From: bgt@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (barbara.tongue)
Subject: Re: I finally got my baby Macaw !!!
Organization: AT&T
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 13:59:01 GMT
Summary: the joys of parenting!!

In article <1499@fozzy.UUCP> twollnik@aud.alcatel.com writes:
->Well after about 3 months of waiting and waiting and waiting..I finally
->got my new greenwing macaw.  I purchase him/her when it was just
->an egg.  It hatched on November 14th, and was being hand fed for the
->past 8 weeks.  I finally got FULL custody of him yesterday.  ITS great..
->little Taylor (that what I am going to call him or her) is simply the
->cutest little thing.  Anyway...enough about the boring stuff.

oh heck, bubbling about one's new birdie is to be expected (why,
just ask my parents and SO and co-workers and customers and grocery
check-out clerk and ...).   congrats!!

->For those of you thinking about getting a macaw. I got my from a breeder.
->At the astonishingly low price of $1200.  I just say a greenwing in a
->pet store for $3900.      

yep, breeders are definitely more cost-conscious (not cheap, mind you).
angus, the Hallowed YellowCollared Macaw (tm) cost $700 - i've seen
yc macaws in stores for over $900 (and that is not all!  if you order
now, we'll throw in for no extra expense, balsa wood macaw toys!!).
  
->I am finishing off the hand-feeding myself so that we can do the
->bonding thing.  I could have waited until he (I will assume it a him) was
->weened, but I didn't not to fork out the extra cash.

alas, i didn't have the time to handfeed angus - i got him at
the age of 12 weeks.  hope you enjoy this!!
  
->Anyway, for the experience bird net-minders...This is my first bird.
->No flames please (I know I skipped to the top of the ladder when I got
->a macaw as my first bird).  But I have a few question.  I have been
->watching over this news groups for about 4 months now.  I have gotten
->many many good ideas about what is good, what is bad, etc.

well, actually, angus is my third birdie - my first , a parakeet, lasted
about a week, the second, the maroon-bellied-conure-aka-feathered-don-
juan-who-cast-me-aside-for-my-SO lasted about 5 months, and i've now
kept house with angus for over a year.  most of my birdie knowledge comes
from my own experience; for example, i decided to test how long it takes
a mini macaw to dismantle my computer keyboard.  quickest clock time was
7 seconds.  this is valuable knowledge in case i ever need to audition
for war games part 2.

these things you just can't learn from books!

->However, I have a few straight-forward questions of my own now.
->First cages:  What is the popular size cage for a macaw.  

have you heard of the trump towers?  that's a good beginining-size
cage for a macaw.  the age old formula, first discovered in king tut's
tomb (heck, you thought those were cuneiforms?  beak marks take all shapes),
is "for every feather on the body, add 750 square feet."  honest.
this lends strength to the theory why the royal birdiePyramid was 34 times
as large as the king's.  

really.

but i digress.

as large as possible is the ideal size.  if you have a spare room (say,
the living room, the bedroom), remove all fragile furniture (except
edison phonograph players, which are wonderful for beak exercising, just
ask the father tongue), pad the entire floor with dried corn cobs,
install some industry strength jungle gyms, and let 'em loose.  i mean,
you can easily stuff yourself into the garage if you need some sleeping
room, correct?

now, if you are the ultimate in scrooge and just insist on those cold,
brutal iron bars for your sweet wittle bittle burrie wurrie, you can
forage in any going-out-of-business store, bargain for 20 minutes on
the 4 ft. shoe racks and tie stands, and build your own cage (which i
did for angus) for under $200.  

what was the question again?

->		This is directed
->              at all the people that have macaws.  Next, I saw a pretty
->              nice looking "King's Aviary" cage at a pet store.  It was
->              $629.  What do you think about King's Avaiary and is this
->              a decent price.

well, personally, spending money to me is akin to neatening up the house -
something to do as a last resort, not to mention incredibly painful.  so
i'd build something myself.  however, if you aren't up for that yet, 
consider the following - your macaw will probably outlive you, so over
40 years or so, it comes out to almost $16 a year.  now, isn't your
precious bundle of jaws-sized beak worth that?

->Favorite foods:  what have you found out to be "your" birds favorite food.
->                 what kinds of food do they NOT like.

sit 'em on your kitchen table, and pass out different foods.  for
example, noodles, pizza, veggies, wristwatch bands, ties, chair tops,
etc.  nutraBerries are also scarfed down by angus.

->Favorite toys:  I know this was a discuss earlier in the year, but
->                briefly..what toys do your birds love??

anything which is irreplacable to you.

->ALSO...I would appreciate ANY helpful hints regarding bathing, training to
->talk, sociallizing with NEW people, and ANYTHING else.

bathing - take 'em into the shower, or attach 'em to the shower curtain.
angus (einstein that he is) still hasn't bought a vowel when it comes to
actually flapping at the wawa ....

->Thanks for all you help.....actually...Taylor and myself thank you.

enjoy!  and i'm sure we'd all like to hear about stories of your
new baby macaw.

-- 
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