Advice: Blue-and-Gold Rescue bites/temperamental

[guacamayo(de)aur]

Hello everyone,

My mom has a passion for birds that she passed down to me. I have had birds my whole life, first budgie when I was five years old, and I have always wanted a macaw. I know they are a lot of work, need interaction and attention, decent space, and are gifted with longevity among birds. After three years of considering and saving for adoption or purchase fees, I recently adopted a surrendered 17-year old male Blue-and-gold macaw. I am not sure about the circumstances of his surrendering, but he is kind of a 'runt' and the avian store owners to which he was surrendered said that he cannot fly; I asked why and they said that he lacks the muscle mass for flight. They trimmed his nails for me and he did not like being held and he bit the owners repeatedly as well but he did not break skin.

At home, he is still adjusting. He steps up and expects a treat (I am guessing he was trained that way and I am trying to retain the positive reinforcement aspects of treat giving). As long as he gets a treat after, he usually will step up. However, without a treat already in hand and visible, he will bite. I've been bitten twice and neither time was serious, just hard pinches. Still, I am nervous about if he bites harder. He does seem to be pretty good about giving warning bites if you missed his body language cues. When he doesn't want to step up, he puts his head down as if to say don't even think about it. If I don't notice and just instinctively put my arm up, he'll nip it. It left an indentation that lasted a few minutes but nothing more serious.

Do other macaw/large parrot owners have advice on how to continue positive reinforcement? Any advice on how to be better with the use of rewards? Do you have any advice for what to do if you are bit harder than just a nip? Thank you all in advance!

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. FOr advice, go to the Macaw sub forum and read all the stickies at the top; any post by birdman666(search for them) and read the I Love AMazons thread on the Amazon sub forum, tons of great info for ALL parrots there.

B&Gs are well known bluffers, so calling their bluff is important to prevent them from taking over the house! Super important to learn your birds body language well.

 

[Thechoplady]

Hi and welcome! Thank you for rescuing him. I advise to go a little slower with him. He is showing you grace by giving you warning bites. If you stop listening to his body language you may inadvertently train him to stop giving warning bites and just go straight to hard bites. I would recommend target training to strengthen you bond with him and check out birdtricks.com for more training advice.

 

[TiredOldMan]

Welcome
A ton of good advice to be gleaned from the flock here.

 

[kme3388]

As stated above macaws are bluffers. If my macaw gives me big wings I spread out my arms and get bigger. That or I tap his wings gently with my finger. Then he puts them down. He’s big and knows it. He can be a big bully bird to those who he scares. I don’t know how he differentiates it but he is a big bully to a few of my relatives. I’ve been bit by all of my parrots but one. It’s not a matter of if you will get bit it’s when. My conures are by far more snippy than my macaw. I’m pretty sure my sun conure can put most parrots to shame with his ability to be snippy. If he had some size we’d have a different relationship.

I spend a lot of time with my parrots. Every single day they are out. I always start with clicker training. Then add in the more challenging things as they bond with me. The key here really is interacting with them daily. My parrots all thrive off attention. It’s the one thing I always notice when I get asked for help and someone is having biting issues. Usually it is because the parrot gets out every few months or so. They are essentially wild parrots who are scared at that point. So they bite to defend themselves when someone finally does stick their hands in their cage. I don’t judge but it really is an issue. Some birds do bite because they just don’t like someone, but that is more rare. It’s also more obvious because their bites are brutal with blood/open wounds. I would recommend contacting a shelter at that point so someone with more experience can help repair the relationship, or have that person surrender the parrot to find it a more suitable home.

I myself never stick my hands in my parrots cage. I open their doors, and let them come out when they want to. They always do want to come out because they enjoy their showers, training, and such.

I forgot to add to watch out for hormones too in any parrot. They aren’t quite themselves at that point. I have a friend who runs a shelter, and it never fails that she gets a bunch of calls of people wanting to rehome their parrots during hormonal times as they can be a lot to handle during these times. It will pass but look at it like a hormonal teenager. They aren’t exactly in control of their emotions.