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Parent-rearing the Scarlet Macaw |
| What follows are excerpts from my article
published in the November/December 1999 issue of the AFA Journal Watchbird.
Some additional information and photographs not in the original article are included.
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| Psittacine
birds have always fascinated me. I do not think there is another animal that is
as beautiful, intelligent or as comical as parrots. Nearly 15 years ago, my
devotion to parrots led to breeding Macaws. Good information was difficult to
obtain. Much of the information that was current at the time is no longer
believed to be accurate. Fifteen years ago I was told, “Baby birds should only
loose about 10% of their peak weight”. Yet, all my Macaw babies lost a great
deal more than 10%, which made me feel I was doing a poor job. I wanted to
learn how parent-raised birds thrived as compared to my hand-raised babies. I
also wanted to learn at what weight and age the babies would peak, wean and
fledge. Of course, I was interested in how much of a weight loss would occur.
Not least of all, can parent-raised birds be good pets?
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