Macaw and baby

[Jaredtexas]

Good afternoon!

We are considering getting a macaw as a family pet and wanted to hear your opinion on having a macaw with an 8 month old baby also in the house? When I was a kid I had an African gray for 15 years until it finally passed away.

I love birds a lot and actually am a master falconer and have had birds of prey for the last 6 years or so. Currently it’s the off season so I do not have a bird currently but typically they are outside in mews so seldom in the house.

The bird we are looking at is a hybrid macaw and will be fully weened in about a week. The only thing that concerns me is the noise and a baby. So I suppose my question is how bad is the noise and do you think it’s a bad idea with a baby? I’m a self employed aerospace engineer and so he will come everywhere with me it’s the home life I worry about.

Any thoughts?

 

[ToMang07]

Well, the Macaw can compete with a jetliner for noise, and having one near a raptor is just playing with fire, imo, plus they live 60-80+ years.

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[noodles123]

I would not take this route.
1. A baby has nap times and very light sleep schedules in the night (bad for macaw), Macaws will wake the baby during the day and the baby will wake the macaw at night (bad news, as both will suffer behaviorally and in terms of health as a result of too little sleep)..Imagine not sleeping at night because of a screaming baby and then dealing with a parrot that cant sleep because one is screaming when the other is trying to rest..who also wakes your child whenever you think you will get a moment of rest during the day.

2. A macaw can bite a toddlers finger clean off if it wants to..and no matter what you tell a kid, they still do what kids do. Parrots can and do send adults to the ER. How would you feel towards a bird if it caused your child to require extreme medical care?


3. The cleaning with covid involved with having a baby and a bird= tricky. Birds have EXTREMELY sensitive respiratory systems and they cannot tolerate teflon/ptfe/pfoa/pfcs or candles, burning food, aerosols, perfumes, wax burners, diffusers or other scented products.

4. Parrots get jealous and babies are EXCELLENT at firing up that instinct, as they take so much time and energy for people to care for a new baby (and that anger can be against the kid or care-taker--- cousin almost lost part of her ear-lobe at 3 to our family's very dear TAG.

5. They are super needy and so are babies.....If this is your first kid, don't even think about combining new parenthood with new "parrothood".

6. 15 years is extremely young for a TAG or CAG (they can live to over 70 years, easily), so I also am concerned about what may have happened to your childhood companion at 15.


7. They change a ton at puberty (which takes years for them) so a baby will not show its full personality for many years and they can often push away from their "parents" at that time.


It is great that you are looking at fully-weaned birds, but if I were you, I wouldn't even think about this until your kid is 8 years or older....Just because it may be too hard on the bird in the long run...and only then if you want a toddler that lives forever.

 

[SailBoat]

Mac's are very loud, they are commonly likened to that of a 707 at take-off. They are truly big and although can be excellent with children, but that is commonly with an adult that has been in the home for a decade or longer when the baby Human arrives. With a baby Mac you will be training both of them not to bite! Plus with babies, when one is sleeping the other is screaming and the same is true the other way around!

This could be truly wonderful, but sadly, I'm not seeing this as a good situation.

 

[Jaredtexas]

Well this is insightful. I’ll answer a few questions.

Third child weirdly enough never cries the other two were terrible

Raptors do not come inside and would never see the parrot. I am more so a sponsor now so currently not hunting a bird.

My parents had rescued the African grey and she had been in 4+ homes so no one had any idea how she was cared for or even how old she was. Or for that matter if it was indeed a girl. This was a family pet and we had great memories with her.

This kinda confirmed my worry. I more so worry about the macaw being loud all the time. Obviously the idea of a parrot snapping my child’s finger off would be an even bigger worry but being in a house of even more dangerous raptors we have very strict rules with the animals and kids in the house. That doesn’t so much concern me.

I suppose we can reconsider this one day. We like the idea of having a long term companion and I remember just how much we did enjoy growing up with a bird. The other kids are 7-9

 

[Laurasea]

Is a daytime aviary outside an option? Thst can be great for a parrot, and can help things work.
As above they can be very loud in volume. Other parrots can do plenty if loud screaming too.

 

[Jaredtexas]

I had planned on building some sort of outdoor aviary for the parrot. I guess that could also come back around to if he would be excessively loud the neighbors might complain. There is a difference between loud and noisy. Loud is fine it’s noisy that gets into the grey area lol. I’ve even thought about getting another grey but from past experience they typically are one person birds. I’ve been around a few well loved macaws and they were really about everyone but I know it can change from bird to bird.

Thanks for the reply’s!

 

[itzjbean]

These are all great questions and super glad you're posting here!!!

You'll likely run into issues of choosing baby over acaw in terms of need, care and attention.


It can be done, and you have experience with the African Grey, which is great, but I suggest waiting until baby is in school (around 1st grade?) before taking on a macacw. It will need much more of your attention than I think you will able to give it with an 8 mont old baby.

 

[Jaredtexas]

These are all great questions and super glad you're posting here!!!

You'll likely run into issues of choosing baby over acaw in terms of need, care and attention.


It can be done, and you have experience with the African Grey, which is great, but I suggest waiting until baby is in school (around 1st grade?) before taking on a macacw. It will need much more of your attention than I think you will able to give it with an 8 mont old baby.

Thank you for the response! In general when we get to a better point. Do you think it’s a better idea to go with an African grey over a Macaw given the children?

 

[Scott]

Kudos for sleuthing best possible accommodation in lieu of impulse purchase! You raise multiple issues and your aerospace education skills should serve you well seeking potential accommodation.

I view noise as primary factor as it is possible to devise nearly* foolproof, repeatable techniques for keeping macaw, baby, and potential raptors safely secluded. Assume you've heard jet-engine loud macaw screams?

Given the choice, a Grey may be best suited provided all other parameters can be solved to satisfaction.

*to err is human, family discussion helpful to weigh the odds of accident and likely severity.

 

[Cardinal]

I

6. 15 years is extremely young for a TAG or CAG (they can live to over 70 years, easily), so I also am concerned about what may have happened to your childhood companion at 15.


s forever.

.

Is this so? Is there evidence? I have read and heard that Grey's are not as long liveld as say sulphur crested cockatoos or many large macaws and 35 to 45 years is a good lifespan. Please do enlighten me.

 

[ToMang07]

I



6. 15 years is extremely young for a TAG or CAG (they can live to over 70 years, easily), so I also am concerned about what may have happened to your childhood companion at 15.





s forever.

.



Is this so? Is there evidence? I have read and heard that Grey's are not as long liveld as say sulphur crested cockatoos or many large macaws and 35 to 45 years is a good lifespan. Please do enlighten me.

10 seconds on Google...

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[Cardinal]

I



6. 15 years is extremely young for a TAG or CAG (they can live to over 70 years, easily), so I also am concerned about what may have happened to your childhood companion at 15.





s forever.

.



Is this so? Is there evidence? I have read and heard that Grey's are not as long liveld as say sulphur crested cockatoos or many large macaws and 35 to 45 years is a good lifespan. Please do enlighten me.

10 seconds on Google...

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

.

Google gives information but not the truth. I have not seen photos or videos of Grays that are proven to be 50+. Even Alex who was relatively pampered despite living in lab conditions lived only to be 31. 30 to 50 may be a better range than 40 to 60. May be long time grey keepers can shed some light.

 

[Jaredtexas]

I



6. 15 years is extremely young for a TAG or CAG (they can live to over 70 years, easily), so I also am concerned about what may have happened to your childhood companion at 15.





s forever.

.



Is this so? Is there evidence? I have read and heard that Grey's are not as long liveld as say sulphur crested cockatoos or many large macaws and 35 to 45 years is a good lifespan. Please do enlighten me.

10 seconds on Google...

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

oh man if you think google is always right be careful lol, i wrote a researcher paper in college with statistics and a lot of the info that google pulls is from random websites and uses an average algorithm since its impossible to be done by human. I talked with a few breeders and maybe they were the worst three breeders this side of the green earth they did agree that the life spans of those birds is significantly off and said 40 years was a lot more accurate. that is probably going off of average care.

 

[Scott]

My experience with the Timneh sub-species is in the range of 25 to 40 years based on four subjects.

 

[noodles123]

.



Is this so? Is there evidence? I have read and heard that Grey's are not as long liveld as say sulphur crested cockatoos or many large macaws and 35 to 45 years is a good lifespan. Please do enlighten me.

10 seconds on Google...

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

.

Google gives information but not the truth. I have not seen photos or videos of Grays that are proven to be 50+. Even Alex who was relatively pampered despite living in lab conditions lived only to be 31. 30 to 50 may be a better range than 40 to 60. May be long time grey keepers can shed some light.

Alex's lab conditions were not good-- I am not saying the bird was treated badly or unloved, but you can even watch the videos and see the amount of contact that bird had with zinc, + a super small cage+ fairly questionable diet, plus living in a lab etc...People also didn't know what they know now as far as cleaners, teflon etc are concerned.


People are generally bad at taking care of birds and the average life-expectancy is lower in some cases because of that...In the wild, predators and disease are also a threat, but when cared for properly (as properly as one can in a home) life expectancy is MUCH higher than the averages.


The family Grey we had lived to around 40, but with proper testing and more caution around other birds, she would have lived longer, as she died from abv/pdd. Testing for either is VERY recent and still expensive...but it's more of an issue in captive birds than non.

 

[Laurasea]

My freind has a wild caught as adult African grey, and she has had him 45 years ! ( from before that awful practice was stopped) Still active and healthy she has always fed him veggies, leafy greens, few nuts few fruits abd pellets. And he gets outside time at least weekly

 

[chris-md]

Jared I want to add a bit of a slightly different voice to the chorus. This forum is filled with people who profoundly care about the health and safety and well-being of companion parents in our care, and that of the welcomed guests who post questions such as yourself. We have to, birds are exponentially more likely to be rehomed and abandoned because people aren’t prepared for what it takes to be a parrot owner. It’s a huge issue and our mission is to do what we can’t to prevent this from the onset with owners such as yourself asking questions before buying.

What do you have to understand is that in a topic specific forum like this a lot of times you get insular, almost purest views. “No babies and parrots”...”no bleach in the house whatsoever”... The problem with people telling you not to have a parrot and a baby in the house - that you have to wait for the child to get older - is that it doesn’t take into consideration your own personal level of capacity to care for multiple creatures at once.

This advice lacks any nuance or application to your personal situation.

There are safety issues, yes but they aren’t in surmountable by any means. Anyone with half a brain knows not to let something like a wild parrot interact with an infant, and knows to do everything you can to keep them apart. There are time issues, sure. But you have those anyways.

It’s true: to sum up the somewhat purist view, many of my friends here believe that aversion trumps risk management and intelligence at every corner.

My own opinion: If you feel like you know what you’re doing, there is nothing wrong with having a parrot and a baby in the same house at same time. MANY people quite successfully have multiple birds, let alone a single macaw. Go to a dog forum, and you’re likely to hear that you wouldn’t have time for multiple dogs, ye people do it all the time quite successfully.

As long as you are thoughtful about it, and are confident you know what you are doing, by all means get your dream bird!

If you have any doubts, then my friends advice above is extremely apropos.

 

[Jaredtexas]

Jared I want to add a bit of a slightly different voice to the chorus. This forum is filled with people who profoundly care about the health and safety and well-being of companion parents in our care, and that of the welcomed guests who post questions such as yourself. We have to, birds are exponentially more likely to be rehomed and abandoned because people aren’t prepared for what it takes to be a parrot owner. It’s a huge issue and our mission is to do what we can’t to prevent this from the onset with owners such as yourself asking questions before buying.

What do you have to understand is that in a topic specific forum like this a lot of times you get insular, almost purest views. “No babies and parrots”...”no bleach in the house whatsoever”... The problem with people telling you not to have a parrot and a baby in the house - that you have to wait for the child to get older - is that it doesn’t take into consideration your own personal level of capacity to care for multiple creatures at once.

This advice lacks any nuance or application to your personal situation.

There are safety issues, yes but they aren’t in surmountable by any means. Anyone with half a brain knows not to let something like a wild parrot interact with an infant, and knows to do everything you can to keep them apart. There are time issues, sure. But you have those anyways.

It’s true: to sum up the somewhat purist view, many of my friends here believe that aversion trumps risk management and intelligence at every corner.

My own opinion: If you feel like you know what you’re doing, there is nothing wrong with having a parrot and a baby in the same house at same time. MANY people quite successfully have multiple birds, let alone a single macaw. Go to a dog forum, and you’re likely to hear that you wouldn’t have time for multiple dogs, ye people do it all the time quite successfully.

As long as you are thoughtful about it, and are confident you know what you are doing, by all means get your dream bird!

If you have any doubts, then my friends advice above is extremely apropos.

Thank you a ton for this reply! It’s very helpful. Over the next few months I’m going to do a bit more research but I think I am leaning towards a grey over the macaw right now. But hey who knows! This is a really neat forum and it is loaded with really great info! I hope to be a long lasting member and get to know each of you better!