Hello, I am not an expert on Macaws at all, but I know I saw something about this either in Birdtalk or Mattie Sue Athan's books "guid to a well behaved parrot" or "Guide to companion parrot behaviors." I just can't find it. I will continue to look for you.

However, my first reflection is to wonder what the parrot is getting out of this behavior? It's my understanding that Macaws love to get thier people going. They are definately the 'button pushers' of the bird world. So, is the parrot proving that he's/she's the top bird over your mom? Is she/he upsetting her and getting a chuckle out of it? Is she following the parrot out of the room or with her eyes? Watching him with someone else?

At a guess, I would assume that it has very little to do with not liking her. I have a feeling that he likes her very much. I would guess that if it was about wanting to be with other people, the parrot would go from person to person to person.

From my expereince, diaper training a bird is hard. It definately takes a bond and a trust to get a bird be willing to have such a thing on them. This tells me that from the macaw's end, there is a strong connection there.

The only suggestion that I have is an experment. When the parrot goes to someone else or walks out of the room, suggest to you mom to become engrossed in something else. Have a book handy or yourself. See what the parrot's reaction is to her exclaming that the book is the greatest fun, or that she's so enjoying stroking your head and chatting with you. Have your mother pay no attention to the bird. If the parrot becomes interested in your mother after a few rounds of this, the behavior may change.

I hope this might work. Let us know how it goes. I'm sure too that there are better experts on Macaws here. Good luck

Lily and Briar CAG

I've got a B&G as well. He's 8 months old and very sweet. My first question is how old is the bird? Is he being hand fed because he isn't fully weaned or just because of bonding time? If he's close to weaning I would find things he likes (fruits, veggies etc) have her give him treats from her hand he'll QUICKLY learn that it's good to be around her. I know Enzo likes everyone.....he'll go to anyone that puts their hand up to him. You're bird is very impressionable so I would give him the experience to be around others (it helps with not being dominant over a single person). I take Enzo to work with me any chance I get so he can be around different things, people, animals etc.


Just out of curiosity what pet store did you buy it from? I'm a manager at PetCo (we no longer carry 'big birds') and I know we won't sell any bird that is still being hand fed.

Well, it is still being weaned, and it loves to eat carrots, apple, graps, bannans and mostly anything we put in there, my mom has hand fed it all of those things. And I noticed that they only time the bird wants to come to me is when im standing next to its cage, im 6'5 and my mom told me that they want to be at the highest place and when it gets on my it jumps to its cage and gets ontop of that. And we got the bird from a store called Bird Cages for Less. Its not big like petsmart, and they have a bird expert who takes care of the birds and feeds them. But my mom just thinks the bird doesent like her sometimes, and I try to convince her other wise

The macaw probably needs time to just settle in become accustomed to his new home.
Diaper training can be stressful and may also be making him a little uncomfortable with your mom (if she's the only one putting the diaper on). Try giving him a week or two to adjust to being in a new place before putting it on him. Instead, she can practice getting him comfortable with letting her handle his wings and feet as she would need to for the diaper... and maybe petting him with the diaper so he knows it is safe too. Wait until he willingly accepts this before trying to put the diaper on.
They can be potty trained to a reasonable extent so a diaper really isn't that important.


Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI

Your mum may be rough or feeding it a way it doesn't like. Baby parrots can behave like this if the way they're fed is different or something your mum has done to upset the bird, your mum may not evenknow.

I would suggest having oyur mum continually feed the macaw. It will settle & get used to her but if she stops & someone else takes over, then the macaw may bond to the otehr person & your mum wil then have a very hard time with the macaw biting or chasing her away so, your mum should keep up the care for him & perhaps take a different or gentler??? approach to her feeding technique.

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Kim
Cricket (Little S***) normal grey male tiel
Eddie (Green Guy) RS x SI male eclectus
Squash (Little B***) Female sun conure
Western Australia

Yeah time is a big thing with parrots. And the diaper thing may not be necessary. I'm not sure why (I'm not knocking it) but Enzo won't poop on me. If he's on me he holds it and as soon as I put him down he poops. I've never experienced that with a bird before but her bird may do the same thing.