Need Help GW Macaw Not Drinking from Water bowl

[Ella1]

Hi, I am pretty new to this forum and have a question. I rescued a 25 year old GW macaw last Friday. I have noticed that the amount of water in the water bowl does not seem to be going down, I change the water 2x-3x times daily since he likes to throw his pellets into it. I have bird experience but have never had this problem. If I take his bowl out and hold it up to him he will drink out of it but otherwise it doesn't seem like he's drinking out of the bowl in the cage. He eats well he get's his pellets and plenty of fruit and veggies. Is this something to worry about or could it be that he's still getting used to finding things in his cage? I hate to keep holding the bowl for him because I don't want him to get used to me doing that. Other wise he is healthy, he had a vet check back in December and everything checked out fine. Any suggestions? should I try moving the water bowl around? or just leave it were it is?

 

[triordan]

If he is dunking his food (which my GW does all the time) he knows where the water is~ I don't notice a large amount of water consumed daily , but he also uses his water dish for bathing about once a week~ keep an eye on his poops, does he get a lot of fruit? He could just be getting it through that if its a lot~

 

[Ella1]

Thanks triordan, he does get alot of fruit, Thanks for the reply.

 

[MikeyTN]

We took in Java a U2 last Friday as well!!! Like Jordan says, if he dunks, he knows where his water dish is. Plus he gets it from fruits and veggies you feed. How did you rescue him? We adopted ours as his family loves him so.

 

[kc_y0]

If he has a lot of fruits, he would be getting a lot of water from that. My bird does the same, barely touches her water!

 

[Poohbear1976]

Yes he will get alot from the fruit and veggies he's consuming.. The main thing to watch for is that he is showing a good amount of urine in his potties.. And he might also be eating some of the fod he's dunking as well which would also give him a little in there too.. Hth

 

[JJones1719]

If he is placing his pellets into the water, chances are he is also eating wet pellets and from that, he is getting water. I agree, if he is eating veg and fruit, this too will give him liquid to keep him hydrated. I would not worry about this. You can also buy a water bottle and hang it inside the cage, I know of many Macaws who prefer the water bottle over the water bowl. Thanks Joe

 

[lene1949]

I've heard humans loose 2 litres of fluid per day, which leads people to think they need to drink 2 litres of water every day...

So... if your bird gets lots of fruit and vegies.. I wouldn't be worried...

My ex-Husband never drank anything but coffee and beer, and at 65 is still very well...

 

[Ella1]

Hi everyone thanks for the replys. @Mikey, congrats on your rescue. I resuced Beckett from a friend of a friend. He was in horrible condition when I saw him and couldn't just leave him like that. This is the first macaw I've had we used to have a CAG. So alot of this is new to me but I keep reading and asking questions. Beckett is quite a handful but is calming down. He had not been touched in 10 yrs he is aprox 25 yrs old and is a very large boy he's over 40" from the top of his head to the tip of his tail . the people that had him were afraid of him so they left him on a perch in a small room and just threw food on the floor for him to eat. I can tell he's such a good boy but has alot of biting issues, hopefully we can work thru them. He is stepping up on my arm with the use of a small stick but once he's on my arm he gets so excited that he grabs my upper arm with his beak and bites down hard but hasn't broken the skin yet. So if anyone has any suggestions on how to help getting him to stop biting my upper arm it would be greatly appricated.

 

[Safira]

Try to keep him on your hand or your wrist, don't let him go higher than that. Don't hold him up high to where it's uncomfortable for you either, keep your hand down near your natural waist. If he starts climbing to get higher you can lift your hand so it's taller then your shoulder, he should go back to it.

When you see him go to bite, give your arm a little shake. He'll be too busy trying to balance to really bite down.

I personally feel better when I can put my thumb over one of my Macaw's feet. It gives me a little more control over the situation and a simple hand rotation will keep her too busy balancing to worry about biting me (Not that she tries, but if she did.)

 

[Ella1]

Here's a photo of my baby

 

[Ella1]

@safira thanks, "Try to keep him on your hand or your wrist, don't let him go higher than that." I have been trying to keep him on my hand but what is the best way to do that? if I try to bend my arm where my hand is a little higher he still trys to go more towards the elbow. if he starts moving up my arm how do I discourage it? as you can see from his photo he is a pretty large boy and I'm only 5' tall so my arms are not very long. lol

 

[Safira]

He's so handsome. I love GW's. All I can say is practice on the hand thing, when I was handling a bird like that I would switch him to my other hand if he started climbing, then just keep switching until he stayed still. It doesn't always work though, maybe someone will have a better idea than that. Hopefully you can get the biting under control soon though, and he can snuggle up with you all he wnats after!

 

[Enjru]

Biting is known as a self-reinforcing behavior. What this means is that when a parrot bites, even if you don't yell out or grimace or show any response whatsoever, the parrot will enjoy that bite and therefore be more likely to bite again.

Of course, if you DO make a fuss, this is extra entertainment for your parrot, so you are only providing bonus reinforcements for the biting behavior.

Parrots bite when they are either over-excited or when they are fearful. So, what you need to do is to learn how to read your bird's body language so that you can recognize when your parrot is in either of these states. Whenever your bird's body language is telling you that he/she is over-excited or fearful, you need to make sure that you are not within biting distance of your parrot, so that you do not get bitten.

Things to watch out for include body movements (whether the parrot is advancing or retreating), body posture and body stance, any neck craning, beak opening, eyes pinning, how the wings are held in relation to the body, how the feathers are held (especially the feathers on the nape), whether a foot is raised, whether the toes are clawing, etc.

Once you know how to only be within biting distance of your parrot when he/she is in a calm and relaxed state, then you can start using positive reinforcement to train your parrot to target. When your parrot is well-trained in targetting, you can target him/her whenever he/she starts to climb up your arm, and re-target him/her back onto your hand/wrist. If at any stage, your parrot's body language shows you that he/she is starting to get over-excited and/or fearful, then it is time for time-out so that your parrot can relax and calm down.

You can also use positive reinforcement whenever your parrot is well-behaved on your hand/wrist, and reward him/her with his/her favorite treats. This will help your parrot think of your hand/wrist as the favorite part of your body to perch on.

All this is easier said than done. I still need to work on preventing Chilli from climbing onto my shoulders. My dear old dad, unbeknownst to me, let Chilli perch on his shoulders all the time AND fed her biscuits while she was there. Is it any wonder that Chilli always wants to go straight up to the shoulder?!? It's going to take a L-O-N-G time (if ever) before this behavior is extinguished!

Hope this helps,
Enjru