New to macaw keeping.

GWMYR · Apr 21, 2015

Hi guys, I'm not really new to parrot keeping but this is my first time owning a Macaw and a big one of course.

Previously owned medium sized parrots like Amazon, grey etc.

Not sure about his/her sex but soon I will get her/him DNA sexed.

Would like to have advice on taming my Green winged macaw.

Currently he/she is kinda afraid of my hands when I go near his/her feet area but I can touch his/her beak and give him/her light scratch on the head.

So any advice for taming it? Oh and he/she will grab foods/treats from my hand and he/she has been with me for weeks only.

Will upload photos soon if I have the time!

EDIT: I'm doing target training with him/her but sometimes he/she won't follow the target sticks , any help?

Julianna · Apr 21, 2015

Congrats on your new macaw! It's great that you're doing target training; that's usually what I recommend for people to start taming their parrots with. Doing a lot of trick training that does not require physical interaction can help a lot of parrots gain confidence around their humans and form a bond in a safe-feeling environment. If he/she accepts treats, I would start by target training him/her with those, and then work on targeting him/her onto your hand or towards you. This can distract the bird from being afraid of stepping onto a hand and also let them know that they will be rewarded with a treat for targeting, even though they are going onto a place that is uncomfortable for them. Another way to tame a shy parrot is simply to spend a lot of quiet time with him/her. Just sit nearby and read a book, go on the internet, clean a room, listen to music, or do some other little thing in the same room as your bird. Eventually, it's likely that he/she will get curious and come to you without being asked.

To get better responses with target training, make sure you reinforce him/her consistently after every time he/she targets correctly. After you have the behavior really solidly trained you won't need to reinforce the behavior EVERY time, but I still give my caique a tiny treat the vast majority of the times I ask her to do anything for me. This keeps her willing to respond quickly and enthusiastically to my commands, even when there is reinforcement for not doing what I ask. Also, keep in mind that he/she won't be perfect at first. Just make sure you give rewards for doing the right behavior when you ask for it and ignore him/her when you don't get the response you want. You can also shape the behavior to make it more precise or better if you need to. For instance, if he/she comes towards the target stick but does not touch it, you could reward that once, and then not reward it the next time. Instead, wait until he/she takes one step closer than he/she had the last time until you get him/her right next to the stick. From there, you can stop reinforcing until he/she actually touches it and so on.

Good luck!

GWMYR · Apr 22, 2015

Julianna said:
Congrats on your new macaw! It's great that you're doing target training; that's usually what I recommend for people to start taming their parrots with. Doing a lot of trick training that does not require physical interaction can help a lot of parrots gain confidence around their humans and form a bond in a safe-feeling environment. If he/she accepts treats, I would start by target training him/her with those, and then work on targeting him/her onto your hand or towards you. This can distract the bird from being afraid of stepping onto a hand and also let them know that they will be rewarded with a treat for targeting, even though they are going onto a place that is uncomfortable for them. Another way to tame a shy parrot is simply to spend a lot of quiet time with him/her. Just sit nearby and read a book, go on the internet, clean a room, listen to music, or do some other little thing in the same room as your bird. Eventually, it's likely that he/she will get curious and come to you without being asked.

To get better responses with target training, make sure you reinforce him/her consistently after every time he/she targets correctly. After you have the behavior really solidly trained you won't need to reinforce the behavior EVERY time, but I still give my caique a tiny treat the vast majority of the times I ask her to do anything for me. This keeps her willing to respond quickly and enthusiastically to my commands, even when there is reinforcement for not doing what I ask. Also, keep in mind that he/she won't be perfect at first. Just make sure you give rewards for doing the right behavior when you ask for it and ignore him/her when you don't get the response you want. You can also shape the behavior to make it more precise or better if you need to. For instance, if he/she comes towards the target stick but does not touch it, you could reward that once, and then not reward it the next time. Instead, wait until he/she takes one step closer than he/she had the last time until you get him/her right next to the stick. From there, you can stop reinforcing until he/she actually touches it and so on.

Good luck!

Hey! Thank you for the advice. Nice white bellied Caique you have there. It's also one of my favorite parrot.

For now should I should stick with target training only? Because I want to teach him/her the basic like step-up. Anyway to teach him/her step up without using target training?

Thanks in advanced.

Birdman666 · Apr 22, 2015

With a macaw: Two perch training and step up practice. And Boundary Setting. Then bite pressure training.

What I showed the folks this weekend was you take two of those little wooden BBQ skewers, and essentially, touch the bird all over with them, paying particular attention to touching the tail, which they generally DO NOT LIKE. (You don't want a big mac turning and biting every time his tail gets touched, or touches something!!!) When he accepts that, you gradually work your fingers down the skewers until you are touching him all over with your fingers.

Lots of beak play on your lap. Sit down with the bird on your lap, and foot toys, and a cloth of some sort to play peek e boo and tug of war with...

Make it a game. Make it fun.

Julianna · Apr 22, 2015

Birdmann666 has some great ideas...without target training you could use a lure to teach him/her how to step up (i.e., hold a treat where he/she can only get to it by stepping onto your hand), and then you can gradually fade the lure out until you don't have to use it anymore. You certainly don't need to only train target training. As far as I know, you can start training however you like and it will be fine. I just think targeting is a basic trick that would be useful. Also, it took me literally about 5 minutes to train my caique to target, so it might be worth a small amount of time

Weezerj · Apr 22, 2015

Birdman666 said:
What I showed the folks this weekend was you take two of those little wooden BBQ skewers, and essentially, touch the bird all over with them, paying particular attention to touching the tail, which they generally DO NOT LIKE. (You don't want a big mac turning and biting every time his tail gets touched, or touches something!!!) When he accepts that, you gradually work your fingers down the skewers until you are touching him all over with your fingers.

This would be done before target training?

GWMYR · Apr 22, 2015

Birdman666 said:
With a macaw: Two perch training and step up practice. And Boundary Setting. Then bite pressure training.

What I showed the folks this weekend was you take two of those little wooden BBQ skewers, and essentially, touch the bird all over with them, paying particular attention to touching the tail, which they generally DO NOT LIKE. (You don't want a big mac turning and biting every time his tail gets touched, or touches something!!!) When he accepts that, you gradually work your fingers down the skewers until you are touching him all over with your fingers.

Lots of beak play on your lap. Sit down with the bird on your lap, and foot toys, and a cloth of some sort to play peek e boo and tug of war with...

Make it a game. Make it fun.

Alright, can I use any others object other than BBQ Skewers? I don't think I have any of them in my house. Will my mac be very afraid of me using an objects to touch him/her all around?

Currently, I can touch his/her beak, give him a scratch on his/her head. Before that I could only give him a light touch on his/her head and he/she will get irritated. So I guess things are improving?

And also he/she allows my dad to touch his/her beak and even kiss him/her too. So I suppose he/she is open up to my family members too?

Thanks for your advice!

GWMYR · Apr 22, 2015

Julianna said:
Birdmann666 has some great ideas...without target training you could use a lure to teach him/her how to step up (i.e., hold a treat where he/she can only get to it by stepping onto your hand), and then you can gradually fade the lure out until you don't have to use it anymore. You certainly don't need to only train target training. As far as I know, you can start training however you like and it will be fine. I just think targeting is a basic trick that would be useful. Also, it took me literally about 5 minutes to train my caique to target, so it might be worth a small amount of time

Thanks for the suggestion! I've tried using the lure method but once he/she saw my hand ( The hand that's acting like a perch to him/her), he/she will not go towards the treat and I think it's afraid of it too.

Yah, now my mac knows that when he/she touched the tip of the target stick, he/she will received a treats from me but sometimes he/she won't move forward to reach the target stick.

Argh, really want to get him/her dna sexed so I would know whether it's a he or she.

Birdman666 · Apr 22, 2015

Weezerj said:
Birdman666 said:

What I showed the folks this weekend was you take two of those little wooden BBQ skewers, and essentially, touch the bird all over with them, paying particular attention to touching the tail, which they generally DO NOT LIKE. (You don't want a big mac turning and biting every time his tail gets touched, or touches something!!!) When he accepts that, you gradually work your fingers down the skewers until you are touching him all over with your fingers.

Click to expand...

This would be done before target training?

For me, yes.

First things I do are step up, touch training, and bite pressure training...

And they should be socialized with everyone.

Birdman666 · Apr 22, 2015

GWMYR said:
Birdman666 said:

Alright, can I use any others object other than BBQ Skewers? I don't think I have any of them in my house. Will my mac be very afraid of me using an objects to touch him/her all around?

Click to expand...

I use skewers because they are generally something that is less frightening than two perches, which was the old school way of touch training. (touching all over with two dowel perches until the bird no longer bites.)

The idea here is to get him used to being touched REGARDLESS of whether or not he likes it, AND he will like it a lot more once he allows you to touch with your fingers, scratch his head, and preen him...

Where a lot of macs will not let you touch their tails, Maggie routinely presents her butt feathers for preening when she's got new feathers that need to be opened...

Please! They're hard to reach...

GWMYR · Apr 22, 2015

Birdman666 said:
GWMYR said:

Birdman666 said:

Alright, can I use any others object other than BBQ Skewers? I don't think I have any of them in my house. Will my mac be very afraid of me using an objects to touch him/her all around?

Click to expand...

I use skewers because they are generally something that is less frightening than two perches, which was the old school way of touch training. (touching all over with two dowel perches until the bird no longer bites.)

The idea here is to get him used to being touched REGARDLESS of whether or not he likes it, AND he will like it a lot more once he allows you to touch with your fingers, scratch his head, and preen him...

Where a lot of macs will not let you touch their tails, Maggie routinely presents her butt feathers for preening when she's got new feathers that need to be opened...

Please! They're hard to reach...

Click to expand...

Alright, guess I will go and grab some wooden skewers. So usually how long does this touch training last? Will I see any difference from the first lesson? Just afraid that he/she bite the skewere or get too frighten about me using a unknown objects touching him/her all over.

Birdman666 · Apr 22, 2015

The whole purpose of this training is to GET HIM OVER the fear of being touched...

He WILL be afraid, and/or annoyed at first. COUNT ON IT!

He will be less afraid, and annoyed, the second time.

By the third or fourth time, what this again?!

And by the fifth time, or sooner, you'll probably be using your fingers and won't have to do it anymore.

It's called de-sensitization training.

Catering to their every whim REINFORCES THE FEAR... AND GIVES THEM THE IMPRESSION THAT THEY ARE ENTITLED TO PICK AND CHOOSE whether or not they will play nice with others. I don't like that, so I get to bite you. THIS IS NOT AN IMPRESSION YOU WANT TO GIVE A BIG MAC. THEY WILL TAKE THAT BALL AND RUN WITH IT... And pretty soon they won't be the only one runnin' if you get my (oh so subtle) drift.

NO! WE DO NOT COMMUNICATE BY BITING... that is unacceptable, and won't be tolerated! If he tries to bite, two fingers, gently push the beak away, and give the NO BITING command.

They get over their fear by actually doing it, and finding out that nothing bad happens if they allow it.

Remember: You're not forcing him to. You're setting boundaries. This is a TEACHING tool. Not a dominance thing. One of those boundaries is I will touch you without hurting you, but you will allow me to touch you without biting. Gentle touch of the chest, treat reward. Gentle touch of the tail. Treat reward. Gentle touch of the back. Treat reward. Gentle touch of the tail. Treat reward. [And each time, your fingers move closer to the touching end of the stick, until SURPRISE NO STICK!)

"So, all I've got to do is not bite you when you touch me, and I get fed, and attention, and praise, and scritches?! I THINK I CAN DO THAT!!!"

Macaws require a firm hand. This is a boundary he should respect and not be allowed to cross. Wishy washy with a macaw will ultimately lead to the bird thinking he is in charge. Also not a signal you want to send.

If he allows you to do this with a finger, then great. If not use a skewer, or a perch, or a popsicle stick, or what ever he's most comfortable with. But do the touch training, especially tail. Far too many big macs develop the bad habit of turning and biting when their tails get messed with... this is how you prevent that from happening.

Julianna · Apr 22, 2015

Great description of systematic desensitization training from Birdman666! This can also be used in the same way if your parrot is afraid of an object. You can just move the object closer and closer with a treat every time you move the object, and eventually the fear will be lost. Basically, that's what you're doing with your hand here. Once the fear of you hand is gone it will be much easier to teach step-up and other commands. One thing to clarify: a "firm hand" does not mean punishment! Saying a loud "no!" or otherwise making a big reaction to something you don't like can act as reinforcement, so it's not a good idea. I think Birdman666 was simply trying to say that you need to be consistent in your training and make sure your macaw doesn't get into bad habits. Just wanted to make sure this was clear...

Julianna · Apr 22, 2015

Also, when you're asking him/her to move towards the target stick, make sure you start out asking for him/her to move in a direction that feels safe (not towards anything scary, including your hands/body) at first. Then you can gradually change to asking him/her to move towards scary things and use targeting to help with desensitization. You can do the same sort of thing with step-up by asking him/her to move toward a treat that is just between your hand and your macaw so he/she has to take one step towards you and reinforce that. Then you can ask for two steps and so on and eventually have him/her step onto your hand. If he/she just doesn't seem to be extremely motivated by the treats you're using, you might want to try a different type of treat. You could look at different nut types, dried fruit, fresh fruit, non-edible toys, or anything else your macaw finds rewarding. Be creative and look around for something your bird really wants!

Birdman666 · Apr 22, 2015

Well, firm hand means firm and clear cut boundaries, and the bird gets unequivocal feedback that these are the rules...

And they apply whether he wants them to or not. Argue with me and you lose.

Macaws are the most toddler like of parrots, and you raise them the same way you would a toddler. With nurturing guidance,praise, teaching, and boundary setting.

If you don't set the boundaries with the bird, the bird will set his boundaries with you. He will think he's in charge, and will fight you for control of who sets the rules...

Not a fun game, and not one you want to play.

You take the role of parent bird and teacher. This is when we get up. This is what, and when we eat. This is your outside the cage playtime with me. This is when you have to self entertain. This is time for bed. Step up means step up. Go down means go down. No one is ever permitted to hurt you, but you are not permitted to hurt anyone either... Its your job to pattern him.

These are your toys. Those are your things. This is my furniture. These are my things. I don't mess with yours. You don't mess with mine.

Those HAVE to be firm boundaries that are enforced. (By physically restraining him from doing it, I.e. I will intervene and stop this from happening, and you are expected to behave.

It isn't punishment, so much as the bird knows he's not supposed to, and you will get between him and what ever it is and simply put a stop to it... If that becomes a fact of life, he doesn't misbehave.

NO meansNO! It doesn't mean I said no, and then just sat there and watched you do it anyway...

Being clear, and consistent goes a long way towards having a well behaved macaw. Otherwise they will continually test you to see what they can get away with.

That's what having a firm hand means.

Julianna · Apr 23, 2015

I totally agree with what you're saying, I just wanted to make sure it would not be misinterpreted, especially when you say to physically intervene. This works sometimes, but it can be seen as a game or play by some birds. I use completely force free training with my caique, so I prefer to use methods like distraction or asking for an incompatible behavior to the one I don't want rather than physically stopping her. I've also found that at least with my caique, she almost always just thinks of me stopping her from doing something physically as a game.

However, both force-free (practiced by Barbara Heidenreich) and other methods are valid and have their places, and, like you said, it's absolutely not a good idea to say no and then sit and watch the bird do it anyway

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