Greetings to the Parrot Forum. Thank-you!

[SUSIEMac]

Hi everyone, my name is Lyn.

I've owned all sorts of small birds throughout my life; 'keets and 'teils. Su isn't my first big parrot and she isn't my first rehab bird. I also owned a sulphur crested cockatoo for 10 years named Princess. We lost our Princess in a housefire in 2005, something I still can't bear to talk about.

My husband bought SuSu (blue and gold Macaw) from an elderly gentleman who had just lost his wife about 2-2 1/2 months ago. He had her on Craigslist and couldn't get the bird out the door fast enough!! Su was....I don't want to say neglected but definitely not getting a lot of human interaction. I believe the man's wife was Su's favorite person. Her exact age is unknown and could be anywhere between 8 and 12 years old going by what we were told.

She was obviously cagebound and nippy. She also lunged at the cage bars although she was curious and responded to birdie talk. Took me a good 2 weeks to get enough courage to give her treats through the cage bars much less even attempt to make physical contact.

And that was when I began doing some google searches and found this forum and advice posts from Birdman666 and many others. The "Big Beak O Phobes Guide to Understanding Macaw Beaks..." and the entire "toweling"/pull them out of that cage kicking and screaming advice was INCREDIBLY helpful as SuSu's personality is nothing like my cockatoo's.

WOW! I can not begin to tell you how positively this bird has responded to the advice in this forum. The difference is night and day. Instead of lunging and biting or running away, this bird comes running to me whenever I near her house!!! She's french kissy kissy, regurgitating, lovie dovie, talking up a storm trying to mimic every and anything I say to her, she's funny, goofy, 90% more trusting, playful, noisy and vocal...........just one happy happy Macaw. Almost forgot to mention she now steps onto my arm and off again willingly, no towel required!!

The advice WORKS IT REALLY AND TRULY WORKS!!!!

I see a mush Mac on the horizon.

We're still learning about each other. We're finding our limits. We're building real trust and love for each other and I am in awe of this big beautiful baby.

She has the company of our green cheeked conure named "Bird", they share the same room, separate corners and cages. It's hilarious when they both start chattering and shrieking at the same time whenever I walk in the door!!

Well, thanks for reading my ramblings but I just wanted you all to know how much I appreciate everyone sharing and caring here. It is of immense help to others!

 

[Allee]

Hello Lyn and a warm if slightly delayed Welcome!

I'm so sorry for your tragic loss of Princess.

Thank you for the kind compliments to the forum members.

Su-Su sounds like a very special family member. It's wonderful you were able to change her life for the better, I'm sure she will be a loyal companion for years to come.

Thanks for the lovely introduction. Enjoy your stay.

 

[SilverSage]

Welcome! I'm so glad to hear that you and your sweety are so happy! I know what you mean about different species personalities. Aside from each bird being unique, what works with one species is often COMPLETELY useless with another. I have a Pionus who had to be rehabed from the treatment of a self proclaimed cockatoo expert who was treating her the way he believes cockatoos need to be treated (a subject for a different time), and to her, sweet, timid, reserved, Pionus, it was abusive. She still has damage. I'm so glad you found info on how to work with YOUR SPECIES! I love how this forum is full of owners of everything from budgies to big macs

 

[Birdman666]

Believe it or not, I've taken a lot of crap over the years to my approach to macaws... (My approch is cruel and totally destroys trust! Or something like that...) I've actually been kicked off two boards for saying things like this...

But I kind of worked with quite a few really aggressive ones... who weren't very aggressive at all once I had a chance to work with them awhile.

They're attention oriented birds. They respond to clear boundaries. And you can't let them bully you.

They'd rather play and love than fight...

Any similarities between me, and someone who actually knows what they are doing are purely coincidental, I assure you.

I've never actually done this before... I'm just guessing.

 

[Birdman666]

nstead of lunging and biting or running away, this bird comes running to me whenever I near her house!!! She's french kissy kissy, regurgitating, lovie dovie, talking up a storm trying to mimic every and anything I say to her, she's funny, goofy, 90% more trusting, playful, noisy and vocal...........just one happy happy Macaw. Almost forgot to mention she now steps onto my arm and off again willingly, no towel required!!

The sad part to me, is that this is their normal personality. For a dozen or so years, she has lived without that. Until you folks came along... They are amazingly personable birds.

I love stories like this. The worst thing you can do to these birds is lock them away in cages to rot... they are far too interactive for that. It kills their spirit.

And I can tell you from experience, that what you're seeing now is only the tip of the iceburg... This bird is just waking up. The uber-bonding thing is coming... and then the really huge personality will come out.

It's going to get even more amazing very soon. And you'll wonder how you ever lived without her.

And the idiots who had her before couldn't get rid of her fast enough!

Stop me if you've heard this before....

 

[SUSIEMac]

Believe it or not, I've taken a lot of crap over the years to my approach to macaws... (My approch is cruel and totally destroys trust! Or something like that...)

But I kind of worked with quite a few really aggressive ones... who weren't very aggressive at all once I had a chance to work with them awhile.

They're attention oriented birds. They respond to clear boundaries. And you can't let them bully you.

They'd rather play and love than fight...

Any similarities between me, and someone who actually knows what they are doing are purely coincidental, I assure you.

I've never actually done this before... I'm just guessing.

I thought long and hard about taking that first step but I figured I had absolutely nothing to lose. She screeched and squawked, tried to batman down to the bottom of her cage - all that.

I realized that she did not know me so she could not trust me. I let her take her time to get semi-acclimated to this new place and she had no interest in even coming out a wide open cage, fearful, shy and more.

Nothing to lose and so went with the logic.

Now if that cage door is open (which it is most of the afternoon and until I go to bed), she's outta there and swinging on the door, sliding down onto the chair, on top of it taking a nap or surveying her domain or voluntarily in there sitting on her perch. She'll even let me know that she wants her let's play tug(or shred) o'towel or some other touchy/feely time or "HEY, if you don't pay attention to me while you're sitting there doing such and such, I'm going to bug you until you do!".

Oh btw, she wants to eat any and everything my hubby and I do. No grub goes unnoticed! So of course I researched what's good and what's bad and really bad. Can't even get a bowl of cereal without her little eyes following every move! Can't ignore her either or else - hilarious!

Without a doubt, this and so many other pieces of advice worked for me and her! She trusts me and loves me already, this soon (I was halfway expecting it would take 6 months to year or more) and it almost brings tears to my eyes so thank-you and everyone else for putting all the options out there!

Sorry, rambling again, she just makes me so happy LOL

 

[SUSIEMac]

Welcome! I'm so glad to hear that you and your sweety are so happy! I know what you mean about different species personalities. Aside from each bird being unique, what works with one species is often COMPLETELY useless with another. I have a Pionus who had to be rehabed from the treatment of a self proclaimed cockatoo expert who was treating her the way he believes cockatoos need to be treated (a subject for a different time), and to her, sweet, timid, reserved, Pionus, it was abusive. She still has damage. I'm so glad you found info on how to work with YOUR SPECIES! I love how this forum is full of owners of everything from budgies to big macs

How heartbreaking!!!! So happy your baby has found a kinder, gentler home.

I guess the bottom line is that we have to find what works for our kiddos and be ready to make adjustments tailored for each individual. I guess that's where our gut instincts can be helpful sometimes even over the knowledge and experience of experts?!

Yes, this is a wonderful source of information and camaraderie!

 

[SUSIEMac]

Hello Lyn and a warm if slightly delayed Welcome!

I'm so sorry for your tragic loss of Princess.

Thank you for the kind compliments to the forum members.

Su-Su sounds like a very special family member. It's wonderful you were able to change her life for the better, I'm sure she will be a loyal companion for years to come.

Thanks for the lovely introduction. Enjoy your stay.

Yes, I still miss her something awful as does the rest of my family.

Those compliments are WELL deserved. The forums are such an asset and blessing! Good people wanting to share it all!

She is sooooo special, she knows it too!

Thank-you and everyone again for sharing!

 

[Birdman666]

The thing about macaws is they have to get used to being handled by you... the sooner you do that, the sooner that bonding thing kicks in. Getting them over that hump, no matter how it happens is the deal...

It takes six months if you leave them to fester.

Sweepea took about six minutes. Maggie took about four days start to finish.

And yeah, they are amazing! And amazingly attention oriented. One thing you cannot do with a macaw is ignore them. They don't let you...

They are the most toddler-like of all the parrots out there.

Stories like this make me very happy.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome and so happy it is working!