Blue And Gold Macaw

Scientific Name: Ara ararauna

Description:
   Blue and Gold Macaws are among the most strikingly beautiful of the Macaw Family. They are a full size Macaw and can learn to talk with a general vocabulary of about 15 or more words or expressions. The B&G were given to us by our very good friend and advisor in bird related matters, Mr Siva(Trichy). He advised us on how to make the complete planning of the aviaries and the breeding box. I must Thank him for giving me this wonderful pair of B&G's.

Care and feeding:
   A roomy cage is required unless the bird is to be let out for extended periods. Our B&G's are kept in  aviaries on the terrace sized L12'xB9'xH10'.Many birds can spend most of their time on a play pen or parrot perch. We have installed 4 perches since the female has one of its wings trimmed waiting for it to grow back and will remove one perch which help them in flying around the cage , Excercise is very important for these birds so they should be encourages to fly in the cage.They eat a variety of seeds, nuts, fruits, commercial pellets, as well as the same nutritional foods humans eat. We feed out B&G's Sunflower seeds,Safflower Seeds,Paddy,wheat,oats,bajra and whenever available hemp seeds. We also add almonds and cashews to the above mix along with raw peanuts.The also get a variety of fruits , veggies and boiled eggs. We have installed clay blocs in their cages. They get weekly dosing of vitamins and live52.The fruits and veggies are sprinkled with crushed cuttel bone powder and spirulina powder.

Distribution:
   The Blue and Gold Macaw's natural habitat runs from eastern Panama in Central America south across northern South America, extending to Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.

Size - Weight:
   A full sized macaw, they can get over 2 lbs. Lengths up to 86 cm (34 inches). Our B&G's are almost 36" long from head to tail.

Social Behaviors:
   They are a typical macaw. The Blue and Gold Macaw is known to be a good family type bird. Although they can be very loud at times Even so they an be cranky at times and may prefer only men or or only women, etc.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   The usual clutch consists of two or three eggs which incubate for about 28 days. The babies will fledge after about 3 months in the nest. Feed the parents plenty of greenstuffs, corn-on-the-cob, carrots, and fruit laced with food supplement while they are rearing the youngsters.

Sexual differences: No visible differences.

Potential Problems: Can be noisy (as can all macaws).

Availability: The Blue and Gold Macaw is generally available and are easy to obtain.