How to handle aggressive macaws

[kme3388]

Does anyone here have advice on how to handle aggressive macaws? Mine has a past of severe abuse. He was beaten with a broom, and had his wing broken by a previous owner. I have no idea if that’s what has made Blue aggressive. He was okay to handle at first but his demeanor changed after he settled into our home. I don’t know if it’s just hormones. He has been at the bottom of his cage lately. It appears he’s searching for a dark place. He attacked me yesterday, and got ahold of my lip when I was handling him. I’ll post a photo below. I was informed I got lucky. He attacked the back of my head today when I was trying to clean his cage bars. He wasn’t handled a lot in the past. Any advice is appreciated. He’s also trying to attack my hands, and my husbands when feeding him. I can’t even get into his cage today to put in new toys for the day for him to forage.

 

[Thechoplady]

Im sorry i dont have first hand macaw experience but i want to say im sorry that happened to you. Sophie did the same exact thing to my lip one time and I was just so upset and devastated. Can you go back to target training? I use a portable T stand to transport sophie from room to room as she is just too unpredictable to have her on my hand. I shower her alot and that seems to take out some of her energy, i also take her on car rides occasionally.. and i dont let her have alot of grains, fruit, carbs, seed etc as the sugar and fat really amps her up. She also sleeps in a dark room by herself for 14 hours a night. You might already be doing all these things. Even with all the above Sophie can be okay some days and a absolute terror on other days. Im sorry I dont have better advice.

 

[kme3388]

Im sorry i dont have first hand macaw experience but i want to say im sorry that happened to you. Sophie did the same exact thing to my lip one time and I was just so upset and devastated. Can you go back to target training? I use a portable T stand to transport sophie from room to room as she is just too unpredictable to have her on my hand. I shower her alot and that seems to take out some of her energy, i also take her on car rides occasionally.. and i dont let her have alot of grains, fruit, carbs, seed etc as the sugar and fat really amps her up. She also sleeps in a dark room by herself for 14 hours a night. You might already be doing all these things. Even with all the above Sophie can be okay some days and an absolute terror on other days. Im sorry I dont have better advice.

Thank you, I do have a stand. He is not safe to transport. Well today anyway. I am in the process of signing him up for some classes for aggressive macaws. I really want to see him work through this. Any advice is helpful if someone has experience with an aggressive parrot, and if something may have worked for them that I haven’t tried.

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

My Macaw Max is incredilbly aggressive towords me.
And with him it is a big joke.

His lifelong dream is to get a hold of my nose or my lip.
I keep my face well away from him at all times.

He bonded to the other parront in my household -who can have max on his shoulder, sleep with him, kiss him, pet him.

Max is only affectionate when his daddy is out of the country, otherwise I am only just most awesome caregiver.

So sorry about your lip.
Max cracks a walnut every morining for breakfast, I know what he could do to my lip.
I am of no help to you, but I do sympathize!

 

[kme3388]

Thursday I got bit in the face, Friday the back of my head got attacked, and now today Blue wants head scratches & snuggle time. This parrots mood swings are unbelievable.