Trust goes both ways.

Hey all, I've posted in the "New Member" section; I'm new here!

I'm caring for a bare-eyed cockatoo who has been called "aggressive". I put that in quotes because I rarely see aggressive behavior from him. However, he has yet to come out of his cage, and it has nothing to do with him; it has to do with me! I'm scared of being bitten, or of him being destructive in the house. Or, worse, of him getting ahold of one of the dachshunds and doing serious damage (they have the run of the kitchen, there's no way to block the kitchen off from where Baby's cage is, and the dogs aren't mine). There's no reason for this, as he's perfectly well-behaved in his cage (I've been asking him "perch" and pointing to specific perches, and he'll follow me around the cage, and take treats nicely without the bars in the way) but I'm still scared to handle him. He'll step up and down from a handheld perch, and has a designated towel just for him that I introduced to him a couple days ago. (No fear. None at all. Just tried to chew on it.) I'm ordering a travel cage for him, and he really needs a vet check-up, so I'd like to get to a point where I feel comfortable bringing him out of his cage before then.

Am I missing small steps here I could be working on? Or do I just have to come to terms with the fact that trusting him means taking a risk first? I can ask to lock the dogs up short term, but what do I do if he suddenly realizes he can fly, and I can't get him back from a cabinet or shelf? (He doesn't even flap his wings in the cage, even though it's plenty big enough; I'm not sure he realizes he has wings, but the possibility still scares me.)

We've interacted in the doorway of the cage, too. When it's open he'll hang from the top of the opening and look at me upside-down. HE'S certainly not afraid! It's entirely my issue, and I feel bad that my nervousness is holding him back. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Don't be so afraid. Birds read your emotions and body language. You may put him on edge, if you show too much fear. Just like with kids, or any other animal, you have to let them be themselves. You'll make mistakes. Things will happen. We cannot control everything. Be confident, and supportive. Try to minimize the risks, and observe his behavior. This sounds like a well adjusted bird. Things should go smoothly, from your description. Just enjoy each other. And learn from each other. Have fun with each other.

Birds quickly pick up when someone is scared of them.


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To gain your trust could take days, weeks, months even years. Each and every bird is so different. He obviously feels a comfort zone is his cage.
Sit near the cage, talking and singing to the bird. Let him become familiar with your voice. Leaving the cage door open, offer him treats through the bars at first. When he willingly accepts them, try placing a treat near the open door. Eventually he will starts taking the treats from the door, make no attempt to touch him. When he does come out, he will probably climb around on the cage. Let him explore in his own time. To get him back in, place a treat inside the cage, making sure it's visible.
Good luck, please keep us updated

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if your worried about the flying, when you take him to the vets, you could ask for him to be clipped, if your bird has never really flown before, it could hurt itself by crash landing, even now my nut will not fly down stairs and she is a fab little flyer

when your travel cage comes, leave it where your too can see it so he can get used to it, so when you do try to put him in, it won't alarm him to much, and let him watch you set up cage with his fav treats before you put him in

keep up with the interactions you are doing now, and just get comfortable yourself with petting him etc (just not all over his body, as i have read this to be sexual for too's)

you tubes a great place to look at videos of too's etc and you can see how they can be handled/petted on there

this is just a add on for the advice's above!

and yes keeping the dogs out of the way when you have him out of his cage is good, for now

keep us up dated

We had a bit of a setback the other day. I thought because he's not a one-person bird, Jason could be in the room for training (effectively "training" both of them at the same time, on opposite ends). Nope. That didn't work. He wouldn't focus, just wanted to sit by Jason and babble away. My best guesses are either that he sees Jason as "flock leader", since I defer to him around the house, or that he knows Jason gives him whole peanuts (while I give him little pieces to avoid satiation). We ended on a good note anyways; I had Jason come stand by the perch I was asking him to move to. But when we said goodbye to get me back to class, he got aggressive, lunged at us through the bars, and held his wings slightly out from his body.

So, we'll go back to one-on-one, and I'm gonna add target training to what we've been doing already, and I think I'll have Jason make me a T-stand we can use. My goal was just to get him out, but I think it'll be less nerve-wracking if I have somewhere I can put him down afterwards. I'm not really sure what I was thinking, that he could just be held outside of his cage, treated, and put back? Midterms are destroying my intelligence, I swear!

And Antoinette, he has no problem coming to the door of the cage; I think he would happily come out on his own if I let him, but I'm worried about his behavior. Given that he has no fear of coming out, it would be easier on all involved if he can associate out-of-cage time with being BROUGHT out. Jason has to reach in to feed him on the rare days that I'm not there, and he's already said he doesn't want to be in the room when Baby's out of his cage. I wasn't around back then, but the last two times he was out, he "attacked" (their word, not mine) the youngest brother, and one of the dogs. (While I hope it doesn't happen again, I really would have liked to be there to see a cockatoo "riding" a beagle and laughing the whole way! The dog was traumatized, but I'm sure it was great fun for everyone else; Baby included!)

And Suebee, I will if I have to, but I'd like to avoid clipping his wings if I can. The more I learn, and the more I work with him, the more I think large parrots are completely unsuited for "pets" in cages. Our goal is to get our own house in the next 2 years, with enough land for Jason to set up his greenhouse (currently in pieces in the backyard, since there's not enough space to set it up here) and I've already informed him I'll be using part of it to make a large "aviary" complete with trees. My training and interaction with Baby won't stop, but that way he'll have a more natural place to live. Even a large cage is still a cage; it's our responsibility as caretakers to make that cage as nice as possible. Then again, I'm an Animal Science major, so my thoughts may be influenced more than most people by the debate of animal rights and "natural behaviors". We started a Chicken Group at my school this year, and those birds are going on pasture in a chicken tractor so they can perform "natural behaviors" like dust baths and eating bugs. Granted, the behaviors are different for parrots, but should we put less effort into pets than into food production animals? I'm not trying to condemn anyone here, just thinking "out loud" as it were. The criteria are different for pets, to a point, since the only desired outcome is that they're happy and healthy, but I can't help but relate it back to what I'm doing in school.

How long have you had him?

I would be cautious clipping a Toos feathers after it has already flown. You would be greatly risking shredding/plucking behavior to develop. Most Toos don't deal well with drastic changes to their bodies.

A lot of birds become aggressive because they aren't given a say in whats going on with them. They are extremely intelligent and can't be ordered around like dogs. They need to know that they have a safe place that they can retreat to if they don't feel like interacting with you. This safe place happens to be their cage. I wouldn't recommend asking a new bird to step up from inside their cage until a strong relationship has been made (i.e. after a few months), your asking to get bit when you do this. A bird that feels pressure is going to act out by biting. You want to alleviate any pressure possible. This bird has learned that if it doesn't want to be messed with then it needs to bite in order to be left alone. You need to change this, in order to prevent future bites. Don't expect anything from the bird when it is in its cage, make the cage a bird only and no human zone. This way the bird will feel comfortable in the cage and will realize that if it doesn't want to be messed with all it has to do is retreat to its cage. Typically with a bird, when it doesn't want to be messed with they will give you passive physical signs first (moving away) before resorting to biting. Unfortunately your bird has learned that passive signs don't work and is going straight to biting. Open your cage door and ONLY pick your new bird up when it goes out onto the cage door. If the bird associates the cage door with coming to you, then when it doesn't want to be messed with all it has to do is not sit on the door, instead of biting. This is teaching the bird several things: that you are giving the bird a say, that you are respecting its space, and that it can use PASSIVE physical signs again without resorting to biting. The other thing that is so important about using the cage door, as the only way of picking the bird up, is that the bird needs to feel secure. An insecure bird is a very unpredictable bird. If your constantly asking for the bird to step up in the cage and its reacting by biting, then you are causing the bird to feel insecure (as it has no safe place now to retreat to away from you) which will make the bird feel as though it has to protect itself physically. If you go to reach for a bird and it shys away, then leave it alone. To continue to ask for it will result in a bite. Using the cage door technique with a new bird, I wouldn't worry about it flying around the house as soon as you open the door. The cage is its safety zone, its not likely to abandon the only thing it knows and fly to an unknown area (where in the birds mind it could get eaten). Even though it has the capability of flight, it is a very insecure bird, and more than likely will take time before its confident enough to explore on its own. Just make sure that your not cooking anything and that the doors are closed, so if it does decide to fly around - so what its contained in a house with no where to go. Chances are if it does fly and lands on something it will probably step up with no problem, if your worried then use a wooden dowel to ask it to step up on (I advise against gloves, they usually encourage more biting). These are not predators that your dealing with. The bird doesn't see the house as its 'domain' yet (just its cage) so its more than likely not going to fly around attacking you guys, because its flying in 'your' area. Its not going to be possessive in a space its never been in before, but it will be defensive if you approach. The mindset you want your bird to have is that it feels secure with you, this is the goal of any partnership with a parrot. If you keep invading the place it feels secure in then you are teaching the bird that you cause insecurities, rather than being a second safe haven from the cage. This is going to cause the bird to associate you with stress (birds do NOT like stress). By allowing the bird to come out on the cage door, you are sending the signal to the bird that it can interact with you in a stress free way (with no pressure being put on the bird, pressure = stress, and stress = an unpredictable bird). Also when you do ask the bird to step up from the cage door, don't take it far from the cage in the beginning. Just stand next to the cage and allow the bird to feel confident with you, over time you can move further and further away. It needs to know that if it feels the slightest bit uneasy that it can get back to the cage without biting you to get away from you. You need to be able to read this birds body language really really well in order to prevent bites. If your holding it and it seems that it is trying to go back to the cage, than put it back before the bird feels that it has to bite you in order to get its point across.

Remember that you have a Too, you have a very sensitive bird that doesn't handle change well. It takes a Too more time to adjust to a new home. I wouldn't expect anything from the bird for the first month. Let it relax into its cage and get used to being around you, if it comes out on its own for attention (emphasis on the 'on its own' part) then give it to it, otherwise respect its space.

Thanks Molcan2, you brought up some interesting things that I hadn't considered. I'm used to working with dogs, cats, fish, sheep, goats, horses... This is a whole new experience for me.

He actually hasn't been moved; his care just got shifted over to me. (He's belonged to my boyfriend's family for 14 years now, but they don't really have the time, patience, or knowledge to handle a large cockatoo that ended up with them basically by accident. They've tried to find him a better home in the past; the one family that was willing to take him brought him back the next day.) We did get him a much larger cage than he had been in, that was a few (2-6? I'm bad with times/dates) months ago now.

I do not know if he's ever truly flown; Jason claims that what he's done in the past was "flying", but from one side of the kitchen to the other sounds more like gliding, and he admits he's never seen Baby successfully land on anything. He doesn't flap his wings in his cage, and he'll climb the bars of the cage instead of hopping even a couple inches to get from perch to perch. I've been told his wings used to be clipped, but it hasn't happened in over a decade now, but the cage he was in before was way too small for him to need his wings for anything, and he was not allowed out on purpose. He does not seem inclined to pluck or mutilate himself; he's amazingly well-behaved for a parrot, especially a cockatoo, that's been through so much and been so bored for so long. His only real "fault" was the screaming, and that's quieted down in stages, first with the bigger cage, then with getting him off an all-seed diet, then with being on the ball about rotating toys in and out, then with everyone starting to come over and talk to him again. He still screams hello when people walk in the room, or when he's dropped something in his water bowl and I haven't noticed, but those screams we don't mind as much as the old "I'm BORED give me something to DO" screams!

He does come to the cage door when I'm paying attention to him, and will sit right there staring at me like "Well, are you going to open it up already?" My plan is to try letting him out on Monday (less people around then!) so we'll see then if all the talk about him "attacking" people has any merit. If I don't post here again after that... you'll all know what happened!

lol i look forward to hearing from you after monday

i hate the idea of any bird in a cage, thats why nut has so much out of cage time (about 3hrs aday, any more and she's a flying biting machine! as she use to be out, nearly all the time) and most importantly, family time.

I know I'm supposed to write back about how it went. But honestly... it didn't. Jason and I got into a fight on the way back to the house. A big fight. And now I have no idea what's going on. So hopefully this will blow over, and everything will be fine in a bit, and Baby and I will work on out-of-cage time later this week. Hopefully.

I took Baby out of his cage today! And he was a perfect little angel for me. I don't have any sort of stand or playgym for him yet, so we used the back of a chair, and a table. We did target training, and step up/step down, and he went back in his cage without a fuss afterwards.

I asked Jason to make him a playstand for Christmas, but I'm thinking I'll make one myself in the next couple weeks. There's no reason to keep him locked up all the time if he's going to behave so well out of his cage, and it'd be nice to give him a little more freedom/space than a chair back. Next step -- get a spray bottle and see if he'll let me give him a "shower".

Corellas are ground feeders, and most will love to play on the floor... I posted this video in another thread, but this is Cory, my bare eyed cockatoo.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKh_5CHzJSk]Cory 2 - YouTube[/ame]

Good that you're building trust with him! I know it can be scary to handle them at first (first time I held my friends hyacinth I freaked right out! Lucky she is such a sweet creature.) Take it slow and be confident. Like horses, if you're frightened a parrot knows it, and if they realise you're frightened of THEM... Well, like horses again, some (many) will use it against you!

You're doing great, keep it up and I think you will make awesome progress over the next few weeks. Let the bird come to you, and take it one day at a time

Amber, we had a bit of a setback with the storm. I posted details about it over in General Parrot Information under the subject "Emergency Contingency Plans".

But on the other hand, I got my first nips the other day trying to refill his food dish in the travel cage (it's pretty big for a travel cage, but he likes sitting up front where the food and water dishes are), and I'm a lot less scared of being bitten now. I'm hoping that helps. Slow and confident... Well, I'm still working on both of those, but we're getting there slowly! And he's being pretty patient with me, considering my inexperience.

How adorable !
I love how Cory would tuck & roll !!!