B&G Macaw sudden change of behavior

[Winstonbolt]

I've had Buster about 2 years now, he is about 15ish years old. The last few weeks he has become extremely aggressive to me, biting me and drawing blood. I did change his food, which I have changed back to what it was before. He has never done this before. Ive had and raised macaws for plus 20yrs. All of a sudden he started puffing his feathers and lunging at me
And then biting me. He has done this in and out of his cage. I did get another macaw but that was over a year ago.
I was sort of stumped on why he was being so aggressive.
I changed his food back to the pellets he likes. He also started plucking his lower leg Feathers.
As it's winter or almost I started spraying him with skin and Feather moisturizing fluid. Around the same time frame his aggression started.
I plan on taking him to an avain vet, but im disabled and do not drive. The avain vet is like 2hrs away. Unless I take him to a normal vet to see if his blood work shows anything.
I know it could be hormonal aggression or something else.
I dont believe it's jealousy since I've had my other macaw just shy of a year who is also male and the age and in a separate cage.
I know it could be a hundred different things.
I guess it's time to see a vet.

 

[wrench13]

From experience, I can say that hormone levels do not stay the same from year to year. Some are milder and some are way more intense. In example, last years was simply horrible for my 9yr old Amazon, with him biting, plucking and acting out really badly. Most years he has a fairly mild mating season response. We even resorted to Lupron shots for him (inconclusive as to effectiveness). I suggest strictly adhere to the accepted steps and actions to reduce mating behavior as much as possible and remember - THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I've never had a macaw, so you have far more experience with them than I do, but sometimes I wonder if large parrots, like small children, need more exercise to blow off steam. I suppose that would be difficult indoors in a house. Does he fly at all? How much out of cage time does he get? Does he have an adequately sized playstand with enough destructible toys to entertain him?
Maybe intead of the spray you could use a humidifier to moisten the winter air.
I sympathize with you. It must be awful to be attacked by your very large parrot! Personally, I don't trust most large parrots not to cause me bodily harm. I admire you for bravely keeping those majestic parrots for 20 years. The largest bird I've ever had was a Goffin's cockatoo and Casper would bite when she didn't get what she wanted (mostly full body massages) but she never attacked and never drew blood.

Regarding avian vets, have you tried to find one closer to you? Maybe a closer vet office has gotten a new vet recently that has avian expertise. What part of the country to you live in?