New cockatoo please help!

[Sarahtheumbrella]

well, sorry for the bite fest, but ummm....if the birds is so aggressive and insecure....i feel it would be a lot safer to let him chill in the cage for a day or two. some extra assurance and then it will consider the cage a place of safety. If a cockatoo gets on the floor and starts going mad it is best to just calmly try and pick it up, or sit on some piece of furniture wait for it to calm down and remove it from the situation.

Maybe the cockatoo was happy having you around, but if he has attacked soo much, I would want to have a REALLY strong bond with a him before I try to pick him up.

I know you want to give it away, but it is going to be a long process finding a good home, or even a good rescue. So here is what I recommend you do:

1. No/minor physical contact
2. talk and sing and read to the bird for hours a day. Feed it treats every now and then.
3. After the bird is coming to you in a CALM manner (no bouncing) you can try touching his feet through cage bars, if he bites or attempts to bite bond is not strong enough, or maybe he is in a bad mood
4. Only let out of cage if you have an efficient way of putting him back in. For example if it is a huge chase the bird thing and bite thing, it may be best to leave him in....or you can try target training. It gives something for the cockatoo to think about....

the toys should be foraging preferably because a busy cockatoo is a happy one....

You can see once again if this works, but I do not feel as if anyone should pick up this bird if it climbs to the shoulders, gets overstimulated, and bites.

he is NOT evil. Birds are not people, they do not do things to make someone mad.

I understand that a bite fest is never encouraging, but my family had several of those when we first go Sarah. The key is to know that he did it out of fear.

If the bird is plucking it is stressed or bored, possibly both. Give it something to think about. Show it how to use some foraging toys. Give it toys that make noise(bells) and play with some shiny things till he looks at you like, "I wanna try" then give it to him..


This advice worked with my insecure bird and it may work with your. Giving the bird a nice home while you have him.


Although, I fell as if you possibly do not want to keep the cockatoo...so just pass this on to whoever gets him next. And make sure to tell the next person to get him how much trouble he was so there is no mistaking him for a cuddle bug.

 

[moearar]

Finally weve cracked the morris code. After a full 5 hours worth of research and 300$ spent i think we know what he needed. My dad and i got him all the types of food and treats you can get other than seeds and like 10 different toys and perches and a play stand, and let me tell you this hes one happy bird now. He's sitting clicking his beak talking, dancing. I mean he seems really happy and hes letting us pet him etc. Also the only reason he was out of his cage last night was because he wouldnt let us put him back in and was giving some pretty nasty bites. Now i hope this happy behavior lasts and doesnt just fade away all of a sudden. I will keep you updated and i already found some real good guys willing to buy him and they already have many cockatoos etc. so if anything does go totally wrong i will sell him, and after i asked my cousin whos dad is a breeder he recommended a smaller bird such as a grey or amazon if things dont work out with the too.
Also just one question when he puffs his feathers next to his beak what does it mean ?

 

[greycloud]

It is a feeling contentment.

 

[Sarahtheumbrella]

Yes, it means they are calm and happy and satisfied. Sometimes it means they are sleepy.

 

[moearar]

Hey guys,
So he seems very happy now and much calmer. He stopped plucking since yesterday, anyways he only plucked like 5 feathers the first time. So now he's sitting next to me on the keyboard on his playstand all fluffed up grinding his beak ready to go to bed. So im new to this no seed diet, and i bought him all the different like foods from zupreem like fruit flavours, veggie bites etc. But i felt he needed more things so i boiled some carrots, potatoes, corn and chick peaces and mashed it all for him and he loved it. But i have some questions:

Does your cockatoo sometimes call for you and say hello etc. but when you come close instead of stepping up he like claws with his foot and digs his nails in with one foot and puts it close to his beak like one of his chew toys ?

Also when someone passes by the cage he tends to grab them with his claws and doesnt let go and it really hurts! what should i do to stop this ?

Also do cockatoos hiss like cockatiels ? cause ive heard him hiss i think...

Another big problem is shirts i mean im willing to get ripped up shirts i dont mind but as soon as you try to stop him from biting your shirt, he bites you or he like grabs you with his claw and begins to pull back trying to rip skin, what should i do ?

Also any other recipes i can make to keep him away from seeds ?

Btw i am still selling him because like you all made it very clear i am not ready for a too, i have found baby grey's in my local petshop and he also has baby zon's and hes saying i should take a zon and a grey and that theyre easy to handle and fun to have, should i ? ive had alot of ringnecks are they similar ?

I mean ive looked everywhere for quakers, conures etc. but i cant seem to find any over here that are trained or young enough to be easily trained. So ive heard greys are easy to mantain and my cousins have about 3 and they say theyre a joy to listen to and are very easy to take care of. I was also offered a goffin and a eculectus but rejected both, was that a bad decision ? or are goffins and eclectus just like sulphur crested toos ?

 

[Mare Miller]

These birds do not attack without cause, EVER! I'm thinking that maybe he never had the time and space to acclimate to your family and feels very threatened. When you bring a new bird into your home, they are scared. They need to be left to be, not in a closed off room, but in a living area where he can acclimate to the sounds and movements of your home, before being approached and asked to do things that he is not ready to do. I have to agree with many folks here, find a new home with someone that is familiar with cockatoos.

 

[brianlinkles]

I have been reading this thread and frankly it's making me so sad. Please do not get a grey, they are also very sensitive birds. They are also prone to plucking and I don't get the feeling that you are anywhere prepared to deal with a bird that plucks. Greys take alot to keep their intelligient brains busy and active, this requires alot of thought, patience etc. I also don't think that a amazon is a good choice, they are also a huge responsibility and trust me they pack alot of punch into their bite!!! I cannot even imagine you with a mature hormonal amazon! I don't mean any disrespect however after your first post I was so depressed and I feel so sorry for this too. Birds are very different than owning a dog or a cat, I know you have said that you are experienced with birds (irns etc.) however from the way you are expressing yourself I feel that you may not be cut out for med/large parrot ownership. I have waited many years to be able to have the time, money, patience for parrots. You will never own a bird without a high probability of getting bitten. You will never own a bird that is going to do exactly what you want it to do when you want to do it. You will never own a bird that is going to allow cuddling the way a dog will. I realize that too's are cuddly but they are still wild animals with a can opener on the front of their face and they will rely on what nature has provided them to communicate their wants, desire & dislikes. Please think about starting with a cockateil, they are very sweet birds, cute, funny (males whistle and sometimes talk) they are affectionate and much easier to handle than most of the larger parrots.

 

[moearar]

Alright then i wont buy any parrots and im going to sell all the ones i have. Thanks anyways guys have fun with your parrots and thank you all for the advice. I will keep you updated on when the bird and all the other birds are sold. But btw many of my friends have greys and they've never owned any birds before yet they were able to keep them and i helped many people train theyre grey's. But anyways i'll just stop buying birds and save my money.

Thanks again.

 

[brianlinkles]

Perfect!
(I do sarcasm well too!)

 

[luvmytooo]

How many IRNs have you owned and what happened to them ?
Just curious....

 

[moearar]

I've owned about 50-70 not sure and i just bought them as babies still unweened and the local pet stores were very cruel to them, so i would feed them formula and get them used to humans and then when they were old enough i would sell them for a higher price because they were trained and talking, it was my way of helping out the local animals and making a buck. I also trained my friends aswell as my neighbours african grey. So what happened to the irn's was that i would basically allow them to grow and get tame etc. and then sell them. Trust me what i was doing was good, because the amount of kids no more than 10years old go in there and buy about 5 chicks thinking they can take care of them two weeks later i hear theyre dead or even worse with a permanent injury. Ive had many irn's come to me with severely burnt crops and i'll tell thats one sight which seriously pains you to see. But after i stopped doing that for 2 years i decided to buy a baby irn and this time keep him, his name was ganja. I literally spent day and night with him and we would play all the time and i bought him the best of everything and he was so spoilt. However after i had him for about 6months and him learning how to fly with me etc. i woke up to find him weak and shaking. So i call my vet and he was closed. So i went to this guy down the road that i was told was a vet several years ago so i consulted him, and all he said was "aah its normal hes maturing go back to sleep", although i was totally not satisfied so i stayed up for 7hours him in my arms till i fell asleep and then found him in the cage dead. Later on my mom turns out had found that the parrot had died on my lap and she knew i was so attached to him and i would freak out so she put his body in the cage. I swear no joke i spent about 1month of solidarity i just isolated myself in my room just go to school back and thats it, he really meant alot. Also we had an autopsy at the vet the day after to see why he died and this was the first time i see something like this the bird had actually chocked on a small carrot literally a tiny piece. Thats also why my dad bought me my new Too, because he realized how my love for animals that i had since i was little was fading away after ganja, and he didnt want that because he said ever since i was little my face would light up with animals mostly birds and i had a way with them.

I told you all i have about my adventures with irn's and by the way an irn chick here costs about 15$ but when its a trained adult its 350$ so it was a pretty big profit and also i would raise the birds healthy and happy, I had never ever have an irn die with me until ganja. I have a whole slideshow of his life from day one till he passed away if anyone is interested i can make a montage.

I know i went a little too deep but just so everyone curious can know.

 

[Mare Miller]

Hi moearar, you remind me of a threatened cockatoo, please don't be. We are trying to be helpful but I get it, a lot of people with a lot of opinions.

When I said that a cockatoo doesn't attack without a reason, I should have added more. Usually that reason is because you are in his territory and he feels threatened by you, in some way. You are pushing against his safe zone.

If you decide to give this bird a try, my advice would be, just take it slow. He may bond up with you and if that's the case, you will never let him go!

 

[luvmytooo]

MHO , maybe you should stay with the IRNs.....

 

[melissasparrots]

I can't speak for greys because I don't have them. However, I do have amazons and they can be just as bad if not worse than cockatoos for ease of handling. Some adult male amazons will often chase people around the room like your cockatoo does. Personally, I think you should stick with smaller birds.

In one of your posts it kind of sounded like your cockatoo has been basically trained by some previous owner to intimidate people. The grab your cloths and reel you in routine is kind of like their version of a practical joke. He's looking for a drama response from you. Personally, I would not let him grab onto me through the bars. If he were mine and he did a fly or run at me attack, I would just carry a towel with me, grab him and march him back to the cage. Chasing people is only fun if they run and scream. Biting is only fun if you jump up and down and yell, or get scared, or cry. I don't do that, so any attempt my birds have at playing that game is real short lived. Biting me is the most intensely boring thing my birds have every done. It never works out like they thought it would and generally they don't do it very often. Once or twice Ariel has decided to run across the room at me. I just stood up, planted me feet and asked her exactly what she thought she was doing? She stopped, gave me a petulant child look and went about her business. You could just see the wheels spinning in her llittle brain that, that totally did not work out the way she thought it would.

 

[Sarahtheumbrella]

I completely agree with melissaparrots. Sarah does that all the time. She grabs my finger, my clothes really hard sometimes. Now when she hold my finger I just keep it a safe distance away from the cage and stare at her. Learning I won't respond she lets go herself. With clothes/blankets I just wait until shes done.

If you try pulling and stuff is just becomes a nice tug of war. Cockatoos are really jokers...they need to be entertained.

 

[Molcan2]

Okay, dont get to upset. Read through the posts that you find helpful and completely ignore the ones that you think are offensive. If you have questions about behavioral problems, then only take note of the posts that actually address your questions and forget the rest. I would also suggest starting a new thread when you have new questions, you'll get more responses pertaining to your question that way. Remember these are complete strangers 'opinions' don't take them personally.

Good choice staying away from seed. Pellets are good and supplementing with veggies is an excellent diet. You don't have to mash them all up though, unless you want to, if you give him the whole veggie he will probably like holding it more as he eats it. Also don't forget fruit, they love fruit to.

Heres a good list of toxic stuff for birds (remember no avocado):

Foods & Plants Toxic to Birds

 

[MikeyTN]

Any bird can give a nasty bite if they want to! That includes Amazons and Greys. I have a lady customer of mine who had her lip bit off from her Grey that she had since he was a baby and she had him for over 30 years. They're all unpredictable and will bite if they want to. It's really up to YOU as the owner on how you want to deal with it. Some of them are sexist like my U2 who prefers woman! It is proven to be true with his past two owners that I know of. That would be the ONLY reason why I am finding him a new home with a woman where he can be taken out to play with as I am afraid to take him out anymore after so many injury I incur from him. Cause the last draw was when he bit my thumb where I have a deformed thumb nail from being bit by him. I don't give up easily but I am being asked by my partner to find him a new home after I was bleeding all over last time when he attacked. Sulfur Crested to me is a easier one to deal with as I've got one myself. BUT it took her a very long time to trust us. My Dixie is one loving sweetheart, she was abused at one point.

Sometimes you WILL find their feathers all over the floor, it doesn't always mean they're plucking just because you find their feathers all over. They lose them ALL the time. Now, IF you see a bald spot forming, then that's something to be concerned about. They get stressed easily, doing what you did by giving him lots of toys to play with. Get some foraging toys to keep them occupied. Teach him to step onto a perch if your afraid to get him on your arms. Especially good when they refuse to go back into their house, that way no one gets hurt by using the perch. I use it on my U2 Java cause that's the ONLY way to get him back in without him trying to do something evil. They will be afraid of it at first but they will get used to it.

You need to learn to take criticism in here as you ARE trying to learn. Don't just say I'm selling off all my birds just because you don't like the answer. When you purchase them or adopt them, it should be a lifetime deal. NOT get rid of them just because they don't suit you or do what you think they should do. It takes time, not a few day or month deal. Only find them a new home after you worked with them for so long and nothing is working and they deserve a better life style with someone that can deal with them. IT is a commitment, they're a living life, not a piece of furniture!

 

[moearar]

Hey guys an update,
So i found him a man who wants to buy him and he is very interested he already owns three cockatoos so he is experienced. I will be loosing quite a significant amount of money but thats the price i pay i guess. Anyways my too has been in his cage for the whole day today as i was not able to take him out. Because we were having an amazing day the day before and he was being such a sweetheart and we were just chilling me in my music studio and him just playing on his playstand and singing even dancing etc. He was ver happy until it was the end of the day when he was very eager to bite my shirt so i just would keep him away from my shirt whenever he would come to bite it i would just allow him to stand on my other hand to take his mind off it. So i had to leave the room so i was coming to put him on his playing perch outside the cage and while i was trying to put him on in a blink of an eye BAM! he gets hold of my thumb, now i could see his beak deep under my skin like he went in real deep so i stayed calm and tried to calm him down. So even though i was in tremendous pain i mean it was unimaginable i stayed calm and pet his head and whispered to him slowly and asked for him to let go and tried to put treats so he would leave me but oh no he was very keen on holding on so i literally sat for 30 seconds with a beak dug deep in my hand trying to convince him to let go but he didnt till at one point he started wiggling and pulling back my skin and then i couldnt handle it i blew in his face till he finally let go and then i just left him on the floor he started chasing me all the way to the door trying to bite till i jetted out. The whole room was full of blood it looked like a crime scene tbh. I have some pictures after a doctor cleaned it up and glued it. Also i wasnt serious about selling all my birds i was being sarcastic haha. Also guys the guy who is buying the cockatoo offered two cockatiels for 80$ and says there very tame are tiels any better ?

 

[moearar]

This cut is where all the blood gushed out of.

 

[Molcan2]

Its a good thing you still have your finger. Toos have some of the worst bites, mostly due to the two points they have on their lower beak. They can bite down and slide the lower beak side to side and create a very nasty laceration. I'm glad that you found him a good home, good luck on finding a bird that better suits you.