Help! Trying to figure my baby out before it's too late

Ecles

New member
Sep 27, 2011
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Hi all,

I have past experience with conures and ecclectus, but recntly found myself with a young female cockatoo whose behavior is perplexing me. I am afraid she might be at risk for developing bad behaviors like creaming, biting, etc, etc, and want to get her on the right track by understanding what's making her tick and what she needs.

She came from a place that sold her 'just weened, hand fed.' I checked them out online and it looks like a place that puts baby cockatoos into batches of yogurt cups and 'handfed them' factory style. sort of the bird rendition of a puppy mill. She's not completely asocial -- when on the floor she will follow me around the house and look for me, she'll try to climb up my arm to my shoudler if I let her (I don't let her because of the weird biting). About 1/3 the time she'll step up if I offer a hand or arm. But the other 2/3 she'll either 1 - lunge bite/chew while making little 'wawawawawa' noises or 2 - make those little wawawawawawawawawa noises while swaying back and forth, as if eyes glazed over, head a bit back (sometimes down), rocking back and forth on the perch and sometimes turning her back to me while she does this. Sometimes she'll fluff up a little while doing this, bt I don't think its aggression - more like she hasn't a clue what to do with herself, or some kind of chick thing. generally if I"m in front of her, she starts up the wawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawaaaaaaaaaa business, but stops if she's exploring, following me or (sometimes only) if she's perched on me. What is the cause of this wawawawawa biting, glazing-refusal business, and how is best to steer this to better behavior?:white1:
 

Kalidasa

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May 8, 2013
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2 male budgies (Charlie and Diego)
It may be she has regressed a bit and wants to be handfed again. I'm no expert, but what you're describing sounds like that might be part if it. Has she been to the vet yet?
 

Pinkbirdy

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Feb 26, 2013
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macaw,LS2,congo grey,2Blk Hd caiques,Hawkhead,yellowstrk lory,Blue frnt amazon,sun conure ,Yellow sided greencheek ,Goffin ,Rosebreasted Cockatoo,Greenwing Macaw,Blue and Gold Macaw,Nanday conure,Ecle
Kalidasa {is right] Sounds like shes "baby begging". She could have regressed or wasn't properly weaned. Ive had 4 Toos in my life. What I would do is try to rewean her [read up on it . while offering real foods. Set a schedule with out of cage times and time out with you [and stick with it ].Encourage toys [try all kinds see what works . One of mine wants to shred boxes and newspaper its a big mess but hes happy. I think the trick with Toos is that you want them to become a confident bird that they can count on things in their environment.If you don't they can become very needy.
 

Mike17

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Aug 12, 2013
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Alex- Eclectus, Ariel- whiteface, Junior- pied, Custard-lutino, Ziggy- pearl cockatiels, Kermit- Princess parrot, Jade- Plumhead parrot, George- budgie, Coco- Rainbow lorikeet, Corey-Little Corella.
I agree, sounds like it isn't weaned and wants to be fed baby food. I'm no expert but would think it would hurt to feed baby with formula from a spoon or syringe. It's a good way to help them bond, in any case- our older birds will gather around the syringe if there is anything left over from feeding our baby tiels.
 

Juliejet

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Jan 25, 2014
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Sydney AU
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Red tail Black Cockatoo
Hi Ecles
I have the same problem with my black cockatoo(Jet) he is 5 months old I have had him for 6 weeks no problems at first eating ok I have tried so much to redirect the crying he has been to the vet and is healthy but could put on more weight I'm at my wits end.I was wondering now it's been a few months with your Too how is your little girl going ,did you sort out the crying if so what did you do,hoping you can help

Juliejet
 

Empath

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Jul 8, 2013
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1 Eclectus
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1 Quaker
1 Gold Capped Conure
1 Musk Lorikeet
1 Olive Musk Lorikeet
1 Yellow Sided Green Cheek
1
I agree everyone else, either not quite weaned or regressing a little.

Juliejet, I have a female redtail black which had crying behaviors for ages. She was apparently 12 months when I got her which means she should have been weaned.

Took ages for her to stop whinging. Years later I spoke to someone who owned a shop about it. He had bred RTBs and he was off they opinion they take a good year to wean fully. He said they'll crack seeds and feed themselves but in the wild they'll still follow their parents around crying for food/attention for a year.

Looking back I think that's what mine was doing. Even though she was self sufficient she wanted that attention from being fed
 

txwaterlily

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Aug 11, 2013
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My goffin is 8 months old and still cries for baby food...and I give it too him. I read that they tend to be more stable if you do hand feed them when they want it rather then force weaning them and making them fend for themselves...Plus the bonding is always a good thing.
 

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