Yeah, ok, don't make fun!

He also enjoys his outdoor chillin spots...a pvc stand in the greenhouse (where I grow the coral) and another natural branch screwed to the porch.

Not suprisingly, lol, Jack hardly ever shrieks or misbehaves in any way. Guests are shocked when I open the door to his room...not hearing anything they have no idea he is there. The only time he ever makes noise is when he runs out of food. I should mention also, besides the plush set up, I think Jack is so well behaved because I feed him almost all fruit and veggies, with a bit of grains, beans, or nuts thrown in. Grains might include bread, pasta (big fan of mac and cheese or spagetti) really anything we are eating in small quantities. Bite of burger, pizza, chicken.

Once I lost the pellets and seed mix and started him on all that stuff, he started being lots more cuddly as well. He will allow me to stroke his head and hold him close, and will cuddle and nestle in the crook of my arm. I can leave him alone all day, only spending ten minutes or so with him each day for a week, and he never becomes a brat. Almost like a dog, just happy to see me again and glad he has company once more.

I love this guy, as you may be able to tell, lol...and the one I keep referring to like there is a mouse in my pocket, lol, my boyfriend helped me with all the construction.

Oh yes, the coral is way fun. When I get internet live I will link you to a youtube video of me fragging some if you like.

And Plax, that is way awesome you named your macaw Jack also! I don't feel so silly now! You ever want to put him on your shoulder, don a pirate hat and walk around saying "Arrr! Ahoy me mateys!" and other such things?

jacksmom said:

And Plax, that is way awesome you named your macaw Jack also! I don't feel so silly now! You ever want to put him on your shoulder, don a pirate hat and walk around saying "Arrr! Ahoy me mateys!" and other such things?

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Well, my Jack indeed LOVES to hang out on my shoulder! He'll stay there all day if I let him. But I don't currently own a pirate's hat I think my Jack would be a great pirate's parrot, though

Oh, and I've always considered 'Jack' to be a great Macaw name. Don't let anyone rib you about it