5:30am every morning...

[Mjhandy]

It's been 4 weeks with Bobbi, a 28 year old Goffin's. Now I realize that after 28 years, he'll have some habits. But everyone morning at 5:30 he wakes and screams.

We won't go into the room right away, but when we do go in, we'll say hello to the other birds first then bobby. We'll open his door, he'll climb out and scream. He won't step up though, but he'll scream and lift a wing for a scratch. Occasionally he'll go back into his cage, nibble some food, and maybe nap.

Now here's what we've tried:

• Various bed times, from 7pm to 9ish
• Cage covered or un-covered

He eats fine, likes sweet potato (really enjoyed it last night when it was mixed with some crushed Harrisons), drinks fine.

The bird room has a window, but it gets morning sun, and with the curtains closed isn't completely dark. He could be getting up with the sun, I'm not sure.

At times we've thought maybe we made a mistake re-homing him, but in the four weeks we've had him, we've seen an improvement in his plumage, and less plucking. Vet said he's a bit under weight, but other wise healthy, so we don't want to give up, but we're hoping for some easier mornings.

Any ideas to try?

Thanks!

 

[noodles123]

DON'T SCRATCH UNDER THE WING- TOO'S LOOOOOVE THAT and it is pure sex for them (head and neck petting only-esp with a "too"). Screaming and hormones go hand-in-hand, as does under-wing scratching. He will step up in time. I am a broken-record, but mine took months to step up--excluding the day when I took her home and she stepped up to get out of the travel cage.

Based on the times you quoted, he's not getting enough sleep (which somehow impacts everything with Toos)....Cockatoos are one of the only groups of parrots that need up to 14 hours. Sleep regulates hormones, appetite, mood, immune function etc. If he is waking up at 5:30, you have to adjust his bedtime to 5:30 so that he can get 12 hours at least. 12 is really the ideal minimum for a "too" (with the rare exception of 10 when something prevents 12). I would honestly try to make his bedtime within the same hour each evening. This will regulate his sleep cycle better. If you are consistent long enough (to where he gets the same amount of sleep each night, goes to bed at roughly the same time and learns that cycle), then you will get to the point where (in theory) keeping him up later may allow him to sleep later, but only after you hit that 12 hour mark consistently. In the wild, they would go to bed and wake up at the same time each night and they would get 12 hours (Goffins are an equatorial species).

My bird has a very good internal clock and she will put herself to bed at the exact time she woke up (literally, within 10 minutes). Since I wake up for work at 5:30 ish, that is usually when she wakes up and when she puts herself to bed (I still cover her etc, but she tells me when she is ready). During summers or breaks from work, if she stays up later, she generally sleeps later, but that happens gradually and only when I can sleep in (maybe the first night she would stay up until 5:45, then 6:00, then 7:15 etc). The main thing is, I never keep her up past the time when I know the first person in the house will wake up because she is a party animal in the morning and if she goes to bed at 10 then she needs to sleep until 10, but if she hears people or even the dog (when visiting my parents) moving around at 6, she will wake up (regardless of the fact that she hasn't slept enough)...Your other birds may be waking her up. You might want to consider a sleep cage in a separate room if you have not.

My "too" does NOT nap or sleep during the say when she doesn't sleep at night, and when she hasn't slept enough, she gets anxious and cranky (as well as even more demanding). You would never know she was tired, as lack of sleep makes her more hyperactive.

Note: Mine will sleep through a bit of noise in the evenings MUCH more easily than a bit of noise in the mornings. Once she is up in the morning, she is up (even if she hardly slept). That having been said, sometimes little things keep her up at night and when I have had late nights for work, I hear her in there moving around. Just because they sound quiet, doesn't mean they are sleeping...so keep that in mind.

Covered is probably the way to go--During the week (and on most weekends) my bird gets up at 5:30 too but she will stay quiet-ISH until around 6:30-7:00 as long as she is covered and has food in her cage. Make sure you get a black-out variety type of cover. I use Cozzzy Covers and I like that brand.

In terms of the screaming, cockatoos do tend to flock call in the morning and evening. Does everyone say hello to her when she wakes up or does only one of the flock greet her? It could be that she knows that others are missing and wants to gather everyone (human and bird) for her morning ritual.
My mom came to visit me recently without my dad, and my bird was convinced that my dad was hiding somewhere, even though he was in another state (as she associates the two of them). Anyway, this made bedtime really difficult, because she kept yelling "COME BACK, COME HERE!" etc and looking all around the house for him. "Toos" are very flock-oriented as you know, and if a lot of people are in a home, they often consider those people their flock.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Hi hun it's been just about 12 months with my girl G2. She goes to bed in a night cage that is fully covered. Bedtime is 7-8pm and she will go 12 hours plus. I get the impression she was a bit of a night owl with her previous owners but she has changed and got used to the new routine well and tbh seems happier with it. My girls diet is a cause of stress for me LOL. She eats Harrisons mash, likes all the junk; chips, sweetcorn, whatever I have. She has more of a liking for fruit than I have ever experienced before, Plums particularly and a little apple. She gets her mash with a seperate serving of chop. I am trying to wear her down LOL. A lot of G2's pluck hun, certainly rehomed ones. They are so intelligent and need toys, activities to keep them busy; away from those feathers. She only screams when she wants me, or something isnt right and to tell me the crows are stealing the fat balls in the garden LOL. You are early days, relax!

 

[Kiwibird]

My dad has had his G2 for 40 years. Raised him from a baby so he’s never been mistreated or abused or neglected in any way. He’s never been a plucker but he does bite and no one would ever describe him as “cuddly”. He wakes up every morning with the sun screaming. Cage covers, while he does have one, are irrelevant for blocking light since he just chews huge holes in them. It more helps settle him into bed at night than keep him asleep until a sensible time in the morning. He also starts screaming shortly before my dad gets home from work, when my mom is on the phone, when guests come over or whenever he gets a random bug up his butt to do so. Cockatoos of all sizes are LOUD birds. Screaming is natural and normal for them, it’s how they communicate with their flock mates and it’s not really their fault they have shrilly calls that hurt our ears. You might be able to try putting him in a blackout dark room at night to be able to sleep in to a reasonable time, but you probably won’t be able to stop him from greeting the day with screaming once awake. It’s just what they do.

Edit: it’s not all gloom and doom with cockatoos, they do have bright points if you can get over the loudness. I just wanted to add my dads cockatoo is extremely intelligent and mechanically inclined. He can be a fascinating little bird to watch play and take things apart. He also likes to dance and even invents his own games, such as bouncing a small toy on his wing.

 

[Scott]

I'm guessing part of the issue is Bobbi rising with the sun. I sleep with one of my goffins in the bedroom and he will occasionally greet sunrise with a brief squawk.

Yes, they are loud and will scream for attention, attempt contact calls, etc. You can help diminish a trend by refusing to react, but vocalizations are essentially hard-wired.

As I've stated many times, I'd live with a house full of goffins, given the chance. (more than the 5 I already have!)

 

[Siobhan]

You can get blackout curtains that will keep the room dark even after sunrise. It's the light that triggers him, not the time of day. And I agree, don't pet under his wings. Head, beak, feet, okay. Back, wings, under the wings, he thinks you're propositioning him. That increases screaming and agitation.

 

[noodles123]

You can get blackout curtains that will keep the room dark even after sunrise. It's the light that triggers him, not the time of day. And I agree, don't pet under his wings. Head, beak, feet, okay. Back, wings, under the wings, he thinks you're propositioning him. That increases screaming and agitation.

the beak is quite sexual for many as well lol (just fyi)---I just learned that not too long ago.

 

[Mjhandy]

Thank you all for your responses. We're working against 25+ years of unknown. We've started to notice some bad habits Bobbi has (he has a taste for coffee).

The suggestion of black out curtains was something I had thought about and will look into.

The scratching under the wing, I've been actively avoiding this knowing it's a stimulant, but it's another of his bad habits, especially when he raises either one for people.

Once again, than you all!

 

[ParrotGenie]

Thank you all for your responses. We're working against 25+ years of unknown. We've started to notice some bad habits Bobbi has (he has a taste for coffee).

The suggestion of black out curtains was something I had thought about and will look into.

The scratching under the wing, I've been actively avoiding this knowing it's a stimulant, but it's another of his bad habits, especially when he raises either one for people.

Once again, than you all!

You start seeing the bad habits after a while. My female U2 that 29 years old use to lift her wing all the time for people giving her attention. She would scream all the time and at 2 am and 5am to 6am every morning. I just put black out curtains and ignore her completely and if during the day would wait 30 mins if she didn't scream to pick her up. Now she barely screams at all only once in a while in the morning, maybe once a week, if I wake up late and she didn't see me, but now at least reasonable time and once every so often, or is she outside to fly back she flock call me to put my arm out. As far as the lifting of the wing to get someone to pet her under wing, it took a while for me have to tell people don't pet her under wing and why and eventually she stopped expecting it. My male U2 was on a bad diet before and was use to eating junk food he would literally fly to my plate and try to help himself, or every time he see you eat he scream to try to get some food. He avoided vegetables and fruits like the plague and throw the healthy food out of his bowl completely, even the whole bowl out. I ended up not putting more food in for hours at a time and cut back on portions without staving him, but only giving him little food and he realize that all he going to get and not to throw it, now can fill up his bowl without him throwing it and he now eats the vegetables and stopped throwing his food out of the bowl. Last owner must have feed him junk food all the time. He even knew how to rip off a piece and eat. I had the neighbor/friend that my male U2 bonded to, tell me that Cooper my male U2 kept trying to drink her coffee a couple of times. Thankfully she knows not to let him.

Cockatoos are very intelligent and know if you give in they will wait you out and keep bad habits. One thing your learn cockatoo will scream for various reasons as how they communicate with other flock members, so I let them and doesn't bother me as use to it, so something your get use to, plus you can train them not for attention all the time and they get a few hours of attention a day and out during the day, just no screaming during the middle of the night. No point in covering cage as they will put holes in cover and even pull the whole cover into the cage as my female U2 did when I had her in smaller cage when I first got her. Black out curtains, so long they can't reach it work better.

 

[noodles123]

Noodles must be "well behaved" in the chewing department--she only had chewed one small hole on my cage cover...By the time she goes in there though, she is 100% ready to sleep..so maybe that is the difference...My cover is also pretty heavy (breathable, but heavy).

 

[Betrisher]

Welcome to the merry world of older cockatoo adopters!

All that baggage takes a while to undo and you need to be patient and accepting and pretty much a saint. I don't know whether this might help, but I noticed Rosetta would snuggle up for a deep sleep after our training sessions. I started having them in the evenings, just before bedtime (sunset) and hey presto! Morning screaming stopped! Not only that, but when I got sick and was out of action for a couple of weeks, 'Setta continued not to scream even without later training sessions. I don't know if that means anything, but it might be worth a try?

The thing is, it's perfectly normal for a cockatoo to screech in the morning and evening. It's like a human being getting out of bed and scratching all 'those' places without even thinking about it. Luckily for me, the wild corellas happen to fly over, screeching, at the times when 'Setta does it so her joyous carolling doesn't really affect me *unless* my ear canal is within a couple of feet of her voicebox. Then, I get a sudden downturn in my ability to hear things for a little while. LOL!

I nearly died when 'Setta was new and took up her bellowing in the mornings and evenings. My Beaks call, too, only their calls are rather earlier and rather softer (Hahahaha! Never thought I'd be saying *that*!) than 'Setta's. I thought about it, though, and watched the wild birds also bellowing to each other and realised that depriving a cocky of her voice by covering or distracting or any of the other things we do to shut them up is pretty humanocentric and nasty. I put it in the same category as wing-clipping (why purchase a flying animal as a pet if you're going to deprive it of its wings?) So yeah. I just listen to the bellowing and think 'she's happy, bless 'er'.

Good luck with it.

 

[Siobhan]

Having a cockatoo is exactly like having a 2-year-old with pliers and a foghorn. I know that's a common joke, but it's also TRUE. Rocky has a tantrum if he doesn't get his way. He wants to "help" with everything even if he can't actually provide any useful assistance. He gets bored easily and whines and fusses until you entertain him. So if you go into this with those things in mind and find ways to cope, life will be easier for you and for your bird.

 

[Mjhandy]

Thank you everyone. We made some changes to the bird room, one of which was to black out the window. That and putting all the birds to bed a bit earlier have made a difference. It was almost 7am before we heard Bobby.

As mentioned here and elsewhere, you don't really know how needy they are untill you have one.

Small steps, but it's worth the journey.

Cheers!!

 

[Scott]

As if by osmosis, my primary sleeping cage partner, Gabby, woke me up at sunrise two days in a row with a single loud screech. Perhaps he's been reading of your adventures with Bobby!

 

[Mjhandy]

As if by osmosis, my primary sleeping cage partner, Gabby, woke me up at sunrise two days in a row with a single loud screech. Perhaps he's been reading of your adventures with Bobby!

Um, sorry ?

 

[noodles123]

He shares a bedroom with one of his birds--who woke him up at at sunrise 2 days in a row (which doesn't usually happen lol).