Rescued blue and gold

[chipper62]

Hello,
I'm needing some input on my macaw. First things first, I am not new to birds, had a few smaller birds, all but one were rescued as well. And I also had an orange-winged amazon, also rescued. One of my coworkers found an ad for my macaw and showed it to me knowing I am a bird lover. I saw his picture and knew something wasn't right. So my boyfriend and I went down the check it out. We got there, the house was filled with many other small birds, and my bird, Cotton, was in a cage barely big enough for my amazon back home. He had also plucked, and had feathers missing on his head. My amazon had plucked, she was almost all bald when I got her, but she could never manage to pluck her head. They told me Cotton was 7 years old, and that they had rescued him. They said he has a fear of sticks, making stepping up difficult, afraid of towels, and that he didn't really talk or even squak. They had said they never had birds before, but the longer I have had him the less their story lines up. I have had him for a couple months now. I got him a cage sized for him to stretch his wings. my problem is that he doesn't like hands in his cage or even near him, i have yet to get bit, so I think it may be more fear. He has recently started squaking when he hears me moving around. I don't give him a reaction when he does, although the other day after a screaming session he started yelling out 'hello' made my day!! I have also put him on a mostly fresh fruit diet, he was only getting seeds and maybe dried fruit as a treat. He has not grown any of his feathers back and the bald spot on his head is still there. When I'm not home he has music on and plenty of macaw toys, compared to budgie toys he had before. I'm not sure if he is lonely because I have noticed when I'm walking up to the house he will start squaking because he can see me. I just would like some pointers on how to make things better for him, I want to great life for him since it wasn't good before. Like I said, rescues are not new to me, but the others I have had calmed down fairly quickly when they saw they were safe and could be happy. thanks!!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Welcome to the forum! Wow, poor cotton. Sounds like he's had a hard life.

Rather than a mostly fresh fruit diet, go with a mostly veggie diet. Fruit is good, but it's full of sugar and few of the amazing benifits that veggies offer. Only eclectus and lories should receive a majority of fruit daily.

Have you started introducing Cotton to pellets yet? Harrison's is one of the best brands available, feed "high potency" for 6 months, the You can feed "life time".

Has cotton seen a avian vet? Good idea to get a check up, especially when a bird wasn't cared for properly before.

Some excellent veggie choices
Squash(especially orange & yellow squashes. Calabaza is often available)
Cucumber
Cooked yams
Bell peppers
Chilli peppers
Carrots
Pumpkin(get the food grade baking pumpkin)
Brocoli
Swiss chard
Kale
Spinach
-Some grains can also be fed, two good choices are quinoa and barley.

Have you heard of touch/target training? That is a AMAZING training technique. If I wasn't on my Iphone I'd stick a video in here explaining how to do that.


Please include paragraph breaks, makes long post easier to read.

 

[MikeyTN]

Most of the things been covered above but I just want to add any pellet is better then no pellet. Also a avian vet visit should be in order! Plus quarantine if you have any other birds.

 

[chipper62]

Thank you guys so much! I will try what you suggested. He seems to be a picky eater and hasn't wanted any veggies before, just throws them to the bottom of his cage. Thanks again, I'm sure Cotton will be thankful as well!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Like Mikey said, any pellet is better than no pellet. One pellet that is both human grade and available at pet stores is Zupreem.

Google "bird tricks chop mix". Chop mixes are excellent for picky eaters, I got Rosie, my galah, to eat good food that way. She is still a picky eater, but is much more open then she used to be.

A lot of people here dislike bird tricks(I don't like everything about them either), but they do have a AMAZING bird cookbook. They worked with a avian vet, and put a lot of effort into making it healthy. The cookbook was made by Patty and jaimileigh. they spent months writing it and taste testing with all their birds. They have several seasonal chop mix recipes in it too.

Since Cotton is very picky, that cook book may be perfect for you. giving you great ideas to tempt cotton into trying new healthy food.

 

[Lis]

I'm glad he has you now. Sounds like he is excited to see you coming home. That's a great sign. I recently adopted a gray & green wing that wasn't on pellets and finally just got both totally on zupreem. I kept trying to mix it with seeds or only have zupreem. The thing that finally worked is to have a small amount of the seeds where they were use to them being and adding a different bowl with only the zupreem and putting it an inch or so higher, that seem to draw their interest and not throw the zupreem out to hunt for their favorite seed. Good Luck!!!

 

[MonicaMc]

I put together a thread for people who have problems switching birds over to a healthier diet. Perhaps it may be of help to you as well.

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html


I would also recommend these websites. Browse through the blogs posted and you can find a lot of great info!

Working with Fearful Parrots: A Study in Videos | Learning Parrots
Lara Joseph | An animal training, behavior, and enrichment specialist.
Living With Parrots Cage Free
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk