New military Macaw being noises any tips

[Shaunak101]

So we just got our beautiful military macaw charlie, yesterday. Charlie’s our first parrot, we’ve had smaller birds such as budgies and finches for some background

Charlie was fine last night but today hasn’t stopped screaming and won’t eat. We’ve had him out of his cage and he was okay once he’s was getting attention but got agitated once he wasn’t getting attention.. now have him back in the cage with a blanket over it to try calm him, which doesn’t seems to be working much.

So any tips would be very helpfully?

 

[bigfellasdad]

I don't know macaws I'm sorry. I'm not sure covering him up will help however, hes in totally new surroundings and as such maybe frightened and confused. Its crucial at this point that he knows he is safe, spend as much time as you can with him even if it's being around him ideally in a calm environment. You need to be building trust at this point. If you cant be with him all of the time, call out to him when you are out of the room so he knows you are around, even leave a radio on for him etc.Hope it goes well for you and your new beautiful and intelligent member of the flock.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Out of interest, where is his cage located in the room? They don't like being near doors.

 

[Shaunak101]

Probably not ideal he’s in Our sitting room and we’ve 2 doors on both sides of the room. It’s the warmest room and the main living space. He has quietened down a bit but still won’t eat .

 

[chris-md]

Hello and welcome!

Your boy is being noisy because he’s scared and uncomfortable. Parrots take time to acclimate to a new place they aren’t familiar with. Acclimation takes time.

He will settle down and quiet down, rest assured. It will just be a few weeks, give or take.

In the short term, get earplugs. Be careful not reinforce the screaming by coming running every time he screams. Research positive reinforcement and learn proper training techniques, which will highlight not only proper training techniques but also highlight the WRONG things people do that make stuff like screaming and biting happen frequently.

In the longer term, start clicker training him and target training him. These training foundations help build a mutual linguistic bridge that will aid in his acclimation.

And start considering recall training, training him to fly to you on command. It could save his life one day.

I certainly wish you the best of luck. You’ve chosen to start with one of the more challenging macaws (one that some have argued aren’t suitable for the pet trade). They can be a bit nippy - not biting per se, but definitely communicate with their beak - so be prepared for that and research how to cope with that.

 

[Joon]

It's a new home for him so you'll need to grin and bear it for a bit while he realizes he's not going to be Sunday's roast chicken. Mine ran circuits in her cage and croaked like a frog for a few months while she settled in.



Reinforce the things you like and not the things you don't. So if he's screaming for attention and you're in another room, don't come running. If he's doing it while you're in the room get up and leave. When he is quiet OR he makes a sound you do like give him some attention. I'd look for stuff from Barbara Heidenreich or Pamela Clark on positive reinforcement and look into how to keep him busy.



And on the food front? I wouldn't care what he ate at this point so long as he was eating something. If it has to be a diet of walnuts, almonds and banana's or grapes so be it. Also, do you know what his favourites are, have you tried offering those?



Btw: If his eyes are popping out of his head, or he's head bopping up and down, or jerking side to side and/or blushing he's excited, possibly becoming overstimulated, so you'll want to back away to let him calm down. When mine gets like that the chances of getting bit/nipped are really high.



(one that some have argued aren’t suitable for the pet trade)


Mine did flying dive bomb attacks at people and was surrendered for her aggressiveness. When she's scared or overstimulated she won't back down, the only solution is to get out of the room and wait for her to cool down. She's not for the faint of heart ... but her hellos and that mug of her's? and I melt.

 

[itzjbean]

What age is your new macaw? Is he refusing SOLID food? Perhaps he is not eating because he wants formula, what the breeder fed him, and is not fully weaned? If he is young, it's very possible that he has weaned and going to a new home has made him regress, aka he may want formula again.

How old is he? Do you know how to handfeed?

 

[Laurasea]

What age is your new macaw? Is he refusing SOLID food? Perhaps he is not eating because he wants formula, what the breeder fed him, and is not fully weaned? If he is young, it's very possible that he has weaned and going to a new home has made him regress, aka he may want formula again.

How old is he? Do you know how to handfeed?

Yes and som babies can revert u der stress. This species spends a long time with parents in the wild.
This article I found helpful
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

This article is also good, speaks about screaming amoung other topics
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/bird-behavior/