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Hello

Postby Tammy51 » Mon Nov 14, 2016 11:59 am

Hello everyone, I'm very new to this. Please excuse any mistakes on posting.
I'm not new to parenting our beautiful friends, from little lorikeets to macaws. About 6 years ago I lost my beautiful babies in a brutal devorce. Just recently I decided that my life was way to emty without some feathered friends in it.
I am currently handfeeding a beautiful 7 week old blue and gold, bobbi, and I'm brining home a 4 month old baby cag I'm thing about calling him Peanut, and I'm so excited I can't wait .
Tammy51
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: African Grey congo baby
Blue and gold baby
Flight: No

Re: Hello

Postby Pajarita » Mon Nov 14, 2016 1:52 pm

Welcome to the forum! WOW, only 7 weeks?! I don't know where you got the baby mac but you do realize that he was pulled from his parents earlier than it's recommended for macaws, right? I don't mean to say anything hurtful as I realize that, obviously, you were not aware of this, but separating altricial species before they do the sexual imprinting is what leads, later on, to severe behavioral problems (it's the filial imprinting you want when you handfeed parrots, not the sexual one) so I am afraid that the breeder where you got him was not what one would call a conscientious one or maybe he/she just did not know what he/she was doing. Unfortunately, it might be too late by now... I am sorry to give such bad news to you, I realize that you are super enthused about this new endeavor and that my comment is a cold shower on it but it's important to know that, if the bird has problems in the future is not because of something you did a month or two before and that it's not his/her fault. I assume that you are a stay at home person and that you are handfeeding every few hours as well as keeping him in a completely dark, warm, cozy place in between feedings?
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Hello

Postby Rmoses » Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:08 pm

Welcome to the forum Tammy51 We are happy to have you here. There are many knowledgeable and friendly people on here. We look forward to your experiences and stories. If you run into any problem not already covered on the forum, there are several people that will help find a solution. Again, welcome to The Parrot Forum
Rick
Rmoses
Cockatiel
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 77
Location: Mexico
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: white fronted amazon
Flight: Yes

Re: Hello

Postby Wolf » Mon Nov 14, 2016 10:33 pm

Wow, Pajarita, this is new information for me, but I don't have any macaws. I know that the B&G Macaw fledges at around 90 to 100 days ( 12 to 14 weeks) of age, so I do agree that 7 weeks is a bit early and I know that this can create not only physical but emotional issues further down the line, partly due to the improper weaning. but I did not know that it was not recommended for this species of parrot to not be removed from its parents before it was sexually mature at 3 to 4 years of age.

I realize that this is something that every breeder should know and abide by, but we both know how many breeders are and that they seem to be reluctant to share this type of information with a prospective client, forcing the client to either try and find this information before they even look for a bird or to learn about it the hard way later on. The thing is that as you know, I do a lot of reading about parrots of many different species and I have never run across this before so would you mind giving me some reference to this as I really want to know more about this.

Hi and welcome to the forum Tammy51, glad to have you along. I apologise for not welcoming you right at first as I should have, but I was surprised with the information that Pajarita shared about your new friend, Bobbi and just had to ask for more information about it. Be assured that we will be very happy to answer any questions that you may have and will do all that we can to help you and your feathered friend to have a wonderful life together. Several of us do a lot of research on parrots and are constantly learning new things to share with each other. Some of us have a lot of years of hands on experience as well. We are also big fans of stories and pictures of each others birds and their lives with them. Once again welcome to the forum.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Hello

Postby Pajarita » Tue Nov 15, 2016 12:13 pm

No, no, nobody has to wait until they are sexually mature, they can be removed when they are still chicks, just not as early as 7 weeks. All animals have a window of time when they are babies for imprinting so, although one needs a parrot baby to imprint to people, the filial imprint is what is necessary (the one that makes a baby imprint to its momma). The sexual imprint is the one that 'tells' the animal what a sex mate should look like. When altricial birds are reared by humans from too early, they think that the only good sexual partner is a human and this creates all kinds of behavioral problems when they are sexually mature. Just two examples that illustrate this: birds of prey that are raised by humans from when they are too young would not have sex with another bird so, in order to breed them, the owners would allow the male bird to 'copulate' with their heads while wearing a special hat that 'catches' the sperm which they later use to inseminate -via a pipette- the female, which they also allow to 'go through the motions' with their hand resting on their back (to simulate the weight of the male bird). And, more to the point, the second example is 'incubator parrots' and all the huge behavioral problems they developed later on to the point that the practice of buying fertilized eggs, which was very popular in the late 80's and early 90's, was discontinued completely.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Hello

Postby seagoatdeb » Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:34 pm

Some breeders still sell babies and tell buyers that it is good for them to hand feed. it may not be the best but since you are handfeeding, and new to having parrots in your life we would be happy to help as much as we can. Your Mackaw can still have a happy life with you.
User avatar
seagoatdeb
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1257
Location: Kelowna, BC Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Red Belly Poicephalus and a Meyers Poicephalus
Flight: Yes


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