Cockatoo destroying cage

[Lylahmay]

Our cockatoo is destroying his cage. Dont know how its possible to rip metal off of metal but hes ripping off the bars. Having trouble picking out a new cage. I do know i want to get a real big cage. But trying to find a durable and reliable one is becoming difficult. Please experienced suggestions please. Thanks so much.
P.S.
Hes happy, beautiful, always has alot of toys and care. His name is Cookie.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums and the destructive force of a cockatoo!

What species do you have, and what sort of cage he dismantling? If the metal bars are picked apart, you might have a cage optimized for smaller birds with narrower bars. If you can upload pictures, that'd help!

Many cockatoos remove cage hardware such as latches and doors regardless of size. That is another problem!

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Welcome to the forums and the destructive force of a cockatoo!

What species do you have, and what sort of cage he dismantling? If the metal bars are picked apart, you might have a cage optimized for smaller birds with narrower bars. If you can upload pictures, that'd help!

Many cockatoos remove cage hardware such as latches and doors regardless of size. That is another problem!

She has an Umbrella 'too Scott...


Jim

 

[Kiwibird]

With a cockatoo, you need as big a cage as possible with heavy duty bars and welds because they are extremely active and destructive birds. Cockatoos are also arguable the most destructive parrots out there. If the cage is made for smaller birds, your cockatoos powerful beak will easily be able to destroy it- because it’s not an appropriate sized cage regardless if you prefer the size to a larger one. If a cage is designed for say, a conure, of course a large cockatoo like a U2 can snap the bars.

I wouldn’t get anything smaller than this cage for a U2 https://birdcages4less.com/page/B/PROD/PA5711 Recommending this cage specifically because I have the smaller version of the cage for my amazon (a smaller bird than you have) and it has held up well. I’d imagine the larger version is just as good quality. Birdcages4less.com is a reputable company with reasonable prices on cages and would be recommended by quite a few members on here too. They have a handy search feature where you can choose a cage by species and have a good selection of cages suitable for large cockatoos https://birdcages4less.com/page/B/CTGY/Large-Cockatoo-Bird-Cages

 

[Jen5200]

Welcome! Cockatoos can be a challenge I volunteer at a sanctuary/rescue that has mostly cockatoos and we’re constantly remedying something that they’ve taken apart or figured out how to open.

Could you show us what he has and let us know how big you’re wanting to go?

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums and the destructive force of a cockatoo!

What species do you have, and what sort of cage he dismantling? If the metal bars are picked apart, you might have a cage optimized for smaller birds with narrower bars. If you can upload pictures, that'd help!

Many cockatoos remove cage hardware such as latches and doors regardless of size. That is another problem!

She has an Umbrella 'too Scott...


Jim

Thanks, all I had to do was read the species header atop the post!!

 

[Siobhan]

I also have an umbrella 'too and he has pulled a couple of bars off his cage. He has a giant, heavy-duty CalCage which weighs a ton and could probably withstand a nuclear bomb, but it can't thwart a U2. LOL Eventually, we'll have to replace it. I recommend this cage, though, because Rocky's 9 and has had it all his life, and most of the bars are still intact.

 

[Betrisher]

I've never seen a U2 in the flesh, but if they're even remotely like corellas, they need a *lot* of space! My cage is 2m x 2m x 1m and I wish it were larger so Rosetta could have a longer distance to fly (beyond a couple of flaps, that is). As things are, she spends a great deal of her time rambling all over her cage, using every square millimetre of the floor space and the hanging swings and toys that dangle from the roof. She's extremely active and is great at occupying herself with her gym toys.

Smaller toys include plastic balls and baby toys (all inspected for safety and without bells) and she likes to drag those around with her as she does other stuff, like hanging from the roof upside-down. If 'Setta lived in a smaller cage, she'd probably chew a lot more than she does and might even do some damage to her cage structure. Honestly, I think your best bet is to get a Very Large Cage and then fill it with activity toys to keep birdie on the go (ie. too physically busy to think about chewing).

In the absence of that, all I can think of is to allow him out-of-cage for most of the day, encouraging him to fly around your house as much as possible. We had specific perching-stations installed for my Alexandrines at our old house so they could fly from room to room and always have somewhere to land. Sadly, the new house doesn't lend itself to that and my ingenuity's being tested all the time! :22_yikes:

 

[Siobhan]

This is what Rocky has.
https://www.birdscomfort.com/san_francisco_cage.html

It's HUGE so you're going to need a whole side of a room for it. The play stand on top is as high as my head and I'm 5'9".