So I rescued a Goffen's cockatoo....

Hello all!
I am new to this awesome, and always interesting life with a Goffen's cockatoo. A dear friend was having some serious life struggles and my sweet little guy, Ruka, was suffering the results of them. (2 weeks in, around Christmas) He was underweight, nearly plucked bald, and was self mutilating. So, she had begged me to please take her bird, as I have rescued a multitude of animals my entire life. I have never had a indoor bird. I have had chickens, guineas, turkeys, and emus.....but never anything like my sweet Ruka. So, on December 15th I went to get this guy. As stated before, the situation was not good. But he came with a huge cage, it's about 5 ft tall, and 3 to 4 foot wide, with lots of perches.....all dirty and no toys. He was a sad little man that would hang on the side of his cage for days by his beak they said. So I loaded him up and brought him home and we have been a work in progress ever since. Thanks to Google, my new friend Dr. Moore our avian vet, and my mother, we have made great strides. He had been on an entirely seed diet, we have that to 80/20 pellet to seed, and he has been learning to love fresh foods. He has not mutilated since December, and his feathers are making a fantastic comeback. His attitude is vastly improved and he is a happy little guy. We have a long way to go to be perfect, but we are on our way and enjoying the trip.
I have wrote all this to get to this point. Ruka still bites his feathers off, like in halfs, and takes the bitten off half, or piece, and tries to restick it someplace else on himself. He does this a lot. I keep his cage, inside and on top, full of toys, puzzle types and ones to destroy. I am home most all the time, and he rarely has to spend many hours in his cage unless it is nightime. He is able to go in and out as he pleases if I am at home. Since I am home, he gets lots of love and attention all day. I understood right away he is a social guy, so I set him up in in my kitchen area which overlooks the living and dining room, which is where all the action happens here. He gets all the attention from our friends and family. He is fully covered at night.
My question is what, if anything, can I do to break this habit that I am not already doing? Our avian vet said he is doing great and to be proud of our progress, but I wish we could get past this last bad habit. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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Congrats on your beautiful new baby!

Plucking is very complicated and multifaceted. I've had quite a few pluckers and there are so many different causes. It sounds like he is barbering his feathers, which may actually be habitual after plucking for so long. There is an adrenaline rush and hormonal rush when plucking and he may be addicted to it. There are some excellent threads here on plucking and I recommend taking a look around.

Welcome! We are glad to have you!

Welcome to the Parrot Forums!

Speaking in general terms; adding or increasing misting, which is always sprayed into the air above and allow to fall gently from above (like rain) or bathing, their own low and wide bowl to family showers may help.

Also, blending into your home may also act as a distraction, which comes with time.

The specifics of Goffen's is best handled by members with direct knowledge.

Please take the time to visit the Too Forum and read the Threads there for additional input!

Once again, welcome to the Parrot Forums and the photos of your new sweetheart!

Thank you for the info, Brittany! Our avian vet mentioned the adrenaline rush too. I will start checking out the plucking threads now. And thank you for the compliments on Ruka! He is an awful handsome little guy. He has me wrapped around his little birdie finger😉.

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A warm welcome to you and Ruka! We're happy to have you here.

I wholeheartedly agree with your Avian vet, you and Ruka have made amazing progress in just a few short months. He looks very handsome in his newly grown feathers. Thank you for helping your human friend and adopting a forever friend.

Good care, company and a healthy diet makes a tremendous difference, it's obvious Ruka is thriving already. Plucking is a hard habit to break, it's common for birds to continue some form of the habit long after the serious plucking has stopped. It sounds like you're doing everything right, it may just be a matter of more time. Frequent baths and lots of positive interaction and activities will help to distract him.

Enjoy the journey. Looking forward to hearing more from you and Ruka.

Thank you so much for rescuing Ruka! I absolutely adore Goffins - so much so that I have 2 wild-caught parents and 3 of their hand-fed offspring.

His large cage is an asset as they love a roomy habitat and enjoy chewing wood toys. You seem to have covered every possible aspect for happiness, but plucking/mutilation can be tough to eradicate. As others have mentioned, it can become an essential habit bordering on compulsion. At this point frequent bathing and distraction may be best.

Some of the fresh foods nearly all of my Goffins enjoy are peas, lima beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, black eye peas, corn, (given sparingly) endamame, Apple, orange, pomegranate seeds, melon and seeds, green/yellow/red peppers, pear, banana, cooked whole-wheat spiral noodles, some squash, sweet potato and yams. They are all given the same items repeatedly because some foods tossed out can, one day, be tried and enjoyed!

There are also genetic and behavioral variances even among siblings. My middle baby, now 19, often barbers compulsively. Identical diet, housing, environment, and level of attention.

Does Ruka enjoy cuddling? An interesting behavior is a twirling dance! 3 out of 5 break into this hilarious ritual for no apparent reason!!

Welcome to the forum! I "had" a Goffin 'too until recently.. Jonesy did the same thing your Ruka is doing..chomping a feather off then trying to stick it back somewhere else. Since Jonesy was my first ever 'Too, I don't know if this is normal behavior or not.
We have a member "Scott" and he has 5 or 6 Goffins! <God bless ya Scott!> and I'm sure he can give any info you might need. Hopefully he will see this post and chime in.
Good luck with Ruka,and judgeing by his pictures,it looks to me you are doing a great job with him. I will say,Goffins are VERY loveable,charming,needy,friendly <at least Jones was> and quite the little mischief makers!


Jim

We added extra lighting in the Bird room .My plucking Ruby macaw let her feathers grow back.I'm sure it had something to do with the lighting.I would try really lighting up the room with "safe lighting" It can't hurt.

Allee said:

A warm welcome to you and Ruka! We're happy to have you here.

I wholeheartedly agree with your Avian vet, you and Ruka have made amazing progress in just a few short months. He looks very handsome in his newly grown feathers. Thank you for helping your human friend and adopting a forever friend.

Good care, company and a healthy diet makes a tremendous difference, it's obvious Ruka is thriving already. Plucking is a hard habit to break, it's common for birds to continue some form of the habit long after the serious plucking has stopped. It sounds like you're doing everything right, it may just be a matter of more time. Frequent baths and lots of positive interaction and activities will help to distract him.

Enjoy the journey. Looking forward to hearing more from you and Ruka.

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Hello Allee,
Thank you so much for welcoming Ruka and I to your group, and for the wonderful information as well. I am extremely excited to have such caring and knowledgeable bird people to learn from.
You mentioned frequent bathing, and this is something we are also working on. When he first came home, he would only bathe in his small water dish, and only when I am vacuuming. Lol. He could barely get his feet and head wet, and he was a dirty mess. So, I have started using a small mister that sprays a fine mist on him when he starts to bathe himself, while running the vacuum in the other hand (I have a cordless Dyson). It took several attempts to get him used to it, but he loves it now and he usually wants to bathe at least once a week. I want to eventually be able to let him get in the shower and enjoy some real water time, but he is a bit of a fraidycat, and takes a good while to warm up to things. For example, the first week he was home I had a miniture powdered donut in my hand while walking through the kitchen to the living room. You know, the little white powdered ones. Well, he screamed like a little girl, ran across the top of his cage and jumped off, kamikaze style, into the floor. Its about a 5 and a half foot fall, so it scared us both, but then I had to laugh. Never a dull moment around this guy. And he is such a snuggler. Loves to put his head between his legs and laugh at me. He is such a joy to have in our lives. I couldn't imagine life without him now!

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When I first adopted Jonesy <a.k.a. The Cockatoo Man...which he called himself> after my grey passed away..I got him when he was as bald as Ruka was. Jonesy came from my ex girl friends brother,who also has a M2,and Pookie <the M2> and Jones didn't see "eye to eye" lol and started to pluck himself silly.
After I had him for about a month or so,he just started a dramatic change. I really didn't DO anything,except the norm..gave him a healthy diet, he loved his veggies and fruits..a good bath every week or two..and lots of time out of his house.
He made fast friends with Amy,and his feathers just started to grow back in. I'm guessing he was just really stressed out at his former home.

He did have a terrible habit tho. If he was on my shoulder,while I played cribbage or backgammon with my g.f. he would just start yoinking out his little fluff feathers. By the end of the evening the kitchen floor looked like it snowed under my chair! :11:
I thought he'd go bald,but he didn't leave any bare spots..maybe the fluff was irritating him? I have no clue.

Jim

Hi Koriekorie and welcome to you and the Adorable Ruka. I know you will get lots of help from the Cockatoo paronts here...I know nothing about cockatoos but I did read something interesting on another thread here on the forum and I forget where I read it or which type of parrot it referred to but the parrot in question was plucking its feathers and after a test was done for yeast by their Avian Vet it was determined that this was what was causing the feather plucking. Has your vet done a test for yeast ...this may or may not be helpful in your case but I thought I would mention it here just in case . I hope you find answers to your problem but like others and your vet have said you have done an amazing job and Ruka looks so happy with you and is thriving in your care. Well Done

Hi KorieKorie, I am in no way an expert in toos, my only encounter with a Goffins was in a bird Park, he was let loose because of his being very tame, and when he saw me he flew to my chest and hugged me. I hugged him back a long time, and it was amazing. Since then Goffins are my dream bird.

I keep small birds but I often birdsit for a friend who has many of the bigger species together with smaller ones. I learned almost instantly that if I give them strips of paper they will pick one and "decorate" themselves placing the paper between their own feathers, a bit like extensions. I think they do it to prettify themselves.

Maybe if you try to give him a few strips, you'll see if he does the same, and if it works he might decide that paper strips are more effective than broken half feathers.

Thank you for giving him a happy and stable home, and congratulations for the progress! He really is gorgeous and I'm a bit envious... Maybe one day I'll be able to rescue one myself

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Barbixx said:

Hi KorieKorie, I am in no way an expert in toos, my only encounter with a Goffins was in a bird Park, he was let loose because of his being very tame, and when he saw me he flew to my chest and hugged me. I hugged him back a long time, and it was amazing. Since then Goffins are my dream bird.

I keep small birds but I often birdsit for a friend who has many of the bigger species together with smaller ones. I learned almost instantly that if I give them strips of paper they will pick one and "decorate" themselves placing the paper between their own feathers, a bit like extensions. I think they do it to prettify themselves.

Maybe if you try to give him a few strips, you'll see if he does the same, and if it works he might decide that paper strips are more effective than broken half feathers.

Thank you for giving him a happy and stable home, and congratulations for the progress! He really is gorgeous and I'm a bit envious... Maybe one day I'll be able to rescue one myself

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What a touching story! Goffins stole my heart long ago. I hope you will one day know the joys of companionship with a Goffin!

Clever idea, I will try your suggestion with mine!!

So funny about ruka being a scaredy cat.... our new bird Ace is just like that. Gradually trying to desensitize him