shamrock macaw

[shamrockmacaw]

Hello I am a newbie to this web site and a newbie to owning a macaw. Quigley is going to be 7 months old March 11. He is an awesome young bird. I have a few questions if someone can help. I do not know if he is male or female but in my world I want him to be a male. lol. The questions I have are:
1. Does it matter how long he stays out of his cage? To me I don't care but just wondering if there is a need for him to have some quiet time. He comes out of his cage every morning when we wake up for about and hour or two, then comes out again when we come home from work at about 1pm until bed time at 730 ish when i put him back in and cover his cage. In between he gets held and played with and spoken to all the time.
2. while i am holding him and petting him he loves to roll on his back and be petted on his belly. the next question is he bobs his head up and down and seems to regurgitate nothing comes out but it smells...not sure why he is doing this? I have to then put him back on his cage because I really don't like the smell at all. Please let me know if you have any ideas to this..thanks newbie mommie to quigley

 

[henpecked]

Welcome to the forum. You should have him on what ever schedule (cage time,bed time ,how much petting,etc) you expect him to be on later in life. yes it's hard to plan ahead and things change. I would vary things aliitle so that he doesn't stress when things do change. They like a routine ,but it can be stressful when "life" happens. Regurgitating is a way for parrots to bond, it does sound like chances are he's a male. PS the rolling on to their back when playing is very common.

 

[aliray]

Welcome to the forum

 

[wenz2712]

and welcome to the forum

 

[Bird_Mom_to_Coby_the_GW]

Congrats on your feathered friend and welcome to the forum. It doesn't matter whether he is a he or a she. Without being DNA tested there is no way to know for sure. If you want him to be a he then you can just treat him as such. As was previously stated the regurgitation is a bonding behavior and will likely carry out through his life. They do like to bob their heads and regurge to show you just how much they love you. Good luck with your new baby.

 

[shamrockmacaw]

Thank you all for responding. Its so nice to be able to talk to people who have parrots and understand. now i forgot the 3rd question i wanted to post
Quigley is afraid of everyone except me and will run to the back of his cage and won't give anyone a chance. I have to let him see me and then he will come towards me. If I ask him to step up on someone else he will but then will fly towards me. I will be going away in April for 10 days and am very worried about this. The person who is watching him has been trying to bond with him and she feels bad that he might not be able to come out of his cage if he won't at least step on her on his own...what to do now? He does do ok with the Tstand that i have so I told her to use that just so he can spread his wings...HELP lol