New owner, here to read up ;)

[SailorGirl]

Hello, greetings from Illinois. My husband and I recently purchased a baby female greenwing macaw named Sailor and I've been looking around the internet to find out all I can about how to care for her and deal with taming/training her. She's 11 months old, quite feisty still, but fun to have around. A month before we got her I begged my local pet store owners to sell me a funny little dancing green cheek conure that was living in what essentially was a store petting zoo of birds they refuse to sell because they draw in customers. He was in a tiny cage fit for one budgie at best. It took several trips in and a lot of talking, but they finally agreed to sell him to me. So now I have two parrots and 3 little budgies (my daughter's) and I need to learn all I can about what to do for them and with them. I'm here to pick your brains in a non-zombie sort of way Gain knowledge through your wisdom and experience, so to speak. My big girl can be a bit of a terror right now (nothing I can't handle, we know who wears the pants in this family and it's Momma). But we're working on it. I'd love to speak with any long time big mac owners here who can teach me the tricks of the trade. I'd love to hear how you dealt with taming your macs. I did buy training videos, but the pace is super slow at best. We are doing it though. She just started waving yesterday. She loves the clicker/pointer stick. Super excited to see that come out because she knows it means yummy walnut treats

Anyways, looking forward to learning more from any voice of experience. Nice to meet you all!

 

[JosienBB]

I have three conures and a hawkhead parrot

 

[MyAussieFriends]

Hey, you've got five parrots! A parrot's a parrot, no matter how small.

Welcome to the avenue

 

[sunnysmom]

@Hankmacaw @Macawnutz

 

[Mr Peepers]

Welcome to the avenue

 

[expressmailtome]

Welcome, and enjoy the site!

Matt

 

[cassiesdad]

Welcome to you and your flock!

 

[Hankmacaw]

Welcome to AA and congratulations on your new GW girl. You have the opportunity to start her out on a healthy diet and make sure she develops a habit of getting lots of exercise. She should be eating mostly a good pellet (I prefer Harrison's, but there are other good ones). The balance of her diet should be vegetables with small amounts of grains/pasta and even less fruit.

I'm not the greatest behavorist in the world, but I do know that you must patient and not push her past her own pace. Keep in mind that she is a baby and has a short span of attention and needs lots of playtime right now. Patience, patience, patience.

Be assured that even though the small parrots are parrots, the macaws and cockatoos are a different game altogether.

@Holiday @Macawnutz @Macaw Lover @macawpower58
,

 

[macawpower58]

Hi and welcome. Enjoy your baby, nothing's as sweet as a young macaw.

I've had my GW for about 15 years. He was the sweetest and most loving baby and young one.

Play with your baby to make her actions those you'll always want. Sometimes rough play can bite you in the butt later in life. It did me. Teach gentle play now while she's young.

Get her used to being handled (nails, wings, etc..) and keep at it. Same with a harness. Young macaws are pliable and willing. As they mature they can become more boisterous and obnoxious so setting a good pattern now will do you good.

My boy wore a harness and I took him everywhere for years. But one winter I got lazy and stopped putting it on him. Next summer it was a no go. He's not worn it since. So keep working on what you want from your baby.

Teach her towels are fun. As a baby my macaw allowed me to do nails with no problem. I never taught him toweling was OK. When he matured nail trims became a fight, and since I'd never taught him to allow toweling, towels were hated, feared and fought.

Greenwings are awesome, beautiful birds. So smart and love being the center of the family. Raise your baby to be a gentle and sweet adult.

I went through some behavior changes with my baby, first some teen rebellion, then some hormonal issues. Some of these were quite a rough patch, but we got through them. Just be aware the sweet baby you have now will grow up. With a good upbringing and lots of trust and respect between you, any issues that arise through the years, can be gotten through with minimal angst.

 

[Danita]

Welcome to Avian Avenue, we have lots of experienced macaw people here and some that are still learning after 7 years of owning a mac

 

[zoo mom]

Welcome

 

[Clueless]

Welcome

 

[Macaw Lover]

Another GW! Good for you. My Jody is a GW, got her in '89 when she was 4 months old and it is like we are an old married couple, we have gone through so much together.

You start out saying that she is 'quite feisty still'. I have to ask how much experience you have with Macaws, especially a baby. I am not asking that in a bad way, just trying to figure out where you are in seeing that a 11 month old is just that, a baby and if her behavior is just not something you were expecting at this point when you say that she is a 'bit of a terror right now'.

Think of her as this lump of clay that you need to teach and mold into a little sweetie that is taught how much beak pressure she can use before it hurts when she uses her beak. When she is being gentle you praise her and tell her and don't think for one minute she doesn't understand you, even at this point. When she is getting rough, have at the ready a stuffed toy that you can get into her beak, telling her that she just bit too hard, to be gentle and when she calms down allow her to play with you again.

Regarding 'taming tricks', she is not really untame, she is just being a baby who needs her Mama to teach her acceptable behavior in your flock. She is a baby.

 

[Holiday]

Welcome to AA I've always been an advocate of building good habits for the long haul. It takes time and effort, but it pays off in the end. One day at a time-- We will be here to answer questions as they arise.

 

[SandraK]

As for your little greenie @webchirp @Newbie GCC - I'm sure I've forgotten several people - but you can also ask me. Hi! And welcome to AA!

 

[webchirp]

Congrats! I have a bit of experience with the greenies as Sandrak mentioned. First and foremost, do not let the two mix and keep a watch at all times. I know it might seem like common sense but I have had a friend loose her greenie because she didn't realize different beak sizes do not mix. Good diets, foraging, cage sizes and toys can be found here for both of your new babies. Safety first and congrats again!

 

[iamwhoiam]

Welcome to AA.

 

[SailorGirl]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I honestly feel like she's the reverse of every baby macaw I ever saw online or of anyone's I ever talked to so far. She does not really play (she mainly just climbs around and chews stuff up and drops it), she's a bit phobic of random objects (for instance certain basic foot toys scare her and she attacks them like they are the very devil, even hisses at them. Each new thing is a question about whether or not she will be ok with it and what she deems scary gets removed from sight). She lost her marbles the other day when she saw me with a pen! The sight of a towel makes her scream bloody murder. When I change her bowls in the morning she tries to attack my hands but I don't allow her to run me off my duties. She's been phobic of my youngest child (13 years old) and she screams sometimes when she comes near. It makes no sense because she is quiet and calm, and doesn't have an unkind bone in her body. Why she chose her of all people to feel afraid of escapes me completely. She's been handing her nuts in order to create more trust and that does seem to be helping. She used to literally scream loudly when she saw her approach, now she just eye pins for awhile and says HI! kinda loud. "Hi" is her fear word. She does try to run me off especially first thing in the morning when I change her bowls by bluffing and lunging. None of this is play behavior, that much I can tell. She means business, her war feathers are up and she bites the crap out of everything around her sometimes for no reason at all. I'm not trying to touch her or rile her up, I'm just removing bowls and putting in new food/water. I don't know what happened to her where she came from, but I do know nothing bad happens to her here. I don't know why she feels so threatened. Our small victories are due to positive rewards during clicker/target training. I know we have to be patient and work with her and do things on her schedule. Everything takes time and things are still really new a month in. I bought from this place online because I had seen other people with perfectly cuddly birds that came out of there, I don't know what happened to ours to cause her this level of fear and upset defensive behavior. Maybe it was the airplane shipping, don't know. She had a pretty bad rough wing clip and was chewing on her leg band (I had the vet remove it) like she wasn't used to it. I can tell she must have been toweled because she can't stand the sight of them. When we shower her I move the hung up towels out of sight because she hates showers enough as it is without adding her most feared object to the mix, although afterward she gets a little goofy like she feels good and climbs around her enclosure top like a monkey. I don't spray her down in the shower, we put the spray near her and stick our hand under the water stream so that it bounces off us and onto her. We drizzle water over her back and try to get it up under her chest and neck. We try to not traumatize her.

She's finally eating her fresh fruits and veggies pretty well, but detests anything of cooked consistency and won't touch it. I make her a mixed chop of fresh things because right now that's basically all the non-dry food she'll eat. She likes birdy bread a little-as long as I cook it a little more dry. She's on a mixture of Zupreme natural, Harrison's, and Roudybush pellets mixed with Goldenfeast blends. And nuts in the shell, boy she'll do anything for those. I just ordered a bird cookbook called Feathered Faire to learn what more I can make that she might like. She seems to prefer men, I don't care, I love her. I'll do anything I can to get through to her in the end.

So anyway, that's what is going on at the moment. We're working with her, trying to get her anxiety level down. When I said basically that I was the boss and she was being a terror right now, that's why. She tries to bluff me off and out of her enclosure but I won't let her. I have to be able to change dishes and clean the enclosure without getting bit. So when she charges towards me (sometimes she will even climb clear across the 80 inch width of the enclosure from one side to the other to get to me) I won't move away. If she lunges at my hands I ball them up into a fist to protect my fingers and push back at her until she backs off. I'm not mean about it, but I am firm in letting her know she can't run me out.

 

[Clueless]

I bought a bird cookbook from Phoenix Landing. It helped me.

Best of luck with your fellow

 

[SailorGirl]

Congrats! I have a bit of experience with the greenies as Sandrak mentioned. First and foremost, do not let the two mix and keep a watch at all times. I know it might seem like common sense but I have had a friend loose her greenie because she didn't realize different beak sizes do not mix. Good diets, foraging, cage sizes and toys can be found here for both of your new babies. Safety first and congrats again!

Oh don't worry, I don't let my little boy near his very big sister. I would never get him hurt. I adore that bird.