!!

[parrottoys]

I rescued a 3 year old B&G macaw who was very neglected and abused. Background on her… She would get her beak flicked, her cage hit when she screamed, fed tortillas, nuts, etc. she only had one perch in her cage and that’s it. She was my friends Grandmas bird and the only people Rio (that’s her name) liked was her grandpa who was the only one who was kind to her. She would let him let her, cradle her, etc. so I’ve had her almost 2 months and I’ve cleaned her diet up to natural pellets, lots and lots of veggies, nuts for treats and fruit here and there. I’ve also been doing permission base training which has been working so far. The things I notice with her though are, she only lets me live on her and pet her through the bars of the cage, she always comes up to the bars when she sees me and of course I give her loves. I put a perch on her door and taught her to go on that specific perch when she wants to “train” or interact which she does everytime she sees me as well. When I open the door she will come up to me but as soon as she sees my hand even getting close to her she bites or lunges..not out of aggression but fear. I don’t react to her when she does because it will only scare her more. She will also lift her foot up and when my other macaw does this it’s because she wants me to pick her up, but when Rio does it it’s a hit or miss sometimes she will step up or sometimes she will bite. My question is why does she only let me pet her and handle her through the bars and why does she do the foot thing? And what can I do to help her feathers? They’re in really bad condition she is also currently molting. I have Rios full background so if you want to ask questions shoot! My other rescue macaw was a mystery so it was a little bit more of a challenge with her.

UPDATE: This is Rio the 1st picture is the day my husband drove across the country to get her as you can see she was not in good shape at all…2nd picture was the first time we got her to come away from her cage and she was very scared the 3rd and 4th picture you can see a better close up of the condition of her feathers. Also she didn’t have much in her cage in the 4th picture because it was super last minute with us getting her so we put what extra perches and toys we did have in there. Since then she has a new cage lots of perches and lots of wood toys because they are her favorite. We recently bought tools to cut wood and make our own bird toys because between her and our other macaw (Athena) they go through A LOT of toys. We also just bought a house and picked it out specifically to accommodate the birds we have (silly I know). It has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, is 2000sqft, out in the middle of nowhere basically and has 2 acres so we can put a large aviary attached to their room with a camera put in so we can monitor them when we can’t actively be in there aviary or room with them! Our future plans for her are to register her in free flight courses…I know it’ll probably be years for her to get there, but thank goodness they live a long time. Thank you all for your advice! I will be trying any advice that was given with her, it’s hard to find support when it comes to these beauties as not many people know much about them, I’m so glad I found this community as now I know where to turn to for help!!

I rescued a 3 year old B&G macaw who was very neglected and abused. Background on her… She would get her beak flicked, her cage hit when she screamed, fed tortillas, nuts, etc. she only had one perch in her cage and that’s it. She was my friends Grandmas bird and the only people Rio (that’s her name) liked was her grandpa who was the only one who was kind to her. She would let him let her, cradle her, etc. so I’ve had her almost 2 months and I’ve cleaned her diet up to natural pellets, lots and lots of veggies, nuts for treats and fruit here and there. I’ve also been doing permission base training which has been working so far. The things I notice with her though are, she only lets me live on her and pet her through the bars of the cage, she always comes up to the bars when she sees me and of course I give her loves. I put a perch on her door and taught her to go on that specific perch when she wants to “train” or interact which she does everytime she sees me as well. When I open the door she will come up to me but as soon as she sees my hand even getting close to her she bites or lunges..not out of aggression but fear. I don’t react to her when she does because it will only scare her more. She will also lift her foot up and when my other macaw does this it’s because she wants me to pick her up, but when Rio does it it’s a hit or miss sometimes she will step up or sometimes she will bite. My question is why does she only let me pet her and handle her through the bars and why does she do the foot thing? And what can I do to help her feathers? They’re in really bad condition she is also currently molting. I have Rios full background so if you want to ask questions shoot! My other rescue macaw was a mystery so it was a little bit more of a challenge with her.

UPDATE: This is Rio the 1st picture is the day my husband drove across the country to get her as you can see she was not in good shape at all…2nd picture was the first time we got her to come away from her cage and she was very scared the 3rd and 4th picture you can see a better close up of the condition of her feathers. Also she didn’t have much in her cage in the 4th picture because it was super last minute with us getting her so we put what extra perches and toys we did have in there. Since then she has a new cage lots of perches and lots of wood toys because they are her favorite. We recently bought tools to cut wood and make our own bird toys because between her and our other macaw (Athena) they go through A LOT of toys. We also just bought a house and picked it out specifically to accommodate the birds we have (silly I know). It has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, is 2000sqft, out in the middle of nowhere basically and has 2 acres so we can put a large aviary attached to their room with a camera put in so we can monitor them when we can’t actively be in there aviary or room with them! Our future plans for her are to register her in free flight courses…I know it’ll probably be years for her to get there, but thank goodness they live a long time. Thank you all for your advice! I will be trying any advice that was given with her, it’s hard to find support when it comes to these beauties as not many people know much about them, I’m so glad I found this community as now I know where to turn to for help!!

Please go to http://www.BehaviorWorks.com and read it all, it's about positive reinforcement training. There is also a group on FB that is about evidence based positive reinforcement. Thank you for taking her in....

 

[RedsDad]

I rescued a 3 year old B&G macaw who was very neglected and abused. Background on her… She would get her beak flicked, her cage hit when she screamed, fed tortillas, nuts, etc. she only had one perch in her cage and that’s it. She was my friends Grandmas bird and the only people Rio (that’s her name) liked was her grandpa who was the only one who was kind to her. She would let him let her, cradle her, etc. so I’ve had her almost 2 months and I’ve cleaned her diet up to natural pellets, lots and lots of veggies, nuts for treats and fruit here and there. I’ve also been doing permission base training which has been working so far. The things I notice with her though are, she only lets me live on her and pet her through the bars of the cage, she always comes up to the bars when she sees me and of course I give her loves. I put a perch on her door and taught her to go on that specific perch when she wants to “train” or interact which she does everytime she sees me as well. When I open the door she will come up to me but as soon as she sees my hand even getting close to her she bites or lunges..not out of aggression but fear. I don’t react to her when she does because it will only scare her more. She will also lift her foot up and when my other macaw does this it’s because she wants me to pick her up, but when Rio does it it’s a hit or miss sometimes she will step up or sometimes she will bite. My question is why does she only let me pet her and handle her through the bars and why does she do the foot thing? And what can I do to help her feathers? They’re in really bad condition she is also currently molting. I have Rios full background so if you want to ask questions shoot! My other rescue macaw was a mystery so it was a little bit more of a challenge with her.

UPDATE: This is Rio the 1st picture is the day my husband drove across the country to get her as you can see she was not in good shape at all…2nd picture was the first time we got her to come away from her cage and she was very scared the 3rd and 4th picture you can see a better close up of the condition of her feathers. Also she didn’t have much in her cage in the 4th picture because it was super last minute with us getting her so we put what extra perches and toys we did have in there. Since then she has a new cage lots of perches and lots of wood toys because they are her favorite. We recently bought tools to cut wood and make our own bird toys because between her and our other macaw (Athena) they go through A LOT of toys. We also just bought a house and picked it out specifically to accommodate the birds we have (silly I know). It has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, is 2000sqft, out in the middle of nowhere basically and has 2 acres so we can put a large aviary attached to their room with a camera put in so we can monitor them when we can’t actively be in there aviary or room with them! Our future plans for her are to register her in free flight courses…I know it’ll probably be years for her to get there, but thank goodness they live a long time. Thank you all for your advice! I will be trying any advice that was given with her, it’s hard to find support when it comes to these beauties as not many people know much about them, I’m so glad I found this community as now I know where to turn to for help!!

Thank you for taking time to give her a happy home and lots of love.

 

[Dinochicken]

I’m going to try that! I wish I thought of that sooner because my other macaw loves to take all my clothes out of the laundry basket and I feel she would love just throwing those toys all over the place!

 

[Dinochicken]

Macaws tolerate chilly weather just fine. I'm in Fayetteville, NC and all of my birds stay out until the temps hit the high 30's. Then they come in at night and out during the day (if it is sunny and warm). If the night temps are high 40s they don't come in until the next temps in the 30s. They need FULL sun, with a small area of shade, and a way to get out of any wind/breezes. Most health problems with parrots is because they don't get enough natural sunlight. Her feather condition will improve with this molt, but it can take two or three molts before her improved nutrition affects her feathering.

I’m so glad you said this because I was worried they would have to stay in all winter, I heard (I don’t remember where) that sudden temperature changes can make them sick? Has that happened when you brought them in from the cold to your house being warmer?

 

[Dinochicken]

Good on you for your rescue, and your patience. I have worked with a few B&G rescues myself. I have a couple of thoughts.

First- you have one great advantage that many people don’t. You already have another Macaw that has good habits. Rio can learn much from watching you and your other Macaw interact. In the rescue I work with, we sometimes put birds who have no idea how to be a bird right next to a cage with one who is very good at the behaviors we want it to learn, like playing with toys. This works especially well when they are the same species.

So one thing to do is do lots of training sessions with your other Macaw in the same room with Rio where she can observe the interactions, the pleasure of the other bird, the treats, and how safe it is. That will help show her what you want, that it is ok to do, and that the other Macaw gets praised and treats, not punished. This can go a long way towards helping her to learn the new norms faster.

Second, you probably already know this, but only use Rio’s very favorite treats when training or as rewards for doing things you want her to do, like coaxing her out of the cage. She will be more eager to do things if this is the only time she gets her very favorite things.

And third, no, you are not crazy, or even the first person I know, to buy a house with specific bird needs in mind.

Oh, also, about the foot lifting - one of my rescues did the same thing. Rio may be internally conflicted. She may really want to step up, but also be afraid, especially if she got both love and then mistreatment from her original family. She may also be testing you. "OK, you are being nice now, but will you keep being nice?"

The other thing we have to remember is that birds are not really domesticated animals like dogs and cats. They are still wild, and have instincts and behaviors that we are still learning to understand.

Good luck, and I wish you the best on your journey together!

That makes so much sense now with the foot lifting! I believe you are right with her being conflicted and if I’m going to keep being nice to her, because when she would bite her original owners they would flick her beak and yell at her. Someone on this thread suggest I use a perch for her to step up onto so I think that’s what I’m going to do with her until she catches on that hands are something positive!

 

[imouse1]

Weird question:

But could the 1 foot thing be a high five? Do you think it might have been the one thing she was taught by someone else in the house? I recently taught Gregg how to do that and he'll do 3 taps if he's trying to step up and 1 or 2 taps if he's just trying to give me 5s for treats.

 

[Linda lee]

Thank you for taking time to give her a happy home and lots of love.

Please go to http://www.BehaviorWorks.com and read it all, it's about positive reinforcement training. There is also a group on FB that is about evidence based positive reinforcement. Thank you for taking her in....

Use 4 fingers for the step up for a big bird. Took me 2 years for my 1 year old cockatoo too trust me at all and she was not abused.