How to Hand Raise Baby Macaws

Sometimes a baby macaw will become orphaned, and it will have to be hand raised. Most common reasons for orphaning is the parents are unable to feed it or the eggs were removed from the mother's nest. No matter how the baby macaw became orphaned, it will need to same type of love, care and devotion as it would receive from its mother. Hand raising a baby macaw can be a rewarding but challenging experience. It will require a lot of time and devotion, but over time, a irreplaceable bond will be developed between the caregiver and macaw.

Things You'll Need

  • Fish tank with lid
  • Paper towels
  • Heater
  • Bowl
  • Cotton balls
  • Water
  • Commercial or homemade baby macaw food
  • Spoon or syringe
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Instructions

    • 1

      Set up a fish tank with a lid for the baby macaw to stay inside. The fish tank will be the size of your choice, and the lid will cover the fish tank but still have holes for oxygen.

    • 2
      Paper towels or tissue is the best choice.

      Cover the bottom of the fish tank with paper towels. Set a bowl of wet cotton balls on the paper towels, and lay a heater near the wet cotton balls. You will adjust the heater to around 93 degrees F. The humidity will stay around 30 percent to 50 percent.

    • 3

      Check on the baby macaws frequently to prevent overheating or lethargy. If the skin of the baby macaws is red and it is panting, then decrease the temperature of the heater. Increase the temperature of the heater if the baby macaws are huddling.

    • 4
      Make sure you clean the entire fish tank.

      Clean the fish tank when needed. You will remove the dirty paper towels, and replace them with clean paper towels. Remove the wet cotton balls. Put new wet cotton balls in the bowl.

    • 5
      Baby macaws eat very little, but they eat frequently.

      Feed the baby macaw a specialized baby macaw diet. You will feed the baby macaw with a syringe or spoon. Hourly feedings of small are required for week-old baby macaws. As the baby macaw grows older, you will lengthen the time it goes without feeding. Reduce the feedings to every two hours with a six-hour break overnight when the macaw reaches two weeks. When the macaw enters the third week, it should be fed every four to six hours.

    • 6
      Your macaw will grow into a beautiful bird!

      Wean the baby macaw off the baby macaw food at six weeks of age. You will begin introducing solid commercial macaw food into the diet. Once it reaches six weeks of age, you have finished hand raising a baby macaw!