Baby macaw habit, should I worry?

[danadear]

Monkey is about 6-7 months old. She is fully weaned, playful and active. Eats well. I’ve noticed she likes to sit on the cage floor and do the foot to the ear soothing thing they do. Should I be concerned? She perched too and seems fine, it just seems weird.id say she’s down there about 40% of the time.

 

[Macawnutz]

It's a little strange but might be fine. Let's see her cage. Has she always done this?

 

[danadear]

She’s now up on a perch but she does this frequently. I’ve noticed it over the past 2-3 weeks.

 

[danadear]

Also I hope the down spots on her chest are from molting. Gah baby birds are worrisome!

 

[Macawnutz]

These are the things jumping out at me.

-you need a main sleeping perch.
I put mine as high as I can in the back corner of the cage. They feel secure up high.

They also feel more secure being against a wall or close to the corner on a wall.
-I would give her more security either with the wall or a blanket covering a back corner.

The long dowel is not good for their feet and yours is pretty small diameter for her.
- I would get a natural full length perch in a larger diameter for the center perch.

Feathers are patchy, is she molting now? Babies always look a bit rough. Great diets make great feathers. Looking at the food on the floor have room for improvement. Much of that small seed you are feeding is swallowed whole by macaws, they never benefit as it is never digested.

 

[Macawnutz]

I'm also on my phone so tiny pictures. Do you have a rope perch for her?

 

[danadear]

Thank you for the feedback! I feed about 60/40 pellets and Macaw sunburst by Higgins. I’m mixing in a parrot size mix with sunflower seeds. The breeder suggested to do that for a while since she weaned young? She also gets chop. As you can see she throws a lot out of her bowl so I’m never sure how much she gets although when Im with her I see her eating. I will definitely cover the corner of the cage with a blanket. That makes sense. She has a rope boing but not perch. The dowel perch came with the cage, definitely need to get rid of that.
I hope she is molting!

 

[JLcribber]

Mount a "platform" up high so there's a flat surface somewhere other than the floor. My guess is she'll use it.

 

[JLcribber]

The long dowel is not good for their feet and yours is pretty small diameter for her.
- I would get a natural full length perch in a larger diameter for the center perch.

Yup. And a lot more "places" that aren't the floor.

 

[danadear]

Thank you!
I hadn’t thought of a platform. I bet you’re right.

 

[danadear]

Now I'm freaking out about her feathers. Does the blotchiness look typical for a molt or could she be plucking?

 

[Macawnutz]

Now I'm freaking out about her feathers. Does the blotchiness look typical for a molt or could she be plucking?

Babies ALWAYS look awful. Patchy spots are very common. Maui looked as if he had been run over with a lawnmower twice.
@aooratrix

 

[danadear]

Thank you! I haven't had a baby bird in the house in a long time. She's so sweet and I'm scared of something going wrong. Almost like bringing home a newborn human baby!

 

[aooratrix]

Annie and Daffy no sooner grow in new feathers than they ruin them. Daff looks so ratty I'm embarrassed. They'll be beautiful when they're older. Plenty of time for that.

I agree on the perching. Your GW may not be comfortable on the boing, and I agree on that dowel. You need some solid natural wood perches of varying diameters, and a platform might suit her nicely. Plus, she's a baby macaw: they're weird.