New Cockatoo!

Hey yall. new to the forums and wanted help. Ok, im no way a stranger when it comes to birds. I got 2 conures, 2 cockatiels, and a indian ringneck and welcoming a new cockatoo to the flock. i had those 5 birds almost all my life and it feels brand new to me still. my cockatoo is 10 months old and is the sweetest thing ever. Any tips or suggestions you can give me for making her the happiest ? thanks in advance.

hey there! congrats on your new cockatoo . to keep her happy, give her lots to chew on, a roomy cage, fun toys, a balanced diet, and all your love . just be careful not to pet her down the back or overstimulate her, you don't want her to think of you as her mate. set rules for her and keep them, be firm but gentle. you will be a great cockatoo owner and she is lucky to have an owner like you! You may want to put her in your will, they can live very long and possibly outlive you. what kind of cockatoo is she, I'm sure she's gorgeous!

ann said:

hey there! congrats on your new cockatoo . to keep her happy, give her lots to chew on, a roomy cage, fun toys, a balanced diet, and all your love . just be careful not to pet her down the back or overstimulate her, you don't want her to think of you as her mate. set rules for her and keep them, be firm but gentle. you will be a great cockatoo owner and she is lucky to have an owner like you! You may want to put her in your will, they can live very long and possibly outlive you. what kind of cockatoo is she, I'm sure she's gorgeous!

Click to expand...

loll im aware of how long they live. she has a habit of going for my moles and pimples. how can i get her to stop without her hating me? lol i never had this problems with any of my other birds

hi, there! if any of my birds does something i don't like on me, i gently place them on the floor and quickly turn away. they get the idea that i will not tolerate that sort of attention. birds usually hate being on the floor because they feel vulnerable.

i give my birds multiple play areas like a java tree and playstand in my bedroom or kitchen. they seem to love watching whatever i do at home. also, rotating toys around every week helps keep the simulated. i leave the tv on for them when i'm gone so they have some sounds and won't feel so alone. giving different fresh food and treats every week... that's all i can think of right now.

what do currently do for your birds? i try to get them into foraging toys but they seem to look at me in this lazy way, like why work for food when it's in a bowl lol.

Conuregirl said:

hi, there! if any of my birds does something i don't like on me, i gently place them on the floor and quickly turn away. they get the idea that i will not tolerate that sort of attention. birds usually hate being on the floor because they feel vulnerable.

i give my birds multiple play areas like a java tree and playstand in my bedroom or kitchen. they seem to love watching whatever i do at home. also, rotating toys around every week helps keep the simulated. i leave the tv on for them when i'm gone so they have some sounds and won't feel so alone. giving different fresh food and treats every week... that's all i can think of right now.

what do currently do for your birds? i try to get them into foraging toys but they seem to look at me in this lazy way, like why work for food when it's in a bowl lol.

Click to expand...

Find out what their favorite food in the food bowl is and remove them .
Or , put a couple of REALLY GOOD treats in the foraging toy.
That may get them more interested in the toy.
I also put the foraging toy in the cage and let them play with it for a while.
( I made sure they weren't scared of it , they were used to seeing it )
Try the favorite foods and see what happens. If something doesn't work , try to slice food differently or place toy in a different spot.
For a short time ( like an 45 min or a hour ) you could remove all food and put some of the favs foods in the toy. That should get them interested in the toy enough to try to get the food out. But PLEASE don't forget to put their food dishes back in their cage once your done playing with them

#1 Don't let her on the floor. You will regret it later if you let her get into the habit of roaming around on the floor of her own free will. Structured floor play time isolated to a small area with you right there and actively playing with her might be okay. Letting her get down on her own...not so good. A lot of cockatoos get aggressive on the floor, plus they go looking for trouble and destroy stuff. If the bird matures and decides to attack someone in the home, then already being in the habit of getting down on the floor just gets rid of one psychological barrier to go and do it.

#2 Don't give her any more attention now than you anticipate giving later. No matter what your work and home situation is now, get her in the pattern of accepting whatever might be coming later. If you don't work out of the home now, get her used to being in her cage and entertaining herself for 8 hours alone now, that way if you have to work later, you don't have massive feelings of guilt and feel you need to rehome your bird because you can't maintain what you started today.

#3 Veggies every day or at least 5 days a week. Don't let her con you into thinking she will only eat seed and pellets. That is not a healthy diet long term. You gotta have the fresh and veggie component.

#4 Weigh your bird at least weekly at various times of day when you know its healthy so you know what a normal range is at various times of day and year. This will help you make decisions later and prevent you from coming onto a forum asking something like, 'My bird is sleeping more today should I be worried? ' Usually the first thing we ask is what is the weight. If sleepy and weight dropped, get her to the vet today. If just sleepy and no other symptom, maybe wait and see. There is no excuse for not weighing your bird with a digital gram scale often. Doing it every few months at the vet is not enough.

#5 Watch the rope and chain toys. More than a few inches of free chain or rope is a strangulation hazard. If you have any of those toys with soft pine hung on chain or rope and the bird chews off a bunch of wood while your gone, then you have huge uninterupted lengths of rope to hang itself on before you get home from work. Always watch those things and know your bird's playstyle.

#6 Don't get lulled into a false sense of security about your cockatoo's sweetness. Do not let it get into a habit of snuggling up next to your face. Facial bites are hard to forgive and usually come with massive feelings of betrayal, resentment and a rehomed bird.

Thanks for the info Melissa. There are times I forget the rules with my guys.
And the last thing I want is to create bad behavior in my fids.
I'm glad your here

I realize that having your bird close to your face, is a definite, no, no! I do let Mi Amigo cuddle with me close to my face, silly of me...but I trust him with my life, sorry.

When he gets too interested in my earrings, moles, eyelashes, ect.,, I put my hand up to block his move. These are amazingly intelligent birds and will pick up on your feelings.

earlier today she was passed out on my chest. i was laying down and she had her head on my chest lol it was awesome and cute

what kind of cockatoo is she

Teach her to play by herself...

Detharmy said:

earlier today she was passed out on my chest. i was laying down and she had her head on my chest lol it was awesome and cute

Click to expand...

Hi, how cute when they act like humans

shes an umbrella cockatoo. i have a couple of questions. My dog chews on toys, and then when he leaves my cockatoo, her name is Mariah, hopes down from her cage and goes for my dogs toys. Now can the saliva from the dog hurt her in any way? what if it dried on the toy? can bacteria hurt her?

and also, she scares me when she "displays". her crest will go up and she'll start flapping her wings and start making loud noises. should i be worried at all when she does this? will she bite me? her bites are not bites at all but she usually just firmly grips my fingers. im scared she'll take a chunk of skin off!

According to the bird list she has going, looks like an umbrella.

When the crest goes up, it can be a threatening move, it can mean that something just got her attention. The wing flapping with the crest up, feather's fluffed,,,she is trying to move something out of her territory, although this is also a before bedtime move and is normal, not to be afraid of. Being such a young bird, as she is, I may be way off-base, not sure. Mine is a grown male U2 and I'm very familiar with his body language.

Mare Miller said:

When the crest goes up, it can be a threatening move, it can mean that something just got her attention. The wing flapping with the crest up, feather's fluffed,,,she is trying to move something out of her territory, although this is also a before bedtime move and is normal, not to be afraid of. Being such a young bird, as she is, I may be way off-base, not sure. Mine is a grown male U2 and I'm very familiar with his body language.

Click to expand...

i get close whenever she displays that behavior and she doesnt lunge at me or anything. but one time my gf asked her for a kiss and she lunged at my gf and started putting up her crest. so now my gf wants nothing to do with her. :/

Detharmy said:

Now can the saliva from the dog hurt her in any way? what if it dried on the toy? can bacteria hurt her?

and also, she scares me when she "displays". her crest will go up and she'll start flapping her wings and start making loud noises. should i be worried at all when she does this? will she bite me? her bites are not bites at all but she usually just firmly grips my fingers. im scared she'll take a chunk of skin off!

Click to expand...

Keep her away from dog toys. Not unless they have not only beed dried off but disinfected with heat or bleach should she play with dog toys. I had grand plans once to get some stuffed dog toys for the birds. But somehow the dog always ends up with them and after they've been in a dog's mouth, no bird is allowed to touch.

The crest up strut around and scream is normal for cockatoos. She is blowing off steam and you can expect her to do that a few times a day. Yes, that is a time when she is possibly not in good control of herself and may bite. I can handle my sulfer crest when she is like that without fear of getting bit. Although if she does bite me when displaying, its my own stupid fault because I know its a risk. Every few years I'll miscalculate her level of excitement and she'll get me. My goffin's really can be aggressive during display mode. She'll go for my face if I'm not careful. Cassie goes through phases where she's pure sweetness and I can handle her no matter what. And other phases where just just a brat. If the crest is up, I keep my face averted.

Ask your girlfriend to not give up but be cautious, these birds can have a terrible bite! Seeing your bird is still so young, (mine is a mature male), I would hope there is still a chance of her being accepting of your girl friend. Ask her to help with feeding times and if possible, having alone time with the bird.

Parrots are notorious for being a one person bird. I have an umbrella and a goffins cockatoo. The umbrella, Amigo, I cannot trust around others. Our goffins, Sassy, likes all but loves my husband.

Listen to the posters above , their advice is gold
Also , not a good idea for your girlfriend to be asking for kisses , sorry hon .
But , if she wants to show affection , start by sitting near cage and talking to him.
Once they develop a relationship that way , offer treats and go from there. But I would never advise someone to put their face near a U2 or any bird for that matter.
If you do , which I must admit I do get up close to my guys , we take the risk of getting bit and possibly scarred. They are unpredictable animals and we do not understand all their body language . They give us proper warning most of the time , sometimes not.
You need to accept one major thing when you have birds , it's not IF you get bit , it's WHEN you get bit