Macaw/Parrot People?

[red13413]

I'm looking into possibly getting a macaw but would like know more about them. Is there anyone out there who has macaw and/or parrot knowledge and wouldn't mind me picking their brain a little (or a lot) :icon_wink: Thanks. Karen

[Opmoochler]

We have owned 3 Yellow-nape Amazon parrots in the past. One we raised from a baby;the other two we rescued. Well cared for parrots have a very long life span, so at our ages, we felt it would be irresponsible to continue having parrots. I know someone in TV who has a Macaw, but I don't think he's on this site. Boarding parrots can be a challenge, and they are very needy, noisy and messy. Take a deep breath and do A LOT of research before you commit to any type of parrot.

[NotGolfer]

ALSO....they live for a very long time. Be prepared for that and what would become of the bird(s) when you've passed away.

[photo1902]

I'm looking into possibly getting a macaw but would like know more about them. Is there anyone out there who has macaw and/or parrot knowledge and wouldn't mind me picking their brain a little (or a lot) :icon_wink: Thanks. Karen

Please be considerate of your neighbors. The idiot who lives behind us believes all his neighbors must love his screeching parrot, which used to spend long periods of time outside on the lanai. Although Im happy to say it has been curtailed somewhat recently, and the parrot owner is currently trying to sell his house. I surmise that the new neighbors who just moved into the new house directly beside his didn't enjoy the bird noises either.

[Bonny]

I had a double yellow amazon for 26 years. Unfortunately she had a stroke a few years back and passed away. :(
They are a very long commitment. They can be very noisy & messy.
My baby only loved me, hated everyone else.
Hard to find someone to watch them as they can be intimidating and not always friendly.
Please do a lot of research and make sure you are ready for that kind of a commitment.
I loved my baby, but now I'm too old to get another large bird that may live 40 years.
If you decide to get one, Mark Seymour, who is a popular entertainer in the Villages raises birds. He has a lot of babies, many different kinds. You would definitely want to get a baby.

[Brad-tv]

Macaws a great birds we have a hand fed baby that's been with us about seven or eight years they do make a lot of noise they need a lot of attention and sometimes they become a one person bird meaning only one member in the family can handle them and they tend to bite the other members and they also Poop all over the place
In the villages with houses so close to each other it might not be the ideal pet as someone posted before they are very annoying to those around you
That being said I still love my bird

[red13413]

Are all parrots really noisy? I have read other bird friendly websites that say even though the macaw can be loud they also can be retrained to be quiet, too. They said that the bird responds to the noise level in the house. If the house is quiet then the bird will be quiet. It also said that they will screech when they want attention... what do you all think? I was thinking about getting a rescue because of the age factor. I am 50...

[Bonny]

For the most part they can be very noisy. Very hard to train a bird to be quiet. That's kind of like telling a cat not to purr.
Some are quieter than others, but you never know.
My bird loved it when the phone rang. She knew I would give her treats so she would be quiet. LOL They are very smart.
Birds can be very temperamental.
A macaw is a very large bird and could be a handful if you are not used to birds of that size. You have to be prepared to handle it.

[manaboutown]

I foolishly bought a Severe Macaw from a fellow. The bird had bitten his girlfriend. It originally liked me but then cleaved to my son. It was so loud at times I believe I lost some hearing as a result.

[CFrance]

Please, please pay attention to what people here are saying. And in your research online, be careful to read between the lines. It's a real commitment, and they must be constantly socialized or they will turn nasty. They are very noisy. There are a couple on a porch on Duval St. in Key West who can be heard all up and down the street. This is a really close community to have such a loud bird. And it is difficult to find boarding, although Park Heights Animal will board them (at their other location), but the space is limited.

If you really want an interactive bird, not too noisy, sweet tempered, and can be trained to talk (if a male), I suggest considering a Cockatiel. Go out to Leesburg Pet Center and talk to them about birds. They have many varieties, all hand-fed/raised.

[red13413]

Please, please pay attention to what people here are saying. And in your research online, be careful to read between the lines. It's a real commitment, and they must be constantly socialized or they will turn nasty. They are very noisy. There are a couple on a porch on Duval St. in Key West who can be heard all up and down the street. This is a really close community to have such a loud bird. And it is difficult to find boarding, although Park Heights Animal will board them (at their other location), but the space is limited.

If you really want an interactive bird, not too noisy, sweet tempered, and can be trained to talk (if a male), I suggest considering a Cockatiel. Go out to Leesburg Pet Center and talk to them about birds. They have many varieties, all hand-fed/raised.
Yes, the more I hear the less attractive this becomes. I will most definitely go to the Pet Center and check them out. Thanks! Karen

[Opmoochler]

Are all parrots really noisy? I have read other bird friendly websites that say even though the macaw can be loud they also can be retrained to be quiet, too. They said that the bird responds to the noise level in the house. If the house is quiet then the bird will be quiet. It also said that they will screech when they want attention... what do you all think? I was thinking about getting a rescue because of the age factor. I am 50...

They want attention most of the time you're there because they are very social birds. We would try covering ours to quiet him, but he'd scream even louder! It was like having a toddler having a tantrum. If we let him out to wander around and play with his toys, he'd quiet down. Be prepared to have chair rungs chewed, rugs shredded, and lamp cords severed. You have to parrot-proof for your safety and the bird's. Please understand that he won't be happy confined to his cage like a canary.

[jimbo2012]

I've been breeding birds for many years, a first parrot should not be a macaw, a average size parrot a better choice.

My first choice would be an African Grey

[red13413]

I was looking at the Greys, they are very pretty... I thought about maybe going that route after I heard so many negatives about the macaw. I was looking at the Cockatiels and Cockatoos. I think I'd rather have a Cockatoo than a Cockatiel but am still not sure what I will do, if anything. I'm going to check out the Leesburg Pet Center this afternoon.

[Bonny]

I was looking at the Greys, they are very pretty... I thought about maybe going that route after I heard so many negatives about the macaw. I was looking at the Cockatiels and Cockatoos. I think I'd rather have a Cockatoo than a Cockatiel but am still not sure what I will do, if anything. I'm going to check out the Leesburg Pet Center this afternoon.
A Cockatoo is definitely one of the noisiest birds. They can be very social and require a lot of attention and they will let you know.
You should go online and look at the traits of these birds.
You also have to realize that you have to be prepared to handle these large birds. They also live a very long time. Many of them average 40 - 50 years.
I had my Amazon 26 years when she had a stroke and passed away. She was about 6 when I got her so she lived 32 years.
They can also be very possessive. My baby hated everyone but me. She was very friendly at first then decided she didn't like anyone else.
Please read up on these birds before making a decision, especially if you have never had a large bird.
I had 2 Cockatiels, one for 10 years and one for 11 years, They are awesome birds

[jimbo2012]

Generally I would place the cockatoo & macaws in the same boat.

A lot to handle for the first bird.

the grey is the most content bird in captivity, talk a blue streak lives 30-40 years

[CFrance]

A Cockatoo is definitely one of the noisiest birds. They can be very social and require a lot of attention and they will let you know.
You should go online and look at the traits of these birds.
You also have to realize that you have to be prepared to handle these large birds. They also live a very long time. Many of them average 40 - 50 years.
I had my Amazon 26 years when she had a stroke and passed away. She was about 6 when I got her so she lived 32 years.
They can also be very possessive. My baby hated everyone but me. She was very friendly at first then decided she didn't like anyone else.
Please read up on these birds before making a decision, especially if you have never had a large bird.
I had 2 Cockatiels, one for 10 years and one for 11 years, They are awesome birds
That happened to us with our Quaker parrot. In fact, within six months he decided he hated everyone, despite all the attention. (We know how to handle birds.) I know they go through a rough time at puberty, but wow. He became violent and drew blood on several occasions. He now has another home in an aviary.

Our Cockatiel did prefer me to anyone else, but he wasn't nasty to anyone. He was a hoot and everyone loved him; even the dog. They live 15-25 years. Ours was ten when he developed a lung infection out of seemingly nowhere, and barely made it home from the vet before passing away. It was a very sad time at our house.

I have heard what Bonny has heard about Cockatoos. I detect a preference in you to have a larger bird. I suggest go talk to Leesburg about the Grays.

[CFrance]

Red 13413, there is an African Gray, Einstein, whose antics are posted on YouTube. Check this out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS3a2N6DXKs&feature=em-subs_digest

[Opmoochler]

Red 13413, there is an African Gray, Einstein, whose antics are posted on YouTube. Check this out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS3a2N6DXKs&feature=em-subs_digest

I think I read somewhere that Einstein had died. He was a wonderful bird. A friend of ours had an African Grey that suddenly began plucking out all of his feathers because he was lonely. This guy worked from home and was devoted to his bird, but it wasn't enough, apparently, after the bird had been with him for several years. Maybe it was the onset of puberty, but he finally gave the bird to someone who had multiple parrots, and his feathers grew back in.

[NotGolfer]

Noisy?? I once was visiting a house where the owner had a large parrot that screeched so loudly we couldn't visit. It also smelled....not sure if that's the usual case with these birds. Have to say I had a paraquit (sp) when I was small...that too was noisy and VERY messy. The floor all around the cage would have seed residue from it. My parents eventually gave the bird away....

[CFrance]

Could you be thinking of Alex, the Gray who was studied by an animal psychologist? He lived to be 30. I get an email notification when a new Einstein video is posted, and I just got one this week about his "Easter Egg Roll" that was published on 3/26.

The owner of Fish & Friends in Muskegon, MI, bred our cockatiel. She had an African Gray in her store one day whose chest area was pretty devoid of feathers. He had been living at her house, and she brought him in to live at the store in hopes he would get more human interaction and stop pulling his feathers out.

[red13413]

I think if I do decide this is something I'd like to do, that I will go the African Grey route. I'm still concerned and am reading and doing A LOT of research. I'm lucky enough to be retired and can be home with the dogs and any bird I choose.
Do any of you travel with your birds? We have a motor home and travel fairly frequently...

[CFrance]

I think if I do decide this is something I'd like to do, that I will go the African Grey route. I'm still concerned and am reading and doing A LOT of research. I'm lucky enough to be retired and can be home with the dogs and any bird I choose.
Do any of you travel with your birds? We have a motor home and travel fairly frequently...
We used to travel all the time with our cockatiel. We had two smaller cages. One was about a one-foot cube that could sit behind the driver's seat on the floor (dog taking up entire backseat). Once at the hotel, we would let him out to crawl all over his cage or hang out on my shoulder. this travel cage was in order to get from FL home to MI home & back. Each home had its own big cage.

The other cage was about 16 x 18 x 20 and would fit in the back of my husband's car. We used this cage when we traveled somewhere for a vacation and there was no cage on the other end.

We found the bird traveled best in the car when the cage was covered and he couldn't see all the movement around him. He would natter away and talk to us a lot. Another thing was that since they love heat, you could get away with leaving him in the car while stopping for lunch--IF it wasn't above 80. Can't do that with the dog, though. So most of the time we packed a lunch and stopped at a rest stop with picnic tables. We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies, but hey... at our age, who cares!

[Opmoochler]

I think if I do decide this is something I'd like to do, that I will go the African Grey route. I'm still concerned and am reading and doing A LOT of research. I'm lucky enough to be retired and can be home with the dogs and any bird I choose.
Do any of you travel with your birds? We have a motor home and travel fairly frequently...

For years, we had a large cage at each end of our travels. For the drive, we used a medium sized plastic airline carrier that we modified with a perch inside. For other trips where there was no cage at our destination, we carried a folding dog crate and a bag of perches and toys. The cat/dog carrier was ideal because the bird had air circulating, but he couldn't see the scenery rushing by. It was also easier to get him from the car to the house or hotel room. He regularly chatted to himself or would interact if he was asked how he was doing. So where are you going to keep a 5'X3' cage in a motor home? Or one of those free-standing perches? If you look at the Einstein videos, you can see her standing on her perch with the feeding/water cups. Our parrot loved his perch and only slept in his cage at night or when we went out.

I am so glad to see that Einstein is still very much alive! It was Alex who died, and I read "Alex and Me" a year ago.