Owning a cockatoo

ShreddedOakAviary

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Jul 13, 2011
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M2's, U2's, G2's, RB2's, VOS, RLA's, BFA's, DYHA's, Dusky Pionus, Blue and Green Quakers, Meyers Parrots, VOS, GW Macaw's, Harlequin Macaws, Tiels, YNA, TAG's, CAG's, Blue Crown Conures, Red sided Ecl
I get a lot of questions on some techniques to keeping cockatoos happy while preventing a lot of common behavioral problems. I find that it varies just a bit between types of cockatoos, but the same principles apply. So I'll sum up some of what we tell new owners starting with a handled baby...

1. Pet a cockatoo only around the head and neck, and very occasionally under the wings. Avoid petting down the back or around the tail... why? Because pressure on the back and pulling or moving the tail will sexually stimulate a 'too. This will over time teach the bird that you and humans are to be thought of as potential mates.... imagine the level of frustration that can cause in a bird with such an obsessive nature.

2. As with a dog you should not encourage food begging behavior. It is ideal to make sure your bird is fed a healthy diet of veggies and legumes in the morning within an hour of wake up time. Feeding treats can be at any time of day. I also recommend that abuts should not be able to see when its owners are eating... why? Because it is not fair for the bird to watch you eat, but you certainly don't want to train it to expect food whenever it sees you with food. This can and will often lead to screaming during meal times over the years... Imagine you or someone who owns that bird having a baby and trying to feed an infant with a screaming cockatoo in the background.

3. Lots of toys changed out daily. Get a large group of toys and never leave more than (maybe their favorite) and switch them out with others after feeding (never before bedtime, always earlier in the day).

4. No peanuts... period. I've done enough studies on 'toos here to know that both peanuts and sunflower seeds seem to cause a marked increase in aggression among not only male cockatoos, but male cockatiels as well.

5. NEVER yell at a cockatoo.

6. NEVER notice bad behaviors... if your bird is plucking or making noise don't even look at them... cockatoos are very observant... ever had one study how exactly you open their cage?

7. No matter how cute you think it is, bouncing with their crest up almost always means an impending bite... overstimulated 'toos should not be trusted, and your goal should be to be very careful and let them display, but be cautious.

8. NO COCKATOO SHOULD EVER BE TRUSTED WITH SMALL CHILDREN.

9. Teach them physical tricks and give them physical puzzles to solve. Cockatoos have an amazing talent for mechanics. I teach all our 'toos property) a few simple tricks... like "big bounce" which is useful to help an overly excited bird to burn some energy. I also teach "little bounce", "high five", "bang/play dead", and they like those puzzle baby toys.

10. Allow for morning and evening display screaming, and just live with it.

11. Never leave a cockatoo out of a cage unsupervised...

12. Don't clip their wings unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. I've noticed most cockatoos will shred the remaining wing feathers once they have been trimmed.

13. Make sure your cockatoo will happily entertain itself for at least 8 hours without attention.

There is so much more, but those are the basics off of the top of my head.
 
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First, I wish I could have a full sized too. Secondly, and more importantly how much of what you said translates to tiels?
 
shreddedoak, I think you are amazing, which I've vocalized in the past, and admire you greatly... but do you really think that eight hours a day, being alone in a cage, even with toys, good food, tv, music on, is a healthy life? And if so, how?
 
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Truth is no. My birds don't spend that much time alone and in a standard sized cage ever (or our breeder cages are large so I don't include that as a cage). BUT... just in case, a parrot should be capable of entertaining itself for that long. In case of... life. Sick parents, house fires, babies born, etc... A parrot MUST be capable of entertaining itself; because at some point it will most likely have to.
 
Thank you, I appreciate your come back. I'm not sure what I was after there except maybe, for people to think twice before they take in a parrot that needs more than sub-standard.
 
What a informative list, thanks !
I'd like to add never let a Too on the floor. I've taken my worst bites from my U2 when he's at ground level.

Be Big,
Alan
 
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Thanks for the pointed question to force me to clarify :D
 
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As far as cockatiels go, the diet recommendations are the same (our cockatiels are fed the same thing as our cockatoos... the only difference is I use a food processor to make the cockatiels bites smaller. I also add a small amount of pellet and occasionally millet for the cockatiels. Petting rules pretty much apply to everyone. Cockatiels are a lot like less neurotic versions of their bigger cousins, so they enjoy small toys and small puzzles. While they are not as prone to the icky behaviors their cousins are, the great thing about cockatiels is they can be readily included in most things and are less likely to obsess over it as a cockatoo would... meaning that while the above rules apply, cockatiels are a lot more forgiving of errors. Cockatiels are very bright and love to be included just like cockatoos, and are less likely to develop the self destructive behaviors. Making it tougher to ruin a cockatiel.
 
What a informative list, thanks !
I'd like to add never let a Too on the floor. I've taken my worst bites from my U2 when he's at ground level.

Be Big,
Alan

I've seen mine at his most thankful, by wanting to be picked up! I'm guessing you need to be reading your bird more closely...
 
Thanks Shredded for posting all that information!!!! There's been way too many people coming on here and refuse to listen about how dangerous a Cockatoo really can be. As there's jealousy issue as well. Mine bit my arm through the cage bars today as I was too close to his cage and I was picking up my ekkies. He got mad and chomp down on my arm. Blood rushing out instantly....He don't usually do that, he has to be locked up when I have other birds out, he would try to kill them....My partner was angry at him looking at my bleeding arm and wasn't about to give him his Almond treat. I just said it's fine give it to him and then we just walked away and let him be. I have high tolerance towards animals, but not with people and children. I hope the new owners would read this and understand. Also to learn from this for future reference.
 
Truth is no. My birds don't spend that much time alone and in a standard sized cage ever (or our breeder cages are large so I don't include that as a cage). BUT... just in case, a parrot should be capable of entertaining itself for that long. In case of... life. Sick parents, house fires, babies born, etc... A parrot MUST be capable of entertaining itself; because at some point it will most likely have to.

Yes, and most people do work. Birds belonging to working folks need to be able to do this for certain. And yes, life will happen to those of us who don't work. We will get sick, we will want to go to weddings, family outings, or just to an amusement park or something. Heck, going to my pancreatic special-ist is a long day as I have a 2 hour drive each way to do it.

I think this thread should be stickied. Not just for 'Too owners, but for all parrot owners, as it applies to all of them. Parrots are manipulative and 'Toos are super power manipulative, but all of us can benefit from reading that. Thanks, ShreddedOak!
 
I made this a sticky for others to learn. Thanks for your time to write this. I am sure many people will benefit and the birds too.
 
The thing about impulsive parrot purchasers is that you can type until your fingers get osteoarthritis, in your attempt(s) to try to divert them from their selfish courses of action, but I feel very smug that if I were to make a post here colluding with their fantasies about how cuddly and sweet and loving cockatoos are, and how normal people won't have to complete a PhD on cockatoology before getting a cockatoo, and how a LOT of people including my second-cousin-thrice-removed's child's schoolteacher's dog's groomer's friend's voice teacher's audiologist keep and have kept cockatoos as pets without ever running into problems, then the impulsive parrot purchaser will scroll past all the warnings and precautions that we think we should give them, and read my post because they just want the post that agrees with them the most, and sometimes I aim to please.
 
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It's true that in anything in life people will often believe what they want to, and stick with people that agree with their point of view. That does not free me from the responsibility of making my experience available to those who will listen. This post was actually a response to a private message I received a couple days ago, I got the message and figures that instead of answering just that person, I would share the answer with any who'd listen or care. Just because I occasionally feel like smacking my head against a wall, doesn't mean I will just give up. I am always learning new things, and hopefully other people are too.
 
Thank you for posting that. I swear there should be a rule book and a mandatory class that comes with each Too. I will say that I do break rule #11 in order to make #13 happen. However Rome is a special Too, shes only caged at night. From 8am-4pm shes loose on our back porch (screened in) unsupervised, where she spends that time destroying toys, phone books, and unlocking foraging toys. Shes terrified of being on the ground a lone (her previous home did not encourage it at all) so shes really good about staying on her stands. It has taken almost a year but I have successfully changed her from a super spoiled Too that has to be glued to a person, to one that is very independent and of a sounder mind. Toos seemed to thrive off of routine, structure, and un breakable rules (hmmmm, so familiar... so do children).

Question ShreddedOakAviary: I will say that the problem I've had recently was with letting her feathers grow out. I know that Toos are so touchy about any physical change that happens to them. She was a known shredder when we got her. The previous home had six flight feathers on each wing clipped for the last 14yrs. I thought I'd let them grow out in order to help encourage more independence. I guess she didn't like the new change and she started shredding her back (before it was only her chest) and she took every flight feather off of her right wing :11:. She also clipped the first 3 flight feathers on her left wing but then left the rest. She has three feathers coming in on her right wing now that are about half way in and she hasn't messed with them. She seems to have stopped shredding her back as well. Should I just let them come in and hope that she accepts them? Do you think that in the long run she would just leave them (which is what I was kind of thinking)? My hope was to be able to eventually free fly her.
 
hi Molcan2, I know this question is towards shreddedoaks and I also know that you've been having issues with Rome's plucking. (I'm hiding out from Amigo in the house right now, so I happen to be here). I know shreddedoaks has a lot more knowledge than I in regards to plucking but I'm wondering...is Rome fully bonded with you? It sounds like she can't fly, correct?

Could you take her outside, not caged, and trust her to stay close to you and come back to you?
 
I've only had her for about a year so I'm not comfortable with her outside without a harness yet. She used to be able to fly (or had the ability would be a better way to put it), and I had just started working on her recall when she decided to take off all of her flight feathers off of her right wing. She wont pluck per say, she doesn't like anything painful. She breaks them off at the base and then shreds them into tiny bits (she leaves the fluffy down feathers, so she looks like a puff ball). So I've been rotating toys like crazy, which seems to be helping. I've noticed that she shreds in certain spots, so I've put easily shred-able toys in those spots and she seems to be using the toys and leaving herself alone. Her previous home strongly discouraged flying, she will only do it if shes in an uncomfortable situation (when she had the ability at least). So the recall I was doing was her walking to me, we didn't really get to progress to the flying part yet. I was trying to take the 'scary' part out of the flying for her so that it was seen as fun instead of stressful. Its been taking FOREVER for her flight feathers to come back in. When I say she took all of them off, I mean she took ALL of them off the right wing. I didn't want to encourage her even further so I left the left wing alone since she was for the most part leaving them alone. I hope that was a right decision.
 
I like to get advice from any place I can. I a firm believer that there is never one right answer but a collaboration of several. You poor thing, still hiding from Amigo. Rome only tries to breed with me now when Tommy comes around, I'm not sure if she making a statement to him or what. At least we're on the tail end of breeding season.
 
(I'm sure I'll catch a lot of crap for this) but why not take her out into your yard and allow her to peck around in the grass? Give her a different perspective of life as a bird...just my thoughts.
 
Be careful though because many 'Toos can still fly after a wing clip. HISS427s was clipped by the rescue before being shipped to him, flew over his house and up into a big tree:eek: I've read that about other 'Toos as well.

I haven't had a 'Too so my thoughts here may be garbage, but I think I would leave the wing she hasn't messed with alone, and see what happens when she molts the other wing out again. If she continues clipping them herself, then maybe you should keep them clipped as that must be how she is used to them being now.
 

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