Planning to get my 1st Green Winged Macaw

[tuxzdo]

Hi all macaw keepers,

This is my first posts here. I live in Thailand where there's always sun and rain most of the year. I do have a garden space to build an aviary and a separate room in my house prepared for them.
So as I'm planning to get my 1st Green winged Macaw (From captive breeders, we don't have rescue centre here for me to adopt the macaws) early next year and I still do have a few concerns I'll make it easy by deciding my questions here:

1) Is 3 m x 4 m x 3m (wxdxh) outdoor aviary too big for them? Should I also get a separate cage for indoor as well?
2) The aviary will be close to my house&office as my office is in front of my house. Would morning lunch and evening play time around 30-45 mins each time be enough to bond with them? Weekends I'm usually home so it's easy for me to have time with them.
3) Any forbidden fruits or veggies for GW?
4) As I'm afraid , which it will, disturb my neighbour should I build an aviary with closed doors/windows?
5) As I've been reading GW aren't said to be aggressive , on the contrary they're more gentle then other species of Macaws, is this ''saying'' true?
6) **Most important** If I keep my 1st GW for a year and I plan to get another one as companion the next year , will they likely bond or hate each other?
Because honestly I plan to keep them as if they're in the sanctuary instead of 'cage' like' and hopefully in the years to come they'll start breeding too, I sincerely want them to live happily because the aviary will be installed in the garden surrounded by trees

Thank you all in advance! Can't wait for all the feedback

 

[itzjbean]

Welcome to the forums!!

Thailand sounds like a nice place to own a macaw, lots of sunshine year-round.

If you're going through a breeder definitely get a weaned baby that you can hopefully interact with before you bring it home. It's important that the bird chooses YOU and you begin a bond with it before bringing it home if you can.

I highly recommend you scour the Macaws forum for TONS of great information, specifically from Birdman666 who has fantastic advice about raising macaws to be well-socialized family pets.

There is no such thing as 'too big' of an aviary or cage for a macaw. Remember, they are used to jungles!Anything that can resemble what they have in the wild will be ideal, ie. an ooutdoor abiary they can get a rain bath and stretch their wings, munch on plants and chew up wood and get fresh air, and an INSIDE cage for bad weather would also be ideal.

And yes, they make A LOT of noise that will likely disturb your neighbors. Their screams are as loud as jet engines and will be heard outside for miles. If you live in a quiet neighborhood and have neighbors that like it quiet, you may find yourself getting noise complaints or having to rehome your bird eventually.

Even as gentle as the Greenwings are known to be, they get especially ornery if not handled and socialized daily and will scream and scream if let unattended and not socialized with. They are not a 'sit in the cage and look pretty' bird, they want constant interaction or activity and will not tolerate being ignored.

There's no saying if two birds like each other, it really can go either way, so it's a 50/50 at this point. Even if they like each other, it will take several years for them to actually pair bond. Be warned, birds that end up pairing become extremely protective of their mates and WILL become very aggressive to you, the owner, so if you want to get another bird, get separate cages and aviary, and stick with same sex birds so they don't ever pair and can stay pets.

Most fruits and veggies aare safe, but there are a few that are toxic. No rhubarb, onion, or garlic and you should be okay with just about everything else.

Keep doing as much research as you can!

 

[tuxzdo]

Thank you Jackie!
Thank you so much for taking your time to write all the answers to my questions.

I got about 5-6 months to prepare for my first GW because the breeder said at the moment they don’t have any for sell yet. But around beginning of next year they “might have” weaned ones for sell around March ish.
In the meantime all of these suggestions are extremely valuable to me! ^_^

Thanks again!

 

[wrench13]

Hey bubba, unless you plan on making the aviary out of stainless steel ( the only materiel that is non-toxic to parrots), don't waste your time building one. A macaw beak will quickly chew right through any wooded parts, and his beak will sever cheap chicken wire or other galvanized type cage material ( besides, galvanizing = zinc=dead parrot). It's nice you want one, but unless you are prepared to do it correctly, you will have the = dead parrot result.

Plus lots of your questions indicates a lot more research on your part is needed before you don't end up with the = dead parrot result.

 

[tuxzdo]

Hi there! Thank you for your kind suggestion!

I do agree regarding the material building the aviary too because I already got the drawing and the price but now it's the question of what more do I need to add to my 'macaw's' paradise

 

[Birdman666]

The most important thing other than chew toys, to a greenwing, is interaction.

These birds are attention oriented, and want to be interacted with.

The more you interact and play with your bird, the more bonded they get.

Personally I think greenwings are one of the easier macaws to work with...

 

[tuxzdo]

Thank you for your suggestions =)
I've been told as well they're easier to keep compare to others.

I've been thinking of Scarlet too but they said they're the nippiest one out of all the large macaws ^_^