It's been a long week. I finally put up a visual barrier between the new red-fronted macaws and the harlequin pair. As soon as they could no longer see each other things settled down and both pairs were less agitated. Hopefully, with no distractions, they will start to breed. Zelda and Zachary are finally getting to a better place. He's been horrible with her the last few months. They aren't always in sync when it comes to breeding and he's ready far earlier than she is. As a result, he's been very aggressive with her. More than once I've had to knock on the nest box because he's got her trapped in a corner and she's screaming. He's calmed down so I hope they have started breeding. This year started out with a lot of storms and rain and it has thrown everyone off. This time last year we had Enzo, and 4 baby red-fronted macaws in the brooder. So far we've had some of what I call practice mating, but nothing serious yet. I was hoping we would get chicks at the same time because we're taking a cruise and I don't want the bird sitter to be overwhelmed with baby birds to feed. She's absolutely capable of doing it and loves to feed babies, but I think it's a lot to ask someone.
Chewy is supposed to do the summer school program thing with me this coming week, but I'm going to take Christopher instead. Chewy nailed me again this evening. It was the same sort of situation as before. A coworker came by to pick up a cage and brought her macaw inside. I had Chewy on my arm, and she was standing a few feet away. He gave me very little warning and then bit me in almost the same spot as the last time. I'm not going to take the chance that he might bite me in front of a bunch of kids, so he will be staying home until we can figure out exactly what triggers this. Is it jealousy, overstimulation, or the Scarlet side of his personality shining through - I'm just not sure yet. At least I don't have a Dr appointment coming up and she won't ask me what happened to my arm. The scar from the last one looks like someone burned me with a cigar. Maybe I need a pair of leather arm bracers.
One of the birds cussed me out today. I was setting up a cage for one of the surrendered macaws that came in last month. He was in half of a double macaw cage and we're putting him into his own cage. While I was dusting it off, Bam Bam, the crazy Blue & Gold was trying to get my attention. First, he screamed, then he started to kick food out of his dish at me, and when I told him to stop it he started screaming the F word at me over and over. I told him to stop it or I was going to wash his beak out with soap. When I was done with the cage I took him out onto the sales floor and sat in a chair with him for a while so he could get some one on one time with me. That helped, but I told him he can't say those bad words when he doesn't get his way. We talk to them like children and they look at us like they just don't care.
