How can I help

[CDavis]

Ok so at the pet shop I work at there is a 30 year old B&G macaw named max he is a rescue and he was physically abused before he came to us. Max has been at the store for about 10 years and in the whole time he has been here he hasn't bonded with a single person or other bird and he hasn't allowed anyone to put new toys in his cage because if you open his cage he will attack you. Is there anything that I can do to help this poor macaw or any way to make him a little more content with his life.

 

[CDavis]

He also does this thing where he like shakes his head back and forth in front of the bars like he is watching them zoom back and forth what does this mean.

 

[wrench13]

Some treats thru the bars? talk to him. he prolly has major trust of humans issues. Poor guy , constant turn over of staff at this shop, no one to be his person, no one even trying anymore because of his reputation. Good on ya for making the effort, I hope he accepts the attention from you.

 

[CDavis]

Some treats thru the bars? talk to him. he prolly has major trust of humans issues. Poor guy , constant turn over of staff at this shop, no one to be his person, no one even trying anymore because of his reputation. Good on ya for making the effort, I hope he accepts the attention from you.

How should I give him the treats I can't even give him his chop without him going crazy trying to rip my fingers off. He's just pure aggression and I try to say hello to him whenever I can but I am at work I just wish he was less aggressive so I could walk him around the store on a wheeled t stand like I do for the rest
Of the birds.

 

[SailBoat]

Ok so at the pet shop I work at there is a 30 year old B&G macaw named max he is a rescue and he was physically abused before he came to us. Max has been at the store for about 10 years and in the whole time he has been here he hasn't bonded with a single person or other bird and he hasn't allowed anyone to put new toys in his cage because if you open his cage he will attack you. Is there anything that I can do to help this poor macaw or any way to make him a little more content with his life.

Twenty years and likely a large number of homes(?) and pet stores and the last 10 years, likely center in this pet store. Add physically abused and should anyone be surprised there is no trust of Humans.

Get him off the Pet Store floor in back in an area that is more relaxed and comfortable.
Limit his contact down to just a few individuals that can be trusted 'alone' with this or any Parrot. Pet Shop staff have just as many idiots as the general population. Pet Shop Staff that abuse store pets is far more common than one would believe.
After about a week, serious one is one would be the next step.

Lets face a reality here, any Pet Shop Owner cannot afford to commit 'paid staff' to a single Parrot for the time that is required.

It is an interesting reality that most Pet Shop Staff are working to pay for the Parrot(s), etc... that they have purchased! Take care you don't end-up with more than you can afford in either time or money!

 

[CDavis]

Ok so at the pet shop I work at there is a 30 year old B&G macaw named max he is a rescue and he was physically abused before he came to us. Max has been at the store for about 10 years and in the whole time he has been here he hasn't bonded with a single person or other bird and he hasn't allowed anyone to put new toys in his cage because if you open his cage he will attack you. Is there anything that I can do to help this poor macaw or any way to make him a little more content with his life.

Twenty years and likely a large number of homes(?) and pet stores and the last 10 years, likely center in this pet store. Add physically abused and should anyone be surprised there is no trust of Humans.

Get him off the Pet Store floor in back in an area that is more relaxed and comfortable.
Limit his contact down to just a few individuals that can be trusted 'alone' with this or any Parrot. Pet Shop staff have just as many idiots as the general population. Pet Shop Staff that abuse store pets is far more common than one would believe.
After about a week, serious one is one would be the next step.

Lets face a reality here, any Pet Shop Owner cannot afford to commit 'paid staff' to a single Parrot for the time that is required.

It is an interesting reality that most Pet Shop Staff are working to pay for the Parrot(s), etc... that they have purchased! Take care you don't end-up with more than you can afford in either time or money!

He is off the floor in a room that only staff are allowed into(he curses like a sailor) he is in the back with a Scarlett and a yellow naped who are both pretty friendly. I just feel terrible that he lives his life in a cage with little interaction from anybody else. This bird is a BirdMan666 type of rehab he is just so agressive. I am very passionate about helping birds but passion only does so much until you need real experience and unfourtunatly I don't have the experience required to help this bird and no one else seems to care.
I am also extremely glad that I don't have to work here to pay for my birds this is just to gain experience with larger and different birds.

 

[SilleIN]

Place a chair next to the cage. Sit there and talk to him. Don't try to move towards him, just sit there and talk. He will probably lunge at the bars to start with. Just try not to react and just keep talking in a calm voice. You could read him a magazine or a book. After a while he will accept you being close to the cage (this could take hours, days, weeks only the bird know how long it will take).

Once he does not fear your presence you can try to use either tongs/chop stick to hold some treats to the cage bars. To start with he will probably lunge at them and not get the treats at all. Just keep calm and put a new treat in the tongs and keep talking as you did when you sat next to the cage. Eventually he will realize that it is treats and will start to eat them.

That would be your first two steps.

I don't know if you have the time for this and if you eventually will leave the bird. It might be more harmful for the bird to bond with you, if you eventually will leave him.

The best thing for this poor creature is to get a forever home who is committed to give him a better life and committed to spend the time it takes to make him trust people again.

My Sugar has a similar history and he is today the most loving bird you could imagine. I saw him in the pet store and I could not leave him in that place (plucked and scared).

Is there any possible way you could get him home and work with him? And would you want to give him a forever home, if he bonds to you?

 

[ZephyrFly]

Get in 30 min early everyday and spend that time sat next to (but not too close) him and just chat or read a book out loud.
Bring some long millet, and offer it to him and the other birds in the room (maybe seeing you give then nice things will help?).
Associate that time you go in there with treats and chating.
That's a start at least.

 

[CDavis]

Place a chair next to the cage. Sit there and talk to him. Don't try to move towards him, just sit there and talk. He will probably lunge at the bars to start with. Just try not to react and just keep talking in a calm voice. You could read him a magazine or a book. After a while he will accept you being close to the cage (this could take hours, days, weeks only the bird know how long it will take).

Once he does not fear your presence you can try to use either tongs/chop stick to hold some treats to the cage bars. To start with he will probably lunge at them and not get the treats at all. Just keep calm and put a new treat in the tongs and keep talking as you did when you sat next to the cage. Eventually he will realize that it is treats and will start to eat them.

That would be your first two steps.

I don't know if you have the time for this and if you eventually will leave the bird. It might be more harmful for the bird to bond with you, if you eventually will leave him.

The best thing for this poor creature is to get a forever home who is committed to give him a better life and committed to spend the time it takes to make him trust people again.

My Sugar has a similar history and he is today the most loving bird you could imagine. I saw him in the pet store and I could not leave him in that place (plucked and scared).

Is there any possible way you could get him home and work with him? And would you want to give him a forever home, if he bonds to you?

Unfourtunatly no there isn't any possible way that I can bring him home with me I just don't think I'm ready for that kind of rehab he screams constantly and is super agressive. If I lived alone in a country home I would be more than happy to at least give him a forever home even if he hated me every minute of it.
I really just wish that he would allow me to buy him toys and put them in his cage so at least he could be entertained.

 

[Flboy]

This is a good read!

Parrot Behavior Myths: Building Trust | Learning Parrots

 

[SirEdwin89]

Pet stores are such bad environments for these particular types of cases. Sailboat really nailed it with a single point,

"Lets face a reality here, any Pet Shop Owner cannot afford to commit 'paid staff' to a single Parrot for the time that is required"

Generally speaking, that's true for the normal no-baggage birds, when you add in a special case, from a business standpoint it becomes almost an impossibility. And at the end of the day, even a pet *store* with the most noble of intentions is still a store that has to focus on making a profit.

I'm not saying anything mater-of-factly, but the chances of him turning around in that specific environment are slim to non. He really needs a person specifically looking to rehab him, who has an extensive amount of time for him.

Personally, I would see if you could convince the owner to give the bird up to a rescue that would have the people with the experience to help him. Personally, in our relative area I would be inclined to recommend Phoenix Landing, as they are about education first, and have the aid of several experts in their relative fields.

Even having to pay the fee to give up a bird would most likely be cheaper than the continued care of the bird for the store, and the owner could probably work something out where they would take the bird in exchange for bird supplies/toys and then he could write the entire thing off as a store donation at the end of the year.

 

[Moose]

This is a good read!

Parrot Behavior Myths: Building Trust | Learning Parrots

What a great resource!!! So many are stuck doing what they've always done, this gives new perspective.

 

[macawluv]

I would make sure he's on a "low energy" diet w lots of veg, recommend starting probiotics(I use Equa Holistics-Avian)(gut is considered by some to be the second brain) as I noticed better behavior from my macaws after starting. Also, beginning some clicker training is VITAL. Once he realizes that he can communicate at all with humans, the change is pretty big psychologically. For instance, when my B&G wants to grab my toes he will turn in circles trying to arrange a trade. I don't let him, but he understands trucks/desirable behaviors=things he wants so at least he can ask

 

[GaleriaGila]

I only have experience with one oddball type of parrot, but I will share this.
The Rickeybird hates everybody, but...
When my ol' man and I travel, we hire an Ursuline nun (whom we met in a civic organization) to house-sit. A lot of them do this, locally, anyway. She of course has to look after the bird. He won't attack somebody cleaning his area, feeding, changing water, etc, but he will scream at them and jump and flap around.
So, Sister Colette, out of her own inspiration, would sit in a rocking chair a few feet from his cage and read the Bible to him for hours a day as part of her usual devotions. Neither of us have ever dared to see if he would step up for her, but I am living witness that he sidles as close as he can get on the nearest perch and really seems to listen, AND no longer makes such a big fuss when she does his housework, etc.

Go figure.

 

[CDavis]

I am already going into the store early and on my days off for something that I'll tell you guys about a little later. But maybe I can go even earlier to spend some time with max I might just have to bring some long Millet for all the big guys and talk to them about stuff or read the macaw and amazon stickys aloud to them. I have done this in the past but it is kinda difficult because he just screams and screams at the top of his lungs(or Airsack) and eventually he will just sit there pinning his eyes making lunges at the cage bars.
I could try and ask the owner about surrendering them but he is kinda an odd guy and I doubt he would go for it. I wish I could bring him home with me but I just can't nor do I think that the owner would allow it.
But thank you guys for all the suggestions i feel even worse about his life now and I'll try me best to try and make it at least a little more interesting.

 

[SilleIN]

I am already going into the store early and on my days off for something that I'll tell you guys about a little later. But maybe I can go even earlier to spend some time with max I might just have to bring some long Millet for all the big guys and talk to them about stuff or read the macaw and amazon stickys aloud to them. I have done this in the past but it is kinda difficult because he just screams and screams at the top of his lungs(or Airsack) and eventually he will just sit there pinning his eyes making lunges at the cage bars.
I could try and ask the owner about surrendering them but he is kinda an odd guy and I doubt he would go for it. I wish I could bring him home with me but I just can't nor do I think that the owner would allow it.
But thank you guys for all the suggestions i feel even worse about his life now and I'll try me best to try and make it at least a little more interesting.

My Sugar sat in a pet store screaming his head off and lunging at anything coming even close to the cage, when I met him. I gave him a calm environment and just sat outside his cage and spoke to him (either headphones or ear plugs were needed). After just 3 days, he stopped screaming non-stop. He would still scream, if he got scared, but only max 5 times a day.

Today he only screams when I leave the house without him. I do not know how long he does it, but he's always calm, when I come home (ok excited, but quiet).

Just to let you know, that he might not be a lost cause, given the calm and consistency he needs.

If the owner should hope to not loose money on the bird, you might find the owner cooperative if you talk to him the right way?