PePe:
Pepe (the Military Macaw) is adapting well to his new home. He still has not reached his full vocalization. He toured his whole cage, which we setup exactly like his cage at Ken and Diane's, since he is blind. Pepe has been on a diet of :
- Harrison's Life Coarse
- Zupreem Avian Maintenance Natural Diet
- Zupreem Avian Maintenance Fruit Blend for Large Parrots/Macaws
- With varying additions of Almonds, Walnuts, Apples, Grapes, Broccoli, and Scrambled Eggs (his favorite)
Noah, the Blue and Gold Macaw, on the other hand, has many issues to work through. He is 11 years old and very aggressive. His aggression is partially due to being in prime mating season, as well as negative reinforcement training. He is extremely territorial over his food bowls. We are attempting to get him to stay on the other side of the cage using positive reinforcement, when the food bowls are replaced. We are following the methodology of Barbara Heidenreich (Good Bird Inc). He also screams for his food at dinner time as well as at dusk. Apparently the dusk scream is normal, it is for herding the flock. When they scream you are suppose to ignore it and keep doing what you are doing or stop dead in your tracks. It can be a bit much, Brian has started wearing ear plugs...I may have to do the same.
1 comment:
Good Blog! These macaws need all the understanding and care required to make their lives happy, enriched and healthy. With some pet education about companion parrots, parrot owners can experience a kindship with these Magnificent animals like no other. Applied Behavior Analysis with only positive reinforcement for positive behavior is the trick to living with a companion parrot. Do not reward or acknowledge negative behavior with negative or positive reinforcement.
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