Cage Aggression

[cld]

I have a 3 year old Harlequin Macaw that all of a sudden has decided that 'attacking' the cage is ok. There doesn't seem to be any trigger to it. Sometimes I will just walk into the room and his feathers will rise and he gets the 'wiggy' eyes and starts jumping at the cage with his mouth open. I have tried every trick that I can think of to be 'more dominant' than him but nothing seems to be working. At first, I thought it was due to wearing glasses around his cage, but now it seems that he just does it to be obnoxious. It is to the point that while he is in this 'frame of mind' you can not reach your hand into the cage without out him lounging at it. It seems that once you catch his attention (usually by having to get him off the perch he is sitting on) he collects himself and you can get him out of the cage. The problem is that I don't want him to be cage aggressive, nor do I want to have to be 'overly dominant' to get him out of the cage. I already have a rescued grey that I have to show a towel in order for him to step up. I really want the behavior to stop before I lose my mind and he becomes horrible to deal with. I will admit that I haven't been able to spend as much time with him due to the birth of my daughter and now going back to work, but I want to get him out of this phase sooner than later. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[The Outlaw]

You should know this about the hybrid macaws: they OFTEN have behavioral issues. Most of the new world birds are in hormonal hell right now and added to your recent distractions, you may have your hands full for a while.

The first thing you should do immediately is remove ALL seeds from his diet for a while. After he settles down a bit, slowly add SOME seeds to his diet. Also, you may find that adding cammomille tea a few times a week will help as well. Brew one cup of cammomille tea and dillute with 4 cups of water. Replace his water for 3 straight days. After that, use this every other day. By the end of the third week, he should be far more mellow.

For some unknown reason, hybridizing tends to bring out some unpredictable behaviors. Also, the hybrids are often much larger than either parent. In any event, you do need to handle this now. If he gets away with aggressive behavior now, you'll be rehoming him before he hits eight. That's when he'll REALLY start acting up. Good luck.

THE OUTLAW