New Cockatoo Owner Questions

Hi I have a 5yo cockatoo who keeps pacing and I was wondering if that was normal since I've had him for 4 days? Also, Henry when he's nice and calm we let him come up on us and he immediately goes up on our shoulder. He bit the side of my moms face close to her eye and he has bit my arm once. He doesn't show any signs that he will bite like squinting his eyes, fluffing his feathers or hissing. What do we do to get him to stop turning on us? I do understand we are still trying to know him and he's been passed on to a few homes but I don't want to give up on him this early. Thank you

Re: Puffing up when I come home

RachelP said:

Hi I have a 5yo cockatoo who keeps pacing and I was wondering if that was normal since I've had him for 4 days? Also, Henry when he's nice and calm we let him come up on us and he immediately goes up on our shoulder. He bit the side of my moms face close to her eye and he has bit my arm once. He doesn't show any signs that he will bite like squinting his eyes, fluffing his feathers or hissing. What do we do to get him to stop turning on us? I do understand we are still trying to know him and he's been passed on to a few homes but I don't want to give up on him this early. Thank you

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Welcome to the forum!

Toos need a lot of stimulation, and LOTS of toys to chew on. (Bird safe wood and similar toys.) Look up training methods here and there is a lot of information on how to teach a bird to step up, but you also need to "bond" with the bird, earn his trust, and set firm rules. All these things take time.

And for starters I wouldn't let him on your shoulder at all.

Henry the Cockatoo

Hi! I got my cockatoo about 4 days ago and his name is Henry. He's 5yo and when we take him out when he's calm he immediately climbs onto your shoulder. He has bit close to my moms eye and my arm. He doesn't show any signs that he will bite. Do you have any advice on how to prevent this? Thank you!

Welcome to the forums, Rachel and Henry!

Patience, Henry is probably very confused and feeling defensive. Four days is no time at all to adjust to everything new. As ToMang07 mentioned, Henry needs to gain trust and start to form a bond with you before you expect too much. Focus on his diet, make him comfortable, get to know him and learn his likes and dislikes.

I wouldn't let him run up anyone's arm or sit on anyone's shoulder until you know him far better.

Enjoy your new friend.

Is he pacing back and forth in the cage? My birds do this when they want out.

I would never allow any large bird on my shoulder period, especially a Cockatoo! Trench carefully with a Cockatoo as they can be quite problematic when they're being denied from doing something they want. This was how the attacks started with the U2 we used to have. I blocked him from coming up to my face to cuddle under my chin, that's when he started attacking me. Plus you've only had him for 4 days so he haven't shown his full color yet. Be real careful!!!!

Congratulations on your new 'too! The first thing I'd tell any new cockatoo owner is that they can be explosively temperamental. My U2 can go from statue mode to full on displaying and screaming in 30 seconds, and then back. You've only had him for four days so be aware he will adjust, and that most cockatoos want to be included in everything you do. When Tiki came home he was very similar, but after talking to him (even when out of the room) and giving him his space he started coming over to spend time with us.

Being on the shoulder is, in a 'too's mind, a dominance thing. Be careful allowing your bird up there, or anywhere above you (bird hierarchy being "I'm higher than you, therefore better than you). What kind of cockatoo is he? I know from experience that once Tiki developed a bond with us he's virtually inseparable from us - they don't call them 'velco birds' for nothing!

Iholm5,

You know the funny thing is my Lesser too, she's complete opposite. I taught her to play on her own and she does. She doesn't velcro to us what so ever. But the U2 that we had before was like that. I guess she's a special too.....

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to give everybody an update of how Henry is doing. He's great, not totally perfect but he has made some awesome improvements. In this past week I've been able to pet him longer and longer without being bit. He still gets nervous with some things but he and I are building each others trust gradually. He's lifting his wings for me to scratch him which means he's learning to trust more and he makes himself laugh a lot lol. Thank you to those who have reassured me that it does take time because this is his third home.

Glad to hear it! Any pics of the bugger yet?

PS.... Willow says hi!

RachelP said:

Hi I have a 5yo cockatoo who keeps pacing and I was wondering if that was normal since I've had him for 4 days? Also, Henry when he's nice and calm we let him come up on us and he immediately goes up on our shoulder. He bit the side of my moms face close to her eye and he has bit my arm once. He doesn't show any signs that he will bite like squinting his eyes, fluffing his feathers or hissing. What do we do to get him to stop turning on us? I do understand we are still trying to know him and he's been passed on to a few homes but I don't want to give up on him this early. Thank you

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When I first adopted Jonesy,he did that CONSTANTLY for hours on end. Literally drove me coo-coo. He'll settle down.

Jim

I showed a picture of willow to Henry and he said "hello, whooooo!" Hahahaha so cute. I tried sending a picture but it wouldn't let me copy and paste it. How did you do it?

Rachel, you can either add the pic to your album or, my option of choice, add the pic to your Photobucket account, copy the link for that page, press the image icon on your Parrot Forums reply window, and paste the link into the drop down window. (Also, make sure your Photobucket settings aren't set to private.)

RachelP said:

I showed a picture of willow to Henry and he said "hello, whooooo!" Hahahaha so cute. I tried sending a picture but it wouldn't let me copy and paste it. How did you do it?

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Here you go. http://www.parrotforums.com/technical-support/6287-how-post-pictures.html

Just wanted to let you know that you aren't alone! I don't have any words of wisdom - I'm figuring this out as I go.

We've had Sucre for 2 weeks now, and we're still working on the aggression issues. This is his 3rd home. He was abused and exposed to drugs, so I have my work cut out for me.

I'm glad to hear you are making progress.

We're having a little showdown tonight. I've been home all day, but had people here working on my satellite / internet, and I've been really busy cleaning, doing laundry and hand feeding 3 lovebirds and a parrotlet. I still don't trust Sucre enough to let her out when I am not keeping a close eye on her - I have 2 small dogs and she really has it out for my Chihuahua, and I didn't want the people working on my satellite to get bit running in and out.

She's really bonded with my husband, and he was gone all day. We're going through a phase right now to where she does not want me sitting on the couch with him - we were on opposite ends about an hour ago and she completely ran over and attacked me. (I had to get my tetanus shot updated day two of Sucre!)

When this happened, we scolded her - she seems to understand NO, but was really hard to calm down (I wish I knew exactly what she was saying!) We put her back in the cage and she screamed for an hour. Now she is behaving totally normal.

We'd had several what I would call good days in a row, and now I feel like we've taken several steps backward.

Hi Kim!

I think it will just take some time. I've had Henry for just over a month now and this is his third home. His first week at home was stressful for the both of us. Once he realizes he is home now he will calm down. From not holding Henry at all the first week to sitting with him for 15 minutes now is an amazing improvement for the both of us. I understand how you feel. Just give Sucre some time to adjust. I know its hard and it may seem frustrating but patience is needed. Tell me how everything goes.

Rachel

Sucre was great the first week! It was after she latched on to my husband that everything changed. She / he (not sure, was told it was a female but I am almost certain it's a male) thinks my hubby is the perfect mate, too, and I am in the way. But, we had a rough 48 hours or so but she has calmed down in the past two days. She still wants to be aggressive towards me, but now she can be stopped without going completely off the deep end. We're getting there. We're changing our behavior and hers is changing, too. My husband is no longer giving her full body massages! That's what started the whole problem! We are trying to fix the past that she came from, and make her feel comfortable. She had way too much freedom - her cage wasn't even assembled when we picked her up. I have other pets and we're still in the adjustment phase, so I am not comfortable with her having free run of the house all of the time.

I'm glad things are going so much better for you and Henry! That gives me hope!

Petting under the wings could be a sexual thing... and I would recommend to refrain from petting anywhere other than the head....


Lara Joseph and Barbara Heidenreich are both fantastic trainers! They have some great blogs full of information!

Hello everyone! Henry is amazing me with the amount of stuff he has learned and in such a short amount of time. However, his nails are getting a little longer now and it's getting closer to trim them. We don't feel comfortable taking him away from home yet because we have finally gained his trust so we got one of those pet nail filers but when we turned it on he freaked out and started to panic. Does anybody have any suggestions about how to do this without getting bit? We also got him one of those nail filing perches but that can only do so much because he's not on it all the time. His vocabulary is getting so much better and he gets so excited when I get home from work. Thank you!

We've had Rocky 10 months and he JUST graduated to very limited shoulder privileges. I think we know each other well enough now that I can tell if he's in a mellow "wanna cuddle" mood, which is likely to stick for a while, or a "I'll pretend to want to cuddle and lull you into a false sense of security" sort of mood, where he might go from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye. It takes a long time to really get to know a 'too, and for them to really trust you, so don't be in a hurry.