Suggestions needed!

Hi, my name is Sadie, I have just joined this site; the reason for doing so is I am doing a project with Darwin, the Hahn's Macaw at our college. The goal for this project is for him to learn some words that could benefit him, in turn making him happier and could stop him eventually feather plucking. An example would be Darwin asking for things such as "can I have a bath...blueberry?". I understand firstly I am going to have to bond with him; however when people have handled him, when on their shoulders he has bitten; I am only aware of two long existing staff being totally fine with him. Darwin is not a baby either so his bites are painful. I want to try and overcome the biting so I can slowly start teaching him more vocabulary for his benefit. I was hoping any of you macaw owners can give any suggestions. BTW he doesn't like fingers!

Welcome and good luck with your project!

Do you have any suggestions that could help me with this project?

Welcome to the forums.

Can you give us a bit more information on Darwin? How old is he, and how is he being kept at your college? Does he have a primary care taker? Does he already have an existing vocabulary?

The more you talk to him, the more he will understand. Now there is never a guarantee he will add words to his repertoire, however, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

Has he got toys or enrichment? Any current training? What he really needs is someone willing to spend a bit of time with him, training him, teaching him not to bite, etc. A student would be fine, but a staff member would be better. Who takes care of him on the weekends/holidays?

I think we would all love to get more info on him so we can help him. Keep in mind that not every parrot will pick up new words, and you might need to come up with alternate ways of him asking for things. Also, if this is truly for his benefit, enrichment is the key, not vocabulary. His diet needs to be right, his cage needs to be big enough, he needs enough toys, enough social interaction, enough mental stimulation, an environment in which he feels safe and secure, humans he can trust and depend on, training he can understand and respond to . Do you have any background in parrots?

Thanks for the replies, Darwin is an adult I'm not sure of his age because most of our animals are rescues. Darwin's cage is about 1 1/2 to 2 his wing length and is let out when students are not in the room so usually in breaks and lunch and in the morning when no ones in. There are other small mammals around him such as rats, chinchillas but we also have a few bird species such as the Pennet which is a bit noisy he likes to sit on top of her cage when he is out, we also have parakeets,budgies and a chicken. Darwin does have toys but I guess it would be great to get him some fresh ones to stimulate him but I would love to socialize him with students because he is a good boy at heart. He does know a few words according to staff not all of these are good words however he does know "hello", "good boy" he kisses and he does an evil laugh. Primary caretaker, well a member of staff was pretty close to him where he could sit on her shoulder he wouldn't dare attack her however she left a few weeks ago now but he seems to be doing okay and not displaying any stereotypical behaviours or not doing it significantly.

Oh yeah and staff come in on the weekends and holidays