blue and gold macaw

[LovebirdMacaw]

This is my first time owning a baby blue and gold macaw and though I have done much research I don't think it would hurt to ask you all for your wonderful advice and wisdom. Basically anything on behavior, how to hand tame, the dos and don'ts, safe disciplinary methods, and anything anyone has seen or knows about these birds would be so helpful!

[Wolf]

I always see flags waving, big red warning flags, when I hear the word discipline and any type of bird in the same sentence. I suppose that it could just be me, but the word discipline means so many different things to so many different people and all of my birds came to me from abusive situations, and I have spent the last three years dealing with the aftermath of what people, probably well meaning people, have done to these birds.
I don't see a whole lot of differences in the way that Macaws act and any of the other parrots that I am more familiar with. This could be partly because I don't currently have any macaws. The biggest difference to me appears to be the size of these birds and the size of their beaks, which cause them to be more destructive as well as much more dangerous to humans. With birds like macaws and cockatoos even a playful nip can lead to stitches and major damage to the area that was bitten.
Due to the size of these birds and the increased risk of injury from them they need, their humans to learn to read their body language as quickly and as accurately as possible as this is the primary tool that we have in preventing unwanted actions. The second best tool is in our ability to distract the bird from its intended target. We have more room for misreading and therefore being more lax in these areas with the smaller parrots than with these birds. This basically means that we must be more vigilant with them and more consistent with our application of time outs and cage time in order to teach them their boundries. This is not a bird for the inexperienced person as just like their smaller cousins, it is very easy to reinforce the wrong behaviors.
You are getting a baby at the time that its parents would be teaching it what to eat, how to eat the food and how to find it. This is also the time that they are teaching it what is and is not acceptable behavior in the flock setting that they were intended to exist in. But you are its surrogate parents and it falls to you to teach it these things. The best way to teach any parrot to not bite is to avoid getting bitten in the first place and you need to read their body language accurately in order to do this and so it is with most behaviors, you must read its body language to know its intent and then either direct it to something acceptable or distract it from what is not. As they are highly social creatures and intelligent as well, time out on a perch or in its cage can be a very powerful tool if used correctly to correct any unacceptable behavior, it can also be a source of abuse. The simple act of turning away from a bird can work wonders, when used correctly in adjusting their behaviors.
This is really the extent of my macaw knowledge.

[liz]

I don't have a Macaw. I do have kids with feathers.
Mine are all mostly rescues with a few rehomes. All but one came to me as adults from bad back rounds. All were scared, dirty and hungry. All they had ever been fed was seed except for one who was fed junk food. Over the years each Amazon has bit me twice because they were in a situation that scared them and the hand helping them out was the only thing to grab hold of. Absolutely no punishment needed just comfort. I had one cockatiel that would really bite. All I could do was hold my breath until she let go. I did not know why she bit me so their was no punishment needed.
Because they were not cared for properly I had to treat them like babies: calm their fears (I was a scary giant who took them to a strange place), teach them to eat, teach them to play with toys and most of all teach them that I respect them and love them.
Unless you have spent time with your baby before you bring it home it will be scared. It does not know you or where it is. Even worse it wants to know where the people and other bird are that it knows. You could comfort it with hand feedings. It already knows that and probably will need it anyway because they wean birds before they are able to eat enough on their own. Just like a baby, you may give it food to pick up and eat but it needs to be fed too. It is not able to pick up and put in it's mouth enough food to fill it's belly.
You are going to need help and their is a lot of help in this forum.
Remember that the only dumb question is the one that is not asked.

[Pajarita]

I STRONGLY suggest you volunteer at a rescue where they have macaws so you can learn how to handle and read them because your experience with a lovebird is not really going to be of any use with your new bird. I don't mean to put you down or imply that you don't know how to handle parrots but these two species are like day and night and what you have learned to read in your lovie is not going to 'show' in a B&G. The biggest problem with inexperience and macaws is not only their size but their propensity to lunge and bluff which, unless you know their body language real well, you can misread and end up with the bird developing true aggression from the owner's fear of it as they are very needy birds which do not react favorably to aloofness (people start handling them less and less as they become afraid of them). Personally, I think this is the number one reason why macaws end aggressive and rehomed or in rescues because, in truth, they are the most laidback and easy birds aside from this little quirk of them. If you do a quick search, you will see that most macaws in rescues are from 5 to 10 years of age and this is because they mature very late and, when they do, they become self-assured and start showing behaviors the owners don't understand which changes the relationship dynamics tremendously, something the owners cannot wrap their heads around and attribute to the bird 'turning' on them (and getting bit from a lovebird is nothing but a little cut while getting bit by a macaw can mean facial disfiguration, half a finger, etc). I don't take in macaws because I don't have a birdroom large enough for them to fly (they require more than 30 linear feet) but I did rehabilitate two of them that were aggressive (a B&G and a BT) which I later rehomed and even though I am used to aggressive birds and are not afraid of them, I will be the first to admit that I was quite afraid of them at the beginning (those beaks are HUGE!).

Yours will be a baby (be prepared to handfeed and provide, at least, two different kinds of soft food served fresh twice a day) and you should not have a single problem with it until he gets to be about two years of age. After that and until they are 4 or 5 (when they are ready to mate), there will be gradual behavioral changes and these are the ones I am talking about so, as you can see, you have plenty of time to become an 'expert' macaw handler by 'practicing' on rescue adults.