First time macaw owner...HELP!

[EscapedApe]

Hey all! A friend of mine owned his macaw for a little over a year. Prior to him, there were at least 2 different owners. Merlin is atleast 22 years old. But no one is fully sure.
Unfortunately, my friend moved where he was unable to care for the little monster so he was given to me. Ive met Merlin several times prior to this. I always talked to him, even played with him while he stood on my lap. But we couldnt get him to stand up on my arm or anyone elses. He tried to bite every time.
Needless to say we are not strangers.
When he was brought to me it took him days to step up on my arm and he tried attacking me while getting him food nearly every day. To gain h8s trust, I started talking to him while he was in or on his cage, giving him compliments and asking him to step up. It took him a little while but now i believe this bird was meant to be mine. After only a few weeks he walks over from his cage, climbs the couch to sit right next to me demanding head rubs and even rolls over for tickles (Video proof). When im home he wants to be right next to me. He lets me in his cage when needed and steps up everytime. My friend said he was never like that with him. I sometimes take Merlin to the bathroom so he can breathe in some of the humidity from the shower. The whole walk to the bathroom he sings a song like this is familiar to him. He really enjoys it. He has a limited vocabulary that is clear otherwise he mumbles alot but says some very bad words which tells me he had very opinionated owners. Hes quite the character.
Theres the ups but then we got the downs. Merlin still tries to bite me sometimes. He acts like he wants his head rubbed then tries to bite. He tries to bite anyone else other than me and wont step up to anyone else but me and my friend who owned him before but now hes not wanting to step up for him at all. I dont know how to train him not to bite others or how to get him to trust people and be friendly.
Another issue i have with him is that hes a picky eater. All he wants is seeds and nuts. He will eat the occasional banana, grapes or blueberries and he also loves noodles and cheese and just about anything me or my husband are eating. However, that junk is limited. So no worries.
Other than those fruits he wont eat veggies.
Long story short.
I need tips on the biting.
Tips on food and diet.
Tips on best online store for macaw supplies.
Is this all normal macaw behavior? Is it common for macaws to have just one person as "their person" even when living in a household with 2 people?

 

[zERo]

Good on you for taking him in!

So for biting, it's very challenging to get a bird to stop biting especially if for their whole lives its how they got what they wanted when they wanted it.
Learning to read body language of a parrot is a skill, what has worked for me is establishing 'questions' with my birds.
Ask them, not necessarily with words but with your hand out of their reach for a step up, you have to learn what their yes and no is, for my Quaker his no is literally shaking his head no or ignoring me and his yes is raising his foot to step up.
Another thing to learn is the difference in a pet me head puff and a overly stimulated (will prob bite) head puff, their visually very similar, the head puff for petting stops at their cheeks while the other is a full head puff and sometimes the back and wings puffing too.
There are a few body language sticky threads on here.

For diet, getting birds to eat veggies especially after 2 decades of only seed I assume.
You should first try mixing a smaller amount of seed into finely chopped veggies, there are many great chop recipes on here but a general guideline, 2 orange veg, 2 dark leafy greens, 2 other green veg, 4+ other veg, 3 cooked or sprouted grains like quinoa, mung beans, lentils, barley etc.
Another way to try is making birdie bread, there's many great recipes for that on here.
You can also try letting him 'steal' from your plate.

The most common one bird person stories I hear are 'love triangles' or 2 people and 1 bird households, often the bird will choose one person and shun or dislike the other.
Unfortunately birds are just this way but you can work through it by having the other person give the birds treats often.

Websites I recommend are https://www.mysafebirdstore.com/

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[wrench13]

If you are certain that the bite was not your fault (by ignoring body language ) use the shunning method.

 

[EscapedApe]

Good on you for taking him in!

So for biting, it's very challenging to get a bird to stop biting especially if for their whole lives its how they got what they wanted when they wanted it.
Learning to read body language of a parrot is a skill, what has worked for me is establishing 'questions' with my birds.
Ask them, not necessarily with words but with your hand out of their reach for a step up, you have to learn what their yes and no is, for my Quaker his no is literally shaking his head no or ignoring me and his yes is raising his foot to step up.
Another thing to learn is the difference in a pet me head puff and a overly stimulated (will prob bite) head puff, their visually very similar, the head puff for petting stops at their cheeks while the other is a full head puff and sometimes the back and wings puffing too.
There are a few body language sticky threads on here.

For diet, getting birds to eat veggies especially after 2 decades of only seed I assume.
You should first try mixing a smaller amount of seed into finely chopped veggies, there are many great chop recipes on here but a general guideline, 2 orange veg, 2 dark leafy greens, 2 other green veg, 4+ other veg, 3 cooked or sprouted grains like quinoa, mung beans, lentils, barley etc.
Another way to try is making birdie bread, there's many great recipes for that on here.
You can also try letting him 'steal' from your plate.

The most common one bird person stories I hear are 'love triangles' or 2 people and 1 bird households, often the bird will choose one person and shun or dislike the other.
Unfortunately birds are just this way but you can work through it by having the other person give the birds treats often.

Websites I recommend are https://www.mysafebirdstore.com/

Planet Pleasures All-Natural Bird and Parrot Toys, Perches & Swings

Safe, Eco-Friendly bird toys, perches, and swings including small, medium and large toys for parrot, parakeet, cockatiel, budgie, macaw, conure, and more!

planetpleasures.com

Welcome to MakeYourOwnBirdToys.com - DIY bird toy parts

How much of the chop diet is recommened daily?

How is it prepped
And stored?

How much veggies do you know to by to make enough chop to be frozen?


What pellets are recommened?


Merlin is currently eating Kaytees big bites, occasional fruit here and there but i cant get him to eat veggies. Maybe its all in the way its given which is raw usually. Id like to introduce him to the chop diet but dont want to waste any money buying a ton all at once.

 

[zERo]

How much of the chop diet is recommened daily?

How is it prepped
And stored?

How much veggies do you know to by to make enough chop to be frozen?


What pellets are recommened?


Merlin is currently eating Kaytees big bites, occasional fruit here and there but i cant get him to eat veggies. Maybe its all in the way its given which is raw usually. Id like to introduce him to the chop diet but dont want to waste any money buying a ton all at once.

So for my birds they eat 1 tbsp. each roughly, for a macaw start with say 1/2 a cup and go from there, see how much he actually consumes.

For the veggies themselves for each kind I normally buy larger quantities, carrots- 2lb, broccoli- two bundles, cauliflower- 1 bundle, sweet potato- 2, butternut squash- 1/4-1/2 the squash, kale- 1 bundle or half a large bag, arugula- 8oz., bell peppers- 2-3 large peppers + their seeds but not leaves or tops! radish- 1lb. brussells sprouts- 1lb.
Those are all rough estimations and I also ad 1/4 cup sprouted mung beans, quinoa, red and green lentils and peas.
You can ad other dry additions say 1/4 a cup rolled oats, ground flax, and coconut flakes.
I also add 1 tbsp. bee pollen, ceylon cinnamon (never use cassia), chia seed, hemp seed, and ground cuttlebone.
You do not have to use every ingredient I listed and you should look up a bird safe list of veg.

I use a blender and blend the veg up fine, then mix it all in a giant bowl before storing it in the freezer. I take sandwich bags for freezers and put 2 large scoops in each before pressing them flat.
Then every 4-5 days I take a bag and thaw it out before spooning it into ice trays and then thawing in the microwave for 25 sec. then serving, make sure it isn't hot!
Also when thawing the bags only let them thaw just enough for you to spoon into the ice trays, don't let them turn to warm mush otherwise they won't be any good.

For pellets I feed my birds TOPs or Totally Organic Parrot Food, they don't have anything artificial in them, you save a huge amount of money ordering from the website rather than Amazon, for getting him to eat the pellets you'll probably have the most success mixing them into his chop.