Diet for Blue and Gold Macaw

Katie.Hickie

Registered
Hi everyone, I’m new to pet parrots, I’ve worked with them for years as a zookeeper but would like advise on keeping Blue and Gold Macaws as pets. I’ve currently reserved one and I’m gathering together everything I need. What diet would you recommend?
 
Hi and welcome. BG macaws are great and if you're used to them and their 'ways' then brilliant. However, I would always advise about the negatives more than the positives as once you've made the commitment, it is your lifetime and beyond. If you can get past the negatives then you are ready to be owned by a bird! They're destructive (£1000's in repairs and decorating until we had an extension built), they're demanding of your time and attention. I once read an article on here that perfectly described them as having the cleverness of a 4 year old human, with the emotional reasoning of a 2 year old human. So basically stroppy, childish mood swings, and the ability to think and plan. Add that to wings and a bottle opener/knife for a face and you get the idea! After all that, I can say that we wouldn't swap our babies for the world. The laughs and cuddles they give us on top of the bites and stress, make it worth it.

As for food, I'm hoping to cheat and paste a recent reply I made to someone else...... We use Harrison's High Potency Coarse Pellets, and give them specific mealtimes. A foraging breakfast, then a bowl of food for their evening meal. It took a couple of false starts, but it was easier using the birdy bread that they do, that's a good way to transition to other foods. Adding blueberries to the bread mix for example to introduce fruits. The Harrison's Power Treats also seem to be irresistible to ours, the same excitement level as offering a walnut! Ours are now on the pellets, with limited nuts. Then fresh veg and/or fruit added to their dinner every day. They're allowed the odd egg, and birdy noodles are their treat night. With regular weighing you'll get a good balance. When we're home, we'll give snacks in the form of banana or apple for example with a nut reward too. We don't tend to get food waste now either (other than the peel, or if one of them really doesn't feel like eg.. carrots that day :lol:), they eat all of it! Having said all that, I know not everyone likes feeding pellets, but with a good selection of veg, ours love it.
 
Hello and welcome, with one macaw you may think about insurance unless you have a good balance to fall back on in an emergency, feed wise a good balanced diet with either a pellet or good quality dry seed mix, with plenty of veg and some fruit, I give nuts separately and a good training nut are pine nuts, my macaws love them
 
Back
Top Bottom