Macaw likes holding her tail

[Diveks]

Hey everyone,
So sunset, my macaw has been holding his tail for a long time. She would do this baby thing and be puffed up bobbing her head while scratching her own head, but while this is happening she would grab her tail and hold it while standing on the perch. This would destroy her tail. She is not clipped and is trained to free fly. Sometimes she would even break her tail feathers from doing this so much. It would affect her flight and im not sure how to stop it since she sometimes will look like a cockatoo or will only have 2 tail feathers . Anyone elses macaw do this?

 

[Macawnutz]

How old is she now?

My younger guys did this a lot when they were under 6 years. They have seemed to quit now that they are 9 ish. My male hy grabs his tail and yanks when he is .... well.... yanking it?

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

How old is she now?

My younger guys did this a lot when they were under 6 years. They have seemed to quit now that they are 9 ish. My male hy grabs his tail and yanks when he is .... well.... yanking it?

 

[Diveks]

How old is she now?

My younger guys did this a lot when they were under 6 years. They have seemed to quit now that they are 9 ish. My male hy grabs his tail and yanks when he is .... well.... yanking it?

she is 5, maybe thats why .Maybe she will grow out of it. I wonder how many macaws do this.

 

[Macawnutz]

All three of my babies did it. I don't have any of my older guys do it except my male hy.

He screams while doing it, usually about 3am.

My three all have pristine tails now. I think she may grow out of it.

 

[Diveks]

All three of my babies did it. I don't have any of my older guys do it except my male hy.

He screams while doing it, usually about 3am.

My three all have pristine tails now. I think she may grow out of it.

Thanks, i thought since she is already 5 she should’ve grown out of it. Guess she hasn’t

 

[Monica]

25+ year old mitred conure... not a macaw, but related to them. He "pulls" his tail feathers, too....

 

[Karen]

My GWM (32) does the tail grab and/or sits on it. Yeah, usually involves some screaming too. Thank goodness he’s not busy at 3AM!!

 

[Hankmacaw]

My 27 yo female GW still holds her tail now and the, but not as much as when she was younger.

 

[Diveks]

Great to know this is normal , scared she was accidentally mutilating herself

 

[Macawnutz]

While it seems to be rather common for macaws I'm sure most are not doing it to the point of breaking and removing them. That will be most likely age.
My guys used to damage tails doing it. Now, even my hy has a pretty tail. I know that both Karen and hankmacaw posting above have beautiful tails on their GW's.