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Feeding Hormonal B&G Macaw

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

Feeding Hormonal B&G Macaw

Postby Traci0921 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:31 am

I've had my rescued :macaw: for about a month now. With the help of some of you and my google skills, I believe he (I was told he by previous owner- bird was purchased at a pet store- have not done a DNA myself) is highly hormonal.

He is constantly shredding things at the bottom of his cage and wants nothing more than to vomit on my shoes.

I've changed how I pet him and I make sure he gets rest at night, but the diet is stumping me. He will eat Zupreem pellets. I'm reading to lower protein intake, starches, fruits and volume of food.

Can someone just TELL me what to feed this guy and when?
Traci0921
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 23
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiel, B&G Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: Feeding Hormonal B&G Macaw

Postby Pajarita » Fri Jan 26, 2018 11:04 am

Well, one of the problems with feeding pellets is that, in reality, you have no idea how much protein you are feeding because there isn't a single pellet that brings an exact protein value on its nutritional label. ALL of them are listed as 'minimum' and, taking into consideration that parrots crave protein even more so than natural seed eaters, granivores, insectivores, omnivores and carnivores, I would assume that, if the manufacturers are smart [and I have no reason to think they are not!], they would make their pellets with high protein to ensure the bird would like and even crave them.

I feed gloop accompanied by raw produce for breakfast and all day picking and a seed/nut mix for dinner so I am able to increase or decrease protein by simply changing, eliminating or adding ingredients to both meals. For example, 'summer' gloop [which is not really just for the summer but through all the breeding season until they are halfway through the molt] has hard red winter wheat instead of soft white spring, quinoa instead of millet, less rices and I add insect protein or sprouts or hemp seeds to it. Same thing with dinner, in the winter, they get a larger proportion of the cockatiel mix I use as base for it and less nuts and, in the summer, they get more nuts plus I add some extra hemp seed to it.

But you are not going to be able to regulate his hormones only through diet... At least, I don't know anybody who has been able to do it.
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: Feeding Hormonal B&G Macaw

Postby Traci0921 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 1:25 pm

Diet. Sleep schedule. How I touch him.

Are these 3 things the key?
Traci0921
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 23
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiel, B&G Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: Feeding Hormonal B&G Macaw

Postby Pajarita » Fri Jan 26, 2018 2:47 pm

In order of importance is:
1. light schedule [it's not the actual number of hours of sleep but the actual number of hours of light between dawn and dusk that does it]
2. diet [low protein and lack of 'spring' food]
3. touching, flight, hours in cage, nesting materials, etc. Touching only head and neck. Flight because it's the only way of dissipating 'bad' [sexual and stress, basically] hormones. Hours in cage because, when they spend a lot of hours in it, they start associating cage with nest and because without any other entertainment, they kind of focus on breeding. Nesting materials because certain behaviors either trigger or 'finish up' breeding conditioning -for example, female cockatoos need to see the male working in a nest to be brought up to high breeding condition [I am using cockatoos as an example because we have recently learned about this but don't know much about other species, yet].
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: Feeding Hormonal B&G Macaw

Postby Traci0921 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 3:33 pm

Ugh. I feel like it's impossible to give him what he needs.

I work out of the home from 8-5, I do go home for lunch 1230-130, but if I follow a true solar schedule I will not interact with him at all and he will NEVER be out of his cage.

I will attempt to lower the protein in his diet. I initially worried because I thought he may not be getting a balanced diet without the pellets so I worked to find one he would eat.

Touching, I have changed. Flight - I don't really have a space for it and he hasn't ever tried to fly. He's caged for at least 8 hours a day while I am at work.

Nesting materials - I do give him things to shred because it seems to help with his frustration. Boxes are immediately shredded though - he spends no time in them etc.

I feel like I just can't get this right. Sigh.
Traci0921
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 23
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiel, B&G Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: Feeding Hormonal B&G Macaw

Postby Pajarita » Sat Jan 27, 2018 11:25 am

Well, I tell you, I don't take in macaws precisely because I don't have 30 ft long rooms where one can fly. Of course, if you only have the one bird, you can train it to fly with a harness and take him out BUT, if you live in the North, it can only be done during the warm weather so the bird would have to spend months and months without flight... The only kind I would consider taking in would be one that cannot fly at all -like the cockatoos I've taken.

And, yes, again, when you work full time, you end up with a bird that is chronically overly hormonal and spends way too many hours in a cage. There is really nothing you can do about that unless you get somebody to come over during the day to birdsit or take him to a daycare place. I used to know a dog groomer who had a large bird flight room [she had parrots of her own] and would care for birds that belonged to people who worked full time. And there is also quite a number of people who have people come over to spend time with their birds during the day [I know this guy in NYC who owns two ekkies and has a housekeeper that comes in every day mostly so the birds are not alone but he also goes in and out all day long because he owns an art gallery in SoHo a few blocks away from his house]. But, of course, this means that the bird might bond to somebody else instead of you and you end up with still another expensive item in your budget. I actually quit working because of the birds... I could keep them to a solar schedule because they all lived cage-free in a large birdroom and my husband was home during the day [I cleaned the room in the dark with night vision goggles and left the food prepared from the night before so my husband just had to put it out in the morning] but, because I was not there during the day, I could not really check on them health-wise and I was always worrying and worrying that one was going to get sick or hurt and that I was going to miss it.

The truth of the matter is that parrots always get the short end of the stick in captivity and that, unless you don't work outside the home, you end up with a bird that will have a screwed up endocrine system with the corresponding health and mood problems this brings to them. Of course, breeders, pet stores and even rescues omit this information all the time and then there is always the people who think that an overly hormonal bird is just 'in love with them' not realizing that it's a health issue... Parrots are, BY FAR, the hardest pet to keep healthy and happy!
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: Feeding Hormonal B&G Macaw

Postby Navre » Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:27 pm

All you can do is the best you can do.
Navre
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1909
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Hooded Parrot
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