Does anyone know how to modify cockatoo behaviour? We were given a large, rose-breasted cockatoo yesterday and so far it has been a less-than-ideal pet. Actually, this bird seems about as far from an ideal pet as it is possible to be.
The bird is pretty but will bite hell out of someone without warning and that is what I need to fix. The claws and screeching I can live with. So, how does one stop a bird from biting?
Thanks
Testy
There are a number of good bird books on amazon. I am fond of clicker training and besides the book Clicker Training for Birds (which is only OK) I like Don’t Shoot The Dog (even though it says “dog” in the title, I think it is great training book.) Try
The Beak Book: Understanding, Preventing, and Solving Aggression and Biting Behaviors in Companion Parrots
Cockatoos in particular are very very dependant on their owners and will demand a lot of attention. If you don’t have the time to spend with it, it may be acting out just because it is lonely. Also, if it has bonded with a specific person, it may be attacking other people that it sees as “rivals”.
If you just got it yesterday, it’s WAYYYY to early to make any kind of judgement as to this particular bird’s suitability as a pet. The bird is freaked out. It’s in a new environment with people and things around it that it’s not familiar with. Birds are creatures of routine, and this one’s routines have just been turned upside down. If it’s nervous and anxious and you keep coming at it with your hands, yes, it will most likely bite.
You didn’t say how you came to receive the bird. Was it a gift? Did someone die and you ended up with it? How old is it? Was it hand-raised? These are all important questions because they can affect how long – and IF – the bird will take to bond to you and your family.
I recommend you get some books and read up. A great one is “The Guide to a Well Behaved Parrot” (ISBN 0764110306). It has some great information on bird behavior, what to expect, how to react, behavior motification, etc.
Some other things: make sure you have a cage big enough for the bird. The cage should be big enough that the bird can fully extend its wings and still have plenty of room. If the bird isn’t already on a pelletted diet, you should make plans for moving it to one. Birds tend to pick and choose what they like to eat when you feed them seed only, and they don’t get a good balanced diet that way. Pelletted food (I like Roudybush) will make sure they get all the nutrients they need. Also, make sure you give your new friend lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, every day. Also, also, cockatoos are very dusty animals. Their down feathers disolve and when the bird shakes it feathers, the dust will come off. Make sure your bird gets a good misting with water every day. Oh, and find a certified avian vet. Most vets are not trained to deal with birds
Finally, birds aren’t for everyone. They live a long time, can be very persnickity, are a little on the neurotic side, and need a lot of attention since they’re social animals who instinctivly live in flocks. I hope you’re the kind of person who will learn to love the bird. But honestly, if you’re not, find someone who will. (I personally am glad that birds are expensive pets; it keeps people from just picking one up like they would a kitten.)
That’s way more information than you asked for. Good luck with your new friend!
Thanks. Both of those reasons make sense. The bird formerly belonged to a young lady that has since left for the US. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the proper papers for the bird and so couldn’t take him.
I am sure the bird has been bored out of its skull for the last few months and probably misses its former owner as well.
My wife likes birds and will probably be able to bring the beast around if it can be done. She’s at home all day and likes to play with birds anyway.
Thanks again
Testy
Thanks for the advice and info. As far as the bird goes, we got him because his former owner left for the US and lacked the necessary papers to take it with her. The bird has been languishing with her father for a while and probably hasn’t been played with the entire time.
Anyway, I’m glad to hear that there is a chance it will settle down after a bit. Any ideas on how long that might take?
As far as the hand-raised, captured from the wild or whatever, I don’t really know. In Saudi, the possibilities are wide open as the country isn’t really big on international agreements about importing species. I know the bird to be a minimum of 3 years old as that is how long the young lady had the thing before she gave her to us.
I’ll try to find the pellets. We’ve been feeding it the same seeds we give our lovebirds, assuming that most parrots would like a similar diet. It seems to like sunflower seeds the best as well as apple and pear chunks. We also give the lovebirds corn-on-the-cob, yoghurt, and bits of chopped-up boiled egg. They like all of that.
The cage is a problem. The cockatoo mostly sits on top of it anyway but we’ll have a much larger cage in the morning. We presently have a 2meter X 2meter X 2meter cage in the back yard where we keep a dozen lovebirds and they do very well so we’ll have something similar put together for Rose, the cockatoo.
How does the misting work? Is that done with a spray-bottle? This would be easy enough to do.
My wife is really the bird fan among us. She loves playing with them or simply to sit and watch them. I am more a fan of dogs myself but get involved in various “avian support” activities anyway. S We do get offerred quite a few birds here. In the last few months we’ve turned down an African Gray and some kind of huge red bird from (I believe) Madagascar.
As an idea, do you think the cockatoo would live in the cage with the lovebirds? I am a bit iffy about the idea as the lovebirds can be territorial as hell as well as physically aggressive.
Thanks very much for the advice and help.
Regards
Testy
Unfortunately, no. It just depends on the individual bird, how much you and your family interact with it, etc.
For large birds like cockatoos, sunflower seeds are like candy. Lots of fat and oil, not a whole lot of nutritional value. Boiled egg is great. Birds love it. (Yes, I know it sounds skeevy, kinda like pseudo-cannablism). Small pieces of boiled chicken are good, too. Apple, pear, and corn on the cob are all great, as are grapes.
Oh, one thing I wanted to mention before but forgot: NO NO NO NO avocado or chocolate. Both are poisonous to birds. And stay away from giving them salty and greasy foods like chips,etc.
And while we’re on the subject of poisonous… be careful when cooking with teflon pans. If teflon overheats, it can outgas vapors that are very toxic to birds, and with their quick respiration, can kill a bird very quickly.
I’ve used two methods. 1) Get a mister bottle that you use exclusively for the bird. Nothing ever goes in it but water. Then, just spray it so that the mist falls down over the bird like a very light rain. Don’t spray right at the bird. I usually did this on a perch in the bathtub so that I didn’t get the whole cage all wet. 2) Take the bird into the shower with you. I had a perch with a suction cup that stuck to the wall. I’d put it on the side of the shower away from the direct water flow. This way, the bird would catch the spray as the water bounced off of me. Either way, your bird will fluff up his feathers and generally act goofy. I’ve never met a bird yet who didn’t love water.
Either way, don’t saturate the bird and make sure you keep him out of drafts while he is wet. It’s best afterward to drape something over the cage, like a sheet, to keep out drafts, and also to put a light shining on the cage to provide extra warmth.
The red bird was probably an eclectus. The males are red and the females are green. Or the other way around, I never can keep it straight.
I wouldn’t do it, for the reason you mentioned and also because of the size difference. A cockatoo could take off a lovebird’s leg (or do worse) with no problem.
I’m glad I can help. There are several knowledgeable bird people around the board, so if you have any questions, just keep posting them.
Chocolate. That’s odd. I’d never really thought of giving a bird chocolate anyway as it just seems to be more a mammalian addiction. I might have given the beast avocado though, it looks like such a healthy food. Oh well. Thanks for the info though, we’ll make she stays away from both.
You’re right about the egg-eating seeming a bit cannibalistic, that was certainly the way it struck me. We’ve tried them with steamed chicken scraps as well but they only had that rarely as until recently we had a dog that was a handy place to put anything like that.
Anyway, we’ll persevere with Rosey and see how she does. My wife loves to play with birds so as far as the interaction goes, we should be OK.
Thanks again.
Testy
Avocado is poisonous to birds? Wow, my macaw will be surprised to hear that. He loves avocado.
Is it the fruit or just the pit? I’d never give him a pit, since lots of fruit-pits tend to concentrate toxics. Or have I just been lucky?
RE: birds eating eggs & other birds - it’s not any stranger than us (mammals) eating a cow (another mammal). Your parrot is about as closely related to a chicken as you are to a cow or pig.
RE: behaviour problems. Definitely find a good bird book, birds are very different to deal with than dogs or cats. Don’t try to discipline a bird by shouting - trust me, your cockatoo can scream louder than you can. Don’t ever hit a bird, they just don’t understand that at all. Your best bet IMO is to reward good behavior and ignore bad. Turn your back on the bird, or even walk away for a few minutes - they HATE that!
Where are you in Saudi?
Perhaps Onan (The African Grey Parrot) would like to meet your Cockatoo. Hilarity may ensue.
Hmm… I’ve never actually killed a bird with avocado; I’ve just heard the rule a million times, so repeated it. (Bad, BAD GQ answerer! <selfbonk>)
Doing a little research, I found these links:
http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/poison/plants/ppavoca.htm
http://www.tgpa.com/Plants.html
http://www.birdhealth.com.au/bird/care/plants.html
I see several mentions of the foliage, the seed, the skin and a membrane around the skin. While I don’t see any specific mention of the meat, I wouldn’t risk it.
I’m in Riyadh. If you recall, we chatted briefly before your last vacation.
Regards
Testy
You were correct the first time - the femail eclectus is red and blue. Female is on the left
Wow guy. You weren’t kidding about cockatoos eating meat. My wife boiled our cockatoo a chicken leg and the bird devoured almost the whole thing.
Just as an FYI, the beast seems to be settling down well and will now ride around on my arm, take seeds from my fingers and leave the fingers behind, and is generally becoming a better pet altogether.
Just out of curiousity, do these things usually like music? Especially rock-ish kind of music? The bird seems to like some of Alannah Myles’s more hard-rock tunes. It dances a bit and waves its head around. Very cute, my wife loves it.
Regards
Testy
Generally, the like anything with a solid bass line. My seems to like some opera.
Heh! I haven’t tried opera yet. Probably because I have none. I’ll see what I can dig up tonight.
Thanks
Jack
The author of this book is one that I have found to be good in the past.
Mine like Carmen.
Thanks for this, I’ll take a look. To be fair to the poor bird, she is much more settled and somewhat affectionate today. We have been playing with her almost constantly and she is responding to this.
We still have a lot to learn about feeding and individual peculiarities but I’m starting to believe she’ll do well with us.
Thanks again
Testy
My 2 greys and conure all adore music. They seem to prefer hard rock, Stravinsky and Bartok. The conure is especially taken with Philip Glass. All of the cockatoos I have been aquainted with have been big dance music fans. They get so into it it almost seems cruel to me to own a cockatoo if you do not plan to put on music and dance with it. Many of them are thrilled with any maneuver that flips a ponytail high in the air, but establish a relationship with your 'too before any serious headbanging, because that can look aggressive. They can have unfavorites, too. The conure has shrieking fits when exposed to Johnny Cash, and Steve the grey will bite Anyone during ANY country song.
Awesome, keep up the good work! And keep us informed.
Got any pictures of the little darling?
