Macaws have a habit that many people hate is to bite people and do damage, I have to say that many shovelers have basically been bitten by their own macaws, in fact, their nature is not like this, biting people and engaging in destruction is to release their negative emotions, but I still have to worry about the hands of the shovelers, because the macaw bite force is very strong, as long as a little force our fingers may not be guaranteed, but don't worry too much, proper training can avoid this behavior.
In order to prevent macaws from continuing to bite and release their negative emotions, we should carry out continuous and positive intensive training and avoid negative reinforcement training, in other words, positive and positive training rather than scolding education, because it may aggravate the negative behavior of parrots, and there are some external factors that need to be considered.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >Why macaw bites? </h1>
Macaws are the preferred body type for many novices to imitate people with a long lifespan, are easier to accept human domestication, and can live in harmony with their peers. But this little thing likes to bite people and do damage, it really hurts the new shoveler, we need to find out the reason for their bite first, don't rush to train or scold, I summarized the following points:
There is nowhere to release the energy in the body
Macaws are birds with "hyperactivity", full of energy every day, even if they are trained by the shoveler for a few hours, they are still very energetic, which is doomed not to keep them in a cage every day, if they are in a closed environment for a long time without any movement, then if they bite people just to release some suppressed energy. Even if there are toys in the cage, it is inevitable, playing with these toys is not enough, they must be active outside the cage.
Not valued by shovelers
As we mentioned in previous articles, parrots need a sense of ritual in life, and macaws are no exception, they need the attention of shovelers all the time. Even when they are kept in cages, they usually shout to their owners in order to get our attention until they can get a response from us. Macaws love to hug and kiss, and I really haven't seen a pet more spoiled than a macaw, they are very sociable and want one to interact with its owner.
On the other hand, if not given enough attention, when we release them from the cage, we may bite to vent our emotions in order to express our frustration. But it prefers our caresses, and then pecks at the back of our hands as if to say: I bite you because you ignore me.
Poor health
Macaws are prone to nutritional disorders because of absorption problems, usually showing self-harm and plucking feathers, and macaws are more susceptible to infestations with excessively long beaks than other parrots, which can cause them to be uncomfortable and thus change their temperament, and these abnormal performances are easy to spot. Therefore, if we see these signs of them, it is best not to get close, nor to expose any part of the body to their line of sight, which is very vulnerable.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > how to stop this behavior? </h1>
There is already a general understanding of why macaws bite people. Appropriate training can now be made based on their biting behavior, keeping in mind that macaws are very human and usually don't bite for no reason.
Cultivate positive relationships
Gaining the macaw's trust, letting it trust you to accept you, letting it know that you are the master and not the enemy, and not causing any harm, this means not only giving physical love, but also some simple interactions, such as speaking to the parrot in a low and calm voice, and once it understands that as long as it is with the owner, it will not be hurt and will slowly believe you.
When a macaw receives food, be sure to reward it with a gentle caress. We can also try feeding some pecans, almonds, walnuts, nuts and hazelnuts, which are their favorites, offering nutritious food and spacious cages that will deepen their trust in you.
Actively reinforce training
For the bitten shoveler, the first reaction must be to wave their arms to drive them away, which is a negative teaching material, when we try to drive them away by waving or hitting, in the mind of the parrot will think that they are a great threat, it is they in a state of panic, will aggravate the attack on the object, this behavior will associate them with negative reactions. Trying to hold the macaws that are biting people can be more troublesome, and once they see our hands, they assume a defensive posture.
The first thing to do is not to force the parrot to perch on our hands, we can train them to stand on the suspended perch first, once it has successfully done this they can be caressed, so that they know that our hands are not aggressive and will not cause harm, after a period of training slowly can accept our hands, give food rewards and enough caresses, slowly from vigorous biting to light pecking, if we do this we have been half successful.
Learn the body language of macaws
Don't try to train a parrot that is already in an aggressive or hyperactive state, if you insist on starting training, you are just laying the groundwork for your own failure, because whether we order them not to bite, the macaw will not listen, but will want to attack you even more.
If it's ready to bite, don't put your hand in its face and provoke it. What we need to do at this point is to give the macaw enough time and space to calm down before trying to train it. Note the following behavior:
Beaks make a creaking sound (similar to human teeth grinding) while being accompanied by neck extensions or leg lifts, which means they don't want to be trained. If there is no above reaction, it means that they want to play with us.
When macaws are overexcited or something is stressing them out, there are noticeable changes in the eye area (exolaration or congestion).
The rant is an obvious way to tell us that they are very upset right now, giving it a little time to calm down before wanting to give it a hug.
Lifting feet or hanging from the railing of a cage usually means they want to be released, and when that happens, open the cage door and let it do what it wants to do.
If the above method does not change anything and do not take a negative approach, this will strengthen the parrot's stress response resulting in the later stage can not be changed, more aggressive, training macaws is not difficult but need to shovel the shoveler to invest their patience, they are very clever punishment will be associated with the behavior of biting, take the way of food temptation is much gentler, so that macaws know how to bite people can not get the owner's caress and eat delicious snacks.
@Qingyun Plan