rescued a scarlet macaw yesterday

[mille806]

My fiance and I rescued a scarlet macaw yesterday and named him red! The place we got him had him in a tiny little cage and he has practically no feathers except his long tail featherd and some of his wing feathers but even those are shredded....he has a vets appointment on friday to make sure he is okay and to get him on a strick diet. He has been really good last night and this morning, I am currently at school right now and my fiance got he and was giving him treats and rubbing him, he loves his beak rubbed! But my fiance told me he nipped at him, drew a little bit of blood but not too much. .so I was wondering if anybody had any advice...Red does seem mpre attached to me but at the same time he really liles my fiance as well...he likes us as much as he can for not knowing us, yet he seems like hes getting more and more comfortable. I know we need to goving him time of coruse and just keep giving him attention, but wondering one some advice to help him trut and get used to us so he doesnt bite..thank you guys, any and all advice helps

 

[Van.Diemen]

He looks to be in poor feather by those pic's you've posted. I'm sure he'll turn into a beautiful bird with some TLC. Amazing birds they are!

I'm not going to pretend to have droves of personal experience with the initial steps towards acclimatising a bird (although I have experience with many other creatures) to a new home as I have none! But I know what's worked for other people I know and I now that most of the advice I've read points towards giving the bird a chance to settle down in it's new home without somebody poking and prodding at it. Birds have tremendous lifespans and if done calmly and in due course there will be plenty of time for 'hands on' with your new bird. I don't think the next day is the best time to be touching a bird that has previously been neglected. He'll be nervous and understandably lashing out at new things and I wouldn't risk the chance of starting bad behaviour patterns.

Just my 2 cents. Hope it works out!

 

[Chesphoto]

Congratulations and thank you for rescuing a scarlet.

I'm not an expert, I've only been volunteering at a shelter for about 10 months now and adopted a scarlet in May. So, I can only share my limited experience.

Everyone always say scarlets are nippy and Skittles loves to prove them right... She is improving and becoming more beaky and less nippy. Not sure of the difference? One is a lot less painful.

I'm not sure if it is true with all scarlets, but Skittles is a one person bird and very jealous of my wife. It is strange, she always seeks out the attention of her, by talking or dancing for my wife, but if my wife gets too close, chomp...

Since your scarlet is letting both of you handle him, try to keep that up every day. I take skittles out to public places a few times a week and let everyone gently pet her back while I pet/hold her head. She seems to love the attention.

Building trust takes time, for both of us. We are now at the point that we read each other pretty well. She knows that I really don't like being pinched and I'm getting good at figuring out what she want. Enjoy the time you spend together while you figure these things out, its a lot of fun.

Good luck, and if I can be any help, let me know.

Tom

 

[Blueridge]

Welcome to the forum, congratulations on Red, and thanks for choosing to adopt!

All birds will nip every once in a while. Even humans have their grumpy days.. But it's way understandable for your macaw to be a little nervous since you just got him. I wouldn't be worried about it. He seems to really like you guys already, so you gotta be doing somethin right!

Just a tip: Try to not act scared when he nips at you, parrots can sense fear and will use it against you. They are like evil geniuses haha. I'm serious. Parrots will probably take over the world one day. :11:

I honestly don't have much of any experience with macaws myself, I've just learned what I know from reading on the forums. So trust me, if you stay on here you will learn A LOT!

But overall I think you guys are doing just fine.

Good luck and happy holidays! :emoticonc

 

[mille806]

Thank you guys for your comments, Red is doning better and betyer everyday, when we first got him he was in a cage way too small, his feather on his chest, back, and legs were completely gone, and he had chewed on his wing feathers to the point that they looked like someone shredded them...we have only had him snice sunday afternoon and we have not seen him pull a feather out, just keeps cleaning himself. He has a vet appointment tomorrow morning though and I am a bit worried that he might get nervous, we have only been able to rub his beak for a couple seconds until he nips with a warning, but thats anotjer thing that I think will take time, I am worried that the progress of him liking us around will get affrcted withoving him to the vet office

 

[FunnyFarmAK]

Patience is the key. Let Red choose how and when to make contact and what form it takes. You open his door and be non threatening by not approaching suddenly. He already sounds very approachable which is a big bonus early in a rehome. Build trust, and don't show fear... These friends of ours pick up on our emotions better than we think. You are on the right track keep it up.

 

[mille806]

Thank you, we have some great news! Got all the blood work back from the vet and everything came back good, the only thing is he had a low protein level but that was from the malnutrition....in the morning the other day he woke up and couldnt see me over my fiancé so he climbing as high as he could in his cage and looked over him at me, my fiancé and I laughed in excitement. .here are some pictrues of him yesterday he has grow majority of his chest feathers back, still has a couple more and the bald spot is not truely bald but molting grey feathers :red:

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

He looks so much better, poor baby. So happy he is on the road to recovery.

 

[Lintini]

Congrats, he looks like a total sweetie! Is there anyway you can put that perch up higher so his tail won't be bent? I'm sure that can't be comfortable.

Thank you for taking in this baby that needs a much better home! I am so looking forward to learning more about him and his antics with your family!!!

 

[GaryBV]

I can't wait to see his pictures in a month ! Nothing like love, a good proper diet and some TLC to bring out his best. He's impressive now, no doubt soon he will be magnificient

 

[MomtoPercy]

Awww, how lucky Red is to have found a good home! Can't wait to see his improvement in a few months

 

[MikeyTN]

Scarlets are known to be nippy yes and please don't force the issue to get onto a strict diet right now since he haven't been with you that long yet. You can offer, but don't push it! Let him have what he wants for the time being then start changing after a month or so. Since you got him from a small cage, the one you have him in isn't big enough really. He needs a tall cage with a thicker perch then the one he's got and where his tail feathers isn't bent against the bottom of the grate or poking against the sides of the cage while perching. Some extra wood toys for him to destroy would be very helpful against the plucking issue and such! Some bathing would do him some good as well. You'd be amazed how much better he would look after a bath. A Scarlet is one of the macaws on my list, if someone were to give me a Scarlet I would take it in a heart beat.

 

[mille806]

Just so everyone can see the progress this was a pictrue only five days after we rescued himand the pictrue that was recently posted was two weeks after owning red...we have a new cage coming from ebay that we just bought that is longer, and we bathe him with a bird bath shampoo spray because he does not want to shower yet, I believe it is because he needs a little bit more trust with us, last night he was getting really excited when I was playing and singing Disney songs for him ...and he has one really big wood toy with a bell on it, and smaller one, and the toy that is in the pictrues we move them around for him so he doesnt get too bored with them though!!! I should have posted this picture of him prior so the difference would be seen, but now is better then never and we are extremely excited of the difference, so guys the first picture is 5 days after we got him, then the second picture is two weeks after we got him s what do you guys think? And the parts in the second picture are not bald they are the grey molting feathers sorry the lighting was bad when the picture was taken

 

[MikeyTN]

He's looking better as he is growing his breast feathers back.