G&B Macaw Eli - Hello !, and questions

[JJones1719]

Well said Plax. Karlos, hang in there it will get better for both of you. Macaws do not make easy for us owners, we must work for everything but once she bonds with you completely, you will see a huge change in her.
I know you want her to fly and that's great. You're making the training so much harder for yourself with her being able to fly away when she feels like it. Once clipped, the Macaw learns in a second that they must obey you and your commands. Like I stated earlier, clipping her wings does not harm the bird at all as long as you have this done by a Vet or someone who really knows what they are doing. you want her to look at you for all of her needs and when she learns that there are certain things she must do to get them, this is where she learns and bonding begins.
Unless you clip, you will be chasing her tail for a long time. I hope the best for you both and try to just breath. Joe

 

[tab_xo]

Hello we have already been PMing about your beautiful girl, but i agree with everything plax said, just take it slowly and dont force her to do anything.. Fargo hated the harness, but i slowly worked with him for 2 months, and now he wears it happily because i didnt force him to wear it, instead let him go at his own pace
she will start to explore and become more curious

and definitely try different treats, every bird is different, fargo hates almonds, but loves pecans haha

and joe, is clipping really that necessary? Fargo was not really 'friendly' when i got him, but i still didnt clip him, and it only took a few days and he would fly to me and want to be with me all the time... i dont think it made training harder, i thought it was actually better because we could do flight training

 

[Karlos]

Well the problem is really that she is very stressed all the time she is not on a cage. Example: I take her to train, put her on perch, and she doesn't even want the treats she normally eats (I was spying on her and she eats almost every nut I secretly put her in cage), and when I put her like on a floor, desk, sofa, etc etc she is also stressed, and she has to fly back on me - she is OK on me.

So what would you advise me to do? Should I just wait until she becomes more "curious" ? Or just walk with her everyday on shoulder around the appartment, until she will want to explore by herself? (I am not so sure that she will )

Thanks!

 

[plax]

Well the problem is really that she is very stressed all the time she is not on a cage. Example: I take her to train, put her on perch, and she doesn't even want the treats she normally eats (I was spying on her and she eats almost every nut I secretly put her in cage), and when I put her like on a floor, desk, sofa, etc etc she is also stressed, and she has to fly back on me - she is OK on me.

Karlos, Macaws may remain distrustful of many things initially introduced to them, especially in a new environment. Based upon your descriptions it seems to me that both you, and Eli's cage are serving as her security blankets right now. It's a BIG new world for her!

So what would you advise me to do? Should I just wait until she becomes more "curious" ? Or just walk with her everyday on shoulder around the appartment, until she will want to explore by herself? (I am not so sure that she will )

I think you should do both of those things for/with Eli. She needs to become desensitized to the things that cause her stress. You must have patience. Patience stems from love. Remember, each bird is different and some birds require more time to acclimate to new surroundings than others might. Walk around your apartment with her each day and allow her to investigate objects and areas (as and if she is inclined to do so). It may take a while but she will gradually become more comfortable. It's best not to expect too much progress too soon. As Tab does with Fargo, let Eli adapt at her own pace. That's my advice.

 

[Karlos]

xoxoxoxoxo

 

[JJones1719]

Karlos, There are many books that I would advise you to read about behavior of the Macaw, training, handling.
you must understand that the members on this message board have been owners of many Macaws or Parrot for many years so just because we have pictures or videos of us interacting with our parrot does not mean it did not take us a very long time to get there.
Believe me when I say that you and your B&G are doing great. Spending time with her, enjoy her, and when she is ready and she will let you know, then work on the trainging.
Training sessions should not be more then 5-10 minutes at a time for the best results. The attn spand of a macaw is very short and if your are training her longer then 5-10 minutes, this really stresses out the Macaw and they will not learn and will learn that they do not like training. So keep everything short. Macaws are monkey see monkey do.
Close you eyes at her, she will do the same back. stick out your tongue and she will do the same, stand up and turn around and she will do the same. Get to know your Macaw and little things like this will go along way. post some videos of you two so we can see how you work with her and we might be able to give advise better then just talking about it. Best of luck Joe

 

[tab_xo]

i dont have any videos on 'how' i taught him tricks, but i can give it a go to explain

turn around: when shes standing on her perch, get her favourite food, and put it near her head, and slowly move it around her body.. if she really wants it, she will follow the circular motion and so she is starting to turn.. when she is facing you again, give her the treat.. meanwhile just keep saying 'turn around' and doing a hand motion...
as she learns to do this you can slowly start bringing your hand further away from her, but keep doing the motion.. she will then learn to do it when she sees the hand motion, or just by saying turn around !

shake hands: shake hands it probably the easiest trick if she already knows how to step up.. hold out one finger and she will probably try to step up, when she puts one foot up, give her a treat and say shake hands, then remove your hand... just keep practicing this so she knows that only one finger means to shake hands, then you can move your finger up and down like you are shaking

wave: is the next step after shake hands, when she goes to shake hands, raise your hand so her foot is up higher and dont give her your finger, then say 'wave' and do another motion..

at the moment i am teaching fargo 'wings', by lifting his wings and spreading them, saying 'stick em up' and then giving him a treat
and also just doing a hi-5, which is when i do the motion to wave, he holds his hand up, i say hi-5!! and i give him a hi-5
it will take some time before each trick is good!

here is a video of fargos 3 tricks (he was pretty slow turning around in this one )
it was taken about a week and a bit ago, but he is now turning around on voice command only


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTNAIGm1-7E&feature=youtu.be"]fargo's tricks again.mov - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Marley69]

Eli is beautiful, i belive that since she bond with u thatz why she doesnt really like ur gf company, it is very common that they only pick one person..
Does she has her wings clipped? If not i would recomend to clipp them specially if your taking her out for free fly, no matter howmuch she loves you or how well shes trained if she can fly she might decide togo look for adventures just like her wile instinct would do..
Have she ever try getting a shower by her self? If not u should star by putting a big bowl with water not to deep so she could go in or just get wet with her beak and wings, to see if she try it, if not u should try the spray, Do NOT spray directly at her just spray it on top or side so she could get the lil mist, most dont like to be directly spray...
She likes to stand on top of her cage and the other place and not the couch bc they only like high places, it makes them feel secure and thatz one of their instincts to do so..
Hope u have fun with her and good luck

 

[Karlos]

Eli is beautiful, i belive that since she bond with u thatz why she doesnt really like ur gf company, it is very common that they only pick one person..
Does she has her wings clipped? If not i would recomend to clipp them specially if your taking her out for free fly, no matter howmuch she loves you or how well shes trained if she can fly she might decide togo look for adventures just like her wile instinct would do..
Have she ever try getting a shower by her self? If not u should star by putting a big bowl with water not to deep so she could go in or just get wet with her beak and wings, to see if she try it, if not u should try the spray, Do NOT spray directly at her just spray it on top or side so she could get the lil mist, most dont like to be directly spray...
She likes to stand on top of her cage and the other place and not the couch bc they only like high places, it makes them feel secure and thatz one of their instincts to do so..
Hope u have fun with her and good luck

Hello and thanks a lot I do not want her wings clipped, I posted my reasons somewhere above here. I am taking her out, but she has a harness of course I plan to train her for free-flight when she gets older and it gets warmer here. Only problem is that it is hard to train her when she can just fly off, but others done it so why I shouldnt?

She didnt have a opportunity to shower herself, I tried to shower together with her, but she was too afraid of the shower, so I just slightly showered her by my hand and stuff, but she didnt enjoy it (but it had to be done, she was so messy from formula). Few days go I tried to gently mist her from distance - slightly on wings and back, she was like "ok whatever" (or at least I thought so) - she didnt scream, she was just standing there. But then she got really afraid of the spray bottle .__. So I guess that spraying is not the best for her, because she is reaaaaly afraid of the bottle. I will try the big bowl as you suggested, that could go well.

But I KNOW FOR SURE that she wont even try it if I take her somewhere else, she is still little paranoid, scared of things, so maybe if I put it on top of cage? She could just observe it, and then when she is confident go near it and maybe bath? Do you think thats a good idea?

THANKS again

PS: Oh yeah, and what is the best temperature for them? I mean, what they like the most? Something lukewarmish~ I guess?

 

[Marley69]

Yes karlos i think by putting it on top of cage would be the best bet so she can look at it and decide wen to go for it her self thatz where i put the bowl for mine they love it exept my macaw but were working on it hope she likes it soon like yours..
Mine like just regular temperature water not cold or hot but i heard alot of people saying they bathe theirs with warm water i guess is like humans some like it warm and some cold lol good luck

 

[Aims]

Eli is beautiful. I had a heart attack when I saw the photo of her flying until I realised she had a harness on... that harness is well camouflaged.. LOL.. Looks like you are getting all your questions answered. Just relax and let her take her time. My Ecky Jax doesn't like to be anywhere except his cage or my shoulder. He even has a perch on top of his cage and he will not go on it. He would rather sit on the open door. LOL... and we have had him for well over a year. They will come around eventually. In the shower he just stands there and tries to get as far away from the water as possible. The last time he aactually started enjoying it (opening his wings etc) when I was splashing him with the water... Obviously I came out just as wet as him. Good luck with your training. she'll be right in the end.

 

[Karlos]

Eli is beautiful. I had a heart attack when I saw the photo of her flying until I realised she had a harness on... that harness is well camouflaged.. LOL.. Looks like you are getting all your questions answered. Just relax and let her take her time. My Ecky Jax doesn't like to be anywhere except his cage or my shoulder. He even has a perch on top of his cage and he will not go on it. He would rather sit on the open door. LOL... and we have had him for well over a year. They will come around eventually. In the shower he just stands there and tries to get as far away from the water as possible. The last time he aactually started enjoying it (opening his wings etc) when I was splashing him with the water... Obviously I came out just as wet as him. Good luck with your training. she'll be right in the end.

Haha yes you are not the only one who had a heart attack when looking at that photo, it really is well camouflaged
From time to time I try to secretly splash her with water when I am bathing (I take her with me all the time, so she maybe gets curious about the water) and she is like "WTF where did that came from?" But she is not like running away or stuff, so maybe a few more days, weeks and she will enjoy it

Wish the best for you macaw too

 

[Karlos]

xoxoxoxoxo

 

[JJones1719]

Karlos, You're bonding very well with Eli. Thanks for sharing your video. How are baths coming along. Any better? Thanks Joe

 

[Karlos]

Karlos, You're bonding very well with Eli. Thanks for sharing your video. How are baths coming along. Any better? Thanks Joe

Thanks, almost everything is going really well right now. The baths - I am not doing anything to her right now, when I go to take a shower, I take her with me, but I just put her on washing machine to look. I also wash dishes with her and sometimes a splash her a little for fun Just waiting until SHE wants to try it, I kinda forced her the first time (bad, bad Karlos, but it had to be done... )

Today when I was washing dishes, I again splashed her a little bit, did some scratches with wet hand, so she was a little bit soaked (just a little bit) and then she started to open her wings like they do when showering - and she also tried to go into the sink and tried the water with her beak - I was so happy But then she climbed back on my shoulder, and stopped. But I think that this was a first step for her, so maybe after a few washing sessions, she maybe even try to shower herself in the sink MAYBE

 

[Atlas]

Hi Karlos,

I'm in a pretty similar situation to yours. We live in a 1 bedroom apartment and we just got our baby Atlas (6 months old) not long before moving in. At first the top of his cage was his play spot. He never became a nightmare, but we started to see behaviors that looked like cage aggression. The breeder explained to me that who ever has the highest perch in the flock, is the head honcho. His behavior was especially bratty towards my wife who's head was actually lower than his when Atlas was on top of his cage. So one morning the two of us went to Home Depot and bought PVC piping and made him a play stand! It only cost us about $60 in materials and two hours in time! You can find instructional videos all over YouTube on how to make these. We saw instant improvement in his behavior.

Good luck!

 

[Karlos]

Hi Karlos,

I'm in a pretty similar situation to yours. We live in a 1 bedroom apartment and we just got our baby Atlas (6 months old) not long before moving in. At first the top of his cage was his play spot. He never became a nightmare, but we started to see behaviors that looked like cage aggression. The breeder explained to me that who ever has the highest perch in the flock, is the head honcho. His behavior was especially bratty towards my wife who's head was actually lower than his when Atlas was on top of his cage. So one morning the two of us went to Home Depot and bought PVC piping and made him a play stand! It only cost us about $60 in materials and two hours in time! You can find instructional videos all over YouTube on how to make these. We saw instant improvement in his behavior.

Good luck!

Hehe, seems like they are really similiar, but thanks god no cage aggresion from Eli, she just likes her cage. But few days ago she started to fly towards us on bed, she flies on TV and other places, so I am really happy now

When u brought that playstand home, Atlas didnt have problems with it? I mean, she normally went from cage to that playstand and stayed there and played?

Thanks for your info

PS: Could you post a photo please?

Edit: Today I tried shower again, but all the same, scared as hell of water like always, she even screams when the water touches her