Rescue issues

[macaw2000]

My b-g macaw is a rescue & is about 16 years old. We have had him seen he was 2. He is very territorial inside his cage. Takes me along time to get him out. He has to lunge at me a few times while he is saying,"I want to come out." I give him about 15 minutes of this, walk away, bribe with his fav. foods. My right hand/arm is full of scars!!! He talks appropriately, eats very well, talks to my other 2 parrots (but has never gotten too close). & is a 'watch,guard bird' (not good on some occasions ...screams & then he & dog go at it). My major ? is how to stop this aggression(I do think he is part chicken!!!)?? When he does come out & we go into a different room he clings to me. I can give him scratches & do preen him. He seems to love to talk & to sing (opera) to me. He does not like my husband (he, the husband won't show interest---bad, I know). Does the book deal with rescues as old as my guy?? Joan My b-g is probably a boy cuz of his weight.

[Pajarita]

My dear, if you have had him since he was two and he is now 16, the issues couldn't have been caused by anything in his previous home (I am saying this because the first thing you mention is that he is a rescue which, after 14 years and him been a baby when you first got him, is now irrelevant). Now, pet macaws are not known to bond with other macaws very deeply and much less with other species so I would not worry at all over his ignoring your other birds. His clinging to you when he is in another room goes hand in hand with his not wanting to come out of his cage. He is insecure and his cage has become his 'safety' place and that's why he doesn't want to come out. You need to evaluate his living conditions and figure out what is making him so insecure (you talk about a barking dog and a husband who doesn't want anything to do with him, could either or both of these things have anything to do with it?). B&G are birds with very tender feelings. They are big but, inside, they are like little kids. They are so mild-tempered that they are one of the best species to have around kids (and that's saying A LOT when it comes to parrots!). Training will help but you need to find out what the problem is and solve it because the behavior is a symptom of something and you need to make the 'something' disappear. And, even when you do, it's not going to happen overnight, either, because he has obviously been living with this something bothering him for a long time for him to lunge at you every single time (B&G are one of the mellowest species and all well-adjusted birds like nothing better than to come out of their cages).
Mind you, I am not saying you don't love your bird or that you don't take good care of him. I am sure you do (and you prove it by the scratches on your arms) but parrots are individuals and what works for one doesn't work for the other, and some of them are very easily upset -sometimes through no fault of our own as they could be irreparably damaged emotionally by the way they were raised by the breeder.

Personally, I would not ask him to come out at all (I never do with any of my birds when they first come -mine don't live in cages but I rescue and have ended up with several that were cage-bound for one reason or another). I would put a nice perch right outside his door, open the door and walk a distance, sit and read, watch TV, do chores in the room, whatever, talking to him all the time and just wait him out (no husband, no dog, no nothing that might upset him and no taking him out of the room, either! -you are messing up when you do this because you are fulfilling his 'prophecy' that he will not feel safe when he does come out and this is proven by the fact that he clings to you). He won't come out at the beginning and it might take weeks for it to happen but, eventually, it will and, when it does, it will be because he DECIDED ON HIS OWN it was OK to do it and not because you wanted him to. Parrots are intelligent animals and although they cannot communicate their feelings to us with words, they understand and feel much more than we give them credit for. They also need to have a measure of control over their bodies and their lives to feel self confident (a self-confident bird is a content bird and that means well-adjusted behaviors) so, when we insist they do something they don't want to do because we see no reason for them not to do it, we erode their self-confidence and their trust in us.

It's not easy having a healthy and happy parrot. You need to become a mixture of a dietician, gourmet cook, Sherlock Holmes, mind reader and psychiatrist -and be good at it! - LOL-