How to Raise Baby Macaws

Raising a baby macaw can be an experience that is both challenging and rewarding. While it is young, the baby will be extremely time-consuming, although spending so much time with the macaw will mean that the bird will develop a strong bond with the caregiver. There are a number of reasons why a baby macaw would need to be hand-reared. Babies might be orphaned or the parents may be unable to feed a baby. Breeders sometimes choose to remove eggs from the mother's nest before they hatch as this can encourage the female to lay more eggs.

Things You'll Need

  • Fish tank
  • Heater
  • Tissue
  • Paper towels
  • Bowl
  • Cotton wool
  • Baby parrot food
  • Syringe
  • Solid parrot food
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Instructions

    • 1

      House the baby macaw in a fish tank with a lid on it. Line the floor with tissue or paper towels and place an adjustable heater inside the tank. Set the temperature of the tank to around 35 degrees C and monitor the chick in case this needs to be altered. If the skin of the baby turns from the usual fleshy pink to a darker red this is a sign that it is feeling too hot, so you should lower accordingly. Appearing lethargic could mean that the temperature needs to be raised. Provide a bowl of damp cotton wool to provide humidity in the enclosure. Alternatively, you can purchase a professional incubator for baby parrots. This is called a breeder and can be found online at specialized websites.

    • 2

      Feed the baby with specialized baby parrot food, as this will provide the bird with a healthy, balanced diet so that added vitamin supplements are unnecessary. This is a bonus as vitamin supplements can be harmful to a baby macaw. A World Of Pet Care recommend brands such as Roudybush Formula and Vetafarm Feeds, which can be purchased online and in some pet stores. Use a syringe to feed the baby on an hourly basis until it reaches one week old. Reduce feedings to once every two hours with a six-hour break overnight. At three weeks reduce to feeding every five hours and at six-weeks old reduce to feeding every eight hours.

    • 3

      Begin to offer solid parrot foods once the parrot reaches six-weeks old. A World Of Pet Care recommends brands such as Harrison's Bird Diets for a complete and balanced diet. During this period you should continue to feed the baby using the syringe as it slowly becomes used to eating the solid pellets. The macaw will show that it is enjoying its food by repeatedly bobbing its head.

    • 4

      Keep the baby macaw healthy by changing soiled paper towels in the enclosure, and also by checking the chick on a daily basis. Call your veterinarian if you see any signs that the baby is unhealthy. Things to look out for include lack of weight gain, vomiting and abnormal feathering. Feathers should begin to grow at around two weeks of age.