markallan
New member
Hello All
We recently adopted Nala a 6 year old Blue & Gold Macaw, that was in need of a new home. I’m not new to Macaws but I have been away for a while, as my last B&G stayed with my ex wife and daughters due to the close bond they had.
I took our new girl to the vet yesterday for a check up and trim and all is good.
I am happy to say that after 3 days we are making good progress. The first night she was very scared and shook her wings like she was scared, although that disappeared on the second day. She has become a very loving girl. She loves riding around the house on our shoulders, sitting with us on the couch and laying in bed with us. When you rub and scratch her she just lays her head down and closes her eyes.
The only sign of aggression lunging and growling is when we reach into her cage to get her out. We have not been bit YET. but we have not let her bite yet, I’m not sure how hard the bite may be and our natural reaction is to pull back (Yes we need to be trained to not pull back) We have gotten her out by hand a couple times, but more often than not we just let her climb out on her own. Today I tried a treat reward for stepping up, but she did not go for it, so she did not get the treat. I’m thinking we need to work with her more on the step up command outside the cage more and re enforce that every time and then maybe when we reach in the step up command will work better….
Thoughts on that method to get her out of the cage?
On a side note she will let you pet her through the cage and if you reach in without trying to make her step up you can sometimes scratch her on the back under her wings.
We recently adopted Nala a 6 year old Blue & Gold Macaw, that was in need of a new home. I’m not new to Macaws but I have been away for a while, as my last B&G stayed with my ex wife and daughters due to the close bond they had.
I took our new girl to the vet yesterday for a check up and trim and all is good.
I am happy to say that after 3 days we are making good progress. The first night she was very scared and shook her wings like she was scared, although that disappeared on the second day. She has become a very loving girl. She loves riding around the house on our shoulders, sitting with us on the couch and laying in bed with us. When you rub and scratch her she just lays her head down and closes her eyes.
The only sign of aggression lunging and growling is when we reach into her cage to get her out. We have not been bit YET. but we have not let her bite yet, I’m not sure how hard the bite may be and our natural reaction is to pull back (Yes we need to be trained to not pull back) We have gotten her out by hand a couple times, but more often than not we just let her climb out on her own. Today I tried a treat reward for stepping up, but she did not go for it, so she did not get the treat. I’m thinking we need to work with her more on the step up command outside the cage more and re enforce that every time and then maybe when we reach in the step up command will work better….
Thoughts on that method to get her out of the cage?
On a side note she will let you pet her through the cage and if you reach in without trying to make her step up you can sometimes scratch her on the back under her wings.
