Please Help me and My Macaw !!!

[batuhan003]

Hello everyone,

I have a problem and I tried to find a solution for this but I couldnt. I have a new bird which is red bellied macaw. Especially if there is a person in the room it screams without stopping since the first day.The first two days I didnt take out it from the cage. Although I sat next to cage, it has never stopped to scream. Then I understood that wont work and I took out it from the cage.

This macaw stayed with its previous owner for two weeks and he never stopped to scream. Its first owner bought this bird from a person who cuts its wings. So It is very shy. Its eyes are jet black and I guess it is 6,9 months old. It isnt bitting definitely. I pickep up and fondle it third day and it continuous to scream. It is so fearful when I put it anywhere to be lying face upward, straight or side it doesnt change its position and it leans its head on the floor. I checked it and it seems healthy. It can eat and its favorite thing is an apple. It doesnt seem a problem in its stool. It just stops to scream when it is alone. I recorded a video to show what we are doing during a day. Please watch the video.

In addition to them, our third day I stayed with it for 7 hours, it never stops to scream. Today is our fourth day, we are sitting in the same room he is still screaming but with low sound and once a while it is singing. What do you think about the macaw’s problem? What should I do? And I need your suggestions please write them step by step?

My macaw video please watch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr4ZgAvdHeQ

[Pajarita]

The bird is hungry and highly distressed and, I don't mean to offend you as I do realize that you are trying to do right by him and that's why you are here, but it was really very upsetting to watch the video of a baby bird constantly crying like that... because that's what he is doing, he is not screaming, he is crying for food like all babies do.

Birds need bright good quality full spectrum light (you should NEVER EVER EVER EVER keep it covered during the day -it's not only unhealthy -you are screwing up their endocrine system, it's also very distressful for them and, most importantly, they cannot eat in the dark and babies need to eat many times a day! They need to be kept at a strict solar schedule, in a large cage with its back to a wall but placed in front of a window for natural light (they need to be exposed fully to twilight without any artificial lights on) and at a height with your eyes when you are standing up. He also needs handfeeding once a day as well as soft food served fresh twice a day. Babies that go hungry develop eating disorders so, if I were you, I would run to get me some good formula, syringes, a good digital scale and ingredients for soft food because that bird seems to be starving (have you been weighing him?).

[Wolf]

I feel that you should know right up front that I do not have any macaws so any suggestions that I may make are from my experiences with other types of parrots, from asking question of people who do have them and from researching about them myself.
I am in total agreement with Pajarita that your bird is just a baby and that this one is hungry and is begging for food, soft food. I think that I would run some different fresh vegetable through a blender along with some fresh fruit and some cooked rice, preferably wild rice and brown rice. I think that I would also add a couple of pieces of whole wheat bread to the mix. This will give you something soft for him to eat while I try to find more about the diet that this bird needs to be eating.

[liz]

I agree. 6 to 9 months old is still a baby for a macaw. He is not screaming he is crying and trying to communicate with you. When he makes the noise you pull your hand away from the cage as if he would hurt you. What he is telling you at that point is let me out and feed me.
Hunger is a terrible thing. Please give him some soft food that he can eat easily. Once his hunger is satisfied you will find that that baby is a sweet little thing and wants to come out to be with you.

I love the concern that you have for his health. It is far from your fault that he is like this. You were not told anything of how to care for him.

This forum is an excellent sorce of info for almost anything. I have been in the forum since 2011 and am still learning but there are times when I am passing info. Soak up as much info as possible and don't hesitate to ask questions. You may also be able to add info just in what you observe or research.

[batuhan003]

Hello everyone,

first of all, thanks for your attention.

I m not expert but If you watch the link, you will see he can eat apples alone. For example he ate %40 of apple yesterday nigth. In my opinion crying is not about hurger

when he is alone, he stops crying. But if he see me or somebody, starts crying.

I'm so worried about him, i need your help

[Pajarita]

Just because he is eating on his own, it doesn't mean he is eating enough. Children eat on their own when they are two years old but mothers still feed them in their mouth, right? Well, it's the same with birds, they eat on their own but the parents still supplement their intake with feeding. And the fact that he doesn't ask for food when you are not there doesn't mean he is not hungry. Parrots are prey animals and they don't make a sound when they feel vulnerable so a baby bird would not make a peep to call attention to itself when all alone (a very vulnerable, unnatural and highly stressing situation for them) even if hungry.

You say you are worried about him -and well you should be!- and ask for our help but when three people with experience with parrots (which you, obviously, don't have) tell you this is a hungry baby and that you need to feed it you come back and say that, in your opinion, this is not so even though the reasons you give are incorrect assumptions on your part. I am not trying to make you feel bad, please understand this, but you not only dismissed the suggestions from people more knowledgeable than you, you did not even try 'just in case'! It would not have taken that much of an effort to give him some soft food and, even if we were wrong and he was not crying from hunger, what would have hurt to do so? Because, for your information, all parrots eat soft food and not only when they are babies but all their lives so what we are telling you to do is not something that you would have had to do anyway...

[Wolf]

Please take the time and give our suggestion a try and then let us know what happens. There is nothing else in the world that sounds like a hungry parrot crying for food. I understand that he is eating pellets but the artificial ingredients in them are not fully utilized by the bird when it is an adult and it is even worse when they are babies. We are trying to give you the best and most likely answer to your problem and if this does not make the difference that we feel that it will we will be more than happy to reassess the situation and make new suggestions. You ask for help and throw it in our face and still ask for help because you don't like the answer that you received. We are fully aware that you don't have the experience and we are not judging you in the matter, but you really need to understand that we care about the well being of your bird just as much as if he were our own and because of this the suggestions that we make are the exact things that we would do if we were there to take care of the bird ourselves.

[batuhan003]

you misunderstood me or i couldnt explain my problem good cause of my english, sorry about it.

you can be sure that your advices are very very valuable for me and i m performing as much as I can.

I hope u r right, and I will share the stituation daily. I need your experiences, pls follow this title

thank u

[Wolf]

We are all very concerned about your birds well being and if you post to us we will respond to you. If there has been any misunderstanding than I apologize for that, it is very east for that to happen especially when everyone is still new to each other, but we also know this and we don't let it get in our way, feel free to re explain or ask questions as often as needed to help us understand and we will answer you everytime. We will never turn our back on a bird in need or its human.

[Pajarita]

Tell us what you are feeding him now and what kind of schedule and routine you have him and we will be able to give you more specific recommendations.