Hello, I was wondering if anyone has experience with hawk headed parrots. A friend of mine who has a few large birds Came into possession of a weaned young female. (The bird is currently about one year old, has been in the house 4-5 months) She is asking me if I would like to take her because it’s not working out in their household. Even though the bird is young she been fairly aggressive. The bird was Acquired in A series of trades and re-homes after the death of a collector between a few people. Her flock has been very disrupted and she thinks Removing the new hawk head is the best option.
We currently have a very well-adjusted, well behaved four-year-old male Alexandrian who is used to being an only bird. My husband would eventually like to add a large Macaw (in 8-10 years, we are planning to have children soon and he wants them to be a little older). I work from home and have a lot of time to work with our bird/another addition.
I have told her I can take the bird for a couple of weeks at least keep her in a separate room until things calm down in their house, but I do not know if I can keep her permanently. I hate to see birds shuffled around but the more research I do on hawk heads the more un-certain I am. The bird is flighted, he is on a good diet and a good light schedule because I’m sure it’s going to be asked. I talked to a breeder yesterday and she said it is rare that hawk heads can be integrated into a flock with other birds... is this true? He’s a very beautiful bird and I would love to give him a good home and a good chance but my priority is the bird we already own. The last thing I want to do is disrupt Hephaestions happy environment. I also do not want to create a situation where we have a bird permanently secluded away from the family and the other birds are free to interact with us.
Is there a possibility a bird like this could be acclimated into our household? I have seen some stories online where they will attack other birds (and people but I am more worried about Hephaestion, I can handle some bites). I would like to help my friend out and help this little bird but Hephaestion came first and is my priority. Right now my friend says if she is let out she shoulder rushes and bites at her face. He has never directly attacked one of her other birds but is aggressive with them and bullies them, all of her birds have been unhappy and on edge. All of her other birds are also significantly bigger than our Alexandrian (The smallest is a blue throat) so I’m worried that he might just go after Hephaestion- the hawkhead is only a little smaller than him.
What is your advice? We have a large home and I could separate him but I would hate to keep a bird alone in a room for an extended amount of time. If I keep him permanently I would want him to integrate into the house and be safe interacting with Hephaestion.