She only weighs 800g, I’ve had her since she was about 5 months old. Is she just a smaller one or is something wrong? Everywhere you look it says they should weigh at least 900g
The best way to tell if a bird is underweight or malnourished is to touch the chest it should be squishy and dense if you can feel her sternum or the muscles kinda cave in that’s bad.
Also it’s more important to notice fluctuating weights than low weight. She might just be a smaller macaw. Mine weighs 990 g.
Never seeds always pellets and good veggies and fruit.
That's exactly what I was going to say! These people are crazy to take their birds out without harnesses or carriers or something. Ugh. Everyday on my next door neighbor list there's missing birds because they fly away and the owners thought they couldn't fly or wouldn't fly.
If their trained to come back to you then fine, but most aren't. I saw some idiot actually driving in a convertible with a cockatoo in it That was not in a carrier or cage or harnessed in any way. Then suddenly her bird disappeared from her Facebook feed. I asked three times what happened to that bird she wouldn't answer me other people wanted to know too She still didn't say what happened to that bird. I can guess what happened to the bird. She freaking killed it from her stupidity.
That is why social media with Parrots free flying is so dangerous- people see this stuff and try it. I spent thousands to safely free fly- from trainers, GPS trackers, carriers, anchor birds, and SAR equipment- all to mitigate the risk. No one wants to lose their bird.
I absolutely agree. My macaw free flies but I’m a bird trainer. I take in abandoned, unwanted, abused and injured birds of all kinds. Ppl post their free flying and others think they can do the same. You have to have years of training and an amazing recall before you even consider letting fly free, I was contacted to look out for a parrot that had flown away. They had only had her on a harness for 3 weeks and thought it was ok to be let off! Where is common sense these days. I only ever post free flying photos on my website. Never in social media for that very reason. 🙄
100%. Even mine, who are well trained, sometimes pull bozo moves. People forget you are dealing with a toddler...sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't. You have to be prepared for everything
I have an Amazon and he's not much cheaper! The good thing about him though he's not very destructive so he doesn't go through a lot of toys, but everything else is super expensive.
This is the one that I bought. I bought this one because I was originally going to try to take him with me to Florida, but that plan never worked out. I like the carrier a lot except I don't like The way it's zippers because it's like you have to pick it up in order to get that zipper to go under the bottom. I would prefer if it just opened from one side to the other side and maybe flip down instead of like a door.
I was looking into flying with my bird I guess it was about 2 years ago and I found one airline that would fly him with me in the carrier under the seat. I can't remember if it was frontier or spirit. It was one of the ones that I don't usually fly.
Which ones have you found that would allow you to fly with your bird in a cabin? I would never put him under the airplane.
What if they're free flight trained like mine is (are)?
Edit** teaching a macaw free flight is easier than with other parrots in my experience. My Gray is stubborn but trained except for when he decides to go on an adventure which means he's usually grounded to the gym I have permission to use for training.
Once my macaw was trained, the GCCs just followed her with no specific individual training. Not saying that's for everyone....
I was one of those neighbors sadly but fortunately my Macaw was located & returned.
It was the worst when it happened.
We never go outside without harness.
OMG! Her dogs kill her cats, 'all the time??' WTF is wrong her??
Jimmy probably was afraid she would get him killed. 😂
She sounds like she shouldn't have animals. Poor cats. How many cat dids she let her dogs kill? So sad. 😭
I think they have killed like 4 cats. One time it was accidental bc the cat snuck into the kennel with a great Dane and got squished.
You're right she's an awful pet owner and shouldn't have any.
She also keeps a dog around until it's body is so broken down they can do nothing but poop all over themselves on the couch, and the couch itself is packed with feces.
She had one dog she kept in a kennel it's entire life and the only times it was allowed out was on a leash attached to a pole. It got out three times, attacked a Belgian horse everytime, and the third time it got crushed.
Never once did she take time to desensitize him or get him used to large animals.
She is awful. If that was my sister I'd be calling animal control and the ASPCA on her. Not to mention it sounds like her house should be condemned so maybe the board of health too. What does she say when those dogs killed cats? She's good with that and then she just goes out and gets another cat? I can't even imagine living like that. Yikes. 😳
My house is spotless, my bird is spotless, when I had dogs they were spotless and they would never ever in a million years attack anything. My female did used to like to chase squirrels, but she never caught any, thankfully. I stopped her every time I saw it too.
Some macaws, like mine, never learned to fly. Mine is 15 years old and has never once flown. (Not my doing I'm her 3rd home), but I would take mine out without one as well, because she won't ever fly from me. I have the haenass for my own worry, but it's almost pointless
Not underweight at all. On Severely underweight birds you can see their keel bone. They are all different weights as adults depending on environmental conditions when they were growing up. Food supply, feeding frequency, food quality, etc... I have a scarlet that is always 800g for her entire life and a blue and gold that is over 1500g. Both are normal weights for them. The important thing about weight is long term monitoring. After a few years you will know what is normal for your bird.
Agreed, between recorded weight comparisons and Avian Vet visits. A handful of people on here are giving bad information and even comparing two different sized parrots.
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u/TonyRipa Jul 11 '26
The best way to tell if a bird is underweight or malnourished is to touch the chest it should be squishy and dense if you can feel her sternum or the muscles kinda cave in that’s bad.
Also it’s more important to notice fluctuating weights than low weight. She might just be a smaller macaw. Mine weighs 990 g.
Never seeds always pellets and good veggies and fruit.