Some questions about a maximillan.

1. What do you feed them with?

2. Do you cut their nails, and if yes, did you do it yourself?

3. Are someone here have the Aviator harness, if so, what size?

4. Are someone here training their maxis?

That was the easy questions..

I have a baby maxi at home, and i was wondering if you recommend me to raise him. (born 29/4-2012) He is very active and playful and sometimes he bite me. Not aggressive at all, but sometimes really hard. (happened two times) I have ignored that, and when he bites i say no, and if he doesn't stop i leave him self for some minutes. I will never punished him, that's not how i raise animals.
I thinking that he is so young and playful and if he only gets a lot of love he will stop doing that when he gets older. Have I right or wrong?

(sorry for bad English..)

I use a small aviator harness for my galah cockatoo and love it

I feed totally organic(supplemented with fresh foods of course)

For training check out bird tricks.com, they have a store with some fantastic training DVD's

Often young birds don't know the strength of their own beak, and some even go through a nippy phase. Just ignore them or take away something they like(liek leave the room if they bite, never put them back in the cage though because it can train them to bite when they want to go in it)

Check out the videos from Good Bird INC. they are cheaper and don't keep trying to sell you more videos. There are a few Max owners on here and sure you will get lots of information. Good luck and welcome.

Welcome, Elroy!
I don't have a pionus but here's what we do/planning to do with our African Timneh Grey:
1. A mixture of pellets, fresh foods and veggies, and nuts for treats, occassional grains like noodles, crackers, bread, occasional meats like chicken (especially bones!) or bits of what we are eating for dinner. (Just no chocolate, avacado, pits of fruit, alcohol, caffiene, etc). She gets a wide variety and definitely has preferences. Her favs are grapes and almonds.
2. I have a rough perch that is the highest perch in her cage that has little shell bits in it to help keep her nails duller. But she just started using it. If she needs them cut beyond that, I plan on taking her to a local bird shop to have her nails done. Perhaps after she's more comfortable with me I'll try either filing them with a nail file or with a dremmel tool, but I imagine I will have to see it done many times before getting brave enough to try it!
3. We have an aviator harness, but I haven't introduced her to it yet. I just got it in the mail last week. On the website it recommends size small for Pionus. That's the same size I got for Pepper.
4. I am clicker training Pepper. Actually my husband works more with her than I do. We do target training and we click and treat when she makes a fun noise or movement on cue. We finally got her to say, "Pepper" when we say, "What's your name?" Unsalted shelled sunflower seeds work well, or bits of unshelled peanut, or bits of cheese. It's helped us all bond and it's fun!

Welcome to the forum! I do not have a maxi, but I did have a white capped pionus -

1. I fed a lot of fresh fruit & veggies, plus pellets. I fed a combination of Nutri-berries, Totally Organic Pellets (TOPs) & Harrisons. He particularly liked grapes, carrots, apples & some greens, but ate whatever fresh fruit & vegetables I gave him.

2. I didn't have confidence in myself to trim nails. I take the birds to either a vet or the local parrot shop where there are people with expertise. I intend to do it myself some day, but not yet.

3. & 4. - I can't help you with the aviator harness or the training - but I think there will be people here who can.

Enjoy your baby.

Kim

Thanks to all of you! <3

About the training, I don't need help, I only want to know if their is more Maxis that is doing tricks. (Eloy does)
Here that is NOT a bird for tricks I have been told, but Eloy love the training but I wondering if he is normal or rare for a Maxi.

How do I insert a YouTube video here?

Here is Eloy doing some trick. (HD quality) He is not that old and tame yet so I think he is so good! <3

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLGefMc3OXc"][/ame]

He's doing awesome! That's a great idea to use a flat table! I've done most of our training on a perch or on her playtop but a table top is a lot more versatile. I want to see if I can get Pepper to go through a ring now.

Thanks!
Yes table is working good. Good luck with Pepper!

Elroy,

I just watched your video. your training is going great! It is good that you started young. I hope I have as much success as you with training once I get my new parrot.

Thanks!
Yes I believe that is good for them to start as soon as possible.
I have been training tricks with Eloy from he was 12 weeks old. But not demanding things at all. And he loves trick training!

Ruby our Coral-Bill Pionus is 11 years old now. She has been with us for 10.5 yrs.

1 She has a unlimited supply of ZuPreem AvianMaintenance FruitBlend Premium Bird Diet from which she will not eat the orange and purple pellets.
Every morning she gets a blend of sprouted seeds and grains.

2. We never had to cut her nails. we have a few perches that keep them short. We no longer cut her wings either.

3. We have harness but never took the time to get her used to it. She never leaves the house without a kennel/cage.

4. Most important thing we trained her was to whisper instead of screaming.
Second most is that she has to be gentle with the dogs.

I think that the pionus are underestimated in how much they can learn and how well you can teach them. Proof is in your video!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2VtBP-Ydbg&feature=player_embedded]Dog grooming ..... or whatever you want me to do...... - YouTube[/ame]

Eloy said:

1. What do you feed them with?

2. Do you cut their nails, and if yes, did you do it yourself?

3. Are someone here have the Aviator harness, if so, what size?

4. Are someone here training their maxis?

That was the easy questions..

I have a baby maxi at home, and i was wondering if you recommend me to raise him. (born 29/4-2012) He is very active and playful and sometimes he bite me. Not aggressive at all, but sometimes really hard. (happened two times) I have ignored that, and when he bites i say no, and if he doesn't stop i leave him self for some minutes. I will never punished him, that's not how i raise animals.
I thinking that he is so young and playful and if he only gets a lot of love he will stop doing that when he gets older. Have I right or wrong?

(sorry for bad English..)

Click to expand...

carlvs said:

Ruby our Coral-Bill Pionus is 11 years old now. She has been with us for 10.5 yrs.

Click to expand...

She is beautiful! :smile015: And thanks for the video.

I think that the pionus are underestimated in how much they can learn and how well you can teach them. Proof is in your video!

Click to expand...

Agree! I think they are underestimated in everything. They are so kind but not so popular as I think they deserve. And of course you can teach them everything you want, they are so smart!

I get my Pionus just because I heard that they are so kind and loving. And they are!!
When I started to teach Eloy some easier tricks I soon figured out that there was no limit in how hard tricks I can train Eloy with. He loves trick training and he is so smart! :smile015::smile015::smile015: