Rocky start to owning a macaw

[Meldara]

Hi, Im Dawn, i am currently owned by a green cheek conure named Petri, and was going to be owned by a green wing macaw but well, something happened. You see i've wanted a macaw for as long as i can remember. After living with my conure i started looking up and reading everything i could on Macaws for a little over a year now. I know they are even more work then my bossy britches green cheek and wanted to be as prepared as possible. I had decided on the green wing would suit my situation best and began saving up. Well my boyfriend decided he wanted to surprise me and bought me one for valentines day, cage toys and all.Unfortunately i currently have Pneumonia so couldnt meet with him on friday. He finally broke down and told me sunday morning, words cannot describe how excited i am/was. We decided to wait to bring him to my house until the pneumonia has passed and he gets a clean bill of health from my avian vet. Then he went out to lunch and his mother thought it was such a nice day that she would roll the cage onto the patio through the sliding glass door. She forgot about him and when Josh got back he looks out side to find the cage open and nothing but a few feathers left inside from the bird. It seems either their cat learned to open the cage door, or more likely, she forgot to lock it all the way. In either case, i was wondering if anyone has some tips on how to recover a bird who doesn't have a name yet, and who is in a completely new environment? Im so worried i'm having trouble sleeping, which is not good for me >< But i don't know what else can be done other then calling him/her and leaving her cage out with food and water in it just in case. They looked and called for him till it got dark and will be going out again in the morning But they live in a heavily wooded area. Im also worried about the temperature, its suppose to get down to 45 tonight, Will he/she be alright over night?

Sorry for the huge post. Thank you for reading. Hopefully after this ill be able to post happier things.

 

[Sambamama]

I sincerely hope that someone will spot your bird. What a sad situation for all of you. Please keep us posted and know that I send you many wishes for a positive outcome.

 

[MarciaLove]

leave the cage put with food and water and call around for him. Post ads online of a lost bird and in vets offices and pet stores near you I hope you find him!!! He should be fine in 45 degree weather for the night.

 

[Kiwibird]

As others said, leave the cage open with a variety of tasty foods and toys to try and temp him back. Keep a close eye to see if he comes back so you can close the cage door ASAP if he does. Contact the local animal shelters and animal control (the first places people will call if they spot him) to report him missing. If you have any photos of him yet, provide them with those so they know of any identifying markings, patterns ext... Also post ads on craigslist, the local paper and "missing" posters around the neighborhood. If there are any local avian shelters, contact them too, as he may end up there. Parrots don't like the cold, but 45 degrees won't kill him to spend the night (or even a few nights) in. I really hope you find him! And ALWAYS make sure to PADLOCK cages with birds when outside.

 

[Meldara]

Thank you for the well wishes. Most of that is what i told josh last night. Except for giving pictures to the shelters. Im not sure if he has any yet. He had been going to send me some when he got back from lunch so im going to assume he did not. But the breeder he got him from might. As for the pad lock, definitely. and when i'm better and he lives with me he wont be going out unless im there with a harness on him. I'm still optimistic, because i'm pretty sure if one Josh's moms cats had tried to eat it there would have been some injury from that huge beak and both his cats are fine. I was mostly worried about the temp last night. Anyway thank ya'll for the advice, ill keep yall posted. Hopefully we find him and this was all just a big scary adventure that ends in an extra vet trip just to be sure and a story we laugh about in a few years.

In other news, ill have pictures of Petri, my greenchek counre, put up later this afternoon.

 

[Birdman666]

Scower the neighborhood. Look in the local trees. He'd be in the area.

Go house to house for a two or three block radius in every direction.

Take a picture of a greenwing with you, and show everyone what he looks like. If spotted, please call me...

Also, the way I got my CAG back, go to the local pet stores that sell food and cages. If someone finds him and has incinations on keeping him, they will have to go there, seeking advice....

These people are your eyes and ears.

Also, have you considered the fact that someone may have deliberately stolen him from the cage?

Part II, Macaws can figure out cage latches. One of the reasons I don't close cage doors, other than they hate it, is that it doesn't do any good. 4 out of my 5 just open them right back up again...

 

[Mishcka]

Oh this just breaks my heart ! im so sorry and i so hope you find your new baby ... I took in a Macaw for almost 5 months for a shelter till a home could be found for him and he was just such a good boy. but you are right if the cat tried to eat him unless it was a mancoon can he would have a fight on his hands forsure and something hurt forsure.

My moms little Amozon got outside once. we found him after about 9 hours sitting WAY up in a tree. A green bird in a Green tree . But the fire department came and got him out for us. I will pray for your birds safe return.

 

[Meldara]

well No sign of him yet, but they have the cage out there and have put his bird food into all the bird feeders around the yard. I know thats not ideal what with the chance for disease but they told me they cleaned them first and its better then nothing. Fingers crossed.

 

[Birdman666]

well no sign of him yet, but they have the cage out there and have put his bird food into all the bird feeders around the yard. I know thats not ideal what with the chance for disease but they told me they cleaned them first and its better then nothing. Fingers crossed.

walk around the neighborhood. Look up in the trees for red patches...

He's probably still in the neighborhood, and probably looking for someone to come find him...

 

[WesselG]

Hi Dawn

I'm sorry to hear about the macaw escaping. My favourite IRN flew off into the sunset a few years ago so I know how heart-breaking it is.

It might be a long shot but it might just work to record the calls of the breeder's macaws and play the recording as loud as you can outside. With a bit of luck your bird might just respond since it's still young and probably still imprinted on the sounds of it's parents.

 

[lisa1235]

Sorry to hear this ..Our blue and gold got out in the spring and we have a wooded area here.We looked way pass dark and nothing we decided to wait til early morning and go back out looking.We could hardly sleep for worrying.Thank Goodness when we went looking a distant neighbor stopped us saying that it was a weird looking huge bird being chased around by a little bird.Our hearts raced we knew it was him so we followed where the neighbor said he had flown and noticed all these crows circling a tree and upon a closer look i heard Bucky making those baby bird noises ..UHHH..He was waaaay up there the fire department had to come after i begged them.I would try and look and look for birds circling because they are territorial so they will be making a fuss!..I really hope you find him or he finds his way back.

 

[Freespin]

Awww I am so sorry to hear all of this has gone down and i hope with all of my heart you find him and get him home safe!
I too have had the most awful luck with birds lately and my Barry is also missing after escaping. Basically the more people you can make aware the better, thats extra eyes looking out for him! Flyers in letterboxes, advertise online, in shop windows, alert all nearby shelters etc. Perhaps alert his old owners too, he may have recognized their property if by chance he ended up in that general direction if they are nearby. Also other nearby breeders or owners of a large number of birds. Often if someone spots or catches a bird and they dont know much about them they will go to the nearest person they know of who has birds.
Good Luck!!

 

[Meldara]

Thanks for the well wishes and advice. They spent the day looking in the woods around their house and I've called just about everyone in their area i can think of. I've been trying not to think to much about it and focus on getting well so i can actively help look.Fever free today so fingers crossed. I'm mostly worried about the hawks and eagles they have living out there. A young red bird just seems like a big target to me.

In completely unrelated news, My green cheek conure Petrie is over his cranky mood and back to being velcro, so hes been keeping me occupied when im not sleeping. Anyway Thank you all again. Ill let you know if there is an update.

 

[Meldara]

Sorry i didn't update sooner. I ended up going down there and spent two days in the woods and going to vets and the near by zoo with no luck. I've called all the vets near by and no ones come in with a GW macaw in the past few weeks. Best we can guess is a hawk, racoon or eagle or some other predator got it. Or if its lucky someone took it in and hasn't gotten it to a vet yet. Thats what im hopping for anyway. A final bad note because of all the time i spent out side walking around i over did it and relapsed so spent the past week sick again. Hence why i didn't update sooner. I just want to thank everyone for all the advice. Hopefully one day ill try again, and Josh has promised not to let his mother near it if we do =P. Till then i'm just going to cuddle and spoil my Petri some more.