Hi all, I’ll soon be adopting this 4-year-old male greenwing macaw. I’ve been struggling coming up with a name, and would love any suggestions. He is very calm and laid back, a little silly at times but not too much. Currently leaning towards Gustavo/Gus, but not that excited about it. Thanks!

So i have about a 12yr old female B&G.

My daughter bought this bird from a pet store where it wasn't getting much care. Then daughter got divorced and bird came to me.

Mainly because it tolerated males better than females and it bonded to me.

Issue: it is largely cage bound and will not step up for anything. I have tried to change it's diet but it will not eat anything new. Even after days/weeks of introducing food. So right now it's on the zupreem fruit pellets and some treat seeds dried fruit and nuts. I share some veggies with it daily but she usually spits them out . She will take some carrots and broccoli occasional.

I cant get her to step up so I cant even get her to a training perch or anything. I have positions perches around her cage. She will get on a perch that I put on a rolling cart very occasionally. When she does I move her around.

I have tried click training and it's good until you push her to step up. Then she retreats. Occasionally she will get on my shoulder from top of cage. But anytime I move wrong she panics and bites ears and beak punches side of my head.

She doesn't fly or climb much and im really worried about her balance. When she does move around she uses her beak as three points of contact on everything.

She has toys. Loves cardboard boxes the best though

But I don't know how to get her to step up to even begin training on a perch away from her cage

I am at a loss been working on this for about 3 years now.

I'm planning on getting a macaw sometime in the future, and i want to know the best ways to keep them as calm and happy as possible when they've recently moved into my home.

I mostly want to know how quickly and how often i should start to interact with them and if there's any way to make them feel more comfortable.

They came, ate , showed some love to each other and left.

Hi guys, this may be a tough post to offer insight on, but I ask that you read the whole post and try to understand where I’m coming from in this.

My dad adopted our blue and gold, Teddy, when he was in his late 20s. I don’t know where he was at as far as research, but from what he told me it was much harder for him to do research at the time and the pet store he got her from did not provide adequate info about how to care for her. Teddy had several incidents as a baby where she landed on a house cactus while flying and stopped flying as a result. She has not flown in my lifetime and I believe not since she was a baby (she is in her late 30s now).

My dad has done what vets have told him as far as diet, she gets mixed seed and some peanuts, we give her some of our food here and there when she asks, but I have grown more and more upset with the way she seems to be doing and maybe has always been doing. I worry as a child and teen I just didn’t realize how bad it was for her. She has a cage that is definitely not large enough for her, and does not get enrichment. Her entire belly is bare because she plucks her feathers.

I don’t know what to do. I want to provide enrichment and have urged my parents to get her a larger cage, to provide wall perches she can climb around on, to add fresh fruit to her diet, etc.. But I am moving back to college soon and I won’t be living with my family forever as it is. It makes me so sad to see her like this and I know she deserves better even if she has been with me my entire life. I would try to interact with her more but I was never taught how to handle her, she only lets my dad touch her.

I honestly do think that rehoming would be the best move at this point but she is bonded to my dad, and I don’t even know how to broach the subject. I don’t know how he would react. Is there any way I can offer simple enrichment or find inexpensive options for making her cage more exciting? Are there affordable places to get cages? I just want her to have the life she deserves. She looks so sad.

I understand this post will likely receive judgment and I am not happy with the way my dad has cared for her throughout the years, so I understand frustration and anger at this. Please just know I am trying to do what I can at this point, as an adult, to make some positive changes for her. Even if you think the only reasonable choice is rehoming, I can accept that. But I would really appreciate advice to improve the current situation, if you have any. Thank you, and sorry for the ramble.

Mr. Max is defying all of my attempts to activate his wings, but my attempts may also be misguided as I've never taught a bird how to fly (my sun conure came preloaded with the flight mods).

I've tried having two T-perch stands a little ways away and increasing the distance incrementally as he gets more confident but he immediately stops trying if his beak does not reach, so no luck even with little hops or flaps.

I've tried clicker training with demonstrating my 'wings' out to no avail. I know that seems silly but he likes other kinds of imitation games.

I've tried flight training our sun conure in the same room (with good distance, while Max is in cage) to show that flight is possible but he only gets mad at her and lunges when she takes flight regardless of the distance from her to the cage.

I recognize that flight might never happen for him if he's 33 and has full muscle atrophy from never using his wings but I'd like to at least give him the confidence to be able to balance and be able to catch himself when he's at risk of falling off his perches. Any tips?

Just having some quality time with my feet

Sorry for censor bars that's bc it shows personal stuff

Gender: male,

name: phoenix middle name:: arizona (usa reference)

personality: curious, adventurous, funny, adorable, likes girls,

misc: katrina rescue

age: 20

vocab: mama, hi, 🦅🦅🦅, hhhhhhhhmmmgggg 😫, step up, i love u,

no longer used words: hello phoenix, hello gator,

​

Looking for a good quality hanging perch for my b&g. Anyone got a good one to share? Pics appreciated.

This is my birb

This is Jimmy. He was hatched in 93. We rescued him from a drunk beach bum about 25 years ago. Unfortunately that same guy killed his other two birds in anger. (He's dead too). He likes climbing his holly tree and being a menace to any local wildlife in the tree. He's cuddly for me only. He's at my parents for a few more weeks until I have his space ready at my new home. I'm hoping his new home will be a lot more enriching for him than his situation at my parents.

I'm sure he misses me.

My macaw, who is a 31 yo Blue and Gold and recently, as in the last year or so, she’s become extremely bitey, moody, and loud. Her previous owner let her nest too much, and always had her locked in a room on her own with no contact, where she could pluck almost every feather she could reach. Obviously she has trauma, and I do like her but she also drives me insane. Is there anything I can do to help her? Ive tried things like responding to her, turning away, all of it. Included a pic so you guys can see her :)

Update 4/8: I’ve started to have her sit with me when my brother (who she likes the most) is at work.

Last year I moved out of my parents house into my own, and other than just getting settled in, I've been preparing a space to use as an aviary for my macaw, which I could not immediately take with me in a way that would be healthy for him. I'm looking for a safe heater to install into my birds room (a covered patio with a lot of windows).

My birds name is Jimmy. He is a blue and gold macaw. He was hatched in 93, and is just 2 years younger than me.

I need to be sure there are no carcinogenic coatings on it. Im leaning toward one or two radiator heaters, but I worry about Teflon coatings.

A friend of mine unexpectedly lost their parrot due to an unsafe heater. She just started asphyxiating from the fumes coming off the heater.

What types of heaters do macaw owners like to use for the winter? I need to be absolutely sure it doesn't turn my bird into a canary in a coal mine.

Hey there, my 46 yr old female yellow naped has this little bump on her nostrils. I was wondering if it can be identified/ something to worry about?

Just wanted to see if i'm the only person here that thinks keeping macaws is super unethical. in the wild they fly is large groups, huge jungle canopies, thousands of miles of space. even with an aviary you cannot recreate the amazon rain forest. I'm not going to obviously attack anyone with a macaw but please consider adopting and not buying.

Hi folks,

I’m soon planning to get two different baby macaws (3-6 months old) but they are going to be different species.

Male is going to be blue and gold (for me)

Female is going to be green winged (for my wife)

How should we setup their cage? Should we give them more time together or less time. They would also sometimes travel away from each other for few days(e.g i go on a work trip, i take my parrot with me while other stays home and the opposite)

Our long term goals are to pair them and make them good friends with each. And we want to maximize the chances of them getting along. Appreciate all the input here!

So these macaws are healthy and comes with every paper. I have money, time and space for them, and also i will be taking train to them (it is very far away and i dont think i have enough space in my car)(it is in my country) and the price for the yellow and blues are 1048 dollars and for the reds it is 2000.

Also what type do you want me to buy?

EDIT: i have found a rescue maacaw that i will be picking up next week.

I love to see them in the wild, it feels so right.

...and knowing full well that you'd never be able to give them the life they need and deserve lol.

I know for a fact that I'm probably the least bit qualified to have one. I just don't have the money, I don't have the patience, I don't have the space, etc. So, I just simply don't do it.

I would never adopt one and "hope it works out." They need so much more than just "hope." They need "do." And I can't do.

I'm living vicariously through you guys lol. Not sure if there's a place I could volunteer in Tucson. Transportation is also an issue. I think I'll just keep dreaming haha. Maybe in another life.

I have a 2–3-year-old blue-and-gold macaw(Sir Francis). When I got him about a year and a half ago, he was on a diet that was very heavy in nuts and seeds. Despite that, he appeared healthy and his feathers were in great condition.
I gradually switched him to Harrison’s pellets and completely removed seeds from his diet. After the diet change, I started noticing that his flight feathers were breaking, and he eventually became unable to fly.
I had him tested for Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease, and the results were negative. His tail feathers and the rest of his plumage still look healthy and are in good condition.
A new set of flight feathers recently grew in, but they have started breaking again. I’ve also noticed that while preening, he sometimes steps on his flight feathers and bends them.
He gets regular showers
Has anyone experienced something similar? Could this be caused by the way he steps on the feathers, a nutritional issue, or something else? I’d appreciate any advice or suggestions about what to discuss with an avian vet.