Severe Macaw Overbonded?

[jgourd]

We recently adopted a 20 year old Severe Macaw. He reportedly had territorial issues and was considered a very hard placement. For the first week it was great. Then something horrible happened. He decided my girlfriend was his special person. While he is with her I can't get near either of them, I have the cuts all over my hands to prove it. If we engage in conversation he just starts yelling words. It is as if his old house had a lot of arguing because it sounds like he is arguing (in English).

I have taken the stance of simply ignoring him at all times. In the morning I go into his room and when he initiates contact we play a little. I can touch him absolutely everywhere. He makes me scratch his face and eyes and literally purrs while I am doing it. He won't talk to me though. When my girlfriend has him he never shuts up, he is happy happy all the time. That is until I enter the room.

Last night was the last straw We were sitting on the couch watching TV. the Macaw was with her. All of a sudden, with absolutely no provocation on my part, I didn't move or even look at him, he came after me. My girlfriend is bringing a military macaw home in a few weeks that also has territorial issues and frankly, I am frightened. She goes to visit him every day while I am at work so by the time he gets home he'll have already bonded to her. She lets them on her shoulder all the time and just doesn't take discipline seriously.

In the mean time we both have very good relationships with all our other birds but this monster has me at my wit's end. I have told my girlfriend to stop interacting with him so much. She says she stopped but when I call her on the phone he is right there, I can hear him.

Other than re-homing him (5th home, don't want to do it 'cause I love him too) I don't know how to fix this problem because the girlfriend isn't making it any easier.

Thanks for reading my rant.

 

[Bobby34231]

Loose the girlfriend, keep the bird?

 

[nofearengineer]

I'm definitely with Bobby on this one! LOL

When you have an issue like that, it is up to the "special person" to correct the bird, if that is possible. He's obviously not going to take a correction from the target of his aggression.

It is up to your girlfriend to take the initiative to at least try to remedy this. It could be there's some small part of her that thinks it's really "cute" to have a parrot who loves her so much he'll shred anyone else who comes near her.

Frankly, when the other macaw comes home, the whole dynamic is likely to erupt. Maybe the severe will hate the new intruder even more than you. Maybe it will decide the girlfriend was a mistake and then turn on her. Who knows? It's going to be complicated.

I return to my first statement LOL.

 

[Bobby34231]

Since we're on a roll picking on your other half, a suggestion, especially with larger birds such as macaws, not to allow them on your shoulder, as nofearengineer pointed out some time ago in another thread....."now you know why theres so many one eyed pirates"

since she won't cooperate in helping you try to eliminate the bad behavior theres not much you can do, its going to take you working with the bird outside of her influence ie: her not being present.

 

[Von1983]

*tut* lol you guys.....

I can see why this would be disappointing for you. I don't think I can be much assistance to you as my bird is just a baby but to ensure she bonded with us both, I took primary lead and every time there was a new development such as step up, no bite, etc etc, I got my husband to do the exact same thing.

She's still a Mummy's girl but she makes a fuss of hubs too. Maybe if you could figure out some sort of routine when it's just the 3 of you for a set time each day with your gf in charge, you may get some results?

It is of course up to her to take the lead, read everything she can on behavioural and do the main work, but if you take on a rescue bird, you take on it's issues and problems. Working hard with a bird for a couple of months is nothing compared to how long they live for.

I wish you all the luck in the world with this and hope you can resolve this!

 

[SharonC]

Maybe you should have a conversation with your gf...Explain how serious the consequences may be for what she's doing...help her see that she HAS to change her interaction with the bird.

 

[BlueToast]

How's that going anyway?

 

[Vickiesbirds]

This sounds a lot like my WBC rehome... but he has multiple "special people". He either loves you or hates you. Whenever my group of friends comes over, he absolutely loves all my friends that are girls. My guy friends though... forget it. He will literally go out of his way to attack them, prevoked or unprevoked. He also despises one of my cousins... and will attack him anytime he gets the chance. When he's with me though, he's such a lovebug. ALMOST as cuddly as my cockatoo. When your girlfriend isn't around, try bringing a chair to his cage and sitting near him. Talk to him. Bring in some favorite treats as a peace offering... I know what really "seals the deal" for my WBC are fruit loops or pieces of corn. Do this religiously for a few minutes every day, morning and night, and make sure the girlfriend isn't anywhere to be seen or heard, because this will just distract the bird. Im sure that if you're consistent, the bird will be more likely to warm up to you than not. I wish you luck in finding the remedy for this tricky problem!