Just brought home a young cockatoo, looking for advice :)

[Francie Mae]

Hey everyone! I’m brand new to the forum and super excited to be here I made this account because we just brought home a 5 month old cockatoo, and I was wondering what steps I should take to help him settle in! This is kind of going to be a long post which I’m sorry for in advance!!

For context, I’m in university but I live with my parents. This is my first experience with parrots, but my mom kept cockatiels growing up. Meanwhile my dad grew up with lizards (geckos, iguanas, etc), snakes, dogs, and cats. I grew up with dogs, cats, rabbits, and chickens. My point is we have a lot of experience with animals in general, including those that require a lot of maintenance, but while we’ve done a lot of research on cockatoos before we brought home our boy (I know how frequently they’re re-homed and I didn’t want to add to that statistic) I know there’s still a lot to learn and they have a lot of differences to the pets we’re used to.

Firstly I wanted to know what people’s opinions are on our cage placement? My parents said while he’s adjusting to the house his cage should stay in one of the bedrooms, as we can definitely keep the cats/dog out of them, so I offered my room. My room is relatively big, and I have an air filter in it, so I’m hoping that in regard to my health, his placement will be fine for now. But I’m also concerned about stressing him out because I’m always moving around in my room, and also the eventual stress of moving the cage and introducing him to a ‘new’ environment (hopefully he’ll have hung out in the new room with us by then so its not a totally foreign experience). Should I continue to keep the cage in my room until he’s settled in the house?

Also, while I’m writing this, it’s still his very first day, so he’s been pretty much sitting on one perch in the corner of his cage without moving around. Every time I talk to him he spreads one wing and leg out like he’s stretching, first one side and then the other, which I thought was interesting. It’s been every single time. I’ve read its a sign of comfort, as well as beak clicking, which he also has been doing (If I’m interpreting the sound correctly), but I’m not entirely sure, considering the fact that he seems nervous and he’s been slightly shaking. He also did bite me when we were moving him from the car carrier to his cage; he was perched on my hand, seemingly pretty calm, but when we moved him towards the cage he got distressed, and clamped onto my arm with his beak when my dad tried to step in and help me move him. It didn’t break skin but it’s still relatively swollen. I don’t fault our bird at all for that, because he’s just a baby in a brand new environment, and I’m sure it’s very scary. But it did get me thinking about how to discourage young parrots from biting in general, so I was wondering if anyone had any advice on that!

Lastly, how long do you guys leave your parrots in their cage before interacting with them? I was told to leave him be for a few days to a week, which I can certainly do to avoid any stress for him, but I just wanted to see what people’s experience with that has been.

At the end of the day, I just want our cockatoo to be happy and healthy Even though we’ve all done a lot of reading and watched videos and chatted to family members with birds, I wanted to see what the parrot community had to say. If anyone’s got any opinions on cage placement/the impact it has on human health or the bird’s health, advice on discouraging biting, or tips to help him adjust to the new home, I’d love to hear! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a lovely day

 

[rheashard2]

Congratulations. Sounds like your youngster was handled well. He prefers being with people. Hence grabbing to stay with you. Use patience to encourage your friend back into his cage. Don't force it. Coax with voice and treats. Some folks have their birds in separate area. Some don't. It's up to you and your schedule. Your baby while needing interaction requires as near as possible to 8-12 hrs of uninterrupted sleep each day. They should go to bed and get up approximately the same time daily. Too little sleep or interuptive sleep can cause health, mental problems. Those are best avoided. Seasonal fluctuations are normal especially if cage is near a window. The larger the better for cages. Your bird needs to be able to comfortably expand and stretch wings. The only hard and fast cage placement rule is no drafts. If you are a 'night' roamer, reader etc your bedroom may not be a good choice.

 

[Francie Mae]

Congratulations. Sounds like your youngster was handled well. He prefers being with people. Hence grabbing to stay with you. Use patience to encourage your friend back into his cage. Don't force it. Coax with voice and treats. Some folks have their birds in separate area. Some don't. It's up to you and your schedule. Your baby while needing interaction requires as near as possible to 8-12 hrs of uninterrupted sleep each day. They should go to bed and get up approximately the same time daily. Too little sleep or interuptive sleep can cause health, mental problems. Those are best avoided. Seasonal fluctuations are normal especially if cage is near a window. The larger the better for cages. Your bird needs to be able to comfortably expand and stretch wings. The only hard and fast cage placement rule is no drafts. If you are a 'night' roamer, reader etc your bedroom may not be a good choice.

Thank you so much for your reply! I’ve heard that I should definitely ensure he can have peaceful sleep for 10-12 hours. On weekdays I’m in bed by 10, on weekends I stay up late, but it’s usually just to watch stuff on my laptop, nothing crazy. He can definitely expand and stretch his wings with significant room to spare! He’s been doing it every time we talk to him, not sure why.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Years ago when I got a hand raised weaned baby Goffins Cockatoo (Casper) about 3 months old i was able to handle him right away. I held him in the car while we were driving home. Your bare eyed is a very similar cockatoo but I don't know if he was hand raised or how much human socialization he had. Some breeders quickly feed them but barely handle them otherwise. It doesn't sound like yours was raised like Casper was, in which case you will need to move more slowly. Cockatoos are such amazing sensitive birds and many love to cuddle and be touched, often too much! They can also be extremely needy and loud when they want attention. When frustrated or unhappy they can pluck their feathers out and it's a hard habit to break. Cockatoos are related to cockatiels but their needs are very different. I've had both. My hand raised cockatiel Charlie was the most easy going bird I could have hoped for. He liked everyone, never bit, whistled show tunes, said a few things, adjusted to changes in environment, ate well. Just the best.
Casper was a bundle of cuddles and affection, was very playful, said "Caspie Boy", and wanted to be held constantly. But Casper was only happy when he was being held and cuddled. He would bite in protest when I would try to stop. He refused to sit on a perch stand and would jump down, run over to me, and climb up into my lap. He grew to fear most men. I tried a bird behaviorist but it was a man so Casper wouldn't work with him.
When my then husband and I divorced I moved into an apartment which was a problem because Casper was loud. Af1ter 5 years I gave Casper to a close friend and she's taken excellent care if him for the past 30 years. Unfortunately Casper didn't handle the rehoming as well as I had hoped, no fault of my friend was and still is devoted to him, and he has been a plucker ever since. I still feel enormous guilt over having rehomed Casper three decades later. Even though I had birds most of my life I had no business taking o11¹n the special needs of a senstive creature like a Cockatoo. I hope you and your family understand the commitment you have made. In my situation Casper was a gentle sweet trusting baby from day one. Your cockatoo is probably going to take more patience to get to the point, and I hope you and your family don't give up on him when it takes a lot of time or he becomes too much to handle like I did.

I'm sorry to hear that you have cats and dogs in the household that will dictate where your new bird (who will long outlive any cat or dog and probably your parents, too) will be safe. A young cockatoo may be terrified of those predators. Cockatoos need a lot of human socialization and out of cage time to be happy and healthy in a human centered home. Where do the dogs and cats fit in with a bird like that? Is the bird going to be locked up in a cage or isolated in a bedroom or will the dogs and cats be? He will not thrive in that environment.

I'm not trying to be harsh but the reality of having a cockatoo seldom lives up to the fantasy that I, too, held. The bird must be The Center of Attention not an afterthought in a house full of assorted critters. Some dogs and cats can coexist with a cockatoo that is given the attention and freedom of movement it needs but it's not the norm. The bird invariably suffers.

 

[TiredOldMan]

First congratulations I envy you
You will be pooped on and you will get bit occasionally...it's just life living with a wild animal. Most parrots thrive on being included in everything. Mine are in the main area of the house where they can see all the activity and interact. My Too loved to go everywhere with me that I deemed safe and socially acceptable. Biting will subside as he learns to trust you and the family. IMO your biggest challenge is to get him to interact with all family members favorably. Don't be surprised to find he picks one person to favor. Too bites seldom break skin it's more of a crushing action due to the shape of their lower mandible.
Personally I would put him in an area where he can see everyone and let him get used to that. If he cooperates I would begin letting him venture from his cage as soon as tomorrow but at his pace. Don't attempt to force him.
In all things be patient. Trust will take time some birds more than others.

All advice given by reashard2 above is excellent.

He needs to be seen by a certified avian vet as soon as practical
I'm sure I will add more as I think of it.

 

[Francie Mae]

Years ago when I got a hand raised weaned baby Goffins Cockatoo (Casper) about 3 months old i was able to handle him right away. I held him in the car while we were driving home. Your bare eyed is a very similar cockatoo but I don't know if he was hand raised or how much human socialization he had. Some breeders quickly feed them but barely handle them otherwise. It doesn't sound like yours was raised like Casper was, in which case you will need to move more slowly. Cockatoos are such amazing sensitive birds and many love to cuddle and be touched, often too much! They can also be extremely needy and loud when they want attention. When frustrated or unhappy they can pluck their feathers out and it's a hard habit to break. Cockatoos are related to cockatiels but their needs are very different. I've had both. My hand raised cockatiel Charlie was the most easy going bird I could have hoped for. He liked everyone, never bit, whistled show tunes, said a few things, adjusted to changes in environment, ate well. Just the best.
Casper was a bundle of cuddles and affection, was very playful, said "Caspie Boy", and wanted to be held constantly. But Casper was only happy when he was being held and cuddled. He would bite in protest when I would try to stop. He refused to sit on a perch stand and would jump down, run over to me, and climb up into my lap. He grew to fear most men. I tried a bird behaviorist but it was a man so Casper wouldn't work with him.
When my then husband and I divorced I moved into an apartment which was a problem because Casper was loud. Af1ter 5 years I gave Casper to a close friend and she's taken excellent care if him for the past 30 years. Unfortunately Casper didn't handle the rehoming as well as I had hoped, no fault of my friend was and still is devoted to him, and he has been a plucker ever since. I still feel enormous guilt over having rehomed Casper three decades later. Even though I had birds most of my life I had no business taking o11¹n the special needs of a senstive creature like a Cockatoo. I hope you and your family understand the commitment you have made. In my situation Casper was a gentle sweet trusting baby from day one. Your cockatoo is probably going to take more patience to get to the point, and I hope you and your family don't give up on him when it takes a lot of time or he becomes too much to handle like I did.

I'm sorry to hear that you have cats and dogs in the household that will dictate where your new bird (who will long outlive any cat or dog and probably your parents, too) will be safe. A young cockatoo may be terrified of those predators. Cockatoos need a lot of human socialization and out of cage time to be happy and healthy in a human centered home. Where do the dogs and cats fit in with a bird like that? Is the bird going to be locked up in a cage or isolated in a bedroom or will the dogs and cats be? He will not thrive in that environment.

I'm not trying to be harsh but the reality of having a cockatoo seldom lives up to the fantasy that I, too, held. The bird must be The Center of Attention not an afterthought in a house full of assorted critters. Some dogs and cats can coexist with a cockatoo that is given the attention and freedom of movement it needs but it's not the norm. The bird invariably suffers.

Thank you for your advice! He’s definitely not going to be locked up in one room! The intention was to let him settle for a few weeks without having to interact very frequently with potentially ‘stressful’ creatures, and when he’s used to us and the house, move him to a place in the house with more traffic. As for other pets, my dog is a Labrador (off duty service dog) who has thankfully had a lot of Interaction with pet birds, as have both of my cats. I would never leave our Too out/in the reach of our bigger pets, especially unsupervised around them just because even the most trustworthy of animals have their moments, but thankfully our two cats and dog are accustomed to smaller animals. Our Too also came from an environment with other dogs and cats, so they aren’t a new experience for him. I appreciate any advice, it’s not harsh, it’s important to discuss! Thankfully I’m in a family of four living on a relatively big property, and there’s always at least one, if not two of us home at the same time, so he will definitely be attended to. I’m sorry to hear that Casper became a plucker, but it sounds like you did make the choice that was best for him despite the fact that you’d miss him, and that’s very respectable. Thank you again for taking the time to reply

 

[Francie Mae]

First congratulations I envy you
You will be pooped on and you will get bit occasionally...it's just life living with a wild animal. Most parrots thrive on being included in everything. Mine are in the main area of the house where they can see all the activity and interact. My Too loved to go everywhere with me that I deemed safe and socially acceptable. Biting will subside as he learns to trust you and the family. IMO your biggest challenge is to get him to interact with all family members favorably. Don't be surprised to find he picks one person to favor. Too bites seldom break skin it's more of a crushing action due to the shape of their lower mandible.
Personally I would put him in an area where he can see everyone and let him get used to that. If he cooperates I would begin letting him venture from his cage as soon as tomorrow but at his pace. Don't attempt to force him.
In all things be patient. Trust will take time some birds more than others.

All advice given by reashard2 above is excellent.

He needs to be seen by a certified avian vet as soon as practical
I'm sure I will add more as I think of it.

I’ll be sure to update you guys about how the vet visit goes! Both my parents were raised with countryside/farming experience, and while I know that Toos are very different from ‘domestic’ animals or livestock, we’re all definitely comfortable with getting pooped on or bitten. I just wanted to make sure we discouraged any outright aggressive behavior. And I would love to one day bring my Too where it’s socially acceptable; in your experience, what places were you able to bring him? That’s something I’ve been really interested in. Also, do you think then that I should immediately move his cage from my bedroom to the other, more active room? I just didn’t want to overwhelm him with all of the traffic going in and out of other rooms of the house this early on. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for our Too to have to deal with a bunch of new faces, animal and human alike, when’s only just gotten here and seems nervous. Luckily my dog is an off duty service dog, and is heavily trained, and our Too also came from an environment with cats and dogs, but I still wasn’t sure if it was a good move to put the cage in a more active room right off the bat.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

What kind of cockatoo is he? I thought I read bare-eyed but I don't see that now.
My husband just told me that a very well trained Labrador is a good dog for a bird. I'm still not convinced you can train the predator out of a cat. They are such instinctive hunting machines. How many cats do you have?
Once your Too gets the confidence, he may actually harass the dog and cats. I just hope he's safe. Even cat saliva can kill a bird without a break in the birds skin. If cat saliva gets on a bird's feathers, the bacteria in a cats mouth get injested by a bird during grooming it can quickly kill the bird. I learned this when I did some online research about the potential dangers of human saliva to pet birds if the owner and bird kiss, swapping a bit of spit. The source said that human saliva is far less problematic than cat saliva because of the type of bacteria in a cats mouth. This makes me hope you don't swap spit with your cats! Not so sure about dog saliva.

 

[TiredOldMan]

If you want to take him out and about then I would suggest when he becomes comfortable with the family and surroundings start harness training.
He used to go to local pet shops, Home Depot, Lowes, once to Walmart by accident, absolutely any drive through was a big treat for him, and back and forth to the school to drop off and pick up the monster back when. Basically any place that accepts pets on a leash. I would have taken him with me more but if I had to leave him in the truck I feared coming back to no interior. Also the possibility of theft.
Since he is in your room now I wouldn't move him soon. Let him settle there. Your thinking is sound and you will know when it might be time to make the move
Every birds personality is unique just like people and other animals so you have to figure out his.

BTW when he bites try not to pull away as that is when Too bites tend to turn bloody. Also try not to make a big deal out of it as Toos love drama. He might decide to bite because he liked the reaction. No reaction=no drama/excitement. I just say "gently" or similar as calmly as possible.

 

[Francie Mae]

What kind of cockatoo is he? I thought I read bare-eyed but I don't see that now.
My husband just told me that a very well trained Labrador is a good dog for a bird. I'm still not convinced you can train the predator out of a cat. They are such instinctive hunting machines. How many cats do you have?
Once your Too gets the confidence, he may actually harass the dog and cats. I just hope he's safe. Even cat saliva can kill a bird without a break in the birds skin. If cat saliva gets on a bird's feathers, the bacteria in a cats mouth get injested by a bird during grooming it can quickly kill the bird. I learned this when I did some online research about the potential dangers of human saliva to pet birds if the owner and bird kiss, swapping a bit of spit. The source said that human saliva is far less problematic than cat saliva because of the type of bacteria in a cats mouth. This makes me hope you don't swap spit with your cats! Not so sure about dog saliva.

I appreciate your concern, you bring up good points. We have two cats. I definitely don’t swap spit with my cats or with my dog, no worries there. I also will not be letting our bird near them unless one of us is also there, and even then, we will keep the cats out of reach. For example, we incubated chicks for my grandma until they were old enough for her coop. The chicks’ brooder was in my room. The cats weren’t ever alone with the chicks, but they were allowed in the room if I was also there. They took notice of the chicks, but after a short while went to ignoring them, even as they got much louder and bigger (one of them was a baby rooster, and thus a screamer). My girls (cats) are getting older and aren’t very energetic or ‘crazy,’ but you’re right in that predator instincts can’t be trained out of them. Luckily they’ve had a lot of experience with smaller animals, such as the chicks, and while that doesn’t mean I’d leave them alone with our Too, it is something we considered when talking about bringing home a bird. And our Too is a bare-eyed cockatoo! Thank you again for your comment

 

[Francie Mae]

If you want to take him out and about then I would suggest when he becomes comfortable with the family and surroundings start harness training.
He used to go to local pet shops, Home Depot, Lowes, once to Walmart by accident, absolutely any drive through was a big treat for him, and back and forth to the school to drop off and pick up the monster back when. Basically any place that accepts pets on a leash. I would have taken him with me more but if I had to leave him in the truck I feared coming back to no interior. Also the possibility of theft.
Since he is in your room now I wouldn't move him soon. Let him settle there. Your thinking is sound and you will know when it might be time to make the move
Every birds personality is unique just like people and other animals so you have to figure out his.

BTW when he bites try not to pull away as that is when Too bites tend to turn bloody. Also try not to make a big deal out of it as Toos love drama. He might decide to bite because he liked the reaction. No reaction=no drama/excitement. I just say "gently" or similar as calmly as possible.

Okay, gotcha! I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.

When it comes to indoor places like Lowe’s or Home Depot, how did you handle the pooping? I don’t mind getting pooped on, but I imagine it’s probably not enjoyed by the employees. Also, when he was harnessed, did you ever walk around your neighborhood or the park with your Too?

 

[TiredOldMan]

I carried paper towels or wipes with me for accidents. After awhile I would just ask if he needed to poop when we got out of the truck. If he pooped he was good for about an hour. I still carried the toilet supplies however.
Never took him to a park. I have enough property that we could walk all we wanted to without leaving. At home he wasn't harnessed.