Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Orlando, FL On couch: Hyacinth Macaw "Hymie"  My original goals with Hymie when I first brought him home were: Get him eating some fresh foods. Break the bad habit of immediately running to the shoulder. Train him to let me hold his feet when he steps up on my hand.  I am pretty happy to report I accomplished ALL...

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Orlando, FL Shown: Hyacinth Macaw "Hymie" & Nephew "Jimmy" I've never trained a bird with a 15 month old around...  And while my nephew Jimmy was visiting, it was VERY hard to train Hymie, the hyacinth macaw I am working with for a client for 6 or so weeks. I had no idea how distracting Jimmy would be for Hy...

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Orlando, FL Wet Bird: Hyacinth Macaw "Hymie"  Hymie took his first shower with me within the first week of his stay. I was super happy because it is so hot here in Florida during the summer months and I was thinking he really needed one to cool down. I tried 2 times unsuccessfully before this. I approached Hymie ...

Hymie is finally stepping up very nicely and letting both Dave and I hold his feet to transport him short distances (from one room to the other) and we're getting to the point of placing him on our shoulders for a reward rather than having him put himself up there. He is almost settling in nicely and becoming super comfortable with how things g...

Photo by Dave Location: Orlando, FL Eating pasta: Hyacinth "Hymie" I had company for 10 days this month and it was sort of... crazy. Fitting in time for Hymie was harder in those ten days but I did have some great progress. I got him to eat three new foods! They are: Plain penne pasta Oatmeal Creamed corn I was eating oatmeal one mo...

I don't quite think people understand what it means to respect your bird, but it is so so so so SO so so... important. Honestly, if you simply show your bird some respect, he will respect you right back and start to like you. To prove this, I am going to show you a video of Dave and a Hyacinth Macaw (the same one we decided to take on for 6 wee...