Goffin Cockatoo

[alleycat39402]

Me and my husband are thinking about adding a Goffin Cockatoo to our family. Before we start seriously considering, I would like to talk to some of you that are familiar with this breed. Are they loud? High maintenance? I need some advice. Thanks!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

First off all cockatoos are very capable of being loud and high maintenance lol. It all depends on how you raise them though. If you get a young bird and raise it right you'll have a fantastic companion who will capture the envy of all your friends

I don't share my life with a goffins but I do with my wonderful Galah. She is so sweet and so smart. The smaller cockatoos tend to be less manipulating in my experience. I can never fully trust a large mature cockatoo I don't know, but I'm much more willing to trust a goffins or galah. It also helps that I have no fear of their beaks sending me to the hospital lol

 

[wenz2712]

I had a Galah Cockatoo quite a few years ago.. I didnt find her too loud, but I found you cannot leave them alone for one second as they demolish everything in their sight! They also give off a great amount of Dust which unfortunately my Daughter was badly allergic too...

 

[SillyBoy]

I have a 3yr old male Goffins. He is loud, bites, plucks and has temper tantrums at random. He also will destroy ANYTHING if givin the chance. Don't get me wrong I don't want to scare you out of getting one, just to let you know they can be as loud and unpredictible as larger toos. My u2 is more mentally stable then my goffins.

Mine came from a not so nice home though.

Just please do your research and decide carefully because a too is a too, big or small.

 

[melissasparrots]

High maintainance and loud compared to what? Compared to a hyacinth macaw my goffin's is a peach. Compared to a cockatiel, she might be considered high maintainance and loud.

Mine is a rehome. Her very first home was mediocre. Small cage, not much toys, she didn't learn to play well, is lukewarm on petting and plucks some. Her second home was excellent although she still is a little wierd compared to the goffin's stereotype. Mine can be noisy, but if I ignore her she gives up. She generally has about 10 minutes in the evening where she screams a lot. If she's having a noisy sort of day then she might scream on and off for a few hours. Its not like contant noise. Its like a couple minutes of all out screaming. Fly around and make trouble for 20 minutes, then a few minutes of screaming.

Mine is sneaky about getting into things. She has escaped from her cage and nearly caused a fire by chewing the electrical cord off my fan while it was plugged in and I wasn't home. She's taken some strips of wood off from around my kitchen sink. She's taken some keys off my key board and she's super fast when she does it too. If she finds a pen or any similar shaped object that she can fly away with and take apart she will. Mine is fully flighted and pure grace in the air so I refuse to clip her. If yours is clipped or over-preens to the point of destroying their flight feathers, you can keep track of the bird better and it will get into a little bit less trouble. Although goffin's are so pluck prone, I wouldn't clip them unless your seeing aggression problems. Cockatoos in general have an insatiable curiosity and tend not to stay put real well unless you set rules from the start. A good number of goffin's cockatoos pluck. Make sure you get a cage bigger than you think you'll need for the size of bird, give it more toys than you think you'll need for the size of bird. Go heavy on the foraging toys. Don't give it as much attention as she thinks she needs lest you turn her into a spoiled brat that makes every one crazy. Teach it to be a bird first, not your snuggle baby. They can be very good pets. Not as difficult as the larger 'toos, but they are still a cockatoo so the potential is always there for problems.

Mine is moody and sometimes prone to taking a swipe at my face. Like I said, nobody really cuddled her when she was young so I have to be careful what kind of mood she's in before I pet her. And if she is in a snuggly mood, I stop petting her periodically so she has a chance to move away from me rather than sitting there silently getting fed up with it and then lashing out and biting. She's a little strange. I find my sulfur easier to read. I think Cassie might be a little atypical compared to most G2s.

 

[MaraWentz]

I had Goffin and she was young and great. Super friendly, great flier, etc. Very quiet and loving, but as our work hours increased she wanted more and more attention and to get the attention she got louder and louder. It just depends how you raise your bird how much time you have to put towards it and how much you spoil it.