biting Blue and gold macaw

[arando]

Good day everyone

got a problem here Riley is 5 months old and the last week he has got the thing to be aggresive with everyone in the house exept with me, when anybody goes to the cage to give attention Riley bites through the cage and draws blood. with me he will bite a little bit hard but not blood and when i say NO he will stop, with me it does not happen alot. If there is some training we can do it will be very nice, he is supposed to be part of the family.

twice a day i take him out of his cage and then he spends time in the house or in the garden with us, we never fight with him or slap him, and he is actually the best thing ever, and does say a few words already - but we need him to be part of our family.

Please help?

 

[romie12321]

i hope it gets fixed am sure the the other macaw owners will help you on what to do

 

[Safira]

Does Riley bite outside of his cage? or when he is just in it? Is the biting happening because they're trying to pet him through the bars, or when they want him to step up?

It is NEVER a good idea to stick your fingers in the cage of a bird to pet the bird, even if it is yours. This is especially true with a macaw. Your hand will get stuck and you will have nowhere to go, and they can do a lot of damage very quickly. I mean actually sticking full fingers in, and not giving him a scratch while he presses his head to the bars (he shouldn't be able to get you that quickly if you're just scratching against the bars.)

Birds as a whole can be very territorial about their cages. If he's biting when they reach in to try to get him to step-up, you should have each person work with him seperately outside of his cage on the 'step-up' command.

Macaw's love games, and unfortunatly they soon associate biting and 'getting big' as fun and it becomes a game to them. It's very important you stop this now.

Again, if he's biting because they're sticking fingers through the cage or tyring to pet him in his cage, stop doing it. Take him out when you want to pet him, hold him close and give him a head scratch then put him back in his cage.

A good trick with Macaws is to teach them to step up from behind. Its a habit I got into when working with numerous Macaws that weren't bonded to me. It's much easier to get them and harder for them to bite you.

To do this, put your hand BEHIND your Macaw's leg and tell him to step up that way.

 

[Safira]

Also, to get him to bond more with your family, make sure you're not the only care giver. Have others in your household feed him, clean the cage. When he's out of his cage, you can have someone take him and play with him, give him treats and offer to scratch his head if he lets you.

I bully my sister into petting my bird , or giving her a treat whenever she passes her on the playstand. I have a 9 month old Blue and Gold Macaw, and I want her to know that people are a good thing.

Getting members of your household to work with him on "Step Up" will help, even if they do it just a few times throughout the day. Its a good stepping stool for more training, and great for getting the bird accustomed to being handled by different people.

 

[oled]

Give hom "candi" trough the bars and in the cage so that he will lear that it is possitive when you are coming

 

[arando]

Thank you for the advice

Yes it is only when they want to scratch him through the bars that he is nasty - and i have not seen him doing it , apparently it only happens when i am at work, because when im home he is normally with me.

today i will start by taking him out and stand by when the other people handle him, and they can give him some peanuts

i will post again on the progress

 

[Safira]

Well if its only when they stick their fingers in, hopefully it's an easy fix! But yes, most birds will bite fingers that poke into their cage. I don't do it with mine, just because I don't want to chance it.

I bet he loves peanuts, do you have wallnuts and other nuts? I have a mix and give her a variety of nuts as treats, she especially likes pine nuts. I bought some 'palm nuts' since they're suppose to eat them in the wild, but she hasn't figured it out yet.Peanuts are more fatty (though pine nuts are fatty too) and can carry salmonella

 

[roxynoodle]

Peanuts can carry aspergillous as well.

 

[Mondos Parents]

I would switch to Pine nuts, Almonds, or Walnuts, used to give Brazil nuts till I heard they can get a fungus or something on them also.
Our Jake is 7 months old, he is fine with Kelly and I, but can be a bit nippy at Kelly if he wants to stay with me, as far as others, he acts a bit scared more so than wanting to bite. Jake is a bit different than most babies, he has only known human interaction since hatching. Riley sounds like it's a bit of cage aggression maybe? Like was mentioned earlier get him interacting with the others of the house as much as possible. That's a problem for us also, we need to get Jake associated with other people.
Does he have any pin feathers developing? That could be bothering him.

 

[Mike]

I agree with Safira. The bird may simply be protecting his/her nest.

A good way to get your bird familiar with other people besides yourself is to take the bird somewhere away from the cage, where he/she cannot see their cage or anything around their cage. Now you're in neutral territory. This is where you want others introducing themselves to your bird. A little each day. Don't force the bird to step up to them. Let it happen when the bird is ready.

 

[arando]

other people can take him out of his cage with no problem and give attention, but not through the bars of the cage. but everyone in turns is giving him some treats (fruit) i stopped the peanuts.

 

[MikeyTN]

He's just being cage possessive like it was mentioned prior. He probably feel like they're teasing him through the cage bars and they don't like that. I rub my macaw through the cage bars but I've been doing that for years and Willie likes me to tickle him through the cage bars and he ask for it. Best to start the proper training while he is young because once he matures he wouldn't be as easy to stop as he is now. Unfortunately with Willie, he will NOT accept my partner since day one and I've tried my best to get them to like each other but it didn't pay off. Feeding and cleaning doesn't solve all the issue as my partner does most of the feeding and treats daily. Willie tolerates my partner but IF I'm home, Willie changes to a mean bird that tries to attack when my partner walks by and started screaming and carrying on. My partner NEVER treated Willie badly ever in the past 8 years. But I got Willie when he was 2 years old and he already developed some bad habits the previous family allowed him to do. Just watch out for him once he fully matures around 10 years old. Even being Willie's main handler, he bit me pretty good and left a scar on my hand this past winter. I didn't read the signs properly as I was viewing the tv while trying to get him out of the cage like what I've always done and he snapped and tore my skin wide open. That was my mistake for not paying attention. Part of the reason why they should never be allowed to ride on shoulders!

 

[arando]

Thank you everyone - Riley is much better, other people can take him out of his cage now and play with him with no problem, there is still the odd nib but it looks more like exploring than being aggressive. Must admid he is a bit spoiled and trying to work on that problem now