How good is to keep a Macaw Bird as pet. Should I get a baby bird or adult. Can they be kept without a cage?

MACAWs make excellent pets but are very loud. Though not the greatest talkers they love socialization and may soon begin to mimic the sounds of their keepers' voice as well as many other sounds in its environment. They are very outgoing, highly intelligent, and quick to pick up on tricks.

It is better to get baby Macaws and it will be easier to train. They should be housed in Strong and relatively huge cages only.

You will get lot of information about Macaw regarding their Care and Feeding,Housing, Maintenance,Handling/Training

Activities and Breeding/Reproduction etc. from the website - http://animal-world.com/encyclo/birds/macaws/Macaw...

Macaws can be pretty difficult to keep as a pet. Depending on the Macaw, I wouldn't recommend it for a first-time parrot owner. There are a few smaller Macaw's that might be okay, such as a Hahn's, Military, or Severe.

It's not recommended to keep any bird without a cage. Their cage is their 'safe place' to go. They can sleep here, and you should always keep them in it while you are gone so they do not get into any trouble, like chewing the woodwork in your house, your tables, your couches, etc. Especially anything wooden. Definitely definitely get a cage. A very large cage, too.

It's good to have playgyms around the house so you can take your Macaw with you wherever you go. They love to be with the 'flock' and it's a good thing to let them out of their cage all the time you are home (this is what I do with my bird). Keep plenty of wooden toys, plus others in the cage and on the playgym to keep them occupied while you can't give them your full attention.

There is a lot more information you need to know about a Macaw and you can't find it all on Yahoo Answers, so do your research and check out some parrot forums to talk to some owners and see about their personal experiences with Macaws and parrots.

Here are a couple forums to try:

http://chats.upatsix.com/chats/

www.parrotforums.com

Good luck and I hope your search for the perfect bird goes well

If you buy 1 buy a hand reared baby.It will need a VERY big cage.They need a cage to avoid escapes and the fact that unsupervised they will destroy furniture.

Macaws can be very noisy so if you have neighbours this could be a problem.They need to be trained-buy a book on training parrots from a big petshop.

Buy a good pelleted food like Harrisons.This should make up half it's diet.The other half should be fruit and veg.

Macaws can be aggressive and may just like 1 person and attack everyone else and their beaks can do serious damage.

Next point is that they get very attached to you and you cannot get 1 thinking you can rehome it if it does not work out.This is especially important as they can live longer than people do-up to 100 years.

Personally I would suggest a smaller member of the parrot family.A Cockatiel or a Caique or a Conure or a Senegal Parrot or a Timneh Grey Parrot.

First of all, consider your housing situation. If you live in an apartment, it's a big NO! Even if your lease does allow exotic birds (many don't), there's the noise issue. Even the mini-Macaws like the Hahns and the yellow-collar are almost as noisy as a cockatoo or a conure - and just for the record, that's REALLY noisy!

Secondly, is this your first exotic bird? If it is, get a mini-Macaw, or a smaller parrot. I don't recommend any of the bigger birds, or an Amazon or African Grey, for that matter, for an inexperienced owner. They need firm training, and if they decide to bite you, they can do horrific damage.

Third: price range. Macaws are expensive birds, and coming from a pet store they're even more so. My Scarlet Macaw cost me $2500, plus $800 for his cage. In the first year I had him, to stock up on food, cage accessories, toys, vaccinations and vet exams, etcetera, I spent about $5000! If you can't commit to spending a big amount of money, a Macaw probably isn't for you.

If you do get one, remember this: they're BIG, strong birds. Their cage needs to be big enough to them to sit in the middle and be able to stretch their wings fully - and that's a bare minimum. They really need something at least twice that size.

Also, they're intelligent! They may or may not talk - it varies from one individual to the next. But they are smart enough to open cage doors and escape (my conure lost a toe when my macaw escaped and landed on the conure's cage). They need lots of human interaction, and tons of toys to keep them busy.

I recommend getting a young bird, so that you can keep an eye on their development. Older birds may be perfectly great - or they may have problems that you won't see until it's too late, like they freak out around children or something similar. Remember, though - don't get a bird that's not 100% weaned until you're a trained professional. If you try to do it yourself, you could end up drowning the baby bird with the handfeeding formula!

Good luck!

My sister has a Macaw. They are one person owner and they can get very loud and if they don't get the attention they can get very angery and bite. They are not dangerous if you give them the love that they need to be good pets.One thing they are not shoulder birds where you put them on your shoulder and you can leave them there and walk around the room. They can bite hard. My sister has had problems with her macaw bitting her. They need a lot of attention and if not they will make a lot of noise. I hope this will help you make up your mind of getting one. I have been around her bird and I am even afraid of it when it is out of the cage. I even have a friend that has a macaw but his bird was different in personality because the bird had a lot of attention and I held my friends macaw and it did not do any thing to me. It depends on how they are handled.

they can be kept with out a cage but it can be very messy.This is the first major purchase before selecting your new companion, there are numerous designs and styles available, at various prices, from pet shops. Whilst there are no right or wrong cages, a simple design will be easier to clean and maintain. Remember that your parrot will treat it's cage as it's own territory, and will happily spend large parts of the day in it, so the cage should be as spacious as possible, and should allow the bird to at least be able to spread it's wings.

The bottom of the cage needs to be covered with something that can be changed regularly, this can be shredded paper or wood-shavings, but these tend to get blown about and make a mess around the cage. The best floor covering is old newspaper, this is cheap and readily available so that it can be changed daily.Although your parrot's cage is it's castle, it should be let out under supervision at least once a day, never leave your parrot out unattended as this can result in chewed furniture or wall paper.which he will do belive me.

Always choose a healthy bird - that is one with it's feathers held tight against it's body, bright eyed, and lively. Leave the one with it's feathers ruffled, and spending most of the time asleep with both feet holding the perch.Always choose a healthy bird - that is one with it's feathers held tight against it's body, bright eyed, and lively.

, they are great copmany,normaly live for many many years,also takeing to manly one or two people as they own and get jeausel yoo.Cons - The large macaws can make good pets when young, but can become vicious as they mature, this is particularly true of the Scarlet macaw. These large birds also require large cages and are not really suitable for the average living room. They also need a lot of attention otherwise they will suffer from stress which will result in feather plucking. The large macaws are also extremely noisy. but are very loving and love you to bits

ill run through this as quick as possible, as there is TONS of info i can give you.

first off, NO NO NO!!!

do NOT get one from a pet store!! these birds are in little cages, pestered all day by little fingers poking and prodding and clinging the bars of their cages and you should take that into consideration. if they are afraid of fingers, they will, and i say this from experience, BITE YOUR FINGER OFF,

again, OFF!

ive seen it twice. even when they are just playing, they can dislocate digits.

the second thing you should consider is your neighbors. macaws can scream at an earpiercing loudness, at any time of the day, 6 am to whenever you go to sleep and, no, covering the cage will not break this habit. there are 4 bird fundamentals that you can never change

1) they are loud. thats how they talk to one another

2) they were literally born to fly and in the wild would fly many miles a day, so they need their exercise, can you provide enough space to satisfy this?

3) they spend much of the day foraging for food and need mental stimulation to keep from being bored. they are very smart

4) in the wild they rip apart trees and branches trimming their beaks and nails and just being silly. they are extremely distructive, and always will be. can you deal with coming home to find your couch half eaten?

keeping all this natural behavior in mind, lets talk about their interaction with you and your family and friends.

macaws are not known for being social birds. very often, they bond to one person in particular and are extremely protective of them. where i work, there is a macaw that was surrendered because he attacked the owner's wife and her newborn baby!

do you want a big bird attacking you, your family and your houseguests?

the cost for these birds is outrageous. especially from a pet store. the petco down the street is asking 2400 for the poor blue and gold that will probly spend a good part of his life there because they are asking too much and the bird is VISCIOUS!

he has attacked every employee and customer that has tried to hold him.

i hope that, if you are a first time bird owner who truly cares for the well being of the bird and your family, that you choose to get a more family friendly bird. the best in my opinion is the indian ringneck parakeet or a moustache parakeet. they have a great vocabulary, they are not loud, expensige, or able to rip your fingers off, lol

good luck!

First off, you probably want to get the bird as a young fledgling. Be sure you make 100% sure that yours is captive bred, and hand reared. Be sure you buy the parrot from a reputable pet store. Do not buy from a dealer, if you are not certain whether their birds are wild or not.

Most wild macaws and parrots are seriously threatened due to habitat loss, and poaching for the pet trade. Usually, about 70-90% of captured birds die before they are sold. But since a single bird can go for as much as $3,000 or more, poachers don't care.

That said, parrots are usually good pets, but they need a lot of attention. Be sure you have at least an hour and a half, or a few every day to pay attention to it, or put it on your shoulder(parrots really love this). Neglected birds will often develop serious behavior problems. Make sure the bird has plenty of toys and things to keep it occupied while you are away.

You are probably going to want a very large cage, or enclosure. Birds tend to poop a lot; they cannot be "potty trained" and you do not want the bird running all over your house, chewing on things, and leaving droppings. It is ok to buy or make some type of perch or post for when you are in the room, but you do not want to leave it out of it's cage, unattended.

You can buy parrot feed at any pet store. For water, it's good to keep a relatively large container half filled with clean water, so the bird can drink, and bathe itself. Just line the bottom of the cage with newspaper, and change it every few days. Birds are famously messy eaters, you are going to need to sweep or vacuum around it's cage every other day.

Be sure that the bird's primaries are trimmed, this prevents them from flying upwards or side to side. The pet store can probably show you how to do this.This makes it harder for the bird to escape.

Parrots can be very noisy, and in particular, sometimes develop the habit of screeching when you leave the room.

I am not very knowledgeable about bird training and behavior; best ask somone else about the specifics.

Parrots, and macaws in particular can be very long lived, as much as 30 or 40 years or more. They sometimes outlive their owners.

You can try adopting an adult macaw from a previous owner. In this case you do have ask: why, exactly, the previous owner wanted to get rid of it in the first place.....

As a side note; "nonstick" pots and pans,or anything with "teflon", when heated, gives off fumes that are highly toxic to birds, and can kill in a few minutes. These fumes are colorless and odorless. If you are cooking, be sure to move your bird to a well ventilated area away from the kitchen, or into the bathroom, and close the door.

Thats all that I can think of.....

~Donkey Hotei

A macaw is a good pet. I would reccommend a baby because it needs to be socialized with you. Birds tend to pick one person that they like and that they will let handle them. If the bird is older but was owned by someone who spent a lot of time with it, and is the same sex as the old owner it could be ok also. Birds that have had male owners tend to like only maless as females only like females. But the big thing about a bird is that you have to spend time with it everyday or they will become nasty. They should also be caged for their own safety. If you are home then it's ok to let it out, but I wouldn't reccommende letting it out if you aren't home

Try starting off with a Budgie, or maybe a cockateil.

The fact that you are asking for advice on how to keep one means that you obviously have no clue, so getting one would be a bad idea.

As it says in the other answers they are noisy and vulnerable birds. They are often abandoned into a sanctuary because people get them to 'show off' and then it turns bad.

They NEED and thrive on company. It takes lots of time and effort to look after them. As they eat fresh fruit and vegies as well as good quality seeds, this can prove expensive. They need to be seen by a specialist Avian vet at times and that can prove very expensive too. Thats if you can find one in your area in the first place!

They are large birds, and need very large cages. These cages, even though your bird may have adapted to being out a lot of the time, are for SAFETY purposes. Have you the room to keep a cage of that size in your place of residence?

How well do you get on with your neighbours at the moment? Cos that will change if you get a Macaw living with you! They are noisy to the extreme, to the point of fact that they can often be heard three or four blocks away from where you live!

They are vulnerable to theft too. Someone unscrupulous will think nothing of breaking in your home to pinch him/her.

They take a massive ammount of your time too!

Having said all the above, Parrots (of any type) make most endearing pets, and wonderful companions. All that time you give them will so often be so well rewarded and traded with massive shows of affection! They are truly bundles of joy. You will never be lonely with a parrot for company, but you have to be prepared to spend ALL your time with them. And after you done that, you need to be able to spend even more time with them.

So. No. Dont do it. If you want to see what they like, go visit a zoo or a local Sanctuary, and see the state that they get into when they are not looked after and cared for properly. Adopt one through the local sanctuary or something. Dont have one at home, when you dont know 100% of what you are taking on. They live over 100years and you have to take that into account too. And thats a massive drain on your emotions...which can prove too much for many people........