Macaw's terrible twos

[Sergioscenic]

Hello, we have a 2yo military macaw named Pollo. He is very friendly and will step up and fly to anyone ( his wings aren't clipped). He will nip and nibble, not aggressively but playfully. He is always active and hates being alone in his cage. He has eaten through his aviator harness and unlocked every other contraption we've devised to keep him on his perch.

We are happy with him and he appears to live a very happy existence as well, but we do wonder if he is hyper-active or he is just young and eventually will settle down. When I see videos on YouTube of macaws peacefully standing on their perches I wish our macaw would settle down from time to time outside and inside his cage. Instead, he is always on an endless campaign of destruction, exploration and finding shoulders to climb on. Inside his cage he is always playing and hanging in different positions. Is he going through his terrible two's or is this behavior normal?

Sergioscenic

 

[weco]

Well, while he is 2, when referring to terrible 2s in parrots, it is generally before they mature to breeding age, so Polo's terrible 2s may go on for a while longer as they become sexually mature between 2 & 4 years of age. It sounds like you need to be working on training with him, rather than let him continue doing as he pleases.

You can get him to lessen the beak action, which is really natural beaking.....testing his limits & if he's not taught to lessen beak pressure, he could learn to bite harder because it will get a response from whoever is being bitten. If it gets to the point of being a game to him...bite...get attention...he may bite harder.....

 

[ziggybird]

Welcome to Macaw ownership!

My Max is about 30 years old. I don't remember his early years since I was just a toddler!

But even as early as I can remember Max has liked to have his chill times where he just wants to hang out and preen. He can be a very good mellow guy when he wants to be. But that bird still loves to cause trouble!

If he knows that he'll get in trouble if he chews something... then it becomes his favorite thing to go after! And sometimes he just likes to climb all around the cage, then when we try to get him out (thinking this means he wants out) he will snap at us, or throw a fit throwing his fruit.

So the terrible 2's... don't really end. Macaws are like a perpetual 2 year old (at least Max is).

Although hopefully your baby will calm down a bit and have his mellow times.