Summary of my experiences leading up to when I started this blog (about 9 weeks)
In the spring of 2010 at my youngest daughter’s request, we bought a Sun Conure for her graduation present. Prior to that we had purchased four parakeets--all failures. The first two escaped their cage during a poorly executed cleaning attempt (my fault), and the second two (many years later) died for some unknown reason. To us, parakeets were nothing more than animated plants--colorful and interesting to look at, but not really pets in the sense that a cat or a dog was a pet.
My daughter's Conure changed all that. He has been both entertaining as well as beautiful to look at. He has a real personality.
He has remained healthy for the whole year we've had him.
In January of this year (2011) I got the idea to buy a parrot of my own. I asked my daughter to let me keep her bird and cage in my home office so I could see if I would be able to work with the bird in the same room. I travel about 25% of the time and it was important to make sure that I could work from home the other 75% of the time. As it turned out, having her bird in my office worked out fine. What began as a two week test has turned into a continuing experience. My daughter will probably leave her Conure in my office until my own parrot comes home in June.
About this same time, I began looking at Macaws at the local pet stores and on Craigslist. At first I treated my search the same as if I were looking for a used car. I was primarily price focused. It was a learning experience for me. I'd see a Macaw come up for sale at a low cost (on craigslist they call it an adoption fee or a rehoming fee).
I was looking for a bird and cage for $300, but I was secretly willing to go up to $500.
As I read the ads I wonderedwhy most Craigslist posters said "only for people with large bird experience."
After all, when looking at a dog ad the poster doesn’t include “only for people with large dog experience” in their posting.
At first I was focused on the Scarlet Macaw due to its beauty and its relative rareness. I thought the Blue and Gold was also beautiful, but since most of the Craigslist Macaws were Blue and Golds I assumed they were also the most common. I wanted something less common. I eliminated the Hyacinth due primarily to its cost. I spoke with a local Scarlet owner a couple of times. I also spoke with the wife of a colleague who I knew had kept large birds for many years.
They both explained that Macaws can be biters and screamers.
Now I understood what “large bird experience” meant.
I began researching parrots on the web and gradually learned about the primary types: Blue and Golds, Scarlets, Greenwings, Military, and Hyacinth's (yes I now know there are others). I had eliminated the smaller and the midsized parrots due simply to their size.
As I corresponded with a few posters on Craigslist and read about the Scarlets and the Military Macaws I eventually eliminated them due to what I perceived to be difficult behavior (biting and screaming). Being a newbie I knew I needed the gentlest Macaw out there.
In the end I chose to get a Greenwing due to its large size (second only to the Hyacinth), its similar coloring to the Scarlet's, and its reputed gentleness (The Gentle Giant).
I began looking at birds in pet stores and at a local Bird Fair.
It was while I was shopping at a local flea market that I met a breeder who had a 4 week old Greenwing for sale.
He also had an older sibling of the Greenwing which was the breeder's personal pet.
I saw how well socialized the sibling was and I liked what the breeder had to say about his method of raising the baby until it was ready to be taken home.
I was convinced.
A week later I put down a holding fee and had the breeder sign a contract I drew up stating our intentions and our agreed upon price.
That was six weeks ago. I make weekly trips out to the flea market to spend time with the Greenwing (now named Mardy) and his/her breeder. Mardy will stay with the breeder until the end of June.
Over the last six weeks I’ve also been diligently researching Macaw ownership.
I’m determined to avoid the problems which lead all those Craigslist posters to give up what must have at one time been a bird they too were excited to take home.
I’ve purchased two training courses from birdtricks.com.
I’ve subscribed to a magazine from goodbirdinc.com, I’ve read a number of articles by Steve Martin, Ron Hines, Barbara Heidenrich, Chet Womach, and others.
I’ve subscribed to free newsletters by Chet Womach, Jessica Harrison, and Michael Joseph.
I’ve read the following books:
· Of Parrots and People: The Sometimes Funny, Always Fascinating, and Often Catastrophic Collision of Two Intelligent Species, by Mira Tweti
· The Ultimate Guide to Parrots Secrets to Adopting and Raising a Healthy, Happy Bird, by Lynn Beck
· My Parrot, My Friend: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Behavior (Behavior Modification Techniques and Their Role in Contemporary Aviculture), by Bonnie Munro Doane and Thomas Qualkinbush.
· The Pleasure of Their Company: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Training, by Bonnie Munro Doane
· The Parrot Problem Solver, by Barbara Heidenreich
· Parrot Tricks: Teaching Parrots with Positive Reinforcement, by Tani Robar and Diane Grindol
· Parrot Training: A Guide to Taming and Gentling Your Avian Companion, by Bonnie Munro Doane
And I attempted to buy “All About Macaws” by Jessica Harrison.
This turned out to be what was apparently a scam, but after numerous emails and logging two trouble tickets at the publisher's web site, Pay Pal finally refunded my money.
The bottom line from all this research is that Macaws are not pets, they are wild animals and living with them will be a continuous training exercise. This doesn’t mean Mardy will not be fun and cuddly. What it means is that having Mardy as a pet will be like having a lion as a pet. Everything that I do with Mardy will affect whether or not (s)he is a good companion or a bad companion.
To paraphrase one of my authors “There’s no such thing as a bad parrot, there are just parrots from owners with bad training skills.” Unfortunately it isn’t the parrot owner who suffers in the end from these bad training skills, it is the parrot. So I’m going to do everything I can to make sure my training skills are up to the level Mardy needs.
So how do I do this? Besides reading and watching a number of lessons on parrot training, I also have my daughter’s Sun Conure to experiment on. You can read a book on how to drive a car, but until you’ve gotten behind the wheel you don’t really know how you’re going to do. I’m learning a lot from training my daughter’s Conure. He’s even learned a couple of tricks which I’m happy to demonstrate whenever someone is around. My daughter has learned as well. Before moving her Conure into my office the bird spent most all of his days in his cage. She gave him toys and talked and played with him, but his world was limited to his cage. I changed that—without meaning to.
When my daughter’s Conure move into my office the first thing I did was open up his cage. I opened the two wing doors at the top. I pulled down the draw bridge door at the top front. And I opened the main door to his cage. I hung a toy from his draw bridge and mounted a gritty perch to the inside of the (now open) main entrance. He was allowed to crawl all over the cage, all day long. I put a tray on the floor under the draw bridge and began covering his cage 12 hours each night to ensure he got the rest his species needs from having evolved near the equator.
My daughter’s Conure changed in many ways. For the first three days he wouldn’t come out of his cage and would not step up when I offered. Gradually his personality became much more expressive and he became an avian monkey climbing around his cage and playing with his toys. He was a happy and contented parrot before moving into my office, but he became much (dare I say it) happier and content after I opened up his cage and his environment. Through all the changes, his love for my daughter and the excitement he demonstrates when she walks into the room is undiminished.
I am a bit concerned that I may have spoiled my daughter’s Conure, though. I’m still working on his screeching. I’m trying to displace that behavior with kisses—kisses is a sound he makes from time to time. I have had some success, but he does revert back to screeching with daily regularity.
I am in the process of trying to capture three different behaviors which I’d like to put on cue. One, of course is the kisses. A second is the rapid bobbing of his head. And the third is when he massages or slowly scratches his head with his foot.
I’ve purchased a large cage, and a large portable perch. I’m shopping for a large playground and an outdoor aviary. Including the cost of the Macaw I’m looking at having spent right around $3,700. So much for staying within my $300 budget! I am not concerned about the inflated costs, though. My wife and I sat down and decided that buying someone else’s poorly trained and rejected Macaw was a guarantee for failure. Rather than throwing away $500+ we decided to do it right and get a baby and all the equipment we’ll need to be successful Macaw companions.
Each weekend I drive out to the flea market and spend an hour or two with Mardy.
I know this time is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of his/her week, but I do hope it has some effect on his/her development.
I know it has an effect on the breeders.
They know they have an interested customer who is watching closely what they do with their baby and who wants to learn whatever they will share.
I've been very impressed with their personal treatment of Mardy and the very apparent affection they show for him.
I’ve also corresponded with a local avian veterinarian. She approves of the breeder's behavior, and their weaning and flight training plans. She has agreed to be Mardy’s vet. I told her I would be scheduling a health check and a sexing (so I will know which pronoun to use) for some date in June or early July.
Stay tuned...
