Red Fronted Macaw won't preen self--among other things

[fugly]

We adopted a 10yr old female RFM about 8 months ago. We believe she was a cage bound bird for several yrs. Anyway, she has come a long way, allows me to occasionally pet her head and likes to sit near me. Problem is she is in a full molt but will not preen. Since we've had her she gets an over head spray mist bath as she does not like to bathe...though couple days ago we did try the shower hoping it would trigger some preening--she HATED IT and did not even try to preen herself!!! Had to put on a perch and do our "flapping" exercise just to get the excess water off--ended up using a blow drier on low to dry her off as after a couple hours she still just sat there hunched over. I have tried to do some preening but again she HATES it!!! Her tail feathers have grown completely out, but still have the sheaths over the majority of them. She has a "neighbor" an umbrella that is diligent about preening so she has a roll model. And she watches as we preen the cockatoo. Any suggestions in getting her to preen would be wonderful!!!

The other "quirks" she has are the following:
1. She will not eat anything but seed (sunflower mostly) and a few unshelled nuts. We offer her healthy fruits and veggies etc... even junk food ( I know but desperate to get her to eat something else). In the eight months we've had her she will occasionally take a taste of banana, a chomp on a cheeto..oh and has decided that died papaya is ok. Suggestions?

2. Foot toys, OMG! She is starting to dabble with foot toys however she picks them up then promptly bites her foot and squacks in pain as she drops them....She also does this if she decides to try food that she can't just hold in her beak. Again suggestions would be great.

Thanks ahead of time for any help with this behaviors!

 

[rochesteralexk]

I am not a macaw expert in any way or sense but i am sure someone here will say this... Vet check her 1st. Rule out any medical problems that might cause odd behavior.

Also When i was trying to get my bird to switch to pellets more than seeds i just slowly introduced them more and more to her normal diet. Now her normal diet is all pellet with some fruits and veg and seeds only as treats. Slow process but weened from 80% seeds to a good 5-10 of daily diet. Seeds usually really very fatty and can cause liver disease and other problems for a bird if not kept an eye on. Especially for caged birds that are not getting the same amount of exercise a wild one would.

Also see if she will try bread. That was another seed weaning process i used. If she will take bread start making your own and crush up pellets and veg etc so she can reap the proper nutrients from it.

Behavior wise you seem to be doing a great job. If she is letting you pet her.. even for very small time frames thats huge progress. Just keep up on the positive reinforcement.

 

[Remy]

When I first got Puck he didn't preen very much. I wasn't sure there was something off because I hadn't spent huge amounts of time with larger parrots (not that he's that large, lol), and I figured he was occupying his mind with something else, like tearing up paper. My cockatiels used to preen a TON, so I though it was probably just a species thing and didn't worry about it since he looked and acted okay.

I installed a light above his cage, which he LOVES, and now he preens a whole bunch! I've noticed that he plays with/destroys his toys more now too, and I think he may even be quieter. How is the lighting in your bird's area?

 

[MikeyTN]

She sounded like she needs a visit to the vet....Excess sunflower seeds is bad for them as they're very fattening!!! I'm not against seeds but what she is only eating is very bad for her. Try to get some pellets and switch her over to pellets since she's picky about fruits and veggies. Try mixing seeds and pellets by 75% seeds/25% pellets to start for a few days then switch to 50/50 then 75/25, BUT during any period when you see her eat multiple pellets, remove the bowl and dump it out completely and fill it with 100% pellets. Some people have luck just switching cold turkey and it can work depending on the bird. DO NOT try to feed the seeds again! Waste them if you have to or use them as a occasional treat with just a few piece. I wouldn't give her any for awhile until she's fully adjusted with pellets. I feed mine Zupreem and I get the conure size to feed my macaw, they can be very wasteful and with conure size, it's lesser of a waste. Whenever you try to give her fruits, eat it infront of her. And make noise, like mmm, you want a piece. And offer it to her. My macaw hates most veggies unless I cook them then he eats them really good.

 

[fugly]

Thank u for all ur advice. She has been vet checked including blood work and all is good. I have been adding zupreem since got her she just throws it out. Have tried no sunflower and she just screams and attacks her dish...have tried just less sunflower with same result... But will cont to give zupreem . As far as modeling eating fruit we do that with everything we try to give her...even to point of pretending to eat it and take out of my mouth (again pretending) but hasn't helped. We make big deal out ofeating in front of her and with her near us....This eating thing I know will eventually work it self out in time...
Lighting is good....as is cage location... So well just cont trying what we've been doing. Thanks again...

 

[Remy]

What about actually eating it? I think she would know the difference. Will she eat from a plate or bowl that you are eating from? This is Puck's favorite, because he likes sharing (or not, when he gets possessive, lol).

With Puck's reaction to the lighting, which I thought was fine, I wonder it might be a good idea to give her extra light. Just because our eyes are used to it, doesn't mean it's enough for a bird to be happy and healthy. I was lucky that Puck communicated to me that my lighting wasn't good enough for him. I don't know what your lighting is like though. It just made all the difference with Puck!

 

[MikeyTN]

They will give you hissy fit, but don't give in to her. That's what she's expecting!!!! Like me yesterday. Willie have been going through hormonal issue for a couple of weeks now and he's being super bad and still attacking me when I try to get him out. So I told him that's enough and I made him come out cause he needed a bath badly since he regurgitate on his wings every time he goes through this stage. They were sticking to his wings pretty good so he have to be bathed clean. So I made him come out by being tougher on him and he came out without a fuss. IF I didn't need to give him a bath, I probably wouldn't of made him come out by forcing him. BUT he knows when I mean business, he backs down. He knows me pretty good as most of the time I do not force him to do anything he doesn't want to so he got me wrapped around his little bird brain pretty good....lol

 

[lene1949]

Are you sure she doesn't preen, when you're not looking? It is such a natural thing for birds to do, but I also believe it's a calming signal, so she could be doing it at other times...

Maybe you could post a photo of her??? so the people in the know can see what is happening...

 

[roxynoodle]

Some birds do preen more than others. My Nanday is nuts over her personal grooming. She bathes every day on her own and preens several times a day. She also has a keyring on a chain that was once a toy that she uses daily to do her face and head. And I see her actually using her cement perch to do her nails or touch up her beak.

My zon is not so good about it. He preens a bit a couple times a day, but seems to rely on me to help him out. He won't take a bath even though I gave him a large dog bowl at the bottom of his cage. He isn't afraid of it, just ignores it. I have to take him into the shower, but he likes it.

My Blue Crown was somewhere in between on the grooming.

Some birds are harder than others to get on pellets. For my Nanday, I just had to start eating them and then she wanted them too. For my BC, I had to find a pellet she would at least consider. The fruit flavored Zupreem were it. I had to eat a ton of them and then just start putting them in her bowl and little by little, put in more pellets each day until I was certain she was eating them. This did take a couple of months. And she never, ever would eat anything orange including the orange pellets. This is a concern due to vitamin A deficiency. At least when she was finally on pellets, I knew she was getting her vitamin A.

You do have to get the bird on pellets for it's health. Especially if she isn't eating the right variety of human foods to make up for it. I'm working on my new zon now, who has been on a seed diet for 28 years! I was surprised he had a healthy vet check. He does at least eat his veggies, beans, whole grain bread and pasta, and some fruit. But, I'm making a real effort to get him on pellets. After 3 decades of seed, this could take a long time. Should I fail to convert him, he will be getting even more people food to try to make up for it. I didn't think I could ever get my BC on pellets though and I did. So I'm nearly certain I can get this old guy on them, too.

 

[ceejay]

i agree with everyone i had the same issue with sheldon my galah all he was given was sunflower seeds it took me a while but i finally got him on straight pellets now i found that mixing just a bit of apple juice in with his pellets really helped alot. i still have issues with fruit and veg with sheldon to but he has started to eat corn on the cob which would figure the one thing he loves i only can give him twice a week but he is starting to like carrots now its a very slow process when they have been given sunflower seeds as a total diet. good luck cheers ceejay