Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
For anyone wondering how to touch your parrot's beak or what is the best way to develop personal confidence handling a biting parrot, this article should be particularly helpful. This is a taming technique I have rarely seen discussed but has helped me personally with all parrots I've ever interacted with. This taming method is for everyone beginner through expert and can be used on any parrot from tame to aggressive as long as you can safely approach the parrot. This should apply to all parrot species except for the smallest ones.
This incredible parrot taming technique is beak touching. The first step of hand taming a parrot is to be able to touch it without getting bitten. The only place on the parrot's entire body that you can safely touch and not get bit is the maxilla. This is the upper beak on a parrot. The reason you cannot get bit when touching the maxilla is because you are too far from the mandible (bottom beak) but too close for the parrot to be able to move and get your finger in its beak. By touching the upper maxilla, you are safely out of range of getting bit. Touching the parrot's head, tail, wings, feet, or head are far more likely to result in a bite if it isn't accustomed to being touched. And don't think you can touch its back. Parrots can turn their head over 180 degrees and will bite behind them in a flash.
When familiarizing myself with a parrot that I'm uncertain of, I like to start by touching its beak and seeing how it reacts. First as I approach my hand slowly towards its beak (from the front and above), I am gauging the body language and trying to see if it is aggressive or calm. I check to see if the parrot opens its beak and leans in for my hand or stays still. I continue holding my hand above and just far enough that there is no way the parrot can reach to bite. Then I move steady and deliberately right to the upper maxilla and put my hand or finger on it. I like to get my thumb and index finger around the beak and kind of hold on. I may add a scratch from my finger nail. The parrot cannot bite me in this position and I can safely retract my hand upward at any moment and out of range if I need to.
Besides the fact that this is the safest place to touch, the parrot is actually likely to enjoy it. It's one of the places they can't reach to scratch when they want to. The parrot will really like you for scratching off bits of food stuck or beak that is flaking off. So the act itself becomes positively reinforcing. The parrot will learn to remain calm and let you handle its beak. This serves as a behavior alternative to biting. Any attempt at biting will be negatively punished by the termination of beak scratches. As the parrot becomes more accustomed to this sort of hand to beak relationship, it will be less likely to bite the hands because it is used to hands touching the beak rather than the other way around. I'm not suggesting that this will eliminate biting all together. Other taming methods are certainly required, but this is a great supplement to them.
As you touch the parrot's beak more and more, you will develop more confidence around it yourself. Both you and your parrot will have less fear of each other. While you worry about the parrot using the beak for biting, the parrot also fears you using hands for grabbing or hurting. But as you practice the beak touching/scratching, you will both learn that beak/hands are not meant for harm. As you gain more confidence you can scratch the lower mandible as well and move on to the cheeks and head.
Besides the mutual trust this technique develops, it also serves a practical application. This allows you to file your parrot's beak if needed and to scratch off any dirt. So instead of fearing your parrot's beak, turn that around to a game that results in positively reinforcing beak scratches for your parrot.
On Saturday I took Kili and Truman into their aviary together for the first time. I finally added toys and perches to the aviary, some old and some new. Many of them you might recognize from Truman's toy shopping I did after getting him. Unfortunately cause of his injury much of that had gone unused for a while but came in quite handy for decorating the aviary. I reused many of Kili's old swings though to make comfortable hanging perches for her.
Truman just hung out wherever I'd put him. Kili got comfortable quite quickly and was moving from perch to perch. Sometimes she would fly but mostly she found it more convenient to climb up the toy to the ceiling bars, hang upside down, make her way across the ceiling, and then down the chain for the next toy. The boing spiral rope perch quickly became Kili's favorite. This is a bit of a problem because when I put Truman on that and Kili elsewhere, Kili flew over and started attacking Truman until he fell off and landed on the aviary bars. This is why for the time being I am keeping Truman in the aviary daily (when weather and time permits) but only putting Kili in on occasion when I can be inside to supervise. I want Truman to become more familiar with the aviary so he could have at least a little advantage over Kili. Until I can feel confident that Truman is healed and that Kili cannot hurt him, I have to stay inside whenever they are together.
For the next few weeks there is a street fair going on nearby so I've been taking Kili there quite frequently. I am using this as a way of desensitizing her to people and noise because some day I might have to take her to a TV studio. So to teach her not to be scared of novel environments, I think these outings are very effective. The first time I walked through the fair I had her perch on my hand and held her leash pretty tightly. She can only fly to the end of the leash but in such tight crowds I could not risk her going even that far.
As we continued, Kili was becoming much more relaxed and used to the situation so I let her sit on my shoulder the entire way back. I have brought her several more times since. With every successive time I bring her, the less time it takes before I can stop holding her and just put her on my shoulder. She may flinch a little when a balloon pops but she does not try to fly away. There was not a single time she tried to fly off and in fact the more scared she is, the tighter she clings to me instead. So even without a harness I could have made all of these outings much the same way. It's just that in that very unlikely even that she does try to fly off, the harness is my backup plan.
Kili would get really vocal during these walks with many "hellos" and noises that she does. A girl wanted to hold Kili so I let her. She began asking if it's ok to pet Kili and just as I was uttering the word no she stuck her finger in and got a good bite. Didn't have the patience to hear the answer. Really it is ok to pet Kili but only in a certain way. She didn't give me the chance to show her. But hey, a good lesson for the girl no less. She was surprised that parrots can bite but really I would not even classify it a parrot bite as there wasn't any blood. Some other parrot owning people took notice and wanted to talk. I was surprised that otherwise these parrot outings went quite unnoticed. Typically Kili brings out a much bigger gathering at the park.
I often get asked, "what kind of parrot should I buy for my children" or, "is a parakeet a good bird to get for my 10 year old child?" I do not really like getting asked this question because I know the answer I will give is bound to disappoint the questioner. The simple fact is, I do not believe a parrot is a suitable pet for young children. The good news is that I've discovered a fantastic solution. So this article will be presented in two parts. First, why parrots do not make suitable pets for children and then about a fantastic alternative.
Parrots and parakeets are complex social birds. They require daily interaction and extensive care. They are not domesticated and do bite. Even hand fed parrots end up reverting to their wild state if not properly tamed, socialized, and continued for its entire lifespan. Speaking of life span, parrots live for a very long time. Budgerigars can live up to 20 years; many of the other parrot species may live 30-50 and possibly more. Children's interests change rapidly as they are growing up and it is often difficult to look a few years ahead, let alone 20.
Parents often won't take into consideration the lengthy lifespan of a parrot when impulse shopping at a pet store. For any child between 5-15 years old, it is quite likely that even the shortest lived parakeets will still be around by the time they are off to college. Most campuses do not allow pets and a busy college student is hardly in position to take care of a pet anyway. Buying a parrot for the short term with the idea of setting it free or giving it away in time is not a solution. They cannot survive in the wild if captive raised because they lack the skills to survive and often the climate is unsuitable. Rehoming a parrot on the other hand is likely to cause it major trauma and separation anxiety. They have major difficulty adapting to a new home.
Owning a parrot requires daily care and attention. While a very young child may have enough time to do all the daily parrot chores (cleaning cage, washing bowls, providing clean food/water, changing toys/perches), as the child grows older may become busier and unable to care for the bird. High school and college preparation are very time consuming, forget even teenage activities. Since the bird lives inside a cage, it entirely depends on its caretakers to clean and provide for it. It cannot for one day be neglected. It needs to have fresh food and water provided daily.
Cape Parrot chewing my shoe!
Then there are things that only the parent can take care of. The parrot may need occasional vet checks and grooming (trimming nails and possibly wings). Supplies go fairly quickly as parrots are very destructive. New food, toys, and perches need to be purchased regularly. This can get expensive pretty quickly. While a budgie costing a mere $20 may sound appealing, the store is not dumb. They will sell the bird at cost or even a loss because over a hundred dollars in supplies is necessary. Under the most meager estimates, it will cost $100 in supplies for a $20 bird. More realistically it should run $200-$400 in the first year and at least $100 a year thereafter for its entire lifespan. So we're no longer looking at $20 for a cheap little pet. $100 a year for 20 years is $2,000. Let's not forget the $20 for the bird there, so you're looking at $2,020 and up across the lifespan to own a budgerigar. Other parrots are even more costly. $100 a year is the most conservative of estimates as a bag of food for a few months will run $10-$20, toys typically cost $10 each. With a $100 a year budget that is only enough to treat the bird to the most meager of living. Any owner that is more involved will likely be spending a lot more than that.
Parrots are quite difficult pets to own. They are not domesticated and have a lot of personality. Being terrestrial mammals ourselves, birds are quite unfamiliar to us. While it may be a bit more intuitive how to hold or pet a dog, we require much greater knowledge about how to take care of a bird. Parrots require taming and training to maintain handle ability. It is very important not to encourage biting by doing whatever the parrot wants (typically to be left alone) in response to biting. It is difficult for a child to resist a bite and even more so not to be scared in the future. It is actually very likely that after getting bit by the parrot a few times, the child will no longer want to have anything to do with it. In order to understand the basics of handling a parrot, reading some books and online websites is highly advised.
I advise parents only to acquire a parrot if they want one as a pet for themselves. They can allow the child to learn about responsibility and caring for a pet but only under parent supervision. If the child gets older, moves out, or loses interest, it would simply remain the parents' bird.
Now I've learned a fantastic alternative to buying an actual parrot for children that are interested in one. My little sister has been obsessed with Nintendo DS since she got one for her birthday. Recently I had learned that she was playing a parrot game on it called Parrot Pals. She came over to tell me what the game is all about.
I apologize in advance if I make any technical mistakes as I have not actually played the game myself but am just going by what a six year old told me. So apparently the player gets to choose from an African Grey, Lovebird, Budgie, Sun Conure, or Cockatiel as their pet and then has to monitor the bird's status. The player can choose which foods to feed and can even clean the cage. Of course none of this is difficult or time consuming as it is in reality. Also, the player can speak into a built in microphone to teach the parrot to talk.
There are many reasons why I think this game is better for children than a real live parrot. First of all, I think it provides instant gratification. If you push a button to feed the parrot, the parrot goes and eats. Everything happens in the now. Whereas a real parrot has distinctive free will and cannot be forced to eat, talk, or play on demand as the ones in the game can be.
The game can be played on demand but also be abandoned at will. There is no long term commitment and a living animal does not have to face the consequences of a poor decision or neglect. A little effort goes a long ways in the game and can bring happiness to the child with instant feedback. Real parrot training can take weeks or months before any results are visible.
A Nintendo DS runs a little over $100 but can be reused for multiple games. The Parrot Pals game seems to retail for around $20. This is still less than the cost of purchasing the cheapest available parakeets (budgies) and bears no long term costs (besides buying additional games, haha). It's great to give the child a taste of what parrot ownership is about and then when he or she is independent, can make the choice of buying a parrot for him or herself.
Showing parrot game to Truman
Another great alternative is the Webkinz series of stuff animal toys. They come in all different kinds and there are several parrot ones available. They usually cost under $20 and come with a code so that the child can play with them on the internet. These are fantastic for anyone on a tight budget but not as realistic as the Nintendo parrot game.
In conclusion, I believe being brought up around parrots is a fantastic experience for children but only as long as there is a primary adult care taker responsible for the bird. Buying a parrot with the intention of a child taking full responsibility is risky and may be impossible in the long term. The Parrot Pals game made for Nintendo DS is a great way to give children the thrill and experience of owning a parrot without purchasing a live animal. So if you are wondering whether to buy a parrot for a child or are yourself a parrot owner and get asked this question, the line of virtual games has come such a long way that this is the best recommendation to make.
It has been over 3 weeks since Truman's injury. He is by no means healed but he is definitely doing better. I have started bringing him out into the aviary but inside of another cage so that he wouldn't move around too much. Today, for the first time, I left him out in the actually aviary for some duration of time. I hung a rope perch and a toy and he spent nearly an hour on there. I'm still not providing him major opportunities to fly around but it doesn't seem like he really wants to at this stage anyway. I did put a training perch in nearby in case he fell off the swing so that he would have a place to fly to.
I decided that for now Truman is better off spending some time loose in the aviary than in his normal cage. I'm going to wait another week before returning him to the cage but instead will let him spend a few hours a day in the aviary. You see, in the cage he can fall down and is more likely to hurt his leg again. In the aviary, there is enough room that he can fly and probably land on the cage walls. I did not hang additional toys/perches yet so that I'm not tempting Truman to fly around too much for now. What do you think of his toys so far?
First of all I would like to thank everyone for their support who has been reading my updates about Truman's injury and recovery, all the people who posted responses, comments on youtube, discussions on The Parrot Forum, and endless private messages. Writing posts about this and all of your support is helping me cope with the entire situation. It's just really tough to watch him suffer and really not be able to do anything for him. It's mostly a factor of time and all of this writing and friendly support I am receiving is helping me pass the time in waiting for him to be better.
Before I get into the details about the vet situation, I'd like to share a bit more about how Truman is doing. Today I have noted a slight improvement over previous days this week. I hand fed him 3 times today and still he went to bed not a gram heavier than the previous nights. However, the improvement I am seeing is that by this evening he was actually demonstrating a subtle interest toward food. I noted that he had eaten a few pellets in his tub. He drank a few sips of water when I took him out. I offered him pellets, peas, broccoli, and carrots by hand. He did not really eat any of these but he did take them up in his beak and break them into smaller pieces. Most of this was coming right back out of his beak but at least he is showing some slight interest in food whereas even yesterday he wouldn't so much as look at it. This looks like a turning point and the first step to him returning to a normal feeding regime.
The hand feedings today were all slight. I've learned to make the formula thicker and have been following all sorts of advice I have been receiving. 6cc's is the most that I am getting out of the syringe and I'm lucky if half of that doesn't end up all over the place. Most of my effort goes into Truman not running or flying away from the feeding. As long as I get the stuff into his beak, for the most part he does end up swallowing it. But when I weigh him after a feeding I wonder how he could have gained so little or no weight at all from the food.
Truman seems to have two phases. Every time I come in from some absence, I always find him very mellow and squatting low on one leg. He definitely doesn't seem to be eating or playing much while I'm gone. However, as soon as he sees me, he gets up and becomes more active. He seems to be pretty active in my presence but very mellow in my absence. This is probably a good thing when it comes to letting his leg heal.
Throughout this week since Truman's Metacam crash I have been in regular contact with the Center for Avian & Exotic Medicine. Unfortunately the office manager that can authorize billing changes was unavailable throughout the week. However, I had several conversations with the nurses and one of the vets about Truman's progress. Unfortunately the results of those conversations were inconclusive but that is because for a while Truman was neither improving nor getting worse. The conclusion we have basically been reaching every time was to wait and see which direction his recovery takes. This was by no means anyone's fault, it was just that there was no point in changing his medications or stressing him by traveling to the vet again if things were not getting worse.
Finally the office manager returned today from a trip pertaining to animal rescue. She was unavailable when I called in the morning but she called me back herself a little later. Actually this is one of the things that I really appreciate from this facility. Whenever the person being reached is unable to talk, they always call back. In a world where we find ourselves talking to machines or someone abroad, this is always a welcome courtesy. The office manager called me back and we ended up talking for half an hour. The conversation began with Truman's current condition and progress and eventually led to the medication overdose and billing.
It turns out that Truman's prescription was mixed up with a rabbit's medication. They were both set to receive metacam but in slightly varying dosages and durations. Someone screwed up and misplaced the two. I joked that the poor rabbit must have only received a bird sized dose! Luckily Truman's overdose was not so tremendous but then again if they gave me a dosage suitable for a horse, bells would have been going off. The main reason I think this mix up went unnoticed was because the number of days was close (5 vs 7) and the dosages are both quite small despite the actual variation.
There is no doubt that the follow up tests and medications were good practice to verify that the overdose had not caused any substantial damage. My main concern was that I received a hefty bill that predominantly pertained to care Truman was receiving specifically in response to the medication mismatch. I felt that it was unjustified to have to pay for the damage control. I had no objection to the care he received in response to the overdose. In fact I am actually quite relieved that the vet had the competence to realize the concerns that such an overdose might raise and dealt with them appropriately.
I was very happy that the office manager was very aware of the situation and cooperative. In the course of the week I had prepared a bombardment of arguments to use but did not have to because she was being very respectful and supportive. This is good because having to try to fight for justice only leads to harder feelings. As I've stated in my original post, overall I am actually quite happy with the Center for Avian & Exotic Medicine, so I am relieved that this situation was professionally dealt with and I can continue Truman's vet care with this clinic.
Ideally the extra tests/medications should not have been charged in the first place which would have averted all the frustration, but unfortunately the office manager was out all week and the other staff could not have authorized such an amendment. It is not even that I do not want to pay for Truman's care, but rather that I felt cheated having to pay for tests to see if the mistake had caused damage. The absolute most important thing is that the overdose did not do any harm. The whole billing thing we have all the time in the world to sort out, so I'm not worried. The office manager offered to refund any fees associated with the medication issue. She made a full refund for that recent visit. I explained to her that it's not necessary to refund for Truman's new pain medication because I would have bought that for him even if the whole metacam dosage went according to plan. Yet I received a refund for the entire amount billed for the recent visit.
We also discussed whether or not I should be taking Truman outside. We reached a consensus that if done the right way, that in fact getting some air and sunlight would be beneficial to him. I have been preparing to start taking him outside for nearly two weeks now. Check back soon to find out what I had in store for him. It's something big and this next article you won't want to miss!
Before giving an overall judgment of this vet clinic, I'd prefer to wait until the completion of Truman's treatment. However, I would like to mention again that the staff are very pleasant and professional, the facilities spotless, and there exists a genuine concern for the animals' well being. I wish pet stores and companies I deal with overall could live up to these standards.
Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
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