Bare Eyed Cockatoo Aggression

[chadwick]

Well I think My cockatoo is very hormonal as he clicks his beak constantly...well today he was sitting on me for a long time while i was petting him no signs of aggression...out of no where he charged my face and i got bit....I dont know really how to handle this but to me this is getting dangerous....this is his third home so I want to do everything I can to keep him and not rehome him....but i also can not be getting bit in the face

 

[Featheredsamurai]

You should check out this DVD about dealing with your birds hormones
Spring Horror-mones

 

[chadwick]

Thank you i will do that Willing to try anything......

 

[melissasparrots]

Some cockatoos can't handle sitting and petting for long periods of time. For whatever reason, they start to get over stimulated and instead of moving away, they let the tension build up until they reach their breaking point. Unless you are very astute at knowing your bird's body language, your likely to miss the signals. My goffin's does this sometimes. I generally just give her frequent breaks from petting. Every few minutes I stop petting her and wait for her to ask me to resume. If she's going through one of her more aggressive phases, I just keep interactions too short for her to get around to being aggressive.

 

[chadwick]

Thank you Melissa for advice makes sense....other problem I'm dealing with is getting bit hard when trying to put him back in cage

 

[melissasparrots]

Thank you Melissa for advice makes sense....other problem I'm dealing with is getting bit hard when trying to put him back in cage

I would mix up the pattern a little bit. Make sure at least half the time when you take him back to the cage, your not closing a door on him and ending the interaction. Otherwise, he sees you heading for his cage and he knows he's going to be locked up and of course he's going to resist. Also, make it worth it to him. Give him a treat once he gets back to the cage so he doesn't associate it with anything bad.

Other things you can do would be to teach him some simple trick like stand tall. Once he consistently does the trick when you tell him, have him do the trick with frequent treats on the way back to the cage. He can't lean over to bite you if he's busy standing tall in hopes of getting a treat.

Of course, there is the old school approach. Keep something ready to stick in his beak when he goes to bite. Or wobble your hand a little bit when he leans over to bite so he has to stop thinking about biting in order to keep his balance. These last ones aren't really favored by behaviorists, but sometimes they work. Just realize that if if the wobble correction doesn't fix the problem within a few days, you should stop it so he doesn't learn that your hand is a bad place to be and start avoiding you.

Other good ones, look at how your asking him to step down. My Sulfur will sometimes give me a little pressure cruch when I take her back to her cage. Sometimes it helps if her step down is a step up. Bring the bird up to the perch from below so the bird has to reach up a couple inches and grab on with its beak or take a big step in order to hoist itself up. Can't grab your hand if he's grabbing the perch. Some birds prefer to step back onto a perch. Also sometimes it helps to go under and around the back side of the perch so the bird steps forward when it steps off your hand. Some of those make it more difficult to bite because depending on how you do it, your hand is out of the way or the bird is instinctively reaching for the higher place and no longer thinking about biting you.

It sounds to me since you have a couple of biting issues going on, that you need to mix up some of his patterns. Short but frequent interactions and change the way you take him back to the cage should do it. If possible, try to keep him distracted with positive things and getting rewards instead of corrections.

 

[chadwick]

Problem is I have to put him in the cage fast as if I dont he will grab on to the side and get to the top and wont come down.....I will try to entice him in with an almond great suggestion....