Military Macaw - Cage Aggression

My wife & I took in Three Macaws this past Monday night. Sad story, owner has cancer is soon expected to pass away. He was looking to find a good home for all three birds and wanted them to stay together. My wife and I have been looking for some time now for a Macaw.

The three Macs are a B&G, GW, and a Military. The B&G & GW are both 11 yrs old and just SUPER love bugs. The Military .... well that's another story and hence my problem. Sarge is his name and he acts just like a Marine Corp drill Sarge, too. It took me a day to figure out, but long story short ... he's cage aggressive. He (sex unknown) will tear you up trying to get him out, even just walking near his cage when he's in it or on it. Once you get him on the floor it's all over. His body language changes. Give him the command, "Step Up", and he will lift his foot let you pick him up, bare armed, and hold him.

My wife and I have had birds for nearly 26 years now, ranging from Finches up to Cockatoos. This is our first time as Macaw owners. So although we are new to Macaws we've been around the block a few times with Conures, Parrots, & 'Too's.

So, the issue is ..... how to deal with this guy?

Sarge does need a new cage desperately. He's just hammered his cage so hard with his beak that all the paint is worn off. and I'm not a big fan of rare steel like that around my birds. I half wonder if getting him a new cage would be a drastic change for him to help lose that aggression of his territory? Then again, it might at first, but then manifest weeks/months down the road once he gets use to it again??

All opinions are welcomed!

Some of the links below may be of help to you

Natural Encounters, Inc.
Aggressive « Lara Joseph
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: aggressive parrot
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: parrot aggression
Living With Parrots Cage Free: Target Behavior


Sarge probably wasn't trained well while at the cage, so he now has a problem with people touching his personal things, although it could be as simple as a change of owners, too.

I would highly suggest looking into clicker training and targeting. He may be a great candidate to teach to target around his cage, then target him to a spot off his cage. If you can find that special treat that Sarge will work for in small increments (i.e. half a sunflower seed, 1 large millet piece, half a sliver of almond, etc), you can try and target him on the cage. If he's difficult to work with while on his cage, you can try targeting from inside the cage and away from the cage prior to on the cage. Once you can get him targeting reliable, you can target him to step up.

It may also help to have a gym next to his cage that he can climb onto and you can try getting him to step up from there.

Hi WeimerHeimer...

How does Sarge behave on a stand perch (t-stand or similar)? Will he step up to the perch and then back to your arm without issue? If he will do this, you might attempt the following:

Leave Sarge on a stand perch for several hours each day. Make sure the stand perch has food and water provisions. During these on-stand periods, exercise his step 'to and from' inclination between the perch and your arm, and perform many such repetitions! If Sarge performs well in this regard, and he does so consistently, try diverting the 'to and from' step exercise from the stand perch to the perch in his cage - so he's stepping back and forth between the cage perch and your arm. And when you make the transition to the cage perch, go right into the 'to and from' exercise, not giving him much time to think about what's happening. Perform these sessions every day for extended periods until he accepts and begins to expect the activity as routine.

In between the described conditioning sessions, it may be best to leave Sarge on the stand perch as much as possible until his cage aggression noticeably diminishes.

The above is one method that may desensitize Sarge's aggressive response to efforts intended to remove him from his cage (with your arm or hand). If you try it, please report back on progress.