jenphilly
Active member
- Oct 15, 2013
- 1,950
- 25
- Parrots
- BE2 (Ivory), B&G Macaw (Max), Budgie Group,
Granbirds- tiels; GCC (Monkey & Monster); Sun Conure (Loki); Bare Eyed Too (Folger); Evil Green Monster YNA (Kelly); B&G (Titan)
Have received a few PMs about Max, so thought I would share an update. Have been crazy busy lately with planning to move and between Max and Ivory its like having two little kids in separate rooms each doing the 'hey mom look what I can do'. Ivory is settling down a bit, think she has come to realize Max is no threat and she is still mom's favorite baby girl. The funniest thing is that she absolutely loves going into Max's cage and playing with his stuff. Obviously Max is nowhere nearby, so no worries from anyone about her safety.
Max is an entirely different bird with me then Tor and Byron, but he is getting better, mostly positive interaction now, tho he still needs to posture and bluff. Tor handles him well, he actually tends to 'run away' from her when she doesn't back down from his big bad bird display. She had some great time with him when I was out the other day, so no doubt I'm the 'problem' in the mix. So we actively work with positive reinforcement for Max when he is sitting with me and allows someone else to pet him... and food is a great tool with him. Right now he is sitting on the sofa with Byron and I, one foot on each of our arms and doing his wings to hug / touch both of us. Byron gave him a piece of pizza crust, so food tames the beast. Praise from me seems to be the strongest reward we have found so far. When he does the posturing, I'll use a stern voice and tell him no or to be good and he will usually drop his head so Byron had scratch his neck with no further fuss, then after a few scratches I'll fuss all over him what a good boy he is. Out of all we've tried, that by far has proven most effective.
Not that he's 100% angel, him and Victoria had a go round about coming out of the cage yesterday and Max ended up back in his cage covered up til he would step up nicely from one of his perches. He is a bit cage protective, so I need to practice the same coming out techniques that we have Byron and Tor using. For me, he literally climbs out onto me. Yesterday when I got up, knowing I was meeting the new real estate agent, I just opened Max's cage like I do Ivory's and let both come out if they wanted. This had worked one other day with Max, he climbed out and did the macaw waddle to where I was. But yesterday he went up and would not step off his cage for Tor nice, so the battle began. So I need to remember to handle him same way they do, so he knows he only comes out of the cage when he steps up nicely from his perch.
But I am much more comfortable with that monster beak... let him snuggle and cuddle up to my face and do that ungodly weird tongue thing they do. We've built up enough trust that I'll let him beak my finger tho I keep having that thought, I'm gonna get my finger bitten off. But he is really quite gentle with me. He has also learned that the pinch is not the way to get attention. I have two tiny little bruises on my arm, from him pulling at my shirt sleeve to get my attention. He did not try to bite, he just got a bit of skin when he pulled at my shirt. He now takes his beak and either rubs my arm or lightly drags it back and forth to get my attention. I'm happy with no more pinches!!
His talking is already coming around so quick, its amazing. He has had the babble, mumble, grumble thing since he came into the shelter. Every once in a while you would hear a word such as Hello or Max. But he's repeating alot now, he'll stand there and stare at me and I'll ask him 'what', he now says that to me all the time. When I put him away or set him down to do something, he'll ask 'what'... he has a demon laugh, not quite as demonic as Folger, but still demon like! He clearly now says good boy, good Max, step up, wow and some other things he just repeats back now.
I am taking him Wednesday to the vet, tho he just had the vetting and bloodwork, he has what looks like an aluminum band and its rubbed smooth. It sits far down on his leg, so he basically walks on it and it rubs a bit, so gonna have the vet cut that off. Will ask her about microchipping him for security / identification.
Otherwise he has settled in wonderfully, still amazes us he's here and it beyond amazes me the way he likes to cuddle like a baby. He likes to be held with his feet against my chest or stomach and hugged and rocked like a baby.
Him and Ivory are co-existing well except for each vying for my attention. But no aggression at all (so far and touch wood). Both can be in the same general area. At the moment Max is perched on my arm while I type, he's snuggling up to my neck. Ivory is on the back of the sofa and has popped down a few times to my shoulder on the opposite side of Max. I don't let them close to each other and I'll usually put one hand over Max's head to ensure he doesn't reach for a foot.
A side note and benefit of Max being here... Ivory has started with new words! Out of nowhere she started saying step up! Including a video of her too, tho not a macaw, including it with Max, part of his update!!
So pics and videos... remembered to get pics for friends who have limited internet download abilities!!
Eating naner with Byron...
snuggle with Byron...
Max and Ivory... crab legs for Easter dinner!
cuddle time with mom...
Not exactly the bucket where they belonged, but neatly stacked so nothing fell off!
Dinner snack with dad...
Dad sharing piece of his orange...
Mom made me do it... need something to destroy, this is so embarrassing...
Video..
Nothing exciting... long video of Max just being a snuggle bug and proof I'm better with that beak!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2kl48FDHcw"]Max 2(5) - YouTube[/ame]
Why birds should work in nut factories doing the cracking!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ag9GVOPwA"]Max 2(7) - YouTube[/ame]
Ivory saying step up
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNa1kG3Dw8M"]YouTube[/ame]
And totally unrelated... Thursday was girl's day... Tor and I went for hair and toes... So happy for spring!!
Max is an entirely different bird with me then Tor and Byron, but he is getting better, mostly positive interaction now, tho he still needs to posture and bluff. Tor handles him well, he actually tends to 'run away' from her when she doesn't back down from his big bad bird display. She had some great time with him when I was out the other day, so no doubt I'm the 'problem' in the mix. So we actively work with positive reinforcement for Max when he is sitting with me and allows someone else to pet him... and food is a great tool with him. Right now he is sitting on the sofa with Byron and I, one foot on each of our arms and doing his wings to hug / touch both of us. Byron gave him a piece of pizza crust, so food tames the beast. Praise from me seems to be the strongest reward we have found so far. When he does the posturing, I'll use a stern voice and tell him no or to be good and he will usually drop his head so Byron had scratch his neck with no further fuss, then after a few scratches I'll fuss all over him what a good boy he is. Out of all we've tried, that by far has proven most effective.
Not that he's 100% angel, him and Victoria had a go round about coming out of the cage yesterday and Max ended up back in his cage covered up til he would step up nicely from one of his perches. He is a bit cage protective, so I need to practice the same coming out techniques that we have Byron and Tor using. For me, he literally climbs out onto me. Yesterday when I got up, knowing I was meeting the new real estate agent, I just opened Max's cage like I do Ivory's and let both come out if they wanted. This had worked one other day with Max, he climbed out and did the macaw waddle to where I was. But yesterday he went up and would not step off his cage for Tor nice, so the battle began. So I need to remember to handle him same way they do, so he knows he only comes out of the cage when he steps up nicely from his perch.
But I am much more comfortable with that monster beak... let him snuggle and cuddle up to my face and do that ungodly weird tongue thing they do. We've built up enough trust that I'll let him beak my finger tho I keep having that thought, I'm gonna get my finger bitten off. But he is really quite gentle with me. He has also learned that the pinch is not the way to get attention. I have two tiny little bruises on my arm, from him pulling at my shirt sleeve to get my attention. He did not try to bite, he just got a bit of skin when he pulled at my shirt. He now takes his beak and either rubs my arm or lightly drags it back and forth to get my attention. I'm happy with no more pinches!!
His talking is already coming around so quick, its amazing. He has had the babble, mumble, grumble thing since he came into the shelter. Every once in a while you would hear a word such as Hello or Max. But he's repeating alot now, he'll stand there and stare at me and I'll ask him 'what', he now says that to me all the time. When I put him away or set him down to do something, he'll ask 'what'... he has a demon laugh, not quite as demonic as Folger, but still demon like! He clearly now says good boy, good Max, step up, wow and some other things he just repeats back now.
I am taking him Wednesday to the vet, tho he just had the vetting and bloodwork, he has what looks like an aluminum band and its rubbed smooth. It sits far down on his leg, so he basically walks on it and it rubs a bit, so gonna have the vet cut that off. Will ask her about microchipping him for security / identification.
Otherwise he has settled in wonderfully, still amazes us he's here and it beyond amazes me the way he likes to cuddle like a baby. He likes to be held with his feet against my chest or stomach and hugged and rocked like a baby.
Him and Ivory are co-existing well except for each vying for my attention. But no aggression at all (so far and touch wood). Both can be in the same general area. At the moment Max is perched on my arm while I type, he's snuggling up to my neck. Ivory is on the back of the sofa and has popped down a few times to my shoulder on the opposite side of Max. I don't let them close to each other and I'll usually put one hand over Max's head to ensure he doesn't reach for a foot.
A side note and benefit of Max being here... Ivory has started with new words! Out of nowhere she started saying step up! Including a video of her too, tho not a macaw, including it with Max, part of his update!!
So pics and videos... remembered to get pics for friends who have limited internet download abilities!!
Eating naner with Byron...
snuggle with Byron...
Max and Ivory... crab legs for Easter dinner!
cuddle time with mom...
Not exactly the bucket where they belonged, but neatly stacked so nothing fell off!
Dinner snack with dad...
Dad sharing piece of his orange...
Mom made me do it... need something to destroy, this is so embarrassing...
Video..
Nothing exciting... long video of Max just being a snuggle bug and proof I'm better with that beak!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2kl48FDHcw"]Max 2(5) - YouTube[/ame]
Why birds should work in nut factories doing the cracking!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ag9GVOPwA"]Max 2(7) - YouTube[/ame]
Ivory saying step up
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNa1kG3Dw8M"]YouTube[/ame]
And totally unrelated... Thursday was girl's day... Tor and I went for hair and toes... So happy for spring!!
