ahmadses>> His, but parents pay for food. His mom literally said keep him in the cage at all times.
The "mom" is the bigger part of the problem, 10 years old, is young, but it is possible a young person could take good care, and be fairly responsible.
In this case though the poor kid is going to just have to wait, or should wait until he is old enough
to live on his own, and be able to let the bird out, etc. Preferably living in a area where the macaw can go out doors, climb trees, etc. Keeping one closed up in a cage, all of the time is just plain cruel.
I would try to explain these things to the boy, convince him to start out with a smaller bird, and in a large enough cage, but still, sound like the mom is a real witch, and will be a problem, even small birds like to be able to come out of the cage, and fly around etc. But if the cage is big enough they can seem to be basically happy,... especially if it is a pair, and they have each other for company, even when the owner, or jail keeper is not there and busy doing other things.
Budgies are really nice birds, I have 2 myself, in this kids situation that would be a better choice
to start with. Plus with the door shut, they can easily be allowed out of the cage, and do learn to perch on a finger, and fly around , climb all over their human friend, etc. If handled correctly, the wicked witch would never know he was letting them out from time to time.
Love birds also, do well in smaller spaces, but can bite some what harder then a budgie, as fars as that goes even the little budgies can give a pretty painful little bite, if angry, scared , and they feel threatened.
A angry macaw would / could be extremely dangerous for a child, at least the smaller birds can not do any serious damage.
Being kept in a cage all of the time, the macaw would become very protective, defensive, and combined with the resentment about being in a small prison, it would be not only cruel, but dangerous for the kid. Hope fully you can convince him not to get the bird, even if the parents
are willing to pay for it, or convince them to be firm and just not allow him to get the bird.
They do have feelings, and it just is not right to keep a poor innocent bird closed up in a cage
all of the time, like some kind of criminal.
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When I was 10 years old I had no interest in parrots, but did have pigeons, carrier pigeons, tumblers, and some other types,
and took very good care of them, but we did not live in a city, / town house, to start with. How ever all my pigeons were free to come and go, "homing pigeons", but almost any pigeon, comes back to it's nest as long as the conditions are good.
A friend of mine, actually lived in the city, about 20 miles from us,.. and we regularly exchanged messages using the carrier pigeons,
but any way that is a different story,... the point being a 10 year old can be more responsible then some people think.
My first "pony" I was 6 years old, it was a 1 year old, colt, and I could not yet ride it, but I took it every where, leading it,..by the time it
was 3 years old, and could be ridden I was 8, I was the first person to ever ride it, no other trainer,etc. involved.(Other then some adult advice, from "hands" with more experience) . Of course since I had been handling it for 2 years, there was no problems when I started riding it. It all depends on the child, and the situation I guess,.. I started with my pigeons
when I was about 9.
