Bringing home a macaw.

[Skrub04]

How long will the 5pound bag last?

 

[Hankmacaw]

It's hard to say. He should have pellets available to him at all times, so it will depend on how much else he is fed and if he is a good eater or not. I'd say at the least 2 months.

I just noticed that there is a cockatiel in your avatar. Cockatiels are dusty birds and there is a disease called Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrone that B&G are especially sensitive to. One of the first things you will want to buy is an air purifier and you won't want to keep you cockatiel and macaw near one another. Several owners on this forum have lost their bird to PHS.
Please read. Winged Wisdom Pet Bird Magazine - Respiratory Diseases in Macaws - Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrome

Macaws have particularly sensitive respiratory systems and care must be taken. They are from the rain forests where the air is washed constantly and there is very little dust.

 

[Just-passn-thru]

I agree my husband a trucker so he is 6 days and off one I know he will enjoy coming home and spoiling him rotten. Lol

My husband works alot of overtime also.
It's exciting to say the least .They are beautiful and a lifetime commitment . They thrive in a family that can give the nessary time involved in the high maintenance.

 

[Skrub04]

Ok thank you and ya I read about that but they mostly talked about the larger cockatoo so I thought I was safe but they wont be in the same room and I have an air purifier that I got when I got my little guy.

 

[melissasparrots]

If he's freshly weaned, he should be eating the same things that the pet store is feeding him. Same brand, same size, same formula as what he is used to. If they are feeding him one pellet and you get him home and feed him a different brand of pellet, that can spell trouble for a freshly or even just recently weaned baby. You can introduce new foods just fine, but make sure he can have free access to everything he's used to at the pet store as well. No matter what you think about how awesome some new diet is for him, if he doesn't easily recognize it as food immediately, he can go downhill fast.

 

[Skrub04]

If that's the case then ill keep him on the lafebers pellets and maybe once he settles in I can try adding a little bit of the other brand to see if he will try it. I don't want to stress him out more than necessary.

 

[Chopper]

Congratulations on your baby.

 

[Skrub04]

 

[iamwhoiam]

Congrats.

 

[Animallover03]

Congrats! Your B&G is beautiful!!

 

[Skrub04]

 

[galah!]

he looks like a real sweetheart!!!

 

[Rolanda]

Unless someone else has any objections: I am a big proponent of mixing it up with food if you can. Once you get him home & settled and are ready to try some pellets try a little bit of this and a little bit of that with him. Harrison's can get quite expensive, you're feeding one BIG BEAK there. Nothing wrong with some Lafabres and some Harrison's sometimes.
They LOVE Avicakes. I'm not the greatest fan of it because of the molasses. But I use the Pellet and Nutri Berries off and on, as well as Roudybush and Tops.

 

[Cat The Great]

Congrats! He is so cute!

 

[Skrub04]

Unless someone else has any objections: I am a big proponent of mixing it up with food if you can. Once you get him home & settled and are ready to try some pellets try a little bit of this and a little bit of that with him. Harrison's can get quite expensive, you're feeding one BIG BEAK there. Nothing wrong with some Lafabres and some Harrison's sometimes.
They LOVE Avicakes. I'm not the greatest fan of it because of the molasses. But I use the Pellet and Nutri Berries off and on, as well as Roudybush and Tops.

Ya someone else also said to wait as well and I dont stress him out, so they have him eating the Lafabres pellets so I will stick to that for a while and if later on I decided to change to the Harrison I will try mixing it in and seeing if he eats it.

 

[Rolanda]

Harrison's is GREAT, don't get me wrong, one of the BEST! My, personal, pocket book cringes at thinking of feeding it as the sole pellet for my babies. Not that they don't deserve it, mind you... but ... Okay, I'll quit apologizing. I think I've belabored the point enough. Your baby is gorgeous

 

[Skrub04]

Haha I totally understand what your saying and thank you

 

[melissasparrots]

Ya someone else also said to wait as well and I dont stress him out, so they have him eating the Lafabres pellets so I will stick to that for a while and if later on I decided to change to the Harrison I will try mixing it in and seeing if he eats it.

Make sure to get a gram scale and watch his weight. Start out for a couple days with no changes at all what so ever in what you are offering him. Feed him exactly like the store did. If possible even the same style of bowls. He will probably loose a surprising amount of weight in the first 24 hours that you get him home. By day 3 his weight should be stabilizing. When you start to see he weight come back up to gain back what he lost from the stress of the first few days home, then you can start very slowly pushing him to eat whatever you want him to eat. Harrison's is a great pellet, but a lot of my birds don't like it. I simply could not get my macaw to eat it. Even pushing her hard with a mature bird, she'd refuse to eat and lose an unacceptable amount of weight rather than eat Harrison's. Its worth a shot because if you can get your bird to eat it, its a great pellet. But if he simply doesn't like it and a few months of offering it alongside the Lafabres doesn't work, you can still have a healthy bird with other pellets too. Honestly, I think a major component to a healthy bird has less to do with what pellet you choose and more to do with the fruits, veggies and cooked or sprouted grains you get him to eat. Again, no changes until you start to see the weight come back up and even then, offer, but don't force. I'd do just a sprinkle of whatever the new food is over the top of the old food. So if he wants to eat only the old food and pitch the new stuff on the floor, he can do that without loosing weight or getting so hungry that he regresses into baby mode and then you have a potentially dangerous hassle on your hands. You can be more forceful in a few months about getting him to switch to a different diet, but even then you still have to watch weight and its still a slow transition. And before pushing any new diet, you want to make sure the baby is stable and very secure in his new home.