Stevie, the Illiger's Macaw

[noblemacaw]

Thank you so much for putting up videos of your Stevie. He is very beautiful with shiny healthy feathers. I can see your relationship with Stevie is going really well. I "think" I saw him stick his tongue in your ear. Such a macaw thing to do. The second video was very adorable. I noticed begging behavior similar to what my RFM Valentino was doing when he was not getting enough to eat. Here is Valentino's begging behavior video.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prVYLnTBhBQ"]Begging behavior short - YouTube[/ame]

It is the fluffy head and wing flip that gets me thinking Stevie wants you to hand feed him. I wonder if you do this would it help your bond with him become stronger. Not that is is not getting stronger with your hard work but I do believe he was displaying begging behavior for his mamma. LOL. I don't know if you know how to hand feed hand rearing formula and he is probably too old for it anyway but it looks as if he might of regressed a bit for you. Maybe try feeding him warm soft food from your fingertips and see if he eats it. He might grab onto the "food" (finger) and pump away which with a macaw can seem kind of violent looking. Hand feeding him might stimulate this behavior. If Valentino grabs a hold of my finger he will hold start pumping away so I have to pull my finger out and distract this behavior. Now that I have the correct pellet for him he has stopped the aggressive begging behavior and does not display the begging but now will only do it when he is being a pest and wants attention.

In the first video where you put the wooden ladder up against the cage and had him crawl into it I was wondering if this was his main cage or a play cage? If that is the cage he spends a great deal of time in then it would be too small. Maybe I didn't see it all but what I did see the size is perfect for a sleeping cage or hospital cage for recuperating. When I was out in California staying with Diego's breeder she has HUGE cages for her pets. Never mind how huge each aviary was for each pair she was breeding. I will never forget after I got Diego's cage all set up and ready to go I wondered if it was big enough. Diego had to be quarantined in my office and I used a small cage simular to yours while he lived in my office. He was young enough where the lack of space didn't seem to bother him and he did not live in the cage very long. When he was moved downstairs He was moved in this.

Most people thought this was OVERKILL for a mini macaw but Diego used every square inch of this giant cage. He was very happy in it and I never had territorial issues with him even after he grew up and began to become sexually mature. Non bird people use to make fun of me. "So where's the parrot? Is he lost in that huge ass cage?" People can be buttheads sometimes. My RFM Valentino lives in this cage now. For my taste he barely is big enough for him. He has to spend 6 to 7 hours a day for independent play while I work in my office. I remind myself my RFM breeder uses these same cages for pets so it IS big enough for him.

I have enjoyed your videos. They were very bittersweet for me to watch because I DO see some of my Diego in there. I miss him very much and I do not have any video of my Illiger's which I regret to this day.

Here is a picture of myself taken in winter 2008 before I was diagnosed with the cancer that spring. I thought you would appreciate the picture of my Diego as he always wanted to be with me and on me.

 

[LiL_Caity413]

 

[noblemacaw]

I so can understand your concerns for the future baby Illiger's from your breeder. In my opinion the Illiger's does not make a good first time parrot for people that do not have experience with parrots. I have had people ask me "the question" and I will never advise some person who never had parrots to go get an Illiger's macaw. It amazyes me this person even has a cites listed species in the first place. I think it is because you don't need a permit or license to breed Illiger's like you have to have with the Queen of Bavaria Golden Conure (my other dream parrot, one I will never have the pleasure of acquiring because no one in my state breeds them)

Since you know how to hand feed babies why not step it back and hand feed Stevie. Re wean him onto the healthy diet YOU want to feed him. Since he is way over hand feeding baby stage what I had to do with my Valentino is I used a coffee grinder to pulverize up his adult pellet (I used Tropican high maintenance parrot sticks because this pellet is what he was weaned on too and eats now. I have pulverized TOPS and even as a powder it kept getting stuck in the syringe where Tropican makes a nice powder that flows nice though the syringe like hand rearing formula) I didn't want to use hand rearing formula for the hand feeding of my TOO OLD MACAW (LOL Valentino turned a year Aug. 12th)) because it was too rich for his age. I now will give him his formula hand feeding maybe once or twice a week as the night before bed comfort feeding. (Other out there reading this please don't flame me for this. There is a long story why I was doing this in the first place.)

By hand feeding him and re-weaning him I see this as a win win situation for helping Stevie with his behavior issues and will help create so much more trust between you. He certainly sounds like he was not weaned properly and you having experience raising babies why not re wean him. With that added trust it will be easier to convert him to the diet you want for him.

Today I had to take my Noble macaw Julio to the clinic for a "fasting" blood draw. I had to cut him off from his food last night and he is a night eater. Julio is 9 years old and this morning did the begging behavior which broke my heart because I knew this parrot was HUNGRY and I had to make him wait. You bet after Dr. Blair drew his blood I put a crock of pellets in front of him and let him go to town. I hand feed him a little bit but he was too hungry to be polite about it. LOL. I was very tempted to whip up some Tropican formula for Julio and try to hand feed him but I thought better of it. He now has his crop full and is happy.

Except for my Eclectus Joaquin every parrot I had never minded being on their backs with me. Here is one of my second favorite picture of Valentino. My fav is his "I'm so sexy" pose. Enjoy the high Awww factor in this pic.

I love this parrot even though he is such a MACAW. In his world preening me includes pulling my hair. *sigh* You gotta love him.

I forgot to say in 2002 I paid $1000 for Diego my Illiger's macaw. His cage was $1700, the flight out there was I think around $350 and of course the well bird checkup was couple of hundred dollars as well. Yep, the cost of getting a baby parrot does not stop with just the cost of the baby. As expensive as parrot keeping is I would never not have them in my life.

 

[Abigal7]

Lil Caity I notice you said you got your bird from a breeder in Missouri. I found a breeder in Missouri on birdbreeders.com she breeds both Hahn's and Illigers macaws. Captain Jack does begging actions sometimes but he has gained weight since he lived under my roof. Thank you for sharing with us. It seems like you and Stevie are bonding. I am sure he will become more confident and sweet.

 

[LiL_Caity413]

 

[LiL_Caity413]

 

[Abigal7]

Lil Caity I notice you said you got your bird from a breeder in Missouri. I found a breeder in Missouri on birdbreeders.com she breeds both Hahn's and Illigers macaws. Captain Jack does begging actions sometimes but he has gained weight since he lived under my roof. Thank you for sharing with us. It seems like you and Stevie are bonding. I am sure he will become more confident and sweet.

Did you get your hahns from her? I got to see one when I was there. I thought he would be okay with me presenting my hand to him since he was hand fed and everything. He stuck his neck out and bit my finger SO hard....uhg. Usually they will warn you with body language, but not those parrots. I actually had to train Stevie to display body language. They won't show it if nobody is respecting it. I wasn't going to say who she was because I don't know if it will break the forum rules by talking about someone like that. If you know who I am talking about, I am interested to hear what other birds have been like when they leave her.

I know it is normal for young macaws to lose some weight when they fledge, with gaining weight that could be because they are young and still growing. Or they weren't eating their solid food enough. I called this lady and asked specifically if she saw him eating the pellets. She said something like "I give them to him for most of the day and add seeds and fruit/veg later, so he would have to eat the pellets before getting the other stuff"....but she wouldn't say "yes I know he ate the pellets because I saw him eating them" when I asked her again more specifically. Well, he only ate seeds for quite a while after coming home and he really freaked out when he didn't have them. Stupid me for trusting someone with good reviews on that site. I recently left an honest review about what Stevie has been like and it never posted. It only posted the one I left right after bringing him home. He was terrible, but then he was nice ONLY while doing that begging thing. Now I know he was just hungry. I want to cry just thinking about her and those parrots.

I can pm you her name or what she calls her aviary if that does not break the rules. I can tell you she has a website. To be honest Captain Jack was shipped and I picked him up at the airport. He wasn't that happy about it but calmed down later on the ride home and climbed onto me. I do not know if we got our birds from the same lady or not. I can tell you that I know she also breeds green cheek conures. But I also know not many breeders breed Illigers macaws. To be honest I never experienced Captain Jack being scared of hands. He even took easily to the aviator harness. He never tried to bite down hard and make me bleed or anything. Right now he has an obsession with nails, mouths and even my glasses. Here is a couple of pics to see if he looks familiar.

 

[Abigal7]

I think I just read your review about Stevie on birdbreeders.com. It seems like both of us got our macaws from her. How old was Stevie when you got him? I remember the first time I talked to her she had a Illigiers macaw available but I decided to wait for a Hahns macaw.

 

[LiL_Caity413]

 

[LiL_Caity413]

 

[Abigal7]

I am sure Stevie will come around eventually. I am glad you are on this forum and it is nice to be in contact with someone that has also bought a bird from her. I never seen her personally so I can not say much about her. I choose her due to her reviews. Captain Jack is the my first macaw. I desired to have a macaw but focused on mini macaws for their smaller size and smaller pricing. I think the Illigiers macaws are the best looking mini macaw and am interested in hearing from people that own them. I worried about Captain Jack regressing when I first got him. I need to watch and make sure he eats his pellets. I do give him almonds and cashews but do not buy any seeds. Kathy from mysafebirdstore flat out advised against feeding seeds and suggested their Bountiful Harvest Blend. I also set out fruit and veggies in the morning. Noblemacaw is full of good advice and I would like to hear the input of other macaw owners since I have heard macaws can be sweet or they can test you, etc. When the breeder was weaning Captain Jack I do remember her telling me that he had such a sweet personality. I will tell you a story when I was first getting into birds and was around 13 years old. My mom decided to buy a green cheek conure (which I named Paulie) for me after my old budgie die. We went to a breeder and picked him up. Long story short he made it a mission to bite my dad as hard as he could on the nose and ear and made him bleed. I ended up being the only one that could handle him. I do not know if the breeder did something, or if the bird was just naturally more incline to be that way. I also do not know if he was encouraged to be that way when I was the only one that would have anything to do with him? My dad, sister etc took no interest in Paulie.

 

[Abigal7]

I think I just read your review about Stevie on birdbreeders.com. It seems like both of us got our macaws from her. How old was Stevie when you got him? I remember the first time I talked to her she had a Illigiers macaw available but I decided to wait for a Hahns macaw.

Ha! Holy cow I think you dodged my bullet. He was hatched in August and I took him home in December. But I really love him, I would just say that he is a very sensitive parrot and needed a considerable amount of extra time and attention to work through his issues.

I think it might be a different Illigers macaw (not sure). I think I first talked to her early 2013. She said she had one Illigers macaw available (the people that were originally going to get him/her had to back out since one of them was going in for surgery etc). But it would be ironic if Stevie was the macaw she was talking about. I think you are doing good with Stevie and he seems to be making progress.

 

[noblemacaw]

Abigal I remember talking to you about Illiger's and Noble macaws when you were researching about your next parrot. I do love to talk about my boys and tell stories of them but I also like to share what it is like to live with those kind of mini macaws. As I told Caity413 I believe Illiger's are not the best parrot for a person who has never had a parrot before and does not have the experienced needed. I felt you would be able to do just fine with one. With Cait's experience she also would have no problems.....with a normal Illiger's.

Caity413 - you really have done wonders with Stevie's problems and I can see you really love that little freak. I know in time he will behave more like a normal Illiger's and will form a strong bond with you. He already has come such along way with you. When I watch your videos I think about my Diego because I miss him so much. I see a lot of my boy in your Stevie. I can't help but see it.

I don't believe in dominating a parrot. I don't understand why I would need to do that. You gain acceptance with mutual respect and deal with the problems with common sense. If treated well the parrot will eventually like you. Yes, sometimes even with the best care and treatment a parrot might not always like you but someone else but that is what you take with living with such an intelligent creature.

I have always touched the beaks. Not really "rubbing" it but mostly to work on the beak to help manage it. Pick dried up foods off it or help peel off flaky beak parts. I also touch the tongue. It has been my experience that touching/petting the tongue calms them. My parrots seemed to like the tongue being touched and the picking I did on their beaks. By touching and working on their beaks and tongues it give me liberty to be able to inspect the inside of their mouths so I can keep check on it.

I need to be able to touch my parrot anywhere on his body so I able to inspect them and check them. The only parrot I am not able to do this with is Julio. He has bonded to Lupe and will bite me to draw blood. This Noble is so unlike my Mihijo but I never expected him to be. We rescued him because he needed a home no one wanted him because he is plucked. I am happy he accepts Lupe and maybe in time will learn to accept me too.

If you want to talk more about Illiger's I will always be willing to share my experiences with Diego and my knowledge of this species. I love the Illiger's macaw but cannot bring myself to get another one.

 

[LiL_Caity413]

 

[noblemacaw]

Back when I was looking into the Illiger's macaw I probably use to have links to all sorts of information. My breeder had information about them in the wild because she was a conservationist working in a program to help propagate them. I am sure back in 2002 I probably had the information and links to stuff. Needless to say that was two computer systems ago.

I think it wonderful you want to know how the Blue Wing or Illiger's macaw are in the wild. I know from experience this helps the person understand their favorite species better. I learned a lot about the RFM though my breeder...things that surprise me about the RFM. Now I know why they are so weird. LOL.

I am sorry I am of no help to you. What I have noticed of late is either is it harder to find information about a favorite species or there just is not much out there anymore.

 

[Abigal7]

I am sure Stevie will come around eventually. I am glad you are on this forum and it is nice to be in contact with someone that has also bought a bird from her. I never seen her personally so I can not say much about her. I choose her due to her reviews. Captain Jack is the my first macaw. I desired to have a macaw but focused on mini macaws for their smaller size and smaller pricing. I think the Illigiers macaws are the best looking mini macaw and am interested in hearing from people that own them. I worried about Captain Jack regressing when I first got him. I need to watch and make sure he eats his pellets. I do give him almonds and cashews but do not buy any seeds. Kathy from mysafebirdstore flat out advised against feeding seeds and suggested their Bountiful Harvest Blend. I also set out fruit and veggies in the morning. Noblemacaw is full of good advice and I would like to hear the input of other macaw owners since I have heard macaws can be sweet or they can test you, etc. When the breeder was weaning Captain Jack I do remember her telling me that he had such a sweet personality. I will tell you a story when I was first getting into birds and was around 13 years old. My mom decided to buy a green cheek conure (which I named Paulie) for me after my old budgie die. We went to a breeder and picked him up. Long story short he made it a mission to bite my dad as hard as he could on the nose and ear and made him bleed. I ended up being the only one that could handle him. I do not know if the breeder did something, or if the bird was just naturally more incline to be that way. I also do not know if he was encouraged to be that way when I was the only one that would have anything to do with him? My dad, sister etc took no interest in Paulie.

I chose to get a bird from her because of her reviews as well. I believe she is a good person and she cares about the birds, which is why I am not going out of my way to trash her name. I think she might have some problems with some of the parrots, like Stevie, because she gets a lot of advice from other breeders. Like I don't think she has any bad intentions, just a limited understanding of behavior from the viewpoint of parrot trainers or people who study behavior in a scientific setting. I guess when you breed enough parrots over time, there is guaranteed to be some odd balls and some people don't know how to adjust to the indivdual, rather they try to make that individual adjust to them. I think that is what happened with Stevie, after I spent some time digging up info and found that many of her parots do just fine.

I agree with everything you said. While I never seen her in person I did get the idea she is a person that has a busy life. Hopefully, tab will read this topic and tell you how Fargo was like when she first got him. Tab loves animals and has a gift of training animals. While I can not speak for everyone Fargo the Blue and Gold macaw is kind of the mascot bird on here (same as Mishka). Of course this forum is full of beautiful even friendly birds. Fargo can do a lot of tricks but Tab has told us how Fargo did not at first like anyone not even his breeders or the person that weaned him. They were worried about Tab not being able to handle him and thought she would do better with a female macaw. In the end Fargo's breeders are impressed with the progress he has made. Captain Jack is pretty easy going and I have a feeling Noblemacaw would say he reminds her alot of Mihijo. I try not to annoy him but I am lucky that though he (for example) may be annoyed with the harness he decides to tolerate it and sees that it is not that bad.

 

[tab_xo]

Wow that was a lot of reading hahaha

From what i saw in the video, Stevie definitely trusts you.. If they play upside down getting scritches, thats a sign that he is bonded and trusts you!

How often is he aggressive, is it actual full on biting? Or just nips?

How long have you had him for? and he obviously has improved alot since you got him?


Our situations are a little different, Fargo is not aggressive, he doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, he even tries to care for my baby possum, he is so gentle and caring!

When i went and saw him at the breeders, he just flew away, and hid in corners and out of reach where no one could grab him..

and when the breeders tried to handle him, he would flap and try and get loose!!

But he never tried to bite or get angry!

Out of about 15 babies, he was the only boy though, and i only wanted a boy, and the breeders kept showing me these females saying- look how friendly these are! Get one of these!!!!! haha
Then told my mum he really doesnt think Fargo should be my choice, because he will never be 'cuddly'

and they all nicknamed him 'Feral' and thought maybe he would be just better as a breeder, rather than a pet... and also said he probably wouldnt be able to be harness trained, cause he hated the harness!

For the whole year i have had Fargo, he has never once been aggressive to me! He never bites, he never eye pins, he has been perfect!

He even went to the vets during the week and the vet said he is so much healthier and happier from when i first got him!

Here was the first time we saw him, all the other macaws were sitting on their perches, getting scritches and food...
and then there was Fargo..


Then the second time we saw him, he just flew to the top of the curtain and wouldn't come down hahahaha



And now..







Somersaulting



Flying


Here is a little video haha
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPwvPhBTNAI&feature=youtu.be"]Fargo the most amazing bird! - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXQ4cHD2F6o"]Fargo the macaw sticking tongue out, somersaulting and rolling over! - YouTube[/ame]

Like you, i spend all day with Fargo, his cage is open, he plays on all his play gyms!

But we did do a lot of training to start with.. Hence he knows all his tricks... because he LOVES to learn, he enjoys learning a new trick, he gets so excited..

Trick training is probably what made our bond so strong, so give it a go..

When Stevie is in one of his excited grumpy moods, get his favourite food, and ask him to wave hands!

That way it will use his energy.. They need stimulation and have to THINK and use their brains!

I am not sure how else to help, because from what i see you already have a mutual trust with each other, and he obviously LOVES spending time with you!
Where as Fargo didn't enjoy interaction until he began to trust me, and bond with me! It took 3 days before Fargo would come near me.. and then after that the bond was set and he loved me!

I truly think he just needed a special someone to show him to trust and spend time with him, which the breeders couldnt give that much time...
Even though he took a little longer to trust compared to the other babies that were there, he has the biggest amount of love to give back!



The only advice i can give is try trick training, or flying outside ! It might help his moods and make him calmer and at peace hahaha

Good luck!

 

[LiL_Caity413]

 

[LiL_Caity413]

 

[MonicaMc]

It's a fabulously sized cage!!!!!

How does Stevie think about it? Any changes in behavior or is he taking it all in stride?