Behavioural issues and need training help with cockatoo

[mapmenmapmenmapmap]

Hey! I have a blue-eyed cockatoo who‘s been with us for 7 years, adopted when he was around 2 years old. We have a dedicated open space in our backyard which is essentially just a room-sized cage where he spends 90% of his time there. We‘ve always struggled with training and the idea of ‚stepping up‘ or ‚quiet=attention and loud=ignored’ has never stuck with him but noise has been pretty controlled and fine up to now, where he‘s apparently learnt to widen his vocal range to horrendous screeches lol

I‘ve begun to punish him with spray bottle mists (only screaming, we tolerate his loud chatter!) but I‘ve read that it can cause trust issues between us and the parrot. I don‘t want to buy a dedicated cage for putting him in time out but he can scream to upwards of an hour and we have neighbours and our house is next to a pretty busy road. I read that some people cover their cages with a cloth when it gets bad but he also has a fear of the dark and I don‘t want to shut his lights out.

Something also very weird that‘s been happening is that he seems to think of me as his mate. He gets aggressive and protective of his area to anyone else when I‘m around but is pretty chill when I‘m not there or if it‘s just me and him. He keeps trying to regurgitate, preen and climb on my feet or hand and wobble pace around. The internet says these (including the loud screeching) could be symptoms of a bird in heat. Can a bird really be in heat for 5 months? The screeching has only lasted that much, the courting has been happening as long as I can remember.

Does anybody have any advice? It also rains a lot in my area and he really enjoys showers during them.

Thanks!

 

[wrench13]

Punishing parrots for behavioral issues is pointless at best and trust destroying at worst. Spraying a parrot for screaming is one step above hitting him with a broom, and right up there with locking them in a closet.

It does sound like he is going thru a particularly strong mating season. Mating season hormones are by no means the same every year, some years are mild and some are KILLERS - strong and last forever! My 'Zon had one like that 2 years ago. Almost 6 months of mating behavior.

DO the normal hormone reducing things:
12 hrs of solid quiet sleep
Reduce or eliminate sugar bearing foods - fruits and stuff like corn etc
No access to dark hidey spots
No access to shreddy type materials - anything that can be considered nest material
LOTS and LOTS of exercise - flying is excellent, but gym playing too
Fresh round of new toys and change them often to keep interest up
NO touching anywhere except the head and neck - NO! Big mating trigger for many birds.

Patience and more patience. Your 'too is a randy, young rooster! Like a teenager, Think of how wild you were then!

 

[mapmenmapmenmapmap]

Punishing parrots for behavioral issues is pointless at best and trust destroying at worst. Spraying a parrot for screaming is one step above hitting him with a broom, and right up there with locking them in a closet.

It does sound like he is going thru a particularly strong mating season. Mating season hormones are by no means the same every year, some years are mild and some are KILLERS - strong and last forever! My 'Zon had one like that 2 years ago. Almost 6 months of mating behavior.

DO the normal hormone reducing things:
12 hrs of solid quiet sleep
Reduce or eliminate sugar bearing foods - fruits and stuff like corn etc
No access to dark hidey spots
No access to shreddy type materials - anything that can be considered nest material
LOTS and LOTS of exercise - flying is excellent, but gym playing too
Fresh round of new toys and change them often to keep interest up
NO touching anywhere except the head and neck - NO! Big mating trigger for many birds.

Patience and more patience. Your 'too is a randy, young rooster! Like a teenager, Think of how wild you were then!

Thank you so much for the advice!! He has lots of dark hidey spaces already but only ever hangs out on his perch or near the chickens. Do you think these are okay spots? They’re out of the open and are the spots with the most sunlight most of the time
He‘s also only been eating sunflower seeds, sweet corn and rice for the last 7 years, with the occasional fruit and cucumber guts AND just now I realize that this type of diet is super bad for male cockatoos!!!! Is it too late to curb him off? He‘s of normal weight and I‘m a bit scared he‘ll refuse to eat something he doesn‘t usually eat (he does that already)
Again I really appreciate your help!!

 

[wrench13]

Changing a parrots diet has to be done gradually, because, yes they are perfectly capable of starving themselves to death if they don't like the food. Aside from having him amped up from all the sugary foods he is on (leaving him supercharged all the time) that diet is just bad all around. Please take awhile and read a lot of threads over on our nutrition sub forum, lots of good ideas and diets. Keep in mind, gradually can mean months and months! It took almost a whole year for my Amazon Salty to recognize pellets as food and start eating them. I fully expect that by this time next year, if you can swap him over, he will be a changed parrot!