Crabby Petey

I will give everyone an idea of the situation, me and my husband adopted an 18 year old male goffin cockatoo from a girl and said that she was Petey's 3 owner (I'm #4), and she couldn't keep him because he idn't get along with her female, and they would scream at each other ALL DAY! So we brought him home about 2 months ago and at first he was getting used to his new home and we could both pet him, he hardly talked or sqwauked, he would just kind of keep to himself. BUT NOW... he absolutely HATES me! In the morning when I open his cage and put his bar up to stand on, I have to watch myself because he will try to bite through the cage. But even when he is out of his cage (I can just walk by him) he will stretch as far as he can to bite me. He will take food from my hand sometimes, but a few days ago he went out of his way to lunge at our amazon and I pushed him away with his perch, and he kept trying to get back to my amazon! Our amazon was so scared, he didn't know what to do. So after that ordeal, my and my husband tried to work with him in the evening when he was most alert, but to no avail. About a week ago my husband was holding him while I was sitting on the couch holding the amazon and Petey lunged at the amazon again. So my husband picked up Petey to get him away and got bit (he bled EVERYWHERE!) Also, he will scream at the top of his lungs (only when I am the only one around) and he will not stop!!! I cant do anything with him because he is so aggressive, I am petrified of him and he knows it. After seeing what he did to my husband, I dont want to mess with him. Its so weird, he will show off when I am in the room but as soon as I tell my husband in the other room to come look what he's doing, he sees my husband peek around the corner, and will stop. I guess I just dont know what to do, I really dont want to get rid of him, especially because he's been through that 4 TIMES!!! I love him already but he is a danger to my other birds. What is the best way to train him? His cage isn't really big, I mean he has room to play around in there, and he is out most of the day, that wouldn't be a cause for his meanness would it? I am just frustrated, could someone please help me.

Bless you for trying to help this poor guy. I totally understand what you are going through and first off I must be honest. This goffin is not going to be easy to live with for the next year or so. As you already know he was a whole adult person before you got him. Goffins are brilliantly smart birds. My best advice is to read and watch everything our member Redballoon has put here. He has a home specialised to small cockatoos and he has a wonderful way of dealing with them.
In terms of your boy biting his favorite person, (your husband) he is showing what they call displaced agression. The easiest way for me to explain this is that male parrots will drive their mates away from perceived threats, to try and chase them to the nest cavity. This is why a yellow nape will sit on its beloved owners shoulder and bite their face when someone else approaches, displaced aggression.

I really hope you get some good advice here on how to deal with Petey. I am a first time BFA owner and don't know what to tell you other than I hope it all works out for your sake and especially for poor little Petey's sake.
Rhonda

When I first heard this is sounded quite a bit like a mate guarding situation just like zarafia stated with displaced aggression. However my first thought was the opposite of zarafia's (if I read Z's explanation correctly). It seemed to me that perhaps Petey has bonded with you hence his "showing off" when you are in the room.

There is no behavior problem that cant be solved with the right techniques and a little bit of time. It is however very hard to problem-solve something like this over a forum. You can learn much here, and as already stated RedBallon will hopefully be able to give some advice, but I'd recommend also getting in touch with a behaviorist in your area. Where abouts in michigan are you? If you are near WMU I could probably find a few recommendations (WMU has a very good behavior program).

I will definately look into reading Redballon's posts, hopefully there is something that will help us. I am up in Alpena Michigan, I dont think there is any behaviorists in my area, but I will look into it. Thank you for your suggestions, hopfully it works.

Cockatoos are a very different kind of bird.
Check out http://www.mytoos.com/forum/ubbthreads.php as this is a cockatoo forum with a lot of experienced cockatoo owners.

A lot of times a bird that has been rehomed several times will feel insecure and scared and BITE out of fear.

Health issues, diet, not enough sleep, boredom ETC. ETC. can cause a bird to act differently as well. HAS this bird been seen by an avian vet?

Have you thought about getting him a play stand that is seperate from his cage? I can't stress enough how important it is for birds to have other rooms and tree/play gyms to hang out on. If a bird is confined to their cage all day whether it is inside or outside of it they can become very cage aggressive.

I find that working with birds in neutral eares is best, and if you can not pick this bird up then stick train him.

By stick training I mean use a hand held perch to get him to step up.

Cockatoos really like to be with the family and can get bored easily ESPECIALLY a goffins. Goffins are very high energy birds that need lots of toys to keep them entertained.

Patience and time really is the key with some secondhand birds.
Don't give up just try different things with him.

Good Luck

There is a great book called "My Parrot My Friend" that helped me with my greater sulfer. She dosnt scream but bit and drew blood (stitches once) often What worked for us was a set of welders gloves and a spray bottle of water. She hated me wearing the gloves when we did one to one time and realized she didnt sense any fear from me and if she decided not to do what was expected she sprayed and returned to her cage. Screaming and being mean to my other birds meant being covered for ten mins.snarling or barking was to be ignored and no treats. Its a lot of work but well worth it.

I don't have much advice - as I've never dealt with cockatoos... wel except the one at the store that tries to bite me every once in a while...
The one thing I can say is - don't be afraid!
Birds sense fear - and when you're scared they feel insecure and will bite.
I WISH I had a video of this:
I was at a friends house and he has a Lovebird. He is scared of the bird because he is very nippy. He puts his hand in the cage, BITE! He was scared.
Me, not being scared as I did'nt think he bit much, put my hand in the cage... nothing happened.
It's a different bird, obviously, but it shows how much fright means.
This could even be why he sits with your husband - he isn't [wasn't] scared of him. If you aren't maybe he won't bit [as much]. Other than that, I HAVE heard of birds that favor males or females and hate all males or hate all females...
Come into the room with a fresh mind and don't have an ounce of fear. It helped me with a few birds. Walk slowly and be relaxed. Patience is key. With time and effort he will change! Good luck!
Let us know how everytihng goes!

I truly feel for u Jess. I own a Triton. I got him when he was 5 and I being his 5th owner. When u 1st got him he was probably mourning and just trying 2 figure out his pecking order before all h*** broke loose. Mine lasted only for 2 wks. He sees me as his mate and whenever ANYONE even steps into the room I'm in w/him he will start screaming. He's 12, now, w/very little change. Just recently I placed him w/a very reputable parrot shelter ran by a couple of wonderfully experienced ladies, just 2 see how he'd react if I should decide 2 find him another home. He was only there for 2 1/2 " weeks. I would keep in daily contact w/these ladies thru emails to see how he was doing. Each time these ladies would say "he's doing great...eating wonderfully...even squaking w/the rest of the parrots in the shelter. When I picked him up he was a complete bag of bones. His feathers were a mess looking unkempt. He started feather plucking. I left there w/him in a hurry daring them to take me to court for not paying for their services. Marco had been mourning me to the point of almost killing himself from starvation. As soon as I got him home I took him to his avian vet. She said he was severely undernourished, but overall fine. It's been a month, now, as he's back to clean health...eating wonderfully, and loving my attention. I, now, know that one..I missed him so bad , and two..couldn't get rid of him if I had to. He will forever remain a family member to our flock! I wish u the best w/Petey. Just hang in there and really welcome the help that members of this wonderful forum has to give u. I strayed away from here a couple years back, regretted every minute of it, but am now excited to return here...once again. They were a HUGE help to me w/Marco, as well.~~Dyanna

Jess I feel for you, honestly
Not familiar with the goffin cockatoo's
Below is a link I can across, explaining most of your concerns

http://www.birdtricks.com/Cockatoos/goffin-cockatoo.htmlin

Good luck