Pancho my Harlequin Macaw

[Cindylynn]

Hi! Thanks for letting me join! When I was a kid, we had a Catalina macaw that I adored!! We had to sell him, but I always wanted another. Fast forward to last month, my hubby got me a beautiful Harlequin Macaw for my 40th birthday!!! He was hatched on August 23, 2021!
He and I get along wonderfully. I'm learning how to be a bird MOM, not sibling. It's more work than I remember as a kid, being only a playmate, but so worth it! That being said, any advice is welcome. The only specific problem I've found is that he will play nice with others as long as I'm right there watching. As soon as I look away, he will nail whoever is holding him. Any advice on this problem would be great

 

[Zoruace]

Sorry I don’t have any advice but he’s beautiful
thanks for joining hope you enjoy your stay

 

[Cindylynn]

Thank you!

 

[Cottonoid]

Welcome! What a beautiful guy! I'm new to sharing my life with a bird so I don't have advice either

 

[wrench13]

Start using the Shunning method. If he bites, say firmly, NO BITE, place him IMMEDIATELY on a near by neutral place, like a chairback (NOT his cage), turn your back on him and completely ignore him for 1 minute. No eye contact, no talking about him , nothing. After 1 minute you can try to re-establish the contact. EVERYONE must adhere to this and it must be done every time he bites.

THis ties in with bite pressure training, which we have threads on here, use the SEARCH function. IT can absolutely be corrected, but it takes time and rigorous application of the rules and methods.

 

[wrench13]

Even more important with young macaws, as he is testing the boundaries and if you let this continue, he will keep pushing and pushing.

 

[foxgloveparrot]

He’s absolutely stunning. So glad the two of you are here!
Like wrench said: shunning, bite pressure training.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you and gorgeous Pancho!! Macaws wonderful and majestic companions with endearing personalities. Large beak more apt to bluff than bite compared with other species. I'd recommend selective reading from Macaw Forum beginning with Birdman666's headliner "Beak O Phobes" thread. If you enjoy his style, plenty more available via search engine!!

Big Beak O Phobes Guide to Understanding Macaw Beaks...

I wrote most of this as a response to another thread, but felt it deserved its own separate thread, since the subject of how to deal with macaw beaks comes up fairly often. Most big beak o phobes see a macaw beak coming at them and think, "Holy $#@& that bird's about to bite me!" While...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[Cindylynn]

Thank you all!!! Great info that I will begin putting to use!

 

[Henderbird]

Hi! Thanks for letting me join! When I was a kid, we had a Catalina macaw that I adored!! We had to sell him, but I always wanted another. Fast forward to last month, my hubby got me a beautiful Harlequin Macaw for my 40th birthday!!! He was hatched on August 23, 2021!
He and I get along wonderfully. I'm learning how to be a bird MOM, not sibling. It's more work than I remember as a kid, being only a playmate, but so worth it! That being said, any advice is welcome. The only specific problem I've found is that he will play nice with others as long as I'm right there watching. As soon as I look away, he will nail whoever is holding him. Any advice on this problem would be great

Oh small world! I’ve lived and grown up with my aunt and uncles harlequin macaw AND an alexandrine! They were wonderful but the harlequin kind of was my aunts listener and just absolutely hated my uncle when she wasn’t looking but would act sort of sweet or tolerant when she was!
Now that I think about it.
Not experience with larger species, but sometimes when it comes to birds playing or interacting with others, especially kids or even people they probably are not fond of, it’s important to keep a watchful eye and supervise when necessary!
My aunt started to supervise more carefully with her macaw and my uncle!

 

[Cindylynn]

Shunning is hard when you got all this happening behind you

 

[Henderbird]

Shunning is hard when you got all this happening behind you

He’s beautiful!

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you!

 

[Laurasea]

Shunning is hard when you got all this happening behind you

Ha ha! This is awesome!

 

[Cindylynn]

Oh small world! I’ve lived and grown up with my aunt and uncles harlequin macaw AND an alexandrine! They were wonderful but the harlequin kind of was my aunts listener and just absolutely hated my uncle when she wasn’t looking but would act sort of sweet or tolerant when she was!
Now that I think about it.
Not experience with larger species, but sometimes when it comes to birds playing or interacting with others, especially kids or even people they probably are not fond of, it’s important to keep a watchful eye and supervise when necessary!
My aunt started to supervise more carefully with her macaw and my uncle!

They are hilarious birds. I think he likes my hubby, he will ask Jeff to approach to step up. Then when I'm not looking, bite him. It's like he's messing with him, I don't know. I just know I've gotta get it under control, because if it comes to hubby or bird, hubby wins

 

[Laurasea]

Foraging is so great at diverting energy and keeping occupied. If you haven't tried or seen this is a great video

 

[Cindylynn]

Foraging is so great at diverting energy and keeping occupied. If you haven't tried or seen this is a great video

Thank you!! I'll definitely look into this!