Macaw Adventures 2023

[BrianB]

So maybe I’m a bit dense here, but why bother owning him if they obviously don’t want him, otherwise he would be home with them.

I’ve been asking myself the same question for the last 3 years. They were supposed to go home at the end of July in 2020. Maybe there are things going on that we don’t know about, but on the surface from what we see it’s just wrong.

 

[BrianB]

Chewy was a brat today. I've been taking him to work with me and when I'm home I leave his cage door open. He hangs out on top of the door or the top of the cage. He's behaved himself and made no attempt to get down and get into mischief. The same holds true for macaws as it does for children. When they are quiet, they are either dead asleep or up to mischief. This afternoon I was having a video call with a friend to go over some web creation software for a project she's working on. My other half was in the office with me working on something and the television was on in the family room. Normally there is some ambient bird noise so I should have picked up that there wasn't any and gone to investigate it myself. Just as I'm wrapping up the call I hear a loud metal clang. Only one thing here makes that noise so I knew a metal food dish had landed on the floor. There aren't any out in the kitchen so I excused myself to go see who had knocked a food dish over. I go out there and find that Chewy has gotten down from his cage and opened the side door to Bo's cage, throwing her water dish on the floor. He's very proud of himself and took a victory lap across the top of her cage, out of reach from my arms. Bo was at the far back of the cage in no danger from him, but she was giving me a look like - "Get him out of here!" I put him on the island and cleaned up the mess so I could go back to my video call. He went with me to the office where I introduced my friend to the very beautiful, but very rude, red bird on my arm. He stayed on the tree stand in the office until we were finished.

We might be adding another pair of red-fronted macaws to our flock. There is an option to take all 3 pairs, but after some discussions, we decided to take just 1. There are the new AWA regulations to consider and we're trying to navigate and decipher them this summer. They aren't as clear as they should be and we aren't sure where we will fall into the classification. Adding another 6 macaws into the space would be too much at once. There is also a big summer vacation we're planning and it would throw those plans into disarray. It will be nice to take a full week instead of a few long weekends. It's been a long time since we've been able to do that.

BooBoo will be leaving us next week. He's going to a nice breeder that has a cute female waiting for him. I tried to find a lady friend for him, but it was more difficult than I imagined it would be. The only female I found wasn't fertile and would require me to drive from Arizona to the middle of Louisana to pick her up. At least now he can breed and add some more beautiful baby Buffons to the world.

 

[BrianB]

We think Baby Bo will be heading home soon. She's finally making progress toward being weaned. After her crop infection and multiple rounds of medication, she regressed and we went back to hand feeding. I've never had a macaw take almost 8 months to wean. Each baby is different so we let them go at their own pace. The red-fronted macaws have all weaned in the 90 - 110 days range. Freya was hand fed for about 6 months. I don't remember exactly how long, but we did have to cut her off because it became a game for her. She would hold it all in her mouth and then spit it back at me or shake her head and splatter it all over the place. She cried for it a few times and then gave up. Chichi weaned naturally and took less and less and finally stopped asking for it. Enzo went home when he was down to just the last bit of it. His mom was capable of feeding him and she said he took a little here and there for another 2 weeks, but it was more a comfort feeding than anything. Bo has held onto it and we're finally at the end. I switched her from the breeder pellets I feed youngsters to a natural pellet in addition to her chop. Yesterday she ate an entire bowl of chop and pellets. There was nothing but crumbs in the bowl and her crop was so full you could see it. She didn't ask for hand feeding at all. We have a clutch of black-capped conures that are being hand fed and when I start the feeding process for them, she starts to scream for food. The last 2 days she hasn't done that. I think we're finally getting there. She will be 8 months old on April 2nd, and I know her momma is waiting for her to wean so she can go home.

Poor Chewy can't make up his mind if he wants to be cuddly or try to bite me. He's got multiple personalities from the hormones. Sometimes the scarlet wants to come out and sometimes the greenwing wants to be in control. I'm all for the cuddles but not interested in the biting. When I take him to work I put him on a tree stand in the grooming area. That keeps him away from the store birds and behind a chain so customers can't just walk up to him. I was a few feet away from his tree and something spooked him. He jumped at me and landed on my back where he just held on for dear life. He wouldn't crawl up to my shoulder nor would he step onto a hand when I reached around. The store owner walked up to him and in her best "mom" voice told him to step up right now and stop that nonsense. It always works. He stepped right up to her arm then over to mine and back onto his tree. He won't be going to work with me today. I don't normally work on Wednesdays, but I'm covering for someone today. Chewy is afraid of the groomer and he will just be tree-hopping around the store if I take him.

Here we are spending a few minutes together before bed time.