hahns macaw

Question
hi, about 5 months ago i puchased a 18month old hahns macaw who ive renamed jonesy as he did not respond to the name i was given for him at all, i was told he was tame but horrified when i seen his previouse owner when delivering him to my home catch him with a towel to transfer from his cage to mine then when he had him in the towel and outside the cage could not securely handle the bird wich then bit him. jonesy then broke free of his hands and flew straight to me and looked as tho he was hiding behind me sat on my shoulder, as you could imagine i was very nervouse but kept calm as to not stress jonesy any more than he already was. the man then tried to take him from me with the towel at wich stage i told him to back off, i told him to take his money and get out i was so angree at the way he had teated him. anyway that day jonesy would not leave my side i sat with him on my shoulder till bed time even then it was a carry on to get him into his cage, but we managed to entce him in the end. the next couple of days i left him in the cage so as to get used to it and his new sorroundings after 3 or 4 days i opened the cage he came staight out and flew to me i was very happy i thought he was great until he started biting my fingers wen i was trying put him back into his cage he also peirced my top lip wich was very painful as you can imagine, hahns macaws are little in respect to their larger cousins but never the less can pack just as much off a bite, this went on for maybe a month at 1 point my wife asked me to get rid of him incase he attacked the children who had been warned not to go near him, but i just could'nt do it even after he attacked my wife, i just kept thinking if thats how the man treat him infront of what has gone on behind closed doors this was upsting to think about and made me more determined to win his trust, and then it happened...our love story began just like that, he now kisses & cuddles me lets me stroke him were and whenever i want he has started to talk 'says giv us a kiss' 'HELLO' and my wifes name caroline he is absolutly 1st class he still has his mood swings but they are more vocal than anything else, he has 2 very large cages bought especialy for him 1 in the living room & 1 at the side off my bed wich the wife is'nt happy about but atleast we will never be late for work, the only thing is he wont share me with my wife and children he's very possesive, if he is out wich he usally is he will chase the children away from me and the mrs wich somtimes is'nt such a bad thing at times, so i was thinking off getting him a girlfriend but am worried he might then go back to his old ways off bitng me or even attacking his play mate, what do you think? thanks James

Answer
-- I'm very happy you saved this poor bird!  It sounds like he's bonded very closely to you.

-- You're right to hesitate about getting a partner for him.  That would only make him bond to another bird and you wouldn't have either of them.

Rather than try to go into all the steps you can take right now to rectify this situation, go here (there's pictures too) and scroll to 'biting and screaming'  - which also includes what you're going through

http://www.4animalcare.org/birds


If it doesn't link directly, copy and paste it into your address bar and get there that way


  Remember to be patient, kind and keep in mind that you've got a lifetime with him.  You've done a wonderful thing in keeping him