Good morning all you bird lovers! My name is Michael and I am new to this community. I have previously owned several birds including a tiel, peach and Fischer's Lovebirds, a quaker and my last and most precious is a TAG. But I am moving up into the world of large birds by welcoming home a 3 year old Harlequin and Calico Macaw in about 6 months!
A little about me and my family, I am a Paramedic and full time EMS Educator, my wife works in food production and we have two girls age 5 and 10. We live in Northern Illinois. I have had a love for birds for about 20 years and just find myself drawn to them when I go to a pet store.
I have some questions about these birds in particular. Both were raised as hand tamed. They were put together as a breeding pair that never did produce a clutch. The Harlequin (Annabelle) was brought back to the store to have the lady that owns the store hand tame her again and find her a home. It was during her first week at the store that I found and fell in love with Annabelle and began to work with her myself and was able to make progress to hand feed her and start to touch her beak and head. After about a week of progress the breeder brought in the Calico (Hagar) which was Annabelle's "boyfriend". Now both birds have been brought back together. I am now trying to work with them, Annabelle will still take treats and allow me to touch her beak, Hagar does not seem to like men and am having a hard time trying to make that connection with him.
Sooooo with all of this I am looking for suggestions or a thread to help me, how do I work with these two. They obviously have a bond as breeders. Would I be better keeping them apart at least while working with them? As long as they are in close proximity to each other will there continue to be issues trying to hand tame them again. Any suggestions would be welcome or please point me in the direction of a thread for me to look at while I investigate this forum on my own.
Thank you all for having me and I am looking forward to the information these pages hold for me.
A little about me and my family, I am a Paramedic and full time EMS Educator, my wife works in food production and we have two girls age 5 and 10. We live in Northern Illinois. I have had a love for birds for about 20 years and just find myself drawn to them when I go to a pet store.
I have some questions about these birds in particular. Both were raised as hand tamed. They were put together as a breeding pair that never did produce a clutch. The Harlequin (Annabelle) was brought back to the store to have the lady that owns the store hand tame her again and find her a home. It was during her first week at the store that I found and fell in love with Annabelle and began to work with her myself and was able to make progress to hand feed her and start to touch her beak and head. After about a week of progress the breeder brought in the Calico (Hagar) which was Annabelle's "boyfriend". Now both birds have been brought back together. I am now trying to work with them, Annabelle will still take treats and allow me to touch her beak, Hagar does not seem to like men and am having a hard time trying to make that connection with him.
Sooooo with all of this I am looking for suggestions or a thread to help me, how do I work with these two. They obviously have a bond as breeders. Would I be better keeping them apart at least while working with them? As long as they are in close proximity to each other will there continue to be issues trying to hand tame them again. Any suggestions would be welcome or please point me in the direction of a thread for me to look at while I investigate this forum on my own.
Thank you all for having me and I am looking forward to the information these pages hold for me.
