problem with a big bird!

[oli d]

My Girl friend has a greenwing macore its very big and very loud, she is a vet nurse and has a well thought through diet for it loads of toys ( that he destroys in seconds) and a great cage. Recently though she says hat he is displaying more & more aggression towards her ( screeching snatching and biting, flapping and lunging if out of the cage and banging the door in the cage roof. He's about 7 years old and his behavior seems to have deteriorated over the 12 months we've been together, are birds capable of jealous? as we spend more and more time together. We have tried ignoring him when he screams and bangs but she is concerned about the neighbors. Interestingly he is less aggressive to me he jumps to a lower purch and bobs when I approach him. I haven't done anything nasty to him to elicit this behavior, but when he has been aggressive to me I have stood opposite his highest purch and flapped my arms so I look significantly bigger ( I'm 6'2'' easy for me, my girlfriend is only 5'3'' thats below his purch height). If out of the cage he doesn't chase me either but he will chase my girlfriends nieces and brother screeching with his wings out very aggressively who run away from him, I didn't react to this so doesn't bother me now.

I have read articles that say dominance isn't important and also that you should only use possessive re-enforcement but we are getting to the end of our tether any suggestions advice or help, I was considering spraying him with cold water like I would a naughty cat (thats in desperation).

[liz]

He doesn't attack you because you are not affraid of him. Screaming and running will create an attack.

Two people in an argument. One person starts yelling. The quiet person is the winner.

Rambo used to attack men. I had a friend who was slow moving and had little feeling in his legs. Harold really didn't get hurt in an attack and he was so slow he did not react and jump out of the way like the others. After a few times Rambo gave up. Rambo would hear his truck and announce "Harold's here". My son was a real victum. Rambo would even call "Chuck come're" then attack. I told him about Harold so he started wearing jeans and sneaker when he came over. When Chuck did not react, Rambo gave up.

Any reaction to an attack creates the next attack. Only react to the good things and limit the number of people around him until he calms down.

Is he cage too much. They do feel disadvantaged if they don't get enough freedom. I don't know if this helps but I believe in freedom to tame and socialize.

[GlassOnion]

Macaws are VERY jealous birds by nature. They will pick one person or a bird as a mate and will show aggression to protect that.

Please read this: http://forums.avianavenue.com/bird-boul ... birds.html

[liz]

Macaws are not flockers so they are not as social as the others such as cockatiels and amazons. Macaws pair off and stay together. In the wild if you see more than two flying together it will be a family unit where the babies have not yet found mates.

They would be harder to socialize. There are exceptions such as a pet store that I went to that had cocktoos and macaws cohabitating that looked like a flock.

[liz]

Macaws are not flockers so they are not as social as the others such as cockatiels and amazons. Macaws pair off and stay together. In the wild if you see more than two flying together it will be a family unit where the babies have not yet found mates.

They would be harder to socialize. There are exceptions such as a pet store that I went to that had cocktoos and macaws cohabitating that looked like a flock.

I just remembered. My neighbor had a macaw that he put in his carport in the summer. It did call to me when I was outside. I would go visit with it even though I really did not know the neighbor. It did not talk much and the owner had not worked with it. I guess because he was alone he was looking for a friend.