Sorry Everyone But I Didnt Listen

[Surfincr]

i had a thread awhile back about Military Macaws and the majority said wait until awhile after our son is born. And while we did pass on the military a situation came up where we had been communicating with a family for a few months about taking their bird in. Both my fiancee and i agreed that even though with a kid it'll be tough with both our schedules we have a lot of time to spend with the animals and child and agreed we were a good home for Elvis. Two weeks ago we rode down met the family and took Elvis the B&G home with us. Thanks to this site its been very helpful and very accurate on working with B&G's

We were able to determine Elvis is rather cage agressive, but loves to interact with everyone, just dont touch his cage. Through reading this site and others I was able to determine he doesnt have much confidence in himself so we've been working on that as well. Last night we actually had a major breakthrough i toweled him up and brought him to a room he hasnt been before and let him walk around. he spent maybe 30 seconds looking around and then came walking up to me and climbed on my arm and wouldnt leave. He also let me pat his head but kept doing the macaw bite bluff . i have to say its incredibly hard not to flinch. But i can see he's going to be a cuddler when he finally settles in since everything that scared him he tried to get as close as possible to me but not too close.

The only problem we have had is that Ziggy the grey was really excited a new bird was brought in the first 2 days but then decided she really was not happy about another bird trying to steal the attention away and has since tried to go to Elvis' cage to attack him (not sure she really thought any of it through due to the size difference). but Elvis loves having Zig around since he has been trying to learn the words the grey uses and they love to laugh at each other.

Another thing i have to add is while they are a lot louder than the Greys they really arent bad at all. The untamed conures were far more obnoxious then Elvis.

I know theres a strong chance its going to be stressful for awhile after the baby is born but i know it will be well worth it for both the bird and us. i also dont believe in giving up on animals so there is no chance we will rehome any of our animals and we always make sure we have time for them.

So i have to say sorry i didnt listen but thank you for having a ton of useful information.

 

[JerseyWendy]

LOL Chris! You may not have listened....but you truly sound blissfully happy with Elvis. Many congrats on bringing him home! It will all work out in the end.

 

[Birdman666]

Most macaws turn into cuddlebirds once you get past their defenses, and they trust you. Right now work on the basics. And make sure your CAG knows he isn't being displaced... and still has his place in the flock.

Macaws that aren't screamers really only vocalize a couple of times a day, and it's usually either a happy to see you thing, or a happy to see you filing my food dish thing... (the latter would be my RFM!) The bad rap with these birds is that people inadvertently train them to be screamers.

 

[Dopey]

Sometimes things just come up and you've got to do what you've got to do. Thanks for the rescue.

 

[Surfincr]

i am definitely happy, i know its going to be a lot of work but well worth it. Elvis actually reallys reminds me of my first rescue german shepherd very stubborn, all defenses are up and thinks it may want to be in charge. My shepherd is now the biggest mush and quite the (as everyone puts it) Daddy's girl. i know with time Elvis will be there as well.

With Zig i've learned we alternate who comes out first and both get equal time out, she is perfectly happy with her lap scratch time and attack the dog toys time(one of the funniest things to watch).

 

[Surfincr]

Most macaws turn into cuddlebirds once you get past their defenses, and they trust you. Right now work on the basics. And make sure your CAG knows he isn't being displaced... and still has his place in the flock.

Macaws that aren't screamers really only vocalize a couple of times a day, and it's usually either a happy to see you thing, or a happy to see you filing my food dish thing... (the latter would be my RFM!) The bad rap with these birds is that people inadvertently train them to be screamers.

the two times he screams is when there's an animal or person outside or we're eating in the other room and arent sharing. And once in a while it is the "i want attention" but its died down a lot on the latter.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I may have missed it somewhere along the line, but whatever happened to your conures??
http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/38313-will-possible-tame-my-gccs.html

 

[Birdman666]

we're eating in the other room and arent sharing.

Also my RFM. Some degree in universal macaw truth to this one.

 

[Surfincr]

I may have missed it somewhere along the line, but whatever happened to your conures??
http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/38313-will-possible-tame-my-gccs.html

i dont remember if i had it in the original post they were given to me by my aunt to see if we could get them to settle in and tame them. i wound up finding out they were never hand raised or tamed and were always part of a bird room with a ton of other birds and were meant to be a breeding pair. After trying every trick in the book with no luck they really did not seem happy at the house and spent almost all of their time hiding in the box i had built for them. My grey Zig was also getting very agitated with all the noise they make telling them quiet and Yelling "Nela!" (ziggy thinks nela said normal is my dogs name [which it is] and when yelled is a word of agitation/scolding [we have to yell for her when she doesnt want to come back in]). And even Elvis was getting agitated at the noise. this past weekend my aunt brought them back with her to put them with one of the people in her bird club that have more birds for them to be around and be closer to what they were used to. i hate, and i really do mean hate giving up on animals but they really did not seem happy and they needed to be somewhere they could be happy. And i know my aunt will make sure where they go they will be in a better situation. And dont get me wrong they were very healthy just not happy.

since they have left ziggy has calmed down a lot and is a lot more relaxed, as is elvis.

 

[Birdman666]

Well, this is an inexact science. And finding a better situation for them is called doing what's best for the birds... (and the humans.)

Nothing at all wrong with that!

 

[sonja]

Make sure you read up on Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrome. Keeping a macaw with a dusty bird like a grey can be dangerous to the macaw.

 

[Surfincr]

Make sure you read up on Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrome. Keeping a macaw with a dusty bird like a grey can be dangerous to the macaw.

Thank you for bring that to my attention. i dont think i'll have a problem with the way they are currently setup. right now they are across from each other in a 12x 20 room and Elvis is near the doorway so there is a lot of fresh airflow near him. we were also thinking of getting an air purifier soon to cut down on the dust in general due to my 2 german shedders



on a side note i'm noticing Elvis's confidence is really low which seems to be part of the problem with him bonding as he is jumping at every noise. i've done some research and tried what i found but would like some more pointers if anyone has any.

 

[Birdman666]

Make sure you read up on Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrome. Keeping a macaw with a dusty bird like a grey can be dangerous to the macaw.

That's more a proper ventilation and housekeeping thing... With one dander bird and one macaw, it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[aprilrayn]

Hi Chris, I am interested in what you have been doing so far as your B&G's confidence.

I just adopted a 12-year-old Severe Macaw. My first big bird. She is a lovely girl, very cuddly and sweet and not a biter at all. She steps right up, loves to be petted and held and responds well to "no" and similar commands.

But she seems soooo nervous. And when I try to walk with her on my shoulder she "attacks" my neck. She's not biting, but my neck is sensitive and her beak is sharp. I'm thinking she's nervous and trying to warn me because otherwise she is not a lungey sort of girl.

Maybe she needs some confidence!

Thanks!

 

[jasper19]

I think the best thing to help get over the nervousness is to just make sure the bird is brought with you wherever in the house you are doing things.

Angel at first was a little jumpy at noises it seemed. So i just always made sure she was in living room, bedroom, birdroom wherever i was. Then i put a bird stand right next to my piano. When i practice and play the piano she now sits right next to me, i can fully hit a chord as hard as i can and she doesn't even flinch now. She actually has fun making noises, and gets louder and goofier as i play.

So basically i think it just takes time, and making sure they are exposed to as many noises and things in the house as possible.

Also i am not an expert, just relaying my most recent experiences.

 

[Minimaker]

My conure was part of a breeding pair and his mate died. The pet store said they were never able to handle him without him drawing blood while she was alive. They will often bond with their mate and no one else. It took me two weeks of constant interaction all day long to get him touchable even without her around. He's still very cage aggressive but once he's out he's great. Now we're having that issue with our macaw, she wants her cage and you'd better leave her alone in there and don't you dare touch her stuff. Lots of bluffing and lunging when I change food/water bowls. She also flips her lid if you add in a new toy. Some go over ok, others she decides are some sort of direct threat and will hiss and lunge at. I bought her a little child's hand held toy with a musical piano and two blinky lights that I hung on a plastic link chain. You would have thought that thing was the devil himself after her lol. I had to remove it and hang it in my conure's cage. My macaw seems to be so phobic of certain items and scared of any sort of change to her environment. One toy bolt/nut set she chewed up happily. The next one in a different color she's scared silly of and hisses/lunges at. I have no idea, go figure

 

[MikeyTN]

Hi Chris, I am interested in what you have been doing so far as your B&G's confidence.

I just adopted a 12-year-old Severe Macaw. My first big bird. She is a lovely girl, very cuddly and sweet and not a biter at all. She steps right up, loves to be petted and held and responds well to "no" and similar commands.

But she seems soooo nervous. And when I try to walk with her on my shoulder she "attacks" my neck. She's not biting, but my neck is sensitive and her beak is sharp. I'm thinking she's nervous and trying to warn me because otherwise she is not a lungey sort of girl.

Maybe she needs some confidence!

Thanks!

Be cautious on letting a newly acquired bird onto your shoulders!!! Severe Macaw may be smaller but that beak can do quite a bit of damage if they wanted to. I do not allow my macaws onto my shoulders period!