Help needed for found Severe Macaw

[CrissyH]

Hi everyone! I've been a quiet bystander on this page for a while now. 8 months ago we became the parents of a beautiful baby red fronted macaw she is our world! I had been around birds all my life and always knew I wanted one of my own. We had considered adopting another bird and have been talking and visiting with a rescue for a few months. Then Wednesday I get a message from my mom that a friend of hers had a large bird in her backyard and she was terrified if birds. She sent me a pic and I knew it was a severe and his head was already looking droopy I went over and spent a few hours trying to coax him down. He had found safe haven in some VERY large Cyprus trees. He would come down and eat the crackers that my mom's friend had put out, but wouldn't let you get too close. As it started to get dark he started going up to roost and I had to leave. I left a cage with food and water. I went back yesterday and he was no where to be found. I had brought Marley (my macaw) with me to try and lure him. Turns out this was a good idea because whole she didn't lure him in, he sounds made him scream out and I heard him from way behind the house. There was a small farm behind the house and I knew that's where he had gone. I loaded up Marley and drove to the farm. No one answered the door so I walked under the huge pecan trees and he started screaming again. I knew he was there but couldn't see him so I went and got Marley and sat her cage under the tree and he started coming down! Poor thing was starving and his crawl was sunken in so badly I got out the extra cage and put it right in front of Marley's with food in it. He would come down but not go into the cage far enough for me to shut it. I have never had to catch a bird before - I had never even seen it done, but I googled it Wednesday night after I got back - I couldn't sleep a wink knowing he was out there in the dark! I read where some people used water to wet their feathers where they couldn't fly well. I had brought a hose nozzle just in case and I'm sure glad I did because that's what did it. The farm owner was home and I guess had heard me out there and came out. He was nothing but helpful and got me a hose. The first time I sprayed him he took off flying to another tree with no problem. I thought "Oh no!, it's not going to work!" But I didn't give up. I sprayed him in the next tree and he flew down to the ground. I grabbed my towel and threw it over him and he didn't even fight me. I think he was so exhausted and hungry he just didn't have it in him I took him to my regular vet (our avian vet was too far to make it before they closed) and they checked him for a chip and found nothing. I have contacted the rescue we had been talking to and have reported it to animal control and have checked all the lost birds sites I could find online. There is a "parrot farm" not too far from where he/she was found but they said it didn't belong to them. The owner acted a bit weird so now I'm wondering if it didn't belong there.... I plan to take he/she to our avian vet hopefully today. I would just love to get some input on how to handle him/her while they are here. Right now he has a cage and all the things a bird would need. We've just been giving him space and talking very sweetly to him (I just keep calling it a him? Lol) we've never had to handle a situation like this! Marley was 7 months old when we got her so it's been nothing but love and cuddles from the start. He has different body language also and I don't really know how to read it. That would help me a lot I think. I'm thinking I should just leave him in the cage for a few days and let him acclimate?? I certainly don't want to cause him more stress! Any tips would be appreciated more than you know! I want this little guy/gal to be happy - of course I hope his family is looking for him! I can't even fathom what I would do if Marley got out!!

 

[Birdman666]

Wow!

There's a lot to this. First of all, I also have an RFM. Great birds!

I would go with the premise that this bird is not tame. However, the interaction between you and Marley should help. Give it a few days and let him see that, and let him decide that he wants in on it. And it also should help that you basically saved him from starving to death. He's smart enough to realize that.

Start over with basic no bite, step up, etc. I would clip him for now. I basically put the bird on the floor if he tries to bite me. He gets off the floor when he steps up nice. If you have to towel him, then towel him, but let him know you aren't going to tolerate biting. Watch out for Severe's beaks, they have a needle sharp point. I can tell you from experience rehabbing a severe one day, he was not happy with me, and he sliced my thumb open right down to the bone!

They are generally not as trusting as your red front, and they have a very real propensity to overbond and become one person birds, so socialization, socialization, and more socialization. Properly socialized they can be good birds.

Think about this a minute. He was roosting in a pecan tree - and starving! Tells you all you need to know about a captive bred bird's wild foraging skills! This also tells you he is an escaped pet, not a ferral bird, who ate out of a food bowl his whole life, and didn't recognize food when it was growing right in front of him! So, he hasn't been out there all that long. A few weeks to a month at most...

 

[CrissyH]

Thanks birdman!! It's hard for me to know if he's tame and scared or not tame at all. That's where understanding the body language of a severe would help . He does a head roll type thing, from side to side sometimes when I talk to him and also hangs on the front of that cage and sways his whole body side to side. It doesn't seem aggressive but I'm not sure. When I open his cage he freaks out. He really watches when I interact with Marley... He seems to be really contemplating lol ! How long should I wait before I should allow him to try to come out of the cage? As I said Marley was and still is a baby so I've never had to do the whole training with an adult bird. Best case scenario we find his family that he's bonded to but so far no one seems to be looking for him he shows no interest in taking treats from our hand, but maybe it's too soon for that. I am at home all the time so I have nothing but time and patience I just need some mentoring

 

[Birdman666]

Your best bet is to just assume he is not tame at all, and work your way up from there. Better to have a PLEASANT surprise, and find out he is, than an UNPLEASANT surprise, and find out he isn't... and I need a bandage. (Or in my case, a turnequet!) I am very biased because I rehabed 8 of these little guys... so I am trying not to poison the well here. But severes (and scarlets) are my least favorite macaws to work with.

My old severe joke: How did the severe macaw get its name?
Nurse: Doctor, how bad was the wound from that bird bite?
Doctor: It was SEVERE!

They do seem to have trust issues, so getting them over that hump is the biggest thing. (And if they don't trust, they will bite! First instinct - fight or flight. He is disoriented - so it will LIKELY BE FIGHT!)

I would give it two or three days, and I would make a point of playing with Marley, and giving him head scratches and treats in front of the Severe. And just ignore him, totally... He doesn't exist. It's just you and Marely. If he wants attention from you, he's gonna have to work for it. (Reverse psychology.) Let him see that it's safe, and then get him to start craving the interaction.

Is he clipped now? If so, then after a day or two, I would just open the cage door and let him come out on his own. (Have a towel nearby just in case, but I seriously doubt he will do much more than perch on his cage door. Again, no big deal. Don't make the first move, other than handing him a treat if he will take it. Let him come to you. Just sit there and talk to him. Set a treat down next to you. Don't look at it. Don't make any sudden movements when he comes and gets it. Each time the treat gets closer until he is climbing up your arm, and taking it out of your hand.

If he has a favorite treat (peanuts, walnuts, cashews, grapes) don't feed it to him at meal times. Make him come and get them from you.

Sooner or later he will.

 

[CrissyH]

thanks again!! He isn't clipped yet as I just caught him yesterday and didn't want to stress him further. But he will most definitely be clipped before we even offer to open the cage!! I am actually looking forward to working with him. I always love a good challenge! Wish I knew how to post pics here, he and Marley are having a lunch date I put a perch close to his cage and they seem to like each other Marley only goes to her cage to sleep so maybe that too will motivate him to behave so he can hang out too.

 

[Birdman666]

That will help a bunch.

Once he gets to the point of taking treats from your hand, then do step up practice.

Getting to the point of being allowed to touch will be the next hurdle after that.
(I'll teach you the "two perch" method. It will save you some skin on your fingers.)

Don't rush it! Take your time with him.

 

[sonja]

Great save!!!!!!
I'd love to see pics! Just upload them to something like Photobucket. Then click on the little box above the text field that has a mountain on it. A small window will open where you can copy the URL from Photobucket and, voila, you pics will post!

 

[Birdman666]

Just to un-poison any well I may have poisoned...

I was working with cage bound and unhappy birds, that had been allowed to overbond with one person, and became attacky with everyone else, and then were stuffed into a cage because they were biting, and left there, until they were ultimately dumped...

These are pair bond birds. They don't take kindly to abandonment by the people they love. In fact they get MAD. SOMETIMES REALLY MAD...

And at that point, their person said - Here, you take him!

All 8 of the birds I worked with fell into THAT category. They were pissed off at the world when I got them, and we did eventually get them back to "pet quality."

So, don't blame the bird. I've met a few good ones...

But these birds, when you do rehab him, need socialization or they will tend to overbond. So, just a head's up!

 

[Birdman666]

The other thing to remember is that the smaller macaws have the larger attitudes.

Large macaws are very confident birds. The smaller macaws seem to have to prove how tough they are first... A Hyacinth or a GW doesn't have to prove he's tough. They know full well they can defend themselves, so they are much slower to react.

And there's no more trusting big mac on the face of the planet than a red front or a blue throat... So the severe is at the far opposite end of the scale from your red front.

Slowly, carefully, signal your intentions. Make sure the bird knows what you are going to do, and when you are going to do it. Deliberate, and confident movements. That's the key to working with these guys...

 

[CrissyH]

I've been making sure to talk to him when I come into the room and let him know I'm going to come close to his cage. When I get to my computer I will get pics to put up! And no worries about poisoning Birdman severed sound like they can be as stubborn as I am! LOL!! I'm not one to give up easily, especially if someone says it's nearly impossible. I don't think anyone thought I would catch him in the first place, I had absolutely ZERO experience in that. But I got suggestions from some of my bird friends and was able to pull it off

 

[Birdman666]

It's not impossible. It just takes work.

Once he gets to the point of coming out for you, you get him to take treats from you. Once he takes treats, you train him to step up. Once that happens, you train him to allow touching. Once you teach him to trust you completely, then you train him to step up for others and trust them...

I'd say 6-8 weeks tops, from start to finish.

With Severe's we used to play a game of "pass the birdie" around when they got to the point where they were tame. These guys need the extra socialization reinforcement...

It's actually a good game to play with ANY pair bond bird. It helps prevent overbonding issues.