Macaw Personality questions

[modrummer]

Hey everyone, I posted a similar question in the Amazon forum.

Basically, my wife and I have a Congo African Grey that we have had for 3 years now (she is 7 years old). We've been wanting a second bird for a while now, both because we love birds, and also as a potential playmate for Storm (our grey).

Orginially I had decided the second bird would be either an Amazon or mini-macaw, but I had a few people tell me that Macaws won't get along well with other birds, and I read some first hand accounts of Severe Macaws being majorly aggressive towards other people and birds in the house once they had bonded with one person.

Our Grey is mostly bonded with my wife, but still loves me and lets me hold her and pet her and play with her, so it's ALMOST an equal relationship.

So I mostly have two questions:
1. Will a smaller Macaw (roughly African Grey sized, 300-500 ish grams) be a potential option for me? As in, does it have potential to get along with our Grey, as well as both my wife and I? Or do they really only bond to one person and hate the other person?

2. What breeds of Macaws should I look into that are in a similar size range as our Congo African Grey? It can be a little bigger or smaller, but I don't want a drastic size difference.

thanks.

The birds would be housed separately, but I would like for them to eventually be able to be out together for supervised play times (I realize a lot of that depends on individual bird personality, but I would like there to be at least potential for that)

 

[Birdman666]

I would have to agree to stay away from severe's in that situation.

Hahn's macaws are pretty sweet, but they are a lot smaller than a CAG. That might be an option for you.

My CAG and my RFM were best buddies, but my CAG has been raised from an egg, and has known nothing but macaws and amazons.

I'd recommend a red front on personality alone. One of the easiest macaws to handle, and HUGE personality birds. Not great talkers, but great players, and great cuddle/companion birds.

Obviously, separate cages, of course.

 

[Tinax]

I would have to agree. Rfm personality is amazing. Cuddle time is awesome but there’s more play time than calm. She does at times play pretty hard and gets carried away. Once she realizes she’s bitten a little too hard she calms down, she’s never broken skin but can make you say ouch lol. She’s a pretty good talker but some things are hard to understand, like a child. You can make out most of it. She says littlefoot, come here, over here, pick me up, uh-uh, ow that hurt, hi brat, all done, good girl, step up. She can whistle and has the most adorable laugh. I couldn’t imagine life without her. She’s still young, just over a year and I’ve had her since she was four months. She can be quite loud at times but so can any bird.

 

[Tinax]

Also in response to the bonding, I am definitely littlefoots human. She is super attached to me but has no problem with anyone else, just that she prefers me. Others can hold her and she’s nice but if she had her way she would be on me at all times lol. She’s not too fond of children not mean but will bully them. She doesn’t seem to have problems with other birds when we’ve been visiting at bird stores