Baby behavior

[ticklemebink]

Ok so I had another post introducing myself and new lil baby but i wanted o see if the behaviors are matching up with everyone else along with what to expect in the coming months.

Tomorrow Jerzey turns 9 weeks old. YAY
we have caught him with one foot on his perch every now and then. He can hold his balance for a small time when I put him on there but then he gets a lil sloppy to compose himself again.

his feeding responses have heightened bigtime. He goes after the bowl of formula so I have learned to mix and fill the syringe before I bring him to the table.

I have a bowl of fruit chopped up in tiny pieces, not really giving it any interest other than dodging his beak into the plate when I first put it in there for him.

he seems to be practicing new sounds. havent heard the whistle for a couple weeks now. I am starting to think it was maybe my sons TV upstairs :-/
But when I say hello to him he seems to be trying to make a 2 syllable sound rather than his honky quack sound.

when he wants attention, he is demanding to make it obvious he does not want to go back into his cage/ nest. he comes running out to me and of course I can never resist.

during his play time, he doesnt seem to want to roam the place mat i put down for him anymore. he seems to want to climb onto my lap and cuddle a lot. which i dont mind.

his head is usually fluffed up when he is playing and cuddling but this past week I have noticed him pull his head feathers slick back when the dog o my son would walk by. he even tried to snap like a dog as my son one time when he walked past me. they do have their own one on one quality time so I am not sure if it him wanting to go to my son for cuddles or if he was being protective over me since I am the main handler.

not sure what I can think of but if theres anything interesting thats in store for us next or any concern about what I have listed so far... I am all ears!!!

 

[patterson]

Vincents 9 months now and he's just a big baby still would let u hand feed him if I wanted great watching them grow and learn each day they are just like children. Makes u want how people could treat them bad. Vincent is our first macaw but I have to say it's true when people say u get one ur flock just grows.

Ur in for an amazing life together

 

[jew1187]

Nice, I don't have a macaw but they are beautiful. Eventually...

The only thing that I read on here that doesn't sound normal for a nine week old macaw (from what little knowledge I have about them, lol) is the trying to speak. A lot of birds don't even take an interest in talking until they are around one year old (roughly, plus or minus a month or two). But then again, I am definitely not the most knowledgable on macaws.

 

[MikeyTN]

Whenever I tell people the Quaker I had started talking at 5 weeks old, people were shocked....I say hello to him on a daily basis, I walked in one day with the formula to handfeed and looked down in the tank, he said hello right back at me. With certain birds, it comes naturally....

 

[ticklemebink]

yea hes not actually got words coming out, but you can tell a different sound coming from him when i talk to him. like he is trying to practice some new vocals.
I must say, my 5 yr old son has cut down on the whining because i told him he will be grounded for life if this bird starts whining like him. hahahaha so we have some big milestones going on in this house.. thank the lord!!! no more whining!!! hahaahah

 

[ticklemebink]

WOW we are on week 11 already! what changes and still amazing. hes is experimenting with his pellets and some seed and nuts. didnt dabble much with his fruits and veggies today.they were a big hit last week for him lol he seems persistent to practice lifting things up with one foot. still trying to figure out which way to grab and which way to turn his foot to get the toy into his mouth hehehehe

I have noticed he is not taking as much formula this past week. not sure if he is having interest in the solid foods but I dont think he is eating enough solids to make up for the loss of formula. some advice on this would be greatly appreciated. tried offering him some bowls of water. he just knocks it over

He does seem to be testing his limits on beak pressure the past 2 days. nothing scary yet but I need to do some research on how to keep this in check. so far we tell him no and give him a little blow in the face. ( blow of air not a punch hehehe)

hes starting to try and climb up the side of the cage. we rearranged all the toys and perches. I think i have to go in tomorrow and work on it some more since it seems a little cramped. i have everything low for him at different levels but he cant practice flapping his wings so I have to figure out the physics of the toys lol
we built some cool food dishes out of coconut halves and short pieces of manzanita. they are pretty cool.

hes been flapping often but not getting any air yet. he can glide from me to my husband when we sit across from each other on the floor. hes pretty clumsy and a total clown.

he goes thru some sneezing fits every so often. maybe once per day. no fluid at all coming out but it still makes me panic.

Other than all this, things are good and We are going to get DNA in a couple weeks

 

[MikeyTN]

How many times are you feeding him right now??? Once they get to a certain stage, it kinda cuts off a bit not wanting to eat much, lots of play, etc. I'm not sure if that's the way baby macaws are like, but all the other birds I've raised been like that. Once they mature a bit, all they wanna do is play and explore....Until they're hungry then they wanna eat...It's the stage I don't like the most cause they go every where...Try having 8 babies or more you handfeed at a time and they all go everywhere....lol

 

[ticklemebink]

How many times are you feeding him right now??? Once they get to a certain stage, it kinda cuts off a bit not wanting to eat much, lots of play, etc. I'm not sure if that's the way baby macaws are like, but all the other birds I've raised been like that. Once they mature a bit, all they wanna do is play and explore....Until they're hungry then they wanna eat...It's the stage I don't like the most cause they go every where...Try having 8 babies or more you handfeed at a time and they all go everywhere....lol

oh man. 8 of these little sucker, I couldnt imagine lol
but he is on 3 feedings per day still for the most part. he didnt want much for dinner tonight. no more than maybe 50ish cc's
he does have pellet and fresh veggies in there also. but hes getting bigger, the crop doesnt blow up to a big balloon anymore like i am accustomed to. but just not he pretty much had no interest in the formula. and I know the dinner is the last feeding to kick so i dont know whats goin on. im going to make a vet appointment tomorrow just for the reassurance.
but he does want to play, he just keeps climging on us making a sound that sounds like "step up" and he says it over and over and over and over again lol its very cute. i hope he tries to practice some other sounds lol but he just wants to roll over and suck his toes and get rubbed.

were noticing he is attracted to the color red. started with our son in his comic book pajamas. then i had a black and white mickey mouse pajama pant on and he kept going after the red tongues lol my son brought in a red pillow today and he went nuts over it. very interesting.

 

[MikeyTN]

The crop sac does shrink as they get older. If your that worried, vet visit will be the best thing you could do. Keep us posted how the little guys is doing!

 

[ticklemebink]

monday we have the vet visit. but we just had a nce 2 hour session playin with the lil guy. so much fun. I believe and hope all is well monday.

 

[MikeyTN]

I'm sure it is....Don't worry too much!!!

 

[JJones1719]

Just wanted to chime in here, Just some advise I wish someone would have given me when I first brought home my GW Neleno, I wish someone would have told me to pass him around to many people so he would get use to everyone and not fear them. Besides my Vet, Neleno only allows me to hold him and take care of him. I wish he would go to others. I have tried everything and he just wants my attn. Best of luck Joe

 

[ticklemebink]

Just wanted to chime in here, Just some advise I wish someone would have given me when I first brought home my GW Neleno, I wish someone would have told me to pass him around to many people so he would get use to everyone and not fear them. Besides my Vet, Neleno only allows me to hold him and take care of him. I wish he would go to others. I have tried everything and he just wants my attn. Best of luck Joe

Hey thanks. I do want to make sure I can take him in public one day and not have to fear him getting protective. he has taken well to everyone inthis house so far. we had some company last night and they were petting him and he did not seem to mind. I am hoping this personality sticks with him. he is such a mush muffin. I never expected a personality like this from a bird

 

[JJones1719]

That's great, most people cannot believe the personality of the GW, they are truely like no other Macaw. Mine is a one person bird. If handled a lot by others and not just you, there is no reason why your GW will not go to others. Best of luck, send more pictures. Joe

 

[MikeyTN]

How was his vet visit???

 

[ticklemebink]

How was his vet visit???

vet visit was great, lungs and everything were as clear as possible. no worries at all. everything is on track.

JJ, at 1st it seemed the vet was weary when he went to go open the beak and check out whatever hes checking inside until he took a closer look at the bird and saw it was a greenwing. for some reason he thought it was a scarlet and was a bit strange in my opinion as an avian vet lol. he even admit that he would not open up the beak like that on a mature scarlet.

\this one guy was there with a ringneck who claimed he gets bit all the time. showed me all the marks on his hands lol dont know what hes doing but I had a ring neck and NEVER had a fear for any moment or even a threat from that little guy. But my lil Jerzey was a little cold in the waiting room so i had him snuggled in my lap and no one could believe how tame and kitten like he was.
I really lucked out with Jerzey. he truly has an amazing personality. snuggles like a cuddle bear, spoiled rotten and will come up to you and lift a wing waiting for you to scratch underneath while he slowly lowers to the floor until he rolls over for you to finish off the tummy. such a ham.
He took his 1st shower today. seems like he loved it. he was yappin up a storm and even let me blow dry him with no problem.

He hasnt caught flight yet but he is flapping away. I think if he stops clinging onto the carpet, he may get somewhere one of these days instead of stationary lol

so far the cats pay no attention to him. he has climbed on a couple of them so far and as soon as they see wing flapping, they book out of the room.
my only worry is I have a husky. cant tell if she is eying the bird because she has a nurturing sense to her or if she wants to eat the bird.
right now the cage is in a separate room where the dogs are locked off by a baby gate but when Jerzey can fly, I have to figure out something. I want to prevent all risks. I have a saint bernard who couldnt care less of the bird. I'm even thinking of mking him a little perch saddle that Jerzey can ride on hehehe but again, the husky :-/
Im thinking of getting her a muzzle and doing some one on one training with the 2 of them together and see how that goes. I watched a video one time of a pit bull playing tug of war with a macaw for about 20 minutes straight having a blast playing with eachother and no close calls at all. i need my husky to be like that somehow.

 

[MikeyTN]

I got two huskies!!!! Will I trust neither one with birds? NEVER! Except my Macaw!!! These are my fourth and fifth husky, I'm a big husky lover! It is their nature to hunt, ALL my huskies did it....Although I have seen a calm one a few years back at the dog park. My girl Alexis, I trust her with my macaw 100%, Willie bit her when she was a puppy, he held on to her muzzle through the cage bars and won't let go. She drag his cage across the living room, ever since then she learned not to mess with him. Later on, Willie would chase Alexis and play with her on the floor, it's funny to watch. It's like hide and seek. They've been together for 6 years playing with no problem. Then we got Rocco, I let my macaw bit him and held him on the muzzle as well so he would be scared of him cause Rocco HAVE killed one of my birds the second day he was here. He's lucky to stay cause he was ill with giradia. I still watch Rocco closely with Willie but they all do play nice to one another cause they know that beak can do some major damage.

Both dogs have killed birds, kitten, and moles in the backyard. I do NOT like that at all, but it is their natural instinct. So when the dogs are around, only Willie gets to sit on my arm cause they don't bother him too much. Willie feeds the dogs too, he grabs food and put it in the dog's mouth. The dogs sit around his cage waiting for him to feed them. Willie calls out all the dog's names and say come here come here...It's really cute to watch. All my dogs and cats are terrified of Willie, he's the master bird of the house. The dogs tend to hide from him at times because he likes to go after their paws.

So if you want to introduce your husky, be real careful!!!!

 

[ticklemebink]

I got two huskies!!!! Will I trust neither one with birds? NEVER! Except my Macaw!!! These are my fourth and fifth husky, I'm a big husky lover! It is their nature to hunt, ALL my huskies did it....Although I have seen a calm one a few years back at the dog park. My girl Alexis, I trust her with my macaw 100%, Willie bit her when she was a puppy, he held on to her muzzle through the cage bars and won't let go. She drag his cage across the living room, ever since then she learned not to mess with him. Later on, Willie would chase Alexis and play with her on the floor, it's funny to watch. It's like hide and seek. They've been together for 6 years playing with no problem. Then we got Rocco, I let my macaw bit him and held him on the muzzle as well so he would be scared of him cause Rocco HAVE killed one of my birds the second day he was here. He's lucky to stay cause he was ill with giradia. I still watch Rocco closely with Willie but they all do play nice to one another cause they know that beak can do some major damage.

Both dogs have killed birds, kitten, and moles in the backyard. I do NOT like that at all, but it is their natural instinct. So when the dogs are around, only Willie gets to sit on my arm cause they don't bother him too much. Willie feeds the dogs too, he grabs food and put it in the dog's mouth. The dogs sit around his cage waiting for him to feed them. Willie calls out all the dog's names and say come here come here...It's really cute to watch. All my dogs and cats are terrified of Willie, he's the master bird of the house. The dogs tend to hide from him at times because he likes to go after their paws.

So if you want to introduce your husky, be real careful!!!!

yea im not sure how to go about it. I would like to bring the cage into the main room. there is more sunlight and and action. the husky is definitely curious. shes always outside stalking birds and squirels. she gets the mice in the garage in a heartbeat. i think if she gets nipped one time she may learn a lesson but i dont want the dog to get hurt either lol
its strange, i dont know if she means to kill the animals. she goes thru these nurturing stages where she will take one of my sons stuffed animals and carry it all over the house in her mouth making these whining sounds. and if you take it away from her she gets like anxiety. but after a few days, she tears it apart to shreds.
when we got our kitten, i fell asleep on the couch and my son came running in saying the kitten was outside all wet. i ran outside thinking the worst from the husky and the husky had made a nest under a tree and licked he cat clean soaking wet lol but the kitten was all balled up cuddled with the dog. now given this cat ended up turning into devil kitten lol maybe that is why the dog never killed him because he whacked back. who knows.

im going to try buying a muzzel for the dog and having some one on one playtime with them to see what happens.

 

[MikeyTN]

Mine do the samething with stuffed animals...they make the kitty slobbery wet too, they only get to play together when supervised....but when its the ones outside, they kill! I hated to see....I've saved two baby birds from them.

 

[ticklemebink]

here are some more pics. 12 weeks old now!