Macaw parrot: species, keeping and breeding rules

Macaw belongs to the feathered family of parrots. These are quite large birds, a distinctive feature of which is their bright plumage in red, blue, yellow and green shades. Such pets are very popular in home care, but caring for them has many subtleties and rules that you should know before deciding to buy such a bird.

About everything that concerns the macaw parrot, we can say "the most-most." And in fact - this is the largest bird of the order of parrots, the most brightly colored beautiful bird, the owner of the strongest beak of all who live on its mainland and even on the planet, and in addition, it is one of the most enduring birds in the world.

By the way, this behavior fully corresponds to the peculiarities of the internal organization of this beautiful bird - the ancient Indians used this ability and kept the macaw as guards. The parrots endowed with high intelligence knew well every inhabitant of the village or village and raised a loud cry when they saw uninvited guests.

You can talk about the beauty of these birds for hours, but still dwell on some characteristics of birds of this species. On the sides of the head does not have a feather cover, the same applies to the areas around the eyes. The end part of the wings is quite elongated and pointed at the ends. The tail is wedge-shaped, and it is much longer than the body of a bird.

The beak is sharp, hook-shaped, compressed on the sides.According to the data of ornithologists, he is incredibly strong, strong and powerful - no other bird can compare him in hardness, so you should carefully weigh the pros and cons before you bring such a strong man to the houses where young children live. Ara can crack fruit bones and the hardest nuts in seconds.

These birds have very keen eyesight - in terms of speed of viewing frames per second, the possibilities of macaw are far superior to human. For comparison: in humans, this figure is 24 frames, and in parrots - 125. Ara is distinguished by monogamous vision and can use her eyes independently of each other.

Birds of this species have the ability to heal themselves. Inhabiting near silty shores, they eat particles of clay, thereby purifying their body from harmful substances that come with rotted, spoiled fruits. In addition, a viscous substance is a source of trace elements necessary for the body of macaws.

In total, there are about 15 varieties of macaw parrots. The most common are several of them.

• Chestnut, or, as it is also called, chestnut-browed. A distinctive feature of such birds is a reddish-brown or yellow iris. The frontal zone is dark, the beak is almost black, the cheeks are slightly feathered, painted white. Paws have a rich gray hue, claws are almost black.

• Red. This species is known in science as Aracanga. The adult has a yellow fang, and at its base there is a pronounced dark spot. The mandible is black. The beak itself is curved, very strong, its hue is yellow. Cheeks without feathers, have a creamy tone with small reddish spots. The paws are dark gray, almost black, with two fingers pointing forward and two fingers backward.

• Green-winged. Bird with a large wide head, beak is very large, powerful, black. The iris is light yellow, the area of ​​the beak is soft pink, the mandible is dark. Cheeks have a rare plumage with burgundy thin feathers. Paws are gray.

• Blue-headed. This is a mountain macaw with a distinctive periocular ring of a dark gray hue. The beak is strong, black. The iris is yellow with a noticeable red border. Paws are fawn, unremarkable.

• Blue-necked. A parrot with an iris of a light yellow hue, the cheeks are rather small, almost naked, covered with very thin feathers of blue color. The beak is very large, black. The legs are dark gray, the tail is elongated, at the end there is a pronounced narrowing. Feathers on the forehead in a deep blue hue. The same color is present in the plumage of the neck and throat of a bird.

• Red-bellied. A parrot with a small beak of black color, cheeks are whitish-yellow, bare. The paws are painted in dark blue, the overwhelming color of the plumage is saturated green, the terry feathers and forehead are blue, on the abdomen there is a pronounced brown-brown spot.

Macaw is a large exotic bird with its behavioral characteristics and physiological needs, therefore its maintenance in captivity requires certain knowledge and skills. However, this bird feels quite comfortable at home and almost never experiences anxiety and stress. Before buying a macaw parrot, you should first prepare an aviary for it, the minimum allowable whose dimensions should correspond to 2 meters in width and 1 meter in length, a height of at least 2 meters is desirable, optimally - like walls.

Placing an animal in a smaller cage is allowed only if birds in the aviary are only at the time of feeding and at night’s sleep, and the rest of the time the macaw spends in free flight around the house or apartment.

The cage should be equipped with high-quality locking devices that are better locked with a key. Keep in mind that standard latches and simple hooks for birds with such high intelligence as a macaw are not suitable - the pet will open them as soon as possible.

The pallet under the aviary should be retractable - this will help to better clean the cage and remove all the waste products of the bird in a timely manner.

Be sure to foresee the presence in the enclosure of perches, toys, as well as tree branches. Ara is a bird that is extremely demanding of attention from the owner, so that the pet would not be bored in the absence of the owner, it is worth equipping the aviary with all kinds of ropes, ladders, labyrinths and puzzles.

Keep in mind that the macaw loves to hang upside down, so place toys and vertical structures should be higher so that the bird does not hit the bottom of the aviary. Do not forget that these parrots are big lovers of water procedures, so in the cage you should definitely equip a small bath.

All feeders and drinking bowls, poles and toys should be kept clean and tidy. They should be cleaned at least once every 2 days, if possible daily, the cell itself is washed once a week, and every 4-5 months the enclosure is plunged with deep disinfection using chlorine-based products. As necessary, obsolete accessories should be removed and replaced with new, better and necessarily environmentally friendly ones.

Special attention deserves the nutrition of parrots. In their natural habitat, macaws feed on nuts, exotic fruits, juicy fruits, corn, and seeds. Animals kept in apartments you must definitely give fresh juicy fruits: banana, apples, soft pears, as well as grapes and mountain ash.

To meet the needs for vegetables, they usually offer feathered corn, cucumber and carrots with pumpkin. Be sure to include in the menu juicy greens - young shoots of fruit trees, germinated cereals, beet and carrot tops, as well as leaves of dandelion, chard and garden celery.

70% of the macaw's diet should be grain feed - oats, millet, and also flaxseed and canary seeds, nuts (hazelnuts, peanuts and pumpkin seeds). Food can be purchased at the store, or you can make a grain mix yourself, but in this case, you must additionally introduce vitamin-mineral supplements that help maintain the feathered health, its full growth and development.

Keep in mind that in nature, parrots eat rather heavy food, but do not forget that in natural conditions, the bird has the ability to quickly and efficiently spend calories. There are no such opportunities in captivity, which is why the inclusion of walnuts and pine nuts in the diet should be rare and strictly dosed.

Additionally, porridge can be added to the diet of birds. It is best to boil them in water without oil and sugar. Usually pets are treated with buckwheat, millet rice porridge, as well as pea and chickpea. From time to time, the menu includes egg yolks and crumbly cottage cheese.

But coffee beans, avocados, parsley, onions, garlic, herbs and sweets in all manifestations should be excluded from the diet of the bird. It is also not recommended to treat macaws from your table, especially if you eat fried, smoked, salty, fatty and pickled foods.

The nesting period of the macaw usually begins around April - at this moment the parrot becomes overly excited and sometimes even aggressive, so you should be patient and treat your bird calmly and sympathetically, avoiding any negative emotions.

For successful breeding of macaws in captivity, it is necessary to create suitable conditions for the pet:

• maintaining a constant temperature at a level of about 20 degrees with a humidity level of about 70-80%;
• 15-hour daylight - in addition to natural light, it is necessary to resort to additional illumination, for this they buy fluorescent lamps, but the most ordinary ones will do;
• the size of the enclosure should be at least 1.9x2x2.5 m, the floor should be covered with a layer of river sand, and the sod should be placed on top;
• the nest is located in the upper part of the cage, it is best to use ready-made containers measuring 70x50x50 cm, optimally wooden;
• the size of the round notch should be about 150 mm, its height relative to the bottom - about 20-30 cm;
• as nesting litter, it is desirable to use medium-sized sawdust or wood shavings.

We draw attention to the fact that as soon as the female macaw lays eggs, she can not be disturbed. Constant noise and loud sounds should be excluded - a quiet and calm atmosphere should be maintained near the bird. Otherwise, the feathered can abandon its offspring or even destroy it.

Only birds from 1 year old, healthy, with brilliant plumage are allowed to reproduce. Usually mating parrots are preceded by mating games. At this time, the birds begin to carefully sort out the feathers on the head of each other, as well as on the neck and near the tail.

Parrots invariably accompany their actions with loud gurgling sounds, after which the male begins to dance slightly. Such callsigns act on the female - she sinks to the bottom of the cage and falls to the back, playfully fighting off the male flying up to her. These actions are repeated several times, after which the mating takes place directly - the parrots retreat in the nest or on the perch, turn around with their tails, after which they come in contact with cloacas. Usually this is repeated several times a day.

3-4 weeks after mating, the female lays the first egg, then all subsequent ones with an interval of 3 days. As a rule, 2-3 eggs are in the clutch. Immediately after the appearance of the first of them, the female moves to the nesting house and begins to hatch them. At this time, the future father takes care of providing her with food, who is nearby all the time and brings grain in his beak.

Hatching normally lasts about 24-25 days. At first, newborn chicks are completely and completely dependent on their mother - she feeds them with goiter milk with fragments of chopped pieces of food. The birds acquire independence only 3-4 months after the birth. The grown birds stay with their parents, expanding the flock and strengthening the relationship between the pets.

The macaw parrot is a very active, extremely inquisitive creature, it always willingly makes contact with the breeder.

Parrots of this species require continuous attention from the owner, they are smart birds that character more likely resemble a small child. They are quickly tamed and without any problems find contact with any person.

Ara is a bird with a very high intelligence, therefore, quickly learns new words and can easily and correctly use them to communicate with their owners. Such creatures can ask their owners to give them a drink, eat, play, they are able to greet their master at a meeting and say goodbye to parting.

The macaw has a rather harsh voice, it is unpleasant for the human ear, but the bird rarely screams for no reason, because the sound always serves as a signal of a problem.Eliminating the cause of discomfort, you can quickly return the feathered to a good mood.

Keep in mind that for many family members and even neighbors from another apartment, such sounds can be simply unbearable, therefore it is better to keep the bird in detached cottages and apartment buildings with good sound insulation.

Ara always remembers her detractors and offenders well. A bird can take revenge on them, while the bites of such a pet can be very painful and even cause injury. It is best to immediately stop with the bird in a friendship position, but you should not encourage the habit of pinching and biting, otherwise the parrot will use this trick as the main method of attracting attention to itself.

Macaw parrots are brave and very brave birds. If they are attacked, then they give back. But by nature, these birds are quite friendly, they are good for people and other pets.

It should be noted that the feedback from the breeders about these birds, as a rule, is only positive - the parrot is attached to its owners, but people also feel the response that has been established between them and this amazing pet. Some breeders even claim that over time, these birds begin to feel like a full member of the family and behave accordingly - it sometimes looks very entertaining.

There is an opinion that it is better to acquire an adult individual, which for a long time grew among its relatives, since human foster feeding will require relentless attention. In modern life, this is usually not possible.

If you will treat your macaw with warmth and tenderness, then be sure - he will answer you with the same coin. For any noise from a bird, you need to respond exclusively with calm. If you intend to wean your pet from any pleasant habit - just ignore it, making it clear that you don’t intend to follow the birds, and all games will begin only after he changes his behavior.

If, in response to his loud screams, you will also raise your voice or give some kind of sedative medicine, the effect will be the very opposite. Your scream, like the potion, is considered by the macaw as an encouragement to such an action and you will not be able to wean the bird from the addiction later.

The mental and physical health of the pet is seriously affected by the sensitivity of the owner. No less important are the conditions of detention, diet and feed used. Feathers of this species quite often have such unpleasant problems as severe peeling of the skin, coordination dysfunction, general weakness and swollen joints.

Beautiful and spectacular macaw parrots are prone to sinusitis and allergic bronchitis. With such diseases, they have difficulty breathing, mucous discharge from the nose and swelling of the sinus region. The fact is that the bird is very sensitive to air quality, so it will be useful to use ionizers and household humidifiers in the room.

Very often, birds show all signs of self-pinching - this often happens if the animal experiences psychological discomfort in conditions of lack of attention from the owner or his rough handling.

Of viral infections, macaw is most often the victim of papillomatosis. In this case, the defecation process is disrupted, problems arise when swallowing food and cesspool may fall out. Dangerous for birds and ornithosis, leading to damage to the respiratory and central nervous system.

All about the macaw parrot breed see below.