New girl with Severe macaw!! advice HUGELY appreciated!

[mymartianheart]

Hello everyone! I recently purchased a 2 year old severe macaw from a guy who could no longer take care of her. Apparently she has gone through 2 owners already ): When I first met her, she was immediately interested in me. She climbed out of the cage and tried to climb on my arm. Fell in LOVE. She didn't like my boyfriend so much though and from what I have heard they are extremely one-person oriented. I'll keep my fingers crossed though. Also, does anyone have an extremely well trained severe macaw? I've been trying to find videos of well trained severe macaws and couldn't find any. Please let me know if anyone has any experience training a severe macaw! Especially flying outside! Thanks!

[Rebellious]

I'm afraid I don't have much experience with Severe macaws but I do have experience with B&G and scarlet macaws. From what I've learned about them, they can definitely be gooey cuddlebugs but can also be extremely ill-behaved...even their nips are enough to bring tears to my eyes. I'm guessing that Severe macaws are good flyers when properly trained and conditioned like any other bird. I hope some of this helps you!

[Pajarita]

Nope, no personal experience with Severes. I have experience with Nobles and Hahn's but not Severes. Personally, I think that mini macaws are more like conures than the big macaws (noisy, feisty and less self-disciplined).

[mymartianheart]

I read up on other mini macaws, but I have honestly never read a good thing about severes! All i have ever read was that they always like one person and hate others, especially our partners. A funny thing is that, I received her from an indian family, and she was so happy to come home with me and to be away from the family, that every time one of my indian friends comes over, she starts shrieking furiously and tries to attack him every time he goes near her cage!

[GreenWing]

I know of a Severe. He is a great talker and is very active/hyper. Plays independently very well. He can be very sweet but is a biter. I think Severes are great birds but need a lot of toys/stimulation.

[mymartianheart]

My severe is afraid of all her toys! And any large thing that we carry around her...

[Wolf]

My severe is afraid of all her toys! And any large thing that we carry around her...

I would suggest that you play with the birds toys with her watching you doing so. I know that it helps a lot as my CAG will not touch or go near a toy until she sees me playing with it and even then it could take several days for her to approach it. The watch word for your bird is Patience. Birds do not see things the way that we do as their eyes function differently than ours.

[Pajarita]

Don't worry about it, parrots don't really need commercial toys, all they need is something to chew on and lots of one-on-one attention.

[mymartianheart]

@ Wolf, yeah, I tried that, but shes not much of a player! She's more of a lover I guess. And she always chews on towels and fabric.
@ Pajarita, I think I agree with you! Since she won't play with her toys, I decided I want to maybe file her beak. But she's scared of the file too!

I think she has bonded with me at that point that I can touch her anywhere, but she is still so afraid of objects! Even small ones... sigh... I was really looking forward to aviator harness training!

[Pajarita]

No, no, beaks on healthy birds should never be trimmed. There is absolutely no need for it, nature takes care of keeping it the way it's supposed to be. There are only two reasons why beaks need to be trimmed and two reasons alone, regardless of what other people on the net would tell you: liver malfunction or deformity. Period.