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Macaw weights?

issajoy

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Hi everybirdie,

I was wondering what most of your macaws weigh, and how old they are, ect.

My Ollie weighed 787g when she was weighed at the vet at the beginning of November, I weighed her today for the first time (scale FINALLY came in the mail), and she's only up to 830g. I was wondering if this is normal weight for a 7 month blue and gold, if this is a good trend or if she should be gaining more.

She gets a cup of fruits/veggies every day, and enough pellets to fill her big foraging wheel (probably half a cup, maybe a little more) but she doesn't always eat everything. She also gets probably a quarter cup, maybe a little more of nuts every day.

Thanks! :heart:

ollie portrait2.jpg ollie portrait.jpg
 

Macawnutz

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She is such a sweet little darling, cute cute cute but what a mess! :laugh: While not underweight I would like to see more on your girl. When I get to my desktop I will find a picture for you.

What/how many nuts does she eat? Did you weigh her in the morning before food? I would buy her some red palm oil and put it in her food, does she still handfeed at all?
 

issajoy

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@Macawnutz she likes pistachios and walnuts, she sometimes eats hazelnuts but not always. Absolutely refuses to eat almonds. I give her about a quarter cup, maybe a little more.

I weigh her in the morning before she eats. She's never been handfed with me, they had her on the Harrisons Adult Lifetime pellets when I got her from the bird store. Should I get her High Potency instead?

She's such a patchy mess right now, about a week after we brought her home she started molting and hasn't stopped :roflmao:
 

Macawnutz

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Just as long as she is eating well and her weight is not declining. Just remember fruit does not have much nutritional value as it's mostly made up of water. Try to have her fill up on better foods first.
I would put her on red palm oil. It will help her feather condition. Babies are always such rats at that age. :laugh: My scarlet looked like a lawnmower ran over him twice.
High potency wouldn't be bad in moderation, I have a hard time getting mine off of it over the lifetime. If you mix them you will she she has a favorite.



 

issajoy

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I will get her some red palm oil! That chart is so helpful, thank you so much Sarah! :hug8:

She just got a FeatherBrite lamp that the vet recommended for Christmas, he says that helps with feathers too :joyful:
 

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Just keep the lamp at a good distance, I have feather brite bulbs but don't put much weight into what they actually provide. I did quite a bit of research and it fell quite short of what we are told they do.

Ollie reminds me of Bowser! @MiniMacaw
Bowser was quite a mess when she brought him home. Looking at the last few photos she has posted of him, I barely believe it's the same bird. Such a handsome young man face he has. Ollie will get through this messy stage too. She has a lifetime to be beautiful, right now she wants to play.
 

Sweet Louise

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I can't be of much help on this thread! Ollie sure is cute. My friend has a macaw, and when he bluffs at me (charges), I would estimate his weight to be about 580 pounds, with about 250 of that in just the beak. He is actually a good boy and has never bitten except when he looses footing and uses his beak as the third foot- twice in all the years I have known him. He intimates me and knows it so we just have conversations and sometimes play ball, no handling. @Macawnutz, that is a helpful chart. By that chart, Louise is overweight.
 

Macawnutz

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Flighted birds have more weight. Maui was only 930 or so grams until he started flying but he is a small guy. My macaws range from 950-1500 :)
 

cassiesdad

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I have no real insight to add here, but I'm always impressed at the weights of the magnificent Macs who hang out here on the Avenue. Milton-who is small for a mature U2, barely tips the scale at 445 to 450g...
 

MiniMacaw

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I’ll pull up my records and find out bowsers weights. When I first brought him to the vet he was very underweight but he has flourished on the Harrison’s high potency. Because he had such a crazy high white blood cell count for months from an infection he was fed a lot to heal and gain the weight he needed. I found bird bread to be amazing when getting a picky macaw to eat. Bowser will eat any bird bread now he just loves the feel of it. I mix coconut oil as needed and red palm as needed as well. Bowser was an awful mess when I first got him with missing feathers and chunks of flesh showing but now his feathers shine (even if he does play rough and still looks messy most days lol) I know your girl will turn into a beauty. :)
 

melissasparrots

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Weight tends to slowly go up over a long period of time post weaning. If memory serves, my hyacinth came to me at 6 months old freshly weaned and weighing about 1177 is. She is 12 years old now and averages about 1345-1365 depending on what time of day I weigh her and how much she likes my offerings lately. She gained about 30 grams sometime after 10 years old. An old conversation I had with Gloria Allen years ago indicated that hyacinths may continue to gain weight and bulk up well past 12 years old. My large cockatoo had a similar slow increase in weight over more than a decade. I think she was about 690 as a freshly weaned baby at 8 months old. At almost 16 years old she average around 800-830 depending on the time of year mostly. They go through stages where their weight plateaus and doesn't change for months or a year or more. Then suddenly over a few weeks they will gain 10-40 grams, then plateau again. Depending on how much your bird likes to eat, they can reach a healthy adult weight within a couple of years, or they might trend a little on the skinny side of healthy and take over 10 years to reach their final adult weight. Most of my amazons eat like pigs and by the time they are 2 years old if not much earlier, they are at their healthy adult weight and from that point forward need to be monitored to make sure they don't get too fat.
 

Teala

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My B&G Lilly weighed 1005g this morning. She's 4.5 years old and the vet ideally wants her at 950-975. I took her home at 6 months and she was about 875 and hung around 900 for quite some time. I definitely wouldn't get hung up on the number on the scale. Determine what a healthy weight is for Ollie, that chart is great! Also the vet should be able to help you in determining an ideal weight.

I recently (3 weeks ago) adopted a Catalina and she was 812 this morning. She's definitely underweight but according to the previous owner has never been a great eater. I'm currently trying to keep her from losing too much weight from the transition to a new home. But I don't ever expect her to get to Lilly's weight, she's a smaller bird. I'm hoping to eventually get her up to around 875-900 (the vet agrees), but will use her body condition as my guide :)
 

Teala

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Sorry, to edit above:
I wouldn't get hung up on a number based on what everyone else weighs. It's just like humans, we all have our ideal weights which is different from one another.
 

Macawnutz

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Sorry, to edit above:
I wouldn't get hung up on a number based on what everyone else weighs. It's just like humans, we all have our ideal weights which is different from one another.


I have one BG that weighs about 960 and one that weighs 1130. They appear the same size. ;) One is heavily flighted, the heavier and my girl does not fly unless startled. Personally my vet likes the body condition of my male. He says every macaw should be in his good of a condition.
 

Bokkapooh

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Don't feed her too many nuts and junk food or she'll not be healthy.

Mera my scarlet was around that weight at 7 months. She didn't top 1000grams until a year or year and a half old.

Now she maintains her weight at 7 years old at 1150g.

A quarter cup of nuts it's too much IMO.

She needs pellets and make sure she is eating healthy greens and veggies or she'll be a picky eater as an adult.

Your macaw looks healthy. Some are smaller but that doesn't mean under weight.
 

BeanieofJustice

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Sam Axe is a male Scarlet around 25 years old and is 1150g.
I've been curious about the other weights of the other Macs on here too, honestly.
I don't have any idea about young macaw weights or anything like that but she's adorable!
 

Macawnutz

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Sam Axe is a male Scarlet around 25 years old and is 1150g.
I've been curious about the other weights of the other Macs on here too, honestly.
I don't have any idea about young macaw weights or anything like that but she's adorable!


My male scarlet is 6 years old, he is 980-1000 grams. I don't consider him underweight at all, very lean and fit flyer.
 
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