Possible BGM adoption

[Rebecca628]

I heard today about a 60year old blue and gold macaw that needs a home. I am thinking about it, but there is no rush. I am told she loves attention, and screams :ohmy: if her mama is not in sight. She just wants to be near. She IS quiet at night. She is in a rescue home about 1 1/2 hours from me at the moment. Any thoughts out there?
Rebecca

[harleybaby]

All I can do is wish you luck! There are many macaw lovers on the board who could help you more. I think they are beautiful and stunning but I know they are way too much bird for me!;) So, I live vicariously through Jim and his awesome photos LOL.

I guess the one thing I would be worried about is the screaming, a screaming bird could send ya to the funny farm LOL. Of course there are ways to work with him but you just have to be prepared ahead of time. Don't want to bring a bird like that who sounds extremely attached to his owner, put him through the stress of a new home only to find out that you can't handle the noise.

Keep us updated on what you decide!! Leah

[Jean]

WOW, 60 years old. I've read their average lifespan is 60 to 80 years. Do you know how her health is and if he has any special needs that could be costly? I would think that would make a big difference. I would suggest you spend a lot of time with her at the rescue to get to know each other first. Maybe, a few weekend visits to your house would let you know how well he adjusts.

Do you know anything about her and if he lost an owner due to death or what brought her to the rescue? There can be a reason for her yelling especially, if she lost her mama before she ended up in a rescue. She could be afraid to let her new rescue mama out of sight.

Good luck, keep us posted what happens.

[Majj]

Wow !!! 60 what good old age , I too would be a bit worried about a big bird ..but not the noise just the BEAK....But hey if I got to know one I bet I would fall head over heels in love ..In Oz we would never get the chance to adoped such an exotic bird , never here of them needing homes here...

[parrotgirl]

Screaming eh:eek2: that would worry me a little bit also. I can only imagine what a screaming macaw would sound like. I guess at 60 years young shes got a right, how hard would it be to stop the screaming? Is it something she has always done? Maybe Jim can give you some pointers on this. Good Luck with whatever you decide to do. Keep us posted Becky

[Ginny]

I have to agree with what everyone said.


Jim is a GOOD one for lots of info on them.

I have a rehomed B&G because her mom fell and broke her hip and was not able to take care of her any more. The macaw is about 16 and she did GREAT coming here after being with them for all of her life. 60 is a old age for a macaw and they do tend to start having medical problems just like we do at an older age so you will have to thing about vet bills if she has to be on med. As for the screaming.....I would not call mine a screamer by any means but she does get going once in a while and boy let me tell you what ..... it will rattle the windows. My Cockatoo is a real high pitched scream that hurts your ears but the macaw is so loud I bet you can hear it for blocks. I would think if they say it is a screamer it would probably scream a lot off and on durring the day and that can be real nerve racking. But It can be trained not to scream but it will talk a lot of work and time. Ours is just the opposite, when she starts screaming she is out here in the livingroom on her stand and I put her in her cage and that makes her happy. She plays with her toys or takes a little nap and then is ready to come out again. I think sometimes she just wants so quiet time and time to her self.

[Rebecca628]

Thanks so much to everyone who replied. This has helped me decide this macaw would be too much for me at this point. My heart just really went out to her. If I understood correctly the rescue lady currently keeping the B&GM, the bird came from a pet shop owner who could no longer keep her. The screaming seemed to be for lots of attention. Maybe she misses her mama!
Let me say again how much I am enjoying this board. Ya'll are wonderful and helpful!
Rebecca (with Captain Jack on my shoulder!):thanx:

[Junkzoo]

Wow! a adoptive prospect,being a parrot, and Macaw, and a 60 yr old one to boot! Now that could be either a handful(to say the least) or a wonderful thing.
I would tend to think it would be more of the handful aspect IMO.60 yrs old? talk about set in it ways! LOL:doh: I admire your caring in thinking about adopting it, but i would kinda be leery with this bird,,,,could be a huge handful (for anyone,experienced or not) most likely,(not to mention any emotional/behavioral "baggage" this type of adoptee might be bringing),,And a screamer could be a problem ,'specially for a person that , lets say, is not accustomed to it.
We are used to the screaming,and overall loudness our parrots can get here,,almost to the point we don't hear it LOL.

Not really saying i'm totally against adopting this one, but in the back of my mind, it's telling me, maybe a younger,smaller adopted bird to "cut your teeth on" so to speak,,heck i'd be a lil cautious about this one myself, and i got a wild-caught Cockatoo, after i thought i knew everything from having a 'tiel,,,25+ years ago LOL.

[Junkzoo]

Rebecca, don't sweat it, you will come across a adoptee one day, maybe soon, that you both will "click" together,,,,

[Jim]

Hmmmm.... I didn't see this till now but I see you got some excellent advice and have made a decision. I agree with Jeff about taking on a screaming Macaw and you'll come across the right bird.

Since you ask about screaming I'll go ahead and give my 2 cents incase someone out there runs into it or has a screamer. IMO a screaming Macaw is very very nerve racking and MAY be one of the top reasons they are rehomed. Also screaming is very difficult to change once it is learned. May sound strange to hear me say learned, but if it is not a health issue, 99% of the time it is a learned behavior. Most suggestions are to ignore the scream, cover the cage, put the bird in a dark room etc. Boy I would like to meet the person that can ignore a screaming Macaw for hours on end or in some cases a 5-10 min. scream with a 1-2 min. break between screams all day. Besides ignoring is a mild from of punishment in behavioral language.

Anyway, I think most will agree that the scream is for attention. If they scream once and we go to them, which most of us do, including me at first, we have taught the bird that if he screams we appear. Now we figure this out and try the ignoring, covering, dark room. The bird still got the attention, even though it may or may not be positive attention, the pay-off was still given. 'We appeared' The ignoring may be the worst, since as I said above, I have never meet the person than can completely ignore screaming. Lets say we do ignore it for 2-3 hrs maybe even all day. IMO we will finally loose our cool and say or do something. We are human. Now we have what Dr Friedman calls the slot machine effect. Pull that handle enough and the pay-off appears. You're probably ahead of me but this snowballs and very possibly causes longer louder screams to get the pay-off.

As you can see once learned it's hard to change, not impossible, just hard. As not to get any more long winded, the best I can suggest if screaming starts or is happening is to teach a new or different way to get your attention or the pay-off. Once they learn the new behavior that will get the pay-off you can start increasing the time it takes before you appear. Then shape this into you answering with a word like 'Hello' - 'I'm here' then walk in with the pay-off. Usually this can be shaped into them only calling a few times a day and you answering. Of course this takes patience but again IMO it's far better than listening to a screaming Macaw.

[SadennaAndFlock]

actually I believe a macaw life span can be passed 80 up to 100 yrs of age and are passed down through generations of families..yes some health problems could present at that age, arthritis in the feet, feather problems as well as internal problems depending on what kind of diet this bird has been living on, now granted there are many birds out there this age who are and were wild caughts when going through the quarantine stations and into home back then it was standard parrot mix with peanuts, corn and lots of sunflower diet back then was not the best for seed mix but alot of these birds have lived to a ripe old age with little to no health problems which is amazing to me...I would go check this bird out see how it is, how handleable it is and sociable is it a screamer, plucker any other behavioural issues going that would need alot of work are things to be considered.

[Liz]

Lots of good insights here - and I can't resist adding in my 2 cents worth.

There are 2 books I can recommend: "The Second-hand Parrot" (authors Mattie Sue Athan and Dianalee Deter) and "Mature Bird Care" (author Delia Berlin). Both books are very helpful in talking about the special concerns of re-homing, and the second, of course, is directly aimed at older birds.

With any parrot, it's wise to go slow and think things through. You were smart to step back a bit and consider all the pro's and con's.

Aside to Majj - I live in the US (Ohio) but my husband is Australian. Last winter we visited his family in Melbourne, and while there I looked into what it would take to get a B&G (where you are, they're called "Blue and Yellow"). I found a birds-only store in the Melbourne area that assured me they could get me a hand-reared baby for $15,000 (AUD).

[Jim]

I found a birds-only store in the Melbourne area that assured me they could get me a hand-reared baby for $15,000 (AUD).:eek: :yikes: :eek:

Is (AUD) Australian money? If so how much is that in American dollars?:shrug2:

[Jean]

Jim, I didn't know either, I looked it up and here is what I got.

Currency Converter http://money.cnn.com/data/currencies/index.html?howmany=15%2C000&currfrom=126279&currto=126274&btn_calculate=Convert&calculate=true#converter
Amount:

15,000 Australian Dollar

= 11,213.28 US Dollar (That is a terrible price!)

[SadennaAndFlock]

no kidding most stores american a blue and gold can go anywhere from $900 up to $1,200-$1,300 ...but I bet the Austrailian price may divert people who may not be to serious in the bird away or are they crazy enough down there to actually pay that price.

[Jim]

Thanks Jean. I had a link to a money converter but it didn't work. Haven't used it forever, it was a collage I think. Probably a little project someone did and they took it down. Anyway I book marked that link.

That is a pretty high price considering here they run around $1200 - $1600 I think.

Majj is that the nornal price range down there?

[Jim]

Hi Sadenna, you posted while I was keying.:) Your probably right about the price on average. I was thinking more along the lines of pet/bird stores where they get top dollar. In out PetsMart they have a MM right now, sweetie too, that they want $1399.00 for.

[harleybaby]

I've also read about that :eek: but then again you could also probably get a galah over there for next to nothing. Although galahs sure don't cost $11,000. Wow that's a lot of money!!

[SadennaAndFlock]

Hi Jim that sounds about normal price in a store. At stores here I have seen macaws go from anywher from $900 up to $1,300 for a blue and gold or Military and up to $1,600 for a Greenwing sometimes more one store here sold their Greenwings for $2,000. Then you got your Hyacinths that run anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 around here even the little minis can be pretty pricey depending the store, it varies from store to store, it also depends on what the store paid wholesale wise from the broker or breeder then they double it or triple it..small birds are tripled and large birds are doubled I believe.