Handfed macaw owners...were they tame?

[itzjbean]

In the future, my dream is to get a handfed baby macaw. Not sure on species yet, as this is years were' talking ahead, but I wanted to ask people that have gotten handfed baby macaws from breeders....

Did they take to you immediately or did you have to work with them for them to be comfortable with you? (assuming that you got them after they were handfed and weaned)

I ask because I see many breeders say their baby macaws 'go to anyone' but also have heard of baby macaws that are more wary and you have to earn their trust first before they allow being touched, petted, etc. I remember seeing a post from a member here who's baby GW was like that, not allowing pets right away. (I'm so sorry I can't remember the username, if this person sees this please say so!)

Is it just a macaw thing to be wary of new situations and people, is it certain species that tend to do this more, or is it just a individual bird personality thing? Or perhaps its all based on the babies' exposure and experience with people?

All the input about your experience with your macaw is greatly appreciated! As for now I'm sticking with my tiny tiels, but that dream of being a macaw momma gets closer and closer every day!

 

[kysoti]

In the future, my dream is to get a handfed baby macaw. Not sure on species yet, as this is years were' talking ahead, but I wanted to ask people that have gotten handfed baby macaws from breeders....

Did they take to you immediately or did you have to work with them for them to be comfortable with you? (assuming that you got them after they were handfed and weaned)

I ask because I see many breeders say their baby macaws 'go to anyone' but also have heard of baby macaws that are more wary and you have to earn their trust first before they allow being touched, petted, etc. I remember seeing a post from a member here who's baby GW was like that, not allowing pets right away. (I'm so sorry I can't remember the username, if this person sees this please say so!)

Is it just a macaw thing to be wary of new situations and people, is it certain species that tend to do this more, or is it just a individual bird personality thing? Or perhaps its all based on the babies' exposure and experience with people?

All the input about your experience with your macaw is greatly appreciated! As for now I'm sticking with my tiny tiels, but that dream of being a macaw momma gets closer and closer every day!

I am far from an expert but I would say it depends on the bird and how you are introduced to it. We have a scarlet macaw that was hand fed and it bonded to me right away. I "rescued" it from its cage so that might have helped. He was very friendly with the whole family within a day. My wife has a hand fed yellow-collared macaw that took a couple days to warm up to her and still won't come to me unless it is desperate. He was very happy with his prior home and seemed quite bonded to the person who fed him.
We got both at about the same age.

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[EllenD]

I don't have a ton of macaw experience but a little, and that had to do with hand-raising babies as a sort of "internship" in college. Most all of the hand-fed baby macaws (these were blue and gold and Green-Wing) that we were feeding (we each got one set bird to raise) went straight to their new owners after weaning, and we had some people that lived close enough to help with hand-feeding the last 1-2 months, then there were some people that did not meet their new owners until the day they came to pick them up. In both instances the babies took to new people very well, loved scritches and being petted by anyone, and would snuggle up to anyone, putting their little heads under anyone's chins and falling asleep while being petted and held. I will say that the babies whose owners had met them a month or two prior to taking them home and who had already bonded to them (they saw them once a week for 3-4 hours) were obviously already bonded and very ready to go home with their new owners, while the other babies that just met their new owners the day they went home with them were not bonded with them, but were sweet none the less.

I think the bottom line here is that if you want a sweet, snuggly macaw that lives being petted and cuddling, and who wants to constantly be with you, then you definitely want a hand-fed, hand-raised baby. That being said I'm sure as with all species of birds there will still be instances when a hand-raised baby macaw just isn't a snuggly kind of bird. They should be less apt to bite or be nasty, but some birds, no matter how they are raised, just do not like to be petted or scratched.

I will say that if it's at all possible for you to find a breeder that is within driving distance to your home and that will allow you to start coming and seeing your baby at least once a week, like on Sundays for a few hours, and that lets you hand-feed him, pet him, hold him, etc. that's definitely the way to form a very strong bond early on. And if there is another person in your household, like a spouse or a child who you want to be close to the bird as well, I suggest that they go to the breeder's place with you during these visits, and that they interact as much as you do with the baby, feeding it and holding it etc. That way you should not end up with a baby that comes home and absolutely loves you but is nasty or mean to your spouse. They will probably still pick a favorite, they all usually do, but by including all members of the household in these pre-weaning, pre coming home visits your macaw should feel very comfortable with everyone by the time you bring him home.

They are very much like human babies/toddlers in this respect, and if you think of them in that way you'll have a better understanding of what they want and how they think.

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