New to the forums and the world of macaw

[Kenzylynnsmom18]

Hi everyone, I apologize as this may be a long post... littered of course with questions from a new and inexperienced macaw Mom. We recently acquired a millgold or milligold macaw (seen both ways) and I am told that she is a hybrid blue and gold and military macaw mix, she is 18 mos old and DNA'ed female. We got her because we had been watching my fiance's Dad's amazon for almost a year as he recovered from cancer (he is in complete remission now and has come and reclaimed his amazon) with the amazon he hated men, women and kids were fine, hated men. So needless to say my fiance wanted a bird that he too could spend time with and well that is how snickers entered the picture. She will let me and my fiance and the older kids hold her, she can get a bit nippy at times but seems to understand "No" except (insert question 1 here...) when she is walking on the floor and demands attention, she is an ankle biter and will latch right on, a simple "No" will not do, I am not sure how to correct this behavior? She isnt content to stay on her cage or play stand and either she has to be locked in or she has to be on her humans, making doing household chores and such rather difficult. I hate to lock her in but not sure what else to do? Also she is a screamer, capital S-C-R-E-A-M-E-R, she will scream when someone comes in the room or leaves the room, when someone opens or closes a door, when she hears the kids or sees the dog and sometimes I think she does it to hear herself do it. We were told by the people we got her from that she should be in the most trafficked room in the house (which I am now starting to think may not be best) so we put her in our dining room, the home computer is here, we eat here and you must walk through to get to the kitchen or the bathroom. I am wondering if maybe we should put her cage in the spare room where its quiet and dark and just hers and leave her playstand (with wheels) in whatever room we are in at the time. I am told she needs a bedtime which we have tried to make 8 o clock as she had, had prior, but at 8 o clock I am getting kids showered, in bed and then finishing whatever household chores I had, be it laundry or dishes or what have you, all consisting of the kitchen area and needless to say that keeps her up and screaming. I had contemplated trying to cover her massive cage with a blanket but being she has never had that done I worried it would frighten her and make a loud situation louder. As you can tell I am new to all of this. The amazon was 15+ years old and set in his ways, he was quiet and stayed on his cage or playstand, so this is a real change and I welcome any advice =) Thanks guys

 

[AndrewH]

Welcome! Macaws are great, but they can be challenging companions.

You're right, there are a lot of questions.

You are right about the milligold being a B&G/Military hybrid.

My advice is not to let the bird on the floor. Your bird's behavior is not uncommon ground behavior. I rarely let me macaw on the floor. She tends to get roudy.

I think you should cover the bird. I cover my birds and I think many on this forum do also. My B&G goes to bed nicely, but the U2 can be cranky, so we have a smaller sleeping cage for her that we put in our spare room. This works out well. If covering your bird in the dining area doesn't work after about a week, you might try buying another cage and putting it in a spare room, but ease the bird into being in this cage.

The nipping is pretty common (my macaw likes to nibble on me frequently and she sometimes gets agitated and give me a warning snarl and nip, but I feel like this is fair behavior and she is doesn't hurt me). My personal opinion on biting is that the bird is trying to tell you something, most times. If you know what the bird wants (hold me, scratch me, leave me alone, etc.) and respect it, then you will probably reduce the incidence of biting. If the nipping is something other than playing (or fair warning for something you want to do but the bird does not), there are many schools of thought on what to do. Some people tell the bird no, as you have, and put it in the cage for a time out. Others will give a nasty look. Others will gently move their finger/arm into the bird. Whatever the method of correction you use, be sure to not show fear and pull away. If you give a reaction, this will reinforce the nipping. Some trainers even suggest dropping the bird (I think this is nuts, because it can really hurt the bird and your relationship and it doesn't get at why the bird is biting). Sometimes birds just decide they don't like a certain person and there's not a lot you can do about this, other than make a patient effort at making friends with the bird.

I don't know how long you've had the bird, but concerning the bird being "out" but not happy unless interacting. I think you just need to give the bird plenty of attention and treats. Put him on the perch while you are still in the room. Stay in the room, then make brief trips to other rooms, coming back. Ignore screaming that happens while in the other room and wait about a minute before coming back after screaming (so he doesn't associate the screaming with getting what he wants). This is not a very creative solution and I'm sure others will chime in. Plus, I don't want to write a book here.

Screaming: don't reinforce it by yelling or giving attention.

Again, welcome and I hope you get some good advice from other members!

 

[Beilana]

Welcome to the forum Do you have any pics of your georgous macaw???? I have 0 experience with macaws but sounds like AndrewH gave some great advice

 

[Bobby34231]

Hi and welcome to the forum, your correct on the parentage of your hybrid and I believe its only one L (Miligold), you sure picked a big bird for your first fid (fid=feathered kid) a couple of things to correct right away would be one, don't allow the bird on the flood, should she get off the cage or perch you must immediatly place her back up, you may have to repeat this about a half a million times but sooner or later she'll catch on, if she does it continuously within just a few minutes you can give her a short time out then start the process over again by letting her out, you also want to avoid the bird being on your shoulder, especially a large bird such as a macaw, to many dangers here, fright and flight, (gets scared, flies off and gets injured) if you lose sight of the bird on your shoulder you also lose all control, and then theres the danger of being bitten on the neck, ears or face, it doesn't take much to do serious damage from the bite of a macaw, the screaming is an attempt at gaining your attention, if you react to it she'll know, she screams, you react, and that will be a learned behavior she will continue to use to get what she wants, just as a human baby cries to be picked up, you'll have to do your best to ignore it and see if that works, that would be the first way I would suggest, sleep is very important, if you can place her cage in a spare room where she can rest undisturbed that would be great, basicly as in the wild, sundown to sun up, but not to leave her in there all day without interaction from you and the family during the day and evening, and always have plenty of toys available in her cage to keep her entertained when she can't be supervised and must be put up, as for leaving her out in a common area and using a blanket to cover her up, doubt it will work, she'll probably either just pull it off, or chew holes all through it, been there done that with my macaw, hope some of that helped