Separate a pair of goffins

I am the third home for a male and female Goffin. I have had them 8 years and They are about 20 years old. They were used as breeders in a very bare small cage when I bought them on Craigs List. They now live in a large cage I built for them. They seem to like each other. The male is protective of the female and I have never seen aggression toward her. The female is super tame and likes to come out of the cage and lets me hold her.

Here is the problem. The male is a complete jerk and bites me every chance he gets. And now he has taken to screaming. He always did it a little but it’s excessive now and he won’t stop. I would like to get rid of him and keep the female and have her as more a part of the family (they live outside right now). I know he is the only one screaming because I watch them through the window.

My question is would it be detrimental for them to be separated?

Jenj3n said:

I would like to get rid of him

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I will refrain from saying anything else, just that I wish him lots of luck.


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A tough situation. The two are likely bonded, though that can change on a dime. Do you have a nest box attached to the cage?

One reason for the aggression is he sees his mate bonding with you. It is possible the screaming is a delayed response to his frustration. I understand you'd give him similar privileges were he better mannered. Do you feel it is possible to work with him (bite pressure training) and change behavior? Honestly, after eight years, it would be most respectful to work with him rather than discard. Separation might cause both significant harm.

I have a similar situation except the pair have been with me 32 years. The female is almost as tame as her 3 offspring and the male is more reserved and prone to biting. They were separated when he became terribly aggressive toward her after 25 years together in my home, with another 10 years with prior family. Their complete story here: http://www.parrotforums.com/incredi...ries-bird-lovers/65252-my-goffins-family.html

Short answer is NO. You don't break up a breeding mating pair, especially when the male not aggressive to the female. Doing so will cause to much stress and likely they will start plucking and other destructive behavior. Plus birds can die of a broken heart. The only time I separate a mated pair is if I see aggression towards each other. That a whole another topic in its own.

When dealing with Cockatoo is hard enough, but you are dealing with a breeding pair of cockatoos? It takes a lot of experience, way more then I can tell you in this thread. If you had them for 8 years and male still not tame and bonding to you. Then you are doing something very wrong. Being a trainer I dealt with some of the most aggressive birds wild caught and will not only bite but latch on. Same birds people had for years and could not tame, or even get out of cage for years I had them stepping up in about a week.

Question is what are you doing wrong? Could be lack of attention and more attention to his mate. It could be you are just to scared of him and shows fear and he knows that if he bites, "you will go away". In turn getting what he wants. Usually what I refer to as cage aggression. He so use to being in his cage and is his territory, he bites anyone that goes near and rarely want to explore and come out? Usually you have to let him come out and close cage door and start interacting with him outside cage, or if he won't come out, go to stick and clicker target training to distract him from biting you and slowly tricking him to stepping up on you. You can try treats to get him out but 9 times out of 10 when they are cage aggressive , it likely won't work and stick training usually works well, as you are essentially distracting him from biting you? You can use a perch, or stick to get him to step onto for know and slowly get him away from cage. It easier to tame and train him when he out of his "safe spot" IE his cage. You can also put his mate the female across from him so he want to go to her and will likely leave cage to go near her. Trick is you have to find a way to get him away from his cage. Moving cage to different room sometimes works as well. You are going to have to find a way to tame him enough and then bond to him a different way till you find something that works. The more he see you the more he get that he going to have eventually bond to you and won't get his way.

The worst thing you can do is to separate them. If you don't have the time and patience, then it best to re-home them both. If it just lack of experience, then go to a rescue and get advise, or find someone in your area that will work with you on training them and you?

Yes when dealing with a mated pair, the male is usually more aggressive toward others and even other birds. My male umbrella Cockatoo Cooper would try to chase my little corella cockatoo Frankie away and start flapping wings and getting bigger with wings out to show off to him. It took me a couple of weeks to work it out with him enough to where I can keep Frankie in the same room. What funny is when I told Cooper it not good to be jealous, he told me "Yes I can". Right now is currently mating season, so they are even more hormonal and be harder to handle, even through females birds are the worst as they consider everything below and hidden a good spot for a nest. With all that said my male umbrella Cockatoo Cooper is the most behaved for the most part and usually the only one that sit on my shoulder, or stand when working and doesn't get into much trouble. My female bird want to play with and destroy stuff 24/7 if it was up to her

Thanks for the great information. They are in an outdoor cage. 6x6x6. Lots of space. I did try the nest box with them. Male chewed it and got inside, the female just stood and watched. She wasn’t interested.... at all, so removed it because honestly I really don’t want more birds

As far as trying to tame him....I haven’t really tried to socialize him, seeing he is in such a large outdoor cage with Unclipped wings, I have to get him out with a net.. and that is a total ordeal! I understand if he flys away he probably will not live.

For the person being judgy about me wanting to get rid of him.... I got them from a lady living in squalor feeding them only rice and beans.. they lived in a dirty old breeding cage in the desert under a tarp I am not perfect, but it is way better than what they had. The reason I am on this forum and asking is because I want to to do the best thing for them.

Jenj3n said:

Thanks for the great information. They are in an outdoor cage. 6x6x6. Lots of space. I did try the nest box with them. Male chewed it and got inside, the female just stood and watched. She wasn’t interested.... at all, so removed it because honestly I really don’t want more birds

As far as trying to tame him....I haven’t really tried to socialize him, seeing he is in such a large outdoor cage with Unclipped wings, I have to get him out with a net.. and that is a total ordeal! I understand if he flys away he probably will not live.

For the person being judgy about me wanting to get rid of him.... I got them from a lady living in squalor feeding them only rice and beans.. they lived in a dirty old breeding cage in the desert under a tarp I am not perfect, but it is way better than what they had. The reason I am on this forum and asking is because I want to to do the best thing for them.

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it doesn't seem like it going to be easy. I would get a couple indoor Prevue cages and a T stand. The other option is to clip him for now, to where he can glide down, but not takeoff. This way you don't have to net him every time and way less stressful. If you do have to grab him use a towel, so he see the towel as a predator and not your hand. Getting them indoors would be best option for now as you can work on training them and they get use to you be around them, then don't have to forcefully grab him every time making it easier for him eventually step up and to bond to you. Plus it get him to a unfamiliar area and he will adapt to you easier be more willing to step up and quicker as you eliminate the cage aggression. Then you can use treats to lure him, or stick training to distract him. When outdoor very hard to train as your not around him and to many dangers such as escaping and etc.

Rice and beans as main diet in dirty small cage, I just don't get people?

Goffins can be tamed, or at least have the worst instincts corrected over time, sometimes rather quickly. They are intelligent and extremely observant. Superb fliers, a moderate clip before working intensely may be invaluable.

Quick story: My first-born Goffins baby, now an adult, had a severe molt and hormonal blitz 2 years ago. He's the sweetest and most bonded of them all, but was out of control. Took him to the vet for a well check, no problems. But the vet suggested a one-time clip for attitude adjustment, and it worked phenomenally well. First and hopefully last clip!

definitely don't split them up as that's going to be hard on both of them and can really cause some trouble. Unfortunately his DNA is screaming at him to be wary and afraid, so you can't blame him for being scared and lashing out, as much as it does hurt.

Immediately stop netting him because that's just traumatizing him. Sit by the aviary and talk to him, read a book, write some emails, have a sandwich. Just spend time with him so he can see more and more you're not a threat. offer him some of his favourite treats. If you can get in the aviary with him and just wait it out, given some time and patience he should warm up to you and figure out "hey this weird pink thing is alright" Even if he's stand-offish and not a cuddly bird he can be at a point where he's okay with you around

For clarification I have only taken him out twice with the net. I know he hates it and doesn’t want out, so I keep him where he is happy

The aviary is off the ground, I can’t get in there.

The rest is great advice. Thanks