Have a Sun Conure 6months old - Want a Macaw 1 yr old Need advice pro/con

[mwright1972]

I have a Sun Conure (Marley) that is 6 months old and I completley adore her. I have fell in love with the bird world of animals.
I have been "flirting" with this Blue and Gold Macaw at PetLand everytime I go to buy food and I really want to bring him home and make him part of my family. I know he is much larger than my conure but is there any chance since they are both very young they might get along? Of course separate cages but during out of cage time would they be able to be around each other and interact? Never unsupervised of course.

Plus any other advice or thoughts you would like to give on someone really considering getting a Macaw.

Open to advice both positive and negative. Very open minded.

Michele

 

[Phlox]

To be honest, I wouldn't get a macaw until your baby is bigger and you have some more time in. Baby conures are fabulous, but they go through some difficult stages. I'd recommend feeling really confident dealing with conure hormones before you graduate to a macaw. It sounds like you've got parrot fever...we all know how that is, but be careful you don't get in over your head!

 

[sonja]

Petland is a puppy mill front. I would never in a million years support them, even by buying food.

 

[Abigal7]

Things to consider.

1. A conure has a very parrot like attitude and loves attention. Can you be able to handle two birds that will call to you and demand your attention and may even hate each other? To get to the point a macaw or conure that is tame and use to being handle by their owner will want attention from their owner.

2. A large macaw can be expensive to keep. From adding nuts to the diet to large toys that are easily destroyed. And in the case of a large macaw you will be spending a lot of money on a java tree and stands (unless you know how to make your own trees stands and wooden toys). One big reason large macaws are rehomed is because they are so expensive to keep.

3. A macaw knows if someone is afraid of their beak. I will post another reply going into more details on this.

 

[Kiwibird]

I think getting any large parrot should be an extremely well thought out decision. There are certainly people out there who got a macaw as their first bird, or when they had only experienced smaller birds and have a wonderful experience and have a very happy life with their macaws. But there are also many more people who get in way over their head with a bird that big... DO YOUR RESEARCH, and find out the good AND bad of macaws. At the end of the day though, only you know if you can make that lifelong commitment and if you really 'click' with this bird.

 

[thekarens]

I won't tell you yay or nay because that has to be your decision and I'm a big fan of macs, but I will say macs are very time consuming. Something to take into consideration.

We've had ours a couple weeks and on top of the required attention twice we've come home and discovered her on top of her cage. IMO not as high maintenance as a too, but right up there.

And Abigail is right. You can't show fear of the beak. Macaws will lunge and it can be unnerving at first.

 

[Abigal7]

Yes, they can lunge at you. I read stories about it. Do not get me wrong there are a lot of people on this forum that have macaws and have a wonderful relationship. with them I remember reading on the internet that someone posted the game their macaw decided to invent. This person let their macaw meet people. She said how some people came up out of curiosity but were nervous. They would relax when the bird showed to be friendly, The bird then would act like it would lunge at them just to see the person get startled. Of course I never witnessed this. I did pet one blue and gold macaw once. I have a mini macaw and one of my friends thinks his beak is big (but in my opinion it is not).