Socialization consensus

[Shadylabartram]

J

[Michael]

I would not be taking a parrot around and about until it at the very least has a full set of feathers. After that point, building up in moderation is a great idea. Be sure to use a harness both to get him used to it and to avoid a problematic fly off.

[JaydeParrot]

Yes I agree with Micheal, 5 weeks is 'way' too young to take your bird out, it's still growing and any outside illnesses, harness rubbing against areas where feathers have not yet formed, getting a chill from the cold, e.t.c. Can be very determental to your bird's growth and could even cause lifelong deformities.

Just be patient and let the bird wean and grow all it's feathers in, the baby stage only lasts around 18 weeks in Macaws, you should just nurture it from home, let it grow strong and then start to socialise it outside of your house, .

You can let vistors to your house and yourself interact with the Macaw to let it get used to friendly human contact, just make sure that the person interacting washes their hands first, as baby birds can be very suseptable to any germs. By doing this, the bird will have good associations with humans and so will react much better to going outside and socialising with humans.

[Pajarita]

I believe is always best to go to nature for guidance and baby parrots don't see any other bird except their parents all the time they are in the nest. I don't breed but I've observed wild parrots and once had a clutch of lovebirds and another of cockatiels (the lovebirds were an accident and the tiels came with eggs in the nest) and these babies never left the nest until they were three months old. So, taking into consideration that larger species take longer in the nest than the smaller ones, I would say don't even expose him to anybody until he is four months old. Unfortunately for him, he has already been handled by way too many people (breeder, previous owners, you, clinic staff) and had to suffer pain, surgery, a feeding tube, etc so, if I were you, I would do my outmost to try to reverse all this negative and terribly stressful experiences by giving him extra quiet and safety.

And, yes, people who talk about 'socializing' a baby bird are extrapolating mammal behaviors and social structure parameters to avian's and that's not accurate or even good.