Amazing Grey

I finially had the chance to reserve my baby from a friend and reputable breeder of Blue and Gold Macaws. I've always shared about my other birds and told her it had been a dream to add a Blue and Gold (B&G) to our family. She informed me she would indeed reserve a baby when her breeding pair laid and hatched eggs. I was sooo excited to finially have an opportunity to hand-rear my own baby and bring him up early in our family. The thought of being there from the beginning was getting me very anxious for the day to come.

I got a call around the beginning of June saying that the birds had laid 1 egg!!  A couple days later I got another call saying 2 more were laid also. She told me that July 4th would possibly be the hatchday for the first one laid, since justation period is about 28 days. I thought that would be totally neat to have a July 4th baby, so with some help and opinions of friends for a neat name, I had determined that his name would be Liberty!!  

Sure enough the first egg was hatched on July 4th!! I was estatic to say the least. I wondered what would become of the 2 other eggs, sadly neither hatched. This one special egg, hatched on a special day was MINE!! I got a call a week later from my friend stating that she had to pull him from the nest. He was only 1 week old, but I knew he was in good hands. She asked me if I would like to come and visit MY baby......who would say no?? lol

I immediately came the following day to visit this little neonate with barely any fuzz. I fell in love at first sight  I was able to visit several times. I've had known her for sometime and able to help care for her other birds, always watching carefully when she handfed any of them. There is so much responsibility to take on handfeeding and raising parrots. I would say it takes someone who is very dedicated and detailed to make sure he is fed on the right side of his beak, eating properly, formula is mixed at just the right temperture, kept warm so he doesn't get chilled, this list goes on. Definitely not for the first time bird owner or one who is not sure of their abilities!!

This picture was taken on July 11, 2006.

I got a call the following week saying she would be leaving on vacation and bringing him and his brooder with, and that when she got back I was welcome to visit again and to help feed. I was counting the days until she got back, lol. When she did call and said she was home, I didn't hesitate!! My breeder, knowing I ALWAYS research and knows my ablilities and experience, felt I could take him home. I had everything purchased and prepared for him, so of course I agreed.

Liberty came home a wee bird at the age of 3 weeks old. I would NEVER recommend a normal person who had never handfed take on such a challenge at this critical age, until weaned. So many factors come into play at this age and everything has to work together for them to thrive well. If a neonate gets chilled it could mean death for them. If you feed the formula too hot, they could suffer crop burn then infection or death. I am blessed to have a very good breeder and avian vet who is always available to answers questions, and is there for me no matter what time of the day.

This is Liberty when he first came home on July 24, 2006.

As I see weekly changes, it is incredible!! Almost everyday you can see something different whether it is his growth or his eye slits opening up. Every step of the way is so gratifying to see your baby morph into different stages of his little life.

His eyes are opening up more. Now he's starting to see mama and his surroundings. This pic is during feeding time. Macaws even this little have such a strong feeding response. They flap vigorously and squawk waiting for the next mouthfull of food, lol.

At 5 weeks old now, he isn't such a neonate baby now with sprigs of downy feathers coming in. He is very aware of his surroundings and enjoys flapping and moving around. His eyes are fully open and his ears are starting to take shape by sucking in to form ear holes.

At 6wks 2 days now, you can start seeing his colored feathers coming in around his ears, wings, and his little stub tail. 

7weeks old, getting more downy fuzz coming in.

At 8 weeks (2 months old) he sure is getting more feathers in and exploring more. They are comical at this age as they try to manuver around with out stepping on their own toes or falling over, hehehe.

He still is a bit squawky while up, but fun to see him explore new objects. Check out the short video clip.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v435/superbirdie/?action=view¤t=MOV00063.flv

9 weeks 2 days. Look at the dramatic difference in his feathering and getting around better. I wasn't kidding when I said they morph right before your eyes!!

10 weeks old!! Look at my adorable baby!! Mama wore him out playing, lol.

11 weeks old. Holy moly is this still my baby?? He is really flapping his wings, trying to perch, preening his feathers, starting to pick at real food, but still eats his formula good. His weight is starting to level out and getting ready for fledging (flying). Look at his beautiful colors, especially his yellow! Wing span is looking incredible. 

Liberty at 3 months old.....has it been that long already? He is really starting to forage for his food more. Loves Cheerios and Fruit Loops of course those are in smaller quantity. He will try eating Zupreem Fruit pellets moistened in a bit of grape juice, as you can tell he enjoyed some by the look of his beak. He will now let me play with him on his back, tickling his tummy, but need to hold his feet for security. Hopefully in time this will be something he is very comfortable with.

Here is a pic of us together taken by my daughter on our phone a few days earlier. Can u see we both love to snuggle? 

My little birdie is taking full advantage of play time, oh what joy it is to watch him explore his toys!!

Well at 13 weeks old, Liberty sure is becoming a big bird now.  He is really starting to eat more food which is awesome to see his appetite grow. He's still working on those pellets which are harder than the Cheerios, but at least he's eating healthy food from the start. I make a sweet potato mash with mixed veggies, beans, brown rice, and some noodles with birdie bread on top slightly mixed in with that. He seems to really enjoy it by the pictures.

He is also starting to outgrow his last tub. This is his 3rd since we got him, and he sure is letting us know when he wants out, lol. Too funny to watch him trying, but today he actually got himself up on the edge and started flapping away!  He is stepping onto my hand and letting me lift him out. He'll be a pro at perching in no time at all. One thing though, those nails sure are sharp! Can't trim them so he can get good gripping on perches and such. Oh well, a little pain for a little bit, lol.

Today we are getting his cage. We got a 40x30 play-top and waiting for delivery at this moment. Can't wait to get it together and let him explore. He's already been enjoying the bird room playing and will even walk to the room when he wants to hang out in there. Should be easy adjustment for him, although I will go slow on introducing and keeping him in there. We'll have to see when he's ready for cage sleeping, I'm sure he enjoys his warm tub at night. Will put something on the bottom of the cage to cushion a fall if he climbs up and looses balance. Don't want any boo boo's.

At 14 weeks, Liberty is sure making great progress. He is now perching pretty good, and starting to learn how to climb. He climbed up his ladder to his cage, but going down will be something I think that will come later, lol. He will try and climb on most anything he can. Stepping up is a given, when he wants me to pick him up. His wing flapping is very strong, and will flap any chance he gets.

We got his cage and hung some toys. Have cardboard on the bottom covered with paper to cushion a fall if that were to happen. First few days I let him explore and he took to it like a duck to water. I would let him play for a little bit in there and he even would nap with no problems. I added his big perch and a little one to see if he would try it out, sure enough he was perching the first time I put it in. Last night was the first time for him to sleep in it over night and he did really well.

Liberty also had his first bath this week with the spray bottle. He really enjoyed being sprayed and started flapping his wings intensly. He kept coming back for more, lol.

Here are some funny pictures just to show his personality. B&G Macaws are so much like little puppy's, always playing around being silly. He is doing summersaults to lay on his back....the funniest thing to see. He enjoys being on his back more for play and tickles. I can even lift him while holding his feet and will hang upside down.

This picture he was actually sleeping like this, until I woke him up and his eyes opened. Guess he likes his buddy, the toy, hehehee.

Ack!! It's a big ball of feathers, or maybe a headless bird, lol. He was sticking his head under his wing, while spread out on the floor. Guess he wanted to play "peek-a-boo" 

Here my daughters were trying to be cute and cover him up with a blanket. He didn't seem to mind.

Guess we had alot of 1st's of everything this week, it's neat to see all the progress.

We also had a special treat for him on Tuesday. This was the first time for him to go to school!!  I brought him to the Kindergarten classes since they were working on the letter "P" and of course a great opportunity for me to reinforce "P is for Parrot". We even had our local newspaper photographer show up and take some pictures and was in the paper the next day, on the front cover!  Liberty did wonderful and took to the kids very well. The children absolutely loved him and enjoyed learning about Parrots. It was such a neat experience for me to share and hopefully something for them to always remember.

A special Thank You to J.S. Wedgeworth, photographer for the Morning News. Click on the pictures to take you to their website. 

13 weeks and Liberty is sure becoming independent. I found him in the birdroom on top of Akeela's cage. He would always play on the floor, but I guess he had kept his climbing a secret until I discovered his hidden talent, lol. 

He is perching pretty good and still climbing on things. He has also explored his cage more by climbing in there. I have toys all over now, encouraging him to climb higher to explore more and master his skills. Need to get pictures of his cage, too bad when I went to take some the batteries were dead...oops

At 4 1/2 months now, been a little bit since I posted pictures. I was waiting for the perfect flying picture, but that sure is hard to do, lol. Yes, as you can now see, my baby has begun flying.  He's doing very well now being able to do turns and landing pretty good. I can set him down and walk away and he will come and fly to my arm  At this stage there are some challenges like getting to stay put now, hehehe. I will be ordering his harness soon so we can start going places and not have fear of him being spooked and flying away. That will be so much fun to be able to take him on outings, I'm looking forward to it.

Here ya go Michelle & Jim!! (My two buddies that were waiting to see this moment)  

Here's one of Liberty's favorite things to do now....watching everything outside.