Touching and such

[ILSMARGAUX]

Lovebird has been here a couple of weeks now. She is still very cage aggressive. We cannot touch her. I need help. Where to start training her. She is learning words right and left. She is extremely intelligent. She is 9 months old. She was hand fed. The owners before...the guy could touch her up until about 2 months ago. He didn't have time for her that is why she came to us. Any info would be awesome. I just need to know how to get started.

[r2rusmc]

Wow, an aggressive 9 month old hand-raised macaw. Somebody done some wrong to her somewhere. :(

Building trust once trust has been broken is tough but it can be done. Lots of time and patience and a good supply of bandaids for starters.

You say she's cage aggressive but will she let you get her out with a stick? If so then that is a start. If not, that would be a good place to start working. You need to get her out and away from "her territory".

Will she take treats from your hand or does she lunge at you instead of the treat? I'm not beyond bribing with treats if that is what it takes.

Sounds like she's been taught that being tough gets her her way.

[texbird]

I had the same problem.
Its all about insecurity in a new strange place. She is scared and the cage is her only safe place.

Try feeding her treats (e.g. half grapes) thru the cage bars one at time.
As she gets used to this then gradually pet her head as she takes the treats. Gradually increase the stoking contact thru the bars while she is eating.

Then do this with the cage door open assuming she has a perch near the door.

You can also do the read a book/watch tv while sitting next to open door trick.

As I recall i think it took about 12 hours of contact over a period of 2 days until mine felt safe with me in and near the cage. Now she is fine with me in the cage.

[ILSMARGAUX]

Starting with what we can do...

We open her cage door and she comes onto the top.
We can hand feed her treats. She takes them gently from our hands.
We can get really close to her cage without her lunging at us.
We can bend dowm and pick stuff up from inside her cage (when she is on top) and on the floor beside her cage.

Would it hurt the training process...if we wrapped an ace wrap around our hand and arm when we start training her?

[KimM]

Yes! Wrap your arms in a couple of ace bandages (from the elbow down) even your hands to just leave fingers exposed. First, you won't be as inclined to jerk away if she bites and second, when she does finally step up on you, she will feel more secure because she will not wobble on your arm. She's still young so she's trying to learn to balance yet. If you're calm and not worrying as much about that bite, it will calm her too.

I do agree with r2rusmc, something must have happened to make her so distrustful. Just time and LOTS of patience. Talk softly to her, read, sing softly, etc. She's only been to her new home a very short time. She's still confused and unsure about her new surroundings. Just give her LOTS of TLC and she'll come around.

by the way, I did the ace bandages with my Scarlet at first and he actually liked it because he felt more secure because my arm didn't wobble. I felt better too. My little man has a sharp beak. I thought he might not like it, but he loved it. Now he's figured out to move down to my hand so I can hold his foot and help steady him. Smart little guy.

Keep us posted!

[Sashagirl]

Very good advice but I didn't use any ace bandage I just watched the body movement.But this wasn't with a young Macaw.Sydney the Harlequin was 7 years old who hated other birds and had issues with people.
She would trick me to approach her so she could grab and bite be.It wasn't fun but with time and patience I won her over.She was also cage aggressive.
So if your baby has issues of cage aggressive it's better to get it away from it's safe spot where it will have to rely on you.Treats are a good way to go to.Pasta was her favorite food and it was also how we would get her back into her cage along with orange slices.Anything to keep from getting bit.That was over 4 years ago and now she is like a kitten no more bites.She was fun working with.I hope that everything works out for you.

Marcia