8 weeks Blue and gold baby

[Nouf]

Hi Mom! I had a feeling we would meet you someday... I love listening to your excitement in the videos we have been shown.

Here is your good/bad news...

1. No, she can not be potty trained for reasons mentioned above. BUT... she is young and young macaws poop a lot more than older macaws. Once she is eating solid food she won't be pooping all over as she does. She will find her acceptable poop spots and you when learn when she has to poop. My guys wouldn't dare poop on me. If they have to go potty they fly off to a tree to go and come back. They learned that because I can tell when they have to and I would send them off me to do their business. You will learn her poop face/stance when she gets a little older.
2. She can have as much as she wants of whatever she will eat. This is how it will pretty much stay for the first few years. She will drop the formula someday, you will attempt to push healthy as much as possible and I leave pellets available 24 hours a day. I really don't care how much they eat of pellets. My only portions are limiting nuts.
3. We have a whole forum including fun recipes. As far as portions you are not really going to weigh anything. You hand her a piece of apple, you don't hand her the whole apple. I feed 3 nuts per day ( walnut almond hazelnut brazil nuts ) I also give pine nuts as treats during the day for teaching things. I do a meal of fresh veggies, a meal of bread or pasta, and a fruit treat everyday.
4. As Becky says, watch my video. This will be easier once she is treat motivated. I'm not quite sure she is there yet, is she?

If she bites you you missed the warning. She should not bite you and if she does remove your attention for a few minutes. Her threatening to bite is her telling you "no". If you continue to disrespect her wishes you are forcing her to bite. Bites are not bad when they are babies... Learn to give her choices so she doesn't need to bite or threaten biting.

I cannot thank you enough for the incredibly informative reply! We will surely take it to heart.
I don’t think she understands treats yet but we are trying to associate it with the clicker so she can distinguish it, for our baby food is just a tool to play with at this moment, bless her tiny heart

 

[Nouf]

Hi guys, here’s an adorable video of our baby playing during the day

 

[Kiwi & Co.]

She’s so cute!

 

[SkyLark]

Awwwwww! She's so adorable!

 

[macawpower58]

OMG! Such a sweet big baby!

 

[tka]

What a lucky baby to have two such doting parents!

With droppings... you will come to recognise the signs that she needs to go to the toilet and you can place her on a perch or something similar. Put paper under the places where she perches to save your floor. Bird poo is much easier to deal with when it's fresh. Dry poo is hard and can set like concrete!

 

[Macawnutz]

Oh oh oh such a cute baby!!!!
Look at her all impressed with her wings! Ahhhh so cute!

 

[Nouf]

Hello again,

My husband and I are currently debating Tangawaizi’s current progress, he worries a lot about her and compares her progress to other b&g macaws of the same age and thinks she should have been clicker trained and knows by now how to do a couple of tricks and should be eating her veggies and should stop being stubborn, while I believe each Parrot has their unique personality and learning pace and we shouldn’t rush her into anything she doesn’t feel like doing and should accept her as she is and spoil our own baby whenever we can.
please tell us what’s right what’s wrong in what’s mentioned above.
*attached for you Tanga’s new favorite spot

 

[K5MOW]

Very cute

Roger

 

[Macawnutz]

I'm going to ask again... What do you guys think your life with a macaw should look like?

Seriously tell me what you think your daily routine with her is. What are your expectations for her?

 

[Nouf]

I'm going to ask again... What do you guys think your life with a macaw should look like?

Seriously tell me what you think your daily routine with her is. What are your expectations for her?

our current daily routine is waking up, let her fly because she likes to do so first thing, then we weight her, the give her breakfast. Then we let her play and do few clicker training with a stick and sunflower seed treats then we offer her her veggies then we take her to her room to play or nap whatever she wants then we bring her to the living room to fly and play then we offer her palettes and play then we give her dinner, dim the lights then turn it off so she can sleep till the next day. Also most of the time accept nap time, either my husband and I will be with here if not both.

now our expectations are a bit different but we both will go with whatever is best for Tangawizi hopefully with the experts help, like yourself.

my hubby expectations and views on a life with macaw: to allow me to file both her nail and beak (she refuses it all together), not to poop everywhere, to wear the harness without resisting, to like being in her cage, to stay in my arms longer not just few minutes and jump to my shoulder.

my expectations:
Is to let her be, if she doesn’t want to be in her cage then she shouldn’t, I like her current routine and I think she does too, I don’t mind the pooping since she’s a baby and it’ll become less as she grows, I don’t think it’s the right time for training because I want her to be happy and comfortable as much as possible, i enjoy when she sets on my shoulder because it’s a relaxing spot for her, I expect to give her all the time she needs and do any trick trainings very slowly and at her own pace, not that I find trick training is essential at all.

Please, don’t be harsh on us because we both love tang so much and we compromises our lives for her And she’s totally worth it, we are doing our best and seeking advices everywhere so we can do better.

 

[macawpower58]

You seem like a perfect macaw owner! Willing to let Tang be a macaw. To understand you must at times give and not force matters.

Clicker training is actually very good. Tricks are also a wonderful thing to do, mainly for the bond it will bring, and the confidence it builds in both you and Tang. It's an enrichment in her life as long as it's always fun and stress free.

Macaws are so intelligent, and can learn almost anything! But it is on their terms, in their time, and in their own way.
If one method you're trying is giving you poor results, you must stop and figure out why. Find a new way to teach the behavior you'd like. Find a way that Tang enjoys learning. Learning can be such fun, but not if there's any kind of force (physical or mental) involved.

I think you and your husband will do fine. You may have to soften hubby's expectations on what he'll be able to train and how fast she'll learn. It will happen, but you can't rush it. Trust is the most important thing you want right now. Obedience is not in a macaws vocabulary. Voluntary agreement can be.

 

[Nouf]

Hello guys,



You must’ve missed our updates

So our baby is nibbling at her vegetables a bit more than she used to but still doesn’t get a full meal of it. She loves blueberries and the juice of (orange carrot and red apples) which we don’t offer everyday because of the sugar content.

She’s doing better with the pallets either as is, soaked in water or absolutely melted and eaten with a seringue, it all depends on our super moody little princess.

We are still struggling with the harness and even if I’m offering treats and she’d would get over her fear for a moment she’ll forget all about it the next day. Our Tangawizi is silly, funny and independent if she doesn’t like something then she doesn’t like it end of story, which drives hubby a little bit nuts lol

We are doing target training but i feel shes so young to understand it. Because she forgets everything we practiced :’)

During car rides she’s so quiet and when I call her name she responds but in a low voice.



Her weight is fluctuating between 890-902, I notice she likes to nap midday on the top of her cage and she lays down and doesn’t do it standing. Is that ok?

One last thing please tell hubby it’s ok if he calls her name and she doesn’t feel like answering and he shouldn’t be worried that she’s rebelling on us (or correct me if I’m wrong)

She adores hubby’s massages so here’s a video for you guys.

 

[macawpower58]

You can assure hubby she's not rebelling by not answering his call.
That rebellion comes later!
You've only begun to scratch the surface of what life with a loved macaw is.
You fly to the heavens with them, and then they drag you through the devils playground.
Sometimes in the same day!
But's it's so much fun, you'll never have another boring day.

I loved that video!

 

[Macawnutz]

She can lay down to sleep if she wants too. Love it as soon it will go away forever.

She is not rebelling, she is a macaw and they kinda do whatever they feel like doing. You have to treat her as an equal. Give choices. She has a lifetime to learn silly tricks, right now she is a baby and wants to play. Would your human toddler come running every time you called?

When she will do anything for a nut... than you can teach her silly stuff.

 

[Jocund^eternal]

Spent the last hour reading all 22 pages, please continue to update in the future! I very much enjoyed seeing your progress and happy to see her grow

 

[Nouf]

You can assure hubby she's not rebelling by not answering his call.
That rebellion comes later!
You've only begun to scratch the surface of what life with a loved macaw is.
You fly to the heavens with them, and then they drag you through the devils playground.
Sometimes in the same day!
But's it's so much fun, you'll never have another boring day.

I loved that video!

Thanks a million!
we really love her to pieces And that loves is growing by the day.
Please feel free to share with us any advice anytime.

 

[Nouf]

She can lay down to sleep if she wants too. Love it as soon it will go away forever.

She is not rebelling, she is a macaw and they kinda do whatever they feel like doing. You have to treat her as an equal. Give choices. She has a lifetime to learn silly tricks, right now she is a baby and wants to play. Would your human toddler come running every time you called?

When she will do anything for a nut... than you can teach her silly stuff.

Thank you! hubby got convinced *yay* and is starting to accept Tangawizi’s behavior.

 

[macawpower58]

One thing I learned was to not lie, or try and trick Chaos.
One day he didn't want to be caged, so I asked if he wanted to visit the small birds, he happily stepped up.
I put him in the cage.
For weeks afterwards, he'd not step up for anything! I'd lost his trust.
I learned to do what I say every single time. If he must go to bed and doesn't want to, I ask if he wants a treat before bed (he always does), have him step up and we go to the icebox first! Then he takes his treat to bed.
I do think I'm the one trained when I think about it!

 

[Nouf]

One thing I learned was to not lie, or try and trick Chaos.
One day he didn't want to be caged, so I asked if he wanted to visit the small birds, he happily stepped up.
I put him in the cage.
For weeks afterwards, he'd not step up for anything! I'd lost his trust.
I learned to do what I say every single time. If he must go to bed and doesn't want to, I ask if he wants a treat before bed (he always does), have him step up and we go to the icebox first! Then he takes his treat to bed.
I do think I'm the one trained when I think about it!

Awwwh I love how sensitive and genuine he is
And you’re right we read all about training them yet we end up being the trained ones lol