5yr old GW: potential new family member - good deal?

[Screech]

"We wouldn't want to make Mom jealous..."

- I do get a this, but not initially. Something good must be happening if I can scratch his head with everyone in the same place.

We still need to figure out what to do with him in the evenings. When my wife is home, towards the end of the evening he gets wound up with lots of excess nervous energy. I should add that lots of energy goes with lots of nips for me.

 

[Screech]

One last update on this thread: So when my wife comes home it's nippy time for me. My first solution was to just leave him alone and let him take his focus where he pleases, but that only ended in a night of a thousand chomps. The better solution was to only put him on the perch when he gets restless, otherwise he was on my arm or doing something interactive for most of the evening.

Really it's quite simple: when his person is around, he needs about three times as much handling than usual. And I have to be 30 times more watchful for nips, which I'm getting really good at blocking by just moving my perch arm down a little.

PS: He's been confirmed as male not that it matters, just fun to know.

 

[Birdman666]

PS: He's been confirmed as male not that it matters, just fun to know.

Actually, it matters during mating season. And the males can have dominance issues... so those are potential training issues to watch out for.

Other than that, it doesn't matter.

 

[goalerjones]

Well, I agree with a lot of what was just said...

They aren't birds of prey - those would be hawks, and eagles, etc.

They ARE the prey, and they are smart enough to know that other living things try to eat them, and large enough to do something about ...

Actually macaws are opportunistic omnivores. If they want to eat it, they will eat it. They are also prey for other animals.

 

[Sarah13]

Hey Birdman666
How do I execute the two finger to avoid the bite? Just hold their beak with a finger on each side of the top mandible? Just grab it? They're quick though and odds are I'll miss. They have very weak neck muscles so I can imagine that the method is extremely effective and I would love to learn how to use it.
Usually, when they want to warn, bluff, or nip me, I'll actually offer my hand to call their bluff. conveying a "Go ahead, I'm not afraid" energy. I have the back of my hand offered and my fingers curled under almost like a fist. They can't get a good hold on me that way. The back of my hand is much too large to get their beak around and bite down on or pinch. Is that a good idea?
Also with the bad step up and then get dropped....They understand that it's a consequence right? "I only fall if I bite so best to step up and not to bite" I don't want to lose their trust "She may drop me at any second, so I better not step up again next time" Thanks

 

[Lintini]

I was wondering about the 2 finger beak thing after reading through this because my CAG does the same thing. Ooooo look at me put my head down for scritches oooo lala la ....CHOMP!!! TRICKED YA hahahaha!

 

[Jumpingtadpoles]

I have wondered too! Even tried to find videos to no avail!

 

[Alwese]

I got my Catalina Doogie when he was 4. Doogie was a real handful, but I was determined to not let him get the better of me and I would make him my friend. It took two years before I could handle him because he took to my wife. It is very common for macaws to like just one person and have everyone else on the outs. My way of getting him on my arm at first was to swoop my arm up to him from behind and make him step backward onto my arm. By having to twist all the way around he cannot be in a position to bite as hard as from the front. Once he is on your arm he is in an unfamiliar environment and your chances of a hard bite are less. This gets better with time and he realizes you are not there to hurt him.

 

[Screech]

By having to twist all the way around he cannot be in a position to bite as hard as from the front. Once he is on your arm he is in an unfamiliar environment and your chances of a hard bite are less.

I'm also starting to learn little tricks like this. My personal workaround is taking advantage of the size of his beak (2 days since last bite!!) and using my hand shape and position to make it difficult for him to get a solid beak grasp. I stopped placing my arm in front of his keel, and instead approach from below his feet (this reduced major bites by a huge amount). I also learned to force him to really reach far when I have him step off my arm (9 out of 10 times he tries to bite when he is put on a perch or stand). When giving him treats I also make sure to approach really slowly and I make sure he has to reach most of the way out.

Though he is a different bird when he is on my arm, I no longer put him on the floor - he has learned that once on the floor he has free range and can attack as he pleases. If he goes full sprint across the room (and he has) I can put my foot up just above his head level in front of me and this has shown to be enough to stop him last second. One time he was close to my bare foot and latched on to the arch, I was able to diffuse him quickly by pinching the feathers on the back of his neck (this is a very temporary solution - seek foot ware or expect lots of blood).

I did have to learn a lot of stuff the hard way, but I also cheated and used a glove inside a white sock to learn as much as I could about how the beak works. Now I can either avoid a bite just as the beak touches, or when I do get a bite Beaker doesn't expect to have caught my hand so I earned an extra second to maneuver before the hard bite.