Weaning tips? :)

[Batboy94]

Hello fellow parrot lovers

I need some tips and pointers for a smooth weaning process. She is a 4 1/2 month old Camelot macaw.. Super smart and very bright little girl.. But she at the age where she is wasting lots of her food.. if you have any tips to help the process go a little smoother that would be great.. Or any ideas on how to encourage her to wean, that also would be great!

Thank you!
- Brayden

 

[MikeyTN]

You can offer soft food, there's others in the forum right now doing the same thing with weaning their macaw with soak pellets and baby food. At 4 and a half month is still pretty young yet as they sometimes tend to wean a bit later. I personally wouldn't push the issue and keep on handfeeding. But I did have a baby tiel played me for a fool as I handfed that baby for over 6 months....I have never handfed a baby tiel that long before...But I rather be a fool then to lose the baby to malnutrition or starvation....Just be patient through the process....Even as adults, sometimes they will waste food on purpose, I watch my Cockatoos throw their food out to get attention and I do mean wasting the whole bowl of pellets. We throw away a lot of pellets....

 

[Vdavis0789]

I am just wondering ..I have a B&G macaw and I noticed ur baby is already weaned. my baby is 7 1/2 months old and is not weaned yet. Is there any tips you can offer? When was your baby eating mostly on his own? What tricks did you use?Thanks-

 

[Doves1]

I don't know if it's going to work yet or not but the breeder I got my Scarlet from gave me the suggestion of while your hand feeding let the baby see you prepare the food. Currently I'm feeding softened Tropican Parrot Pellets mixed with baby food of various kinds. He sees the hard Tropican pellets go in water to soften and then go into the blender and get mushed before it's fed to him. He's starting to look to the pellets and try to eat them now.

 

[Batboy94]

@Vdavis0789- I'm sorry but my baby isn't weaned yet... but I what I have been doing is offering food food after I get done hand feeding, she plays and expeirments with it but hardly really eats some... but so far that is all I have been doing..

@MikeyTN- Thank you so much for that bit of info! I know im not supposed to rush to weaning process. Just let her do it all herself. At what age do macaws uasally wean?

 

[Doves1]

@MikeyTN- Thank you so much for that bit of info! I know im not supposed to rush to weaning process. Just let her do it all herself. At what age do macaws uasally wean?

The age a Macaw weans is all dependant on what type of Macaw it is, Hyacinths can take up to 1-2 years to wean where Scarlets take around 8 months

 

[MikeyTN]

Since Camelot Macaw is a hybrid of Scarlet and Catalina, then it should be a lot like a Scarlet weaning time, but each individual bird is different so weaning time varies from bird to bird. Some babies just weans earlier then others while others takes a bit longer. Willie's previous momma told me it took her over 9 months to wean him.

 

[Big Blues]

Our Blue Throat, Mango, came to us at 5 months and was suppose to be weaned but he wasn't and he didn't fully wean until 10 months. I wouldn't rush weaning, they mentally do better if they are weaned on their own time.

 

[Batboy94]

Thank you guys all so much for all the helpful info you guys have given me! I know that I shouldnt rush this process.. but everyone says that this long evenful time pays off. lets hope this is true because I plan to never give her up... I heard the satistics that a large parrots go through 12 homes during their lives... I dont want her do be one of them satistcs.. but was just a ramble... thank you guys again