- Joined
- 6/15/18
- Messages
- 33
- Real Name
- Linda
Hello all. I will put some background here so that you can understand the direction of my question with behavior.
I have a 3 year old blue and gold macaw that I truly believe is not only lucky to be alive but I feel he will bear emotional scars for his whole life from the things he lived through.
Let me give you some background on him. his name is Harvey. A friend of mine who had never owned a bird but wanted one, got him and finished weaning him as he was hand fed. Though C tried, he missed a few essential steps in Harvey's training. I moved in with him and his first wife (he is like a little brother to me). I worked just a little with Harvey after I would work with and play with my cockatoo, but he was already snappy and only c could touch him.
C divorced. I moved. C married again. Over a year passed.
C divorced. January. Harvey was taken to his moms house. She is terrified of Harvey. At this point it was 3 months before I moved in and started working with Harvey every day.
Back to January. Harvey just got dropped off and hasn't seen c again. The one time he heard him on speaker phone, Harvey threw a screaming fit that lasted an hour.
He would sit huddled in his cage and only vocalized by screaming and yelling shut up.
The first time I came over to the house after he moved in, it had been a year since I had seen him.
I found out the exwife had been doing a lot to terrorize Harvey when c was gone. (Not an excuse. He should have seen, and cared for Harvey too so I blame him in part for the negligence as well). First I noticed the huge pile of feces in the grate and cage pan. I gave the cage to c to use and it was in perfect condition when I saw it a year before. Both front legs are bent now, the latch is broken, the toys and perches were missing as well. (I left them in the cage too). Harvey had 1 ring about 8 inches around and the diameter of my pinky to sit on and a small 6 inch long perch. The stainless steel bowls stained are black.
Harvey did nothing but scream and snap, lunging and very territorial. Not like a macaw will often test a person type lunge. This was get away anger and fear.
I let him out and he almost would not get out of the cage. I scrubbed the cage and so on and I ended up having to use a towel to put Harvey back in.
Now let me tell you the things I have learned since. 1. Mom caught wife slamming cage into the wall. 2. She saw the kids spraying the bird and when she asked what they were doing, they said "mommie does it all the time. She will spray him and just keep spraying him" with a stream spray not a mist. 3. His cage was put in a room and he was left covered. 4. The cage has dents and strangely broken bars. (He is terrified of things like brooms) After I moved in and started working with Harvey. He started talking again. And screaming. He imitates the cockatoo I used to have, he says hi Harvey, and shut up, I hate you, dam* f-×#$@ bird, shut the _ up, what are you doing, bad bird, and no no Harvey. He does scream like a woman and say ouch and I have to say it's one of the few times I hope someone got bitten.
Fast forward to now, it's been 4 months since I moved in. He gets out every day. Now on good food he has dropped feathers and replaced them. He has learned that he can get a mist bath now and seems to even be liking them. He does talk more, I have only had him on my arm twice at this point when he ended up on the floor. He did test me and then bit me, but not horribly. He is no longer rushing over like he is going to chew your arm off if you get near the cage, I am introducing the clicker as he seems to love banana chips. He will act like he wants to be petted by putting his back to the bars but then turn and bite. He will put his head down but then snap and bite his leg or nails. Sometimes he screams. I walk away if he screams. He will click his beak and sometimes bite toys, cage or his leg during interaction. He is starting to put his foot up for play (tickle foot) and act like he is interested in peekaboo and body gestures like bobbing. He takes treats now most of the time without biting. We ignore screaming and reward positive behavior. If he talks (other than cursing and so on) he gets spoken back to. He of course now has toys, chew items, forage things and perches and a variety of treats and food.
I will be taking him to the vet very soon about a few other concerns, (he seems clumsy and falls more than I think is normal during play) and again in September to get a health certificate before we move to new Mexico. He was outside the kitchen when he lived with the wife and all the cookware was non stick. He is a very lucky bird to be here but I worry about any lingering problems. Now he is very active and moves and plays like I expect a young macaw to do. He can still be very afraid of new things and reticent about change but there are many positive changes.
He does pull some feathers on his inside leg but not excessively. He also screams out of the blue for no reason, it's not a contact call and not even that I am king of the jungle normal macaw yell, it's a fear or anger shriek.
Sometimes he will yell once then wait then immediately say hi Harvey. He knows he gets a reply for a hi Harvey.
My parents raised birds and we had quite a few parrots and macaws as pets as well. I see positive changes but I also wonder if there more I can do.
I do plan on Harvey never being rehomed and even if he doesn't decide I am his person I still want to get him to a handleable point. He will get a new cage in October when we move and I have an aviator harness that I would like to be able to allow him flight (he has never flown-he used to walk all over with chris dogs).
Last night we had extinction burst type behavior, then agression. I never know whether I will get interested in people bird or angry at the world bird.
So questions, I am wondering if hemp oil will help him any. He will let me touch him about 10 seconds at this point then he bites. I have had him on kings, sshh for 2 months and it does seem to help the anxiety - of course he also sees that no one here will hurt him. He exhibits head down ruffled feathers, puts his back to cage bars, and is greeting me more but sometimes even just when I stop on my way by and say hi he will suddenly bite his leg and scream. I have had macaws before, the main scream he does is something learned and not quite a natural bird yell. I expect noise as a macaw certainly is not quite but I am getting to where it seems I get no where with behaviors. Thanks in advance for and information!
I have a 3 year old blue and gold macaw that I truly believe is not only lucky to be alive but I feel he will bear emotional scars for his whole life from the things he lived through.
Let me give you some background on him. his name is Harvey. A friend of mine who had never owned a bird but wanted one, got him and finished weaning him as he was hand fed. Though C tried, he missed a few essential steps in Harvey's training. I moved in with him and his first wife (he is like a little brother to me). I worked just a little with Harvey after I would work with and play with my cockatoo, but he was already snappy and only c could touch him.
C divorced. I moved. C married again. Over a year passed.
C divorced. January. Harvey was taken to his moms house. She is terrified of Harvey. At this point it was 3 months before I moved in and started working with Harvey every day.
Back to January. Harvey just got dropped off and hasn't seen c again. The one time he heard him on speaker phone, Harvey threw a screaming fit that lasted an hour.
He would sit huddled in his cage and only vocalized by screaming and yelling shut up.
The first time I came over to the house after he moved in, it had been a year since I had seen him.
I found out the exwife had been doing a lot to terrorize Harvey when c was gone. (Not an excuse. He should have seen, and cared for Harvey too so I blame him in part for the negligence as well). First I noticed the huge pile of feces in the grate and cage pan. I gave the cage to c to use and it was in perfect condition when I saw it a year before. Both front legs are bent now, the latch is broken, the toys and perches were missing as well. (I left them in the cage too). Harvey had 1 ring about 8 inches around and the diameter of my pinky to sit on and a small 6 inch long perch. The stainless steel bowls stained are black.
Harvey did nothing but scream and snap, lunging and very territorial. Not like a macaw will often test a person type lunge. This was get away anger and fear.
I let him out and he almost would not get out of the cage. I scrubbed the cage and so on and I ended up having to use a towel to put Harvey back in.
Now let me tell you the things I have learned since. 1. Mom caught wife slamming cage into the wall. 2. She saw the kids spraying the bird and when she asked what they were doing, they said "mommie does it all the time. She will spray him and just keep spraying him" with a stream spray not a mist. 3. His cage was put in a room and he was left covered. 4. The cage has dents and strangely broken bars. (He is terrified of things like brooms) After I moved in and started working with Harvey. He started talking again. And screaming. He imitates the cockatoo I used to have, he says hi Harvey, and shut up, I hate you, dam* f-×#$@ bird, shut the _ up, what are you doing, bad bird, and no no Harvey. He does scream like a woman and say ouch and I have to say it's one of the few times I hope someone got bitten.
Fast forward to now, it's been 4 months since I moved in. He gets out every day. Now on good food he has dropped feathers and replaced them. He has learned that he can get a mist bath now and seems to even be liking them. He does talk more, I have only had him on my arm twice at this point when he ended up on the floor. He did test me and then bit me, but not horribly. He is no longer rushing over like he is going to chew your arm off if you get near the cage, I am introducing the clicker as he seems to love banana chips. He will act like he wants to be petted by putting his back to the bars but then turn and bite. He will put his head down but then snap and bite his leg or nails. Sometimes he screams. I walk away if he screams. He will click his beak and sometimes bite toys, cage or his leg during interaction. He is starting to put his foot up for play (tickle foot) and act like he is interested in peekaboo and body gestures like bobbing. He takes treats now most of the time without biting. We ignore screaming and reward positive behavior. If he talks (other than cursing and so on) he gets spoken back to. He of course now has toys, chew items, forage things and perches and a variety of treats and food.
I will be taking him to the vet very soon about a few other concerns, (he seems clumsy and falls more than I think is normal during play) and again in September to get a health certificate before we move to new Mexico. He was outside the kitchen when he lived with the wife and all the cookware was non stick. He is a very lucky bird to be here but I worry about any lingering problems. Now he is very active and moves and plays like I expect a young macaw to do. He can still be very afraid of new things and reticent about change but there are many positive changes.
He does pull some feathers on his inside leg but not excessively. He also screams out of the blue for no reason, it's not a contact call and not even that I am king of the jungle normal macaw yell, it's a fear or anger shriek.
Sometimes he will yell once then wait then immediately say hi Harvey. He knows he gets a reply for a hi Harvey.
My parents raised birds and we had quite a few parrots and macaws as pets as well. I see positive changes but I also wonder if there more I can do.
I do plan on Harvey never being rehomed and even if he doesn't decide I am his person I still want to get him to a handleable point. He will get a new cage in October when we move and I have an aviator harness that I would like to be able to allow him flight (he has never flown-he used to walk all over with chris dogs).
Last night we had extinction burst type behavior, then agression. I never know whether I will get interested in people bird or angry at the world bird.
So questions, I am wondering if hemp oil will help him any. He will let me touch him about 10 seconds at this point then he bites. I have had him on kings, sshh for 2 months and it does seem to help the anxiety - of course he also sees that no one here will hurt him. He exhibits head down ruffled feathers, puts his back to cage bars, and is greeting me more but sometimes even just when I stop on my way by and say hi he will suddenly bite his leg and scream. I have had macaws before, the main scream he does is something learned and not quite a natural bird yell. I expect noise as a macaw certainly is not quite but I am getting to where it seems I get no where with behaviors. Thanks in advance for and information!
Whatever works. Sad that a broom can be scarier than a noisy vacuum cleaner. 
The first few times he was pretty nervous but then he realized it meant fun family tv time and now he looks forward to it. Consistency will go a long way with building a relationship of trust. I found if I was confident in what I was doing in my interactions with Bowser then he felt that and was less nervous.
