Weird behavior, trying to decifer and figure out how to respond

[Minimaker]

My bird has been acting goofy from the moment she arrived anytime my 13 year old daughter approaches her. She's afraid of her no matter what she offers as a treat. I made a short video of it to ask about it (sorry I'm not familiar with how to make youtube videos and photobucket wouldn't upload my video from my phone for some reason last night):
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv3fgXGKnzg"]Sailor The Greenwing Macaw acting spooked and goofy - YouTube[/ame]

I know her well enough to know this is not playing, this is her fear behavior. Wild eye pinning, her just generally freaking out which gets worse and worse the longer she stands there by her. How should we respond to her when she does this? We would really like my daughter to be able to be around her without her tripping out every time she gets close. She often screams at louder and louder intervals if she stays near her very long. It makes us giggle a little at first because she's acting so goofy, but also alarmed because she has a serious problem with my daughter being near. She doesn't wear anything flashy, her hair is dark blond and shoulder length and she wears it down so no crazy things are on her to cause this reaction. She's nice and kind to her, often offers treats which she takes but quickly moves away after she grabs them from her.

Another thing is towards the end of the video, she tries to bluff because a hand is near her food bowl in the pvc cap. Very minor here in this video, not so much in the morning when I reach in to get her bowls. She puts on a good show of biting everything around her in an attempt to show me how big and tough she is and that I better leave her stuff alone. It would be fine but I get tired of having to fight her off every morning when she tries to attack my hands. We have done nothing to her to cause these reactions, this is how she came to us. I know she needs time to feel at home here, but I need to be able to clean her bowls and add food without her attacking every day. How to handle this, what is the right thing to do? Do I remove her every morning before I start clean up/food changes? That's a whole 'nother battle, so to speak. Do I keep fending her off and wait her out? Try again later? Sometimes we have a tiny confrontation where I am only trying to defend my hand by making it into a fist (in order to tuck in my fingers and keep them safe from her biting). I hold my hand there and wait for her to back off. Afterward she sits there on a perch and won't move for half the day as if I've nearly killed her and she's in recovery from it! Then I worry because she's not eating during that time. She never gets threatened, or struck or anything to cause these responses. So I don't know why she's overreacting to me changing her food and water every day. She acts like I will take it away and she'll never eat again which never ever happens.

I'm sort of a new parent here worrying and wondering if I'm messing everything up with my new baby. Sometimes she is good and steps up, handles a tiny bit of back petting. Other times she acts like she wants our blood. I can't control the beak because she strikes faster than my hand can move and I can't grab it. If she's on me I put her on the floor as instructed by Birdman, but that's not the case when she's in her enclosure where we have this issue every day.

I don't get it. None of the regular things people suggest seem to get through to her. I'm afraid to towel her for feeding/bonding time because she reacts wildly to the sight of a towel. Huge stressor for her. She screams at the top of her lungs if she sees a towel coming near so we just don't do it for any reason. We leave that one to the vet, and her reaction to Sailor screaming at full blast was priceless.

Any ideas?

 

[JerseyWendy]

I'll be honest with you, the ONLY time I saw Sailor 'upset' (or 'bluff' as you called it) was at 1:15 (the time). She very briefly raised her feathers and lunged. But I didn't hear / or see anyone correcting her immediately.

My Ripley makes the identical "HUUUH" sound, along with swiping his beak over objects - that's not aggression or signs of him being nervous though - that's just 'play' and nothing else.

IMO Sailor should have been verbally reprimanded when she did the quick lunge, and when she raised her 'shackles'. On very rare occasions Ripley tries to intimidate me like that, and all I have to do is tell him "nah-aaah" or "knock it off" WHILE I proceed to do whatever it is I'm doing in his cage. I never let him intimidate me. If I did, he would make it a constant 'game'. My husband has finally learned that most of this is all a show, and he'll now respect my hubby as well, and he can take him in and out as he pleases. (And yes, hubby gets 'lunged at' each and every time)

How is Sailor around your daughter when she is out of her cage? I'd suggest taking Sailor into a completely different room and have your daughter handle her there.

 

[Minimaker]

That is what I meant about bluffing, that was the only time when she bluffed during this short video-that was nothing but a reference point for another behavior she does in the mornings that is ten times worse than that. You see nothing of the big stuff in this particular video. This video was meant to show her alarm behavior when my daughter is near and yes that is alarm behavior for this particular bird as anyone here can tell you (my daughter was right in front of her but I kept her out of the camera lens) and I realize that seems mild but it can get much worse to the point of screaming. The rest were questions about when she does go into attack mode in the mornings that wasn't shown in the video. I will video that tomorrow, so you can see that I am not lying about that happening in the mornings when I attempt to change bowls. I need to be more clear when I post a question so as to not confuse my intentions.

 

[Minimaker]

Never mind, I'll learn to deal with it alone. Maybe it'll get better in time. What I was talking about below didn't show in this video at all so no one can understand what I meant in that paragraph.

 

[JerseyWendy]

......

I don't get it. None of the regular things people suggest seem to get through to her. I'm afraid to towel her for feeding/bonding time because she reacts wildly to the sight of a towel. Huge stressor for her. She screams at the top of her lungs if she sees a towel coming near so we just don't do it for any reason. We leave that one to the vet, and her reaction to Sailor screaming at full blast was priceless.

Any ideas?

I 'tried' to provide some, but was shot down immediately.

I'm glad to have been told though that it should have been obvious to everyone that she was clearly showing signs of agitation.

 

[JerseyWendy]

...... but I need to be able to clean her bowls and add food without her attacking every day. How to handle this, what is the right thing to do? Do I remove her every morning before I start clean up/food changes?

Yes, take her out each and every morning before doing any kind of maintenance until she knows how to behave.

That's a whole 'nother battle, so to speak. Do I keep fending her off and wait her out? Try again later? Sometimes we have a tiny confrontation where I am only trying to defend my hand by making it into a fist (in order to tuck in my fingers and keep them safe from her biting)

Don't even let there be a confrontation. Don't fend her off, don't wait it out. Take her out.

I'm sort of a new parent here worrying and wondering if I'm messing everything up with my new baby.

No, you're not messing up, and please don't think that way. You are both learning from each other.

Any ideas?

My 'main' idea is to teach Sailor the UP and DOWN command, so that she will reliably do it for you each time you ask her to.

Best way to teach her is away from her cage, especially since she seems to have claimed that domain already, and is making it a game.

A simple T-Stand (or back of a chair) will suffice to place Sailor on - again, away from the enclosure, preferably in another room. Once she reliably steps up and down for you there, move her closer to her enclosure, and practice there until she does so reliably. Don't worry, this won't stress her as long as you keep calm about it.

 

[JerseyWendy]

One last thing I forgot (which 'may' make a HUGE difference).

If Sailor lashes out when you try and pick her up, pick her up from behind, so she'll have to step backwards onto your arm.

 

[Doublete]

I can't see the video but getting defensive won't help anyone on here help you.

It sounds like she is testing you. And she's winning, I would take Wendy's suggestions and remove her and not allow confrontation.

 

[Luna]

Hello I may be off topice bacause I only skimmed the content. But for what it's worth My wife and I have subjectivley but firmley formed this opinion. Any bird that is hard to hand even if a stick is required to remove from cage will pespond. Tke them into a qquiet rooom and hold them to your body enen if a towel is required at first. EMPATHY is the single best parrot training tool try to think how you would react if you were forced to live alone with creatures larger than spirm wales !

 

[Birdman666]

Never mind, I'll learn to deal with it alone. Maybe it'll get better in time. What I was talking about below didn't show in this video at all so no one can understand what I meant in that paragraph.

That's the thing. It's often just very difficult to diagnose these things if you're not standing there in the room watching it happen... it's the dynamic of the interaction, and the potential triggers.

There are so many variables. Plus with not having played with the bird myself, I can only base it on what MOST of them do, not necessarily what your bird is doing... We can make educated guesses... but that's all it is.

With Maggie, and my daughter, when Maggie tried to bully her, which was a test, and my daughter didn't back down or act intimidated, the behavior simply stopped, and they became friends. My daughter has been around big macs most of her life, and has been handling them since she was five, so she just knows. So the bird never gets the sense that it can get the upper hand with her. And she knows to try and turn it into a game, and how to deflect bites. It just becomes second nature once you've been around them for awhile.

If the bird thinks it can, it just might provoke this sort of behavior. "I have to listen to her. (meaning you) But I'm pretty sure I can push you (meaning your daughter) around all I want."

And if you move tentatively, half speed, pull the arm in and out, that sort of stuff, that generally triggers the testing behaviors right there... "NOT SURE? I AM! GOTCHA!!!" Yeah. It's like an instant recognition thing to a mac. If she isn't approaching with confidence, the bird will just pick up on it immediately. If the bird can get her to back down, he'll keep doing it, until the bird can't get her to back down. Then he won't even try.

We don't know why it is. It's just a macaw thing... "The intimidation game."

Like Wendy, we also use the "Knock it off" command in this household. In fact, Tusk knows that one in context, and if another bird is acting up with him, he can usually get them to back down, by using it (in my voice...)

 

[Birdman666]

And again, if he lunges at me, I'm going to get his beak and push back with a closed bent fist. (You just push on it. No one is advocating any sort of hitting, thank you, just in case someone tries to deliberately misinterpret this advice. You close your hand so he can't latch onto anything.)

If I have the opportunity to get ahold of it with two fingers, I'm gonna hold on and give the no biting command.

Pull forward when they're already leaning forward and lunging and the bird is caught completely off guard, and off balance. He has to take a step or he will fall. Swipe the other arm under his feet as he falls forward. That's "STEP UP! NOW YOU BE NICE..." And you don't let go of the beak until he's calm. And if he tries to "get even" down to the floor he goes, and we are right back to "STEP UP! NOW YOU BE NICE..."

The macaw will take note: THIS PERSON won't put up with that nonsense.

That doesn't stop him from trying to find out what THAT OTHER PERSON will put up with...