Discouraged...fact or fiction please...

[Sadie13]

Thanks so much guys! i did bust out laughing at a good amount of these posts, the others made me feel a lot more confident and lucky to have found this forum!
You have no idea how much this has meant to me and like i said i did re-evaluate our friendship and i really don't need his hard times and negativity going towards me, especially at such a great point i feel like i have made it to in my life.
I love my birds and i really can't wait to add another to the joy i get from caring for them.
Thinking about it now, i have been through way more things in my life and walked out stronger and with a little more understanding a patience. (ex my daughters tough road to a diagnosis and disability/ the untimely death of both of my parents, just to name a few) and i don't think a quirky little cockatoo will be any different. We will both learn and live great lives together through all of its challenges!

I had a person here today for a carpet estimate (new carpet Monday YAY). She was wanting a parrot. She held my mango beak as red seems to be a bit more shy... she was loving him up and asking us to take pictures of her with him on her phone. i was so proud! He is such a people parrot and i know it has a lot to do with how we raised him

You guys are angels for making me feel better! So happy to hear from all the competent parrot owners out there that it isn't like that at all!
And thanks MikeyTN for the noise/house ratio, no cop cars here lol!
I can't wait until she is home so we can prove him wrong!

 

[coltfire]

What a load of crap ,that is no friend . I've grown up with toos all my life and im getting old now.they xan be noisy but so can a lot of other birds. Come to my house and see how noisy it is,I have 22 birds of my own and another 80 wild toos I feed . blacks, sulpha crested, goffins.and rb2s oh and the king parrots. And I find it music to my ears not noise

 

[Empath]

i cant really disagree with anything anyone else has written. whilst some species are more prone to specific behavioral issues than others it doesnt mean they all turn out like that.

i've owned 3 sulphur cresteds in my time. one has severe behavioural problems with screaming but i suspect he was encouraged to do these behaviours given i've struggled for 12 months to break him out of these patterns. he is better than when i first got him but he is very challenging. I also have another sulphur crested at present who's nowhere near as bad. she has picked up on freddy's bad traits but 99% of the time she's quiet

my first too (who unfortunately flew away a few years ago) was the quietest bird i've ever owned. he only ever screamed if there was something upsetting him or he was responding to a wild cocky. he didnt care about contact calling me, and he never screamed for the sake of it.

if you're willing to work with a bird i believe you can get reasonable behaviours out of them. if you treat them like crap they'll act that way as well. some cockatoos can be very loud but that doesnt mean they'll "torture" your kids or that you'll necessarily get noise complaints.

your "friend" think's they're an expert. plenty of people on here already have experiences which differ with his. my experiences are mine, doesnt mean they'll be the same for you, but they do suggest different experiences to your friends.

about the only bird i'm not convinced this advice applies to is Major Mitchell cockatoo's. after talking to breeders and a parrot behaviourist i believe these birds do not make good companion birds past a few years

 

[Sadie13]

Thank you coltfire, i did listen to a bunch of clips of them screaming, playing and showing off. None of it seemed terrible...loud, but nothing that made me feel like i would want to rip my ears off.

Empath, i appreciate it. I did look at a bunch of cockatoos that i didnt think would be a good match for us. I chose the sulur crested for many reasons. I think an umbrella or a mullocan would be way more than i could handle The breeder i am getting her from also mentioned that they only breed the smaller toos because they seem to work out better as family members in the long run and they only want to sell birds that they are confident will stay in their first home forever. I dont know how accurate it is, but i am prepared for worst case scenario either way!

 

[Empath]

Sadie, i've seen and heard the best and worst of their screaming. it is loud when they want it to be. but like i said 2/3 of mine have been pretty good, only 1 is bad (and yes when he goes off he's really bad) BUT that 1 has obviously come from a dysfunctional home(s).

yours has a good home, that doesnt guarantee you'll get a quiet bird but i'd be very surprised if yours ever got out of control unless you encouraged it/abused/neglected it

 

[brittani299]

I went to the bird store that is great by me last night. I was pretty interested in buying a galah in the next year or so. He he said very similar things to me. He said he would never sell a cockatoo to someone. He said them are way to needy and they require way to much work. He said he will never sell one is his store. I am not sure if I am scared of cockatoo or not now. He said a better bird is a caique which was my second choice. Why do people say this about cockatoos? I mean my gcc is super attached to me. When I leave the room she screams bloody murder.

 

[Sadie13]

Thank you! i am hoping to raise my girl right, from the start. But i guess you never know what may come up as far as their "Pet peeves" and how to manage them.
I dont understand it either, brittani299, but really! i understand they aren't novice birds but please dont make them sound like monsters. They are being bred and they need homes, so why not at least let us that feel capable get some good info about them.
I had to get my girl from across the US, but who knows, it may be a good thing. With how many are in rescue, maybe breeders are finally being more responsible....
I myself dont have the time or knowledge to help a rescue too...so i went for the breeder route( i did feel confident enough to get a rescue CAG), but i am certain mine wont end u at a rescue with with behavior issues. I am taking her in as my responsibility and any behavior problems will be mine to solve.

 

[CheshireGrymm]

I think you will do just fine. I don't have any experience with 'toos, but my neighbor has one and I live in a duplex home. I barely hear him, and on the days that I do, it isn't as loud. All birds can be screamers in their own way. Something that one of my friends taught me for my dad's scarlet macaw was to ignore the loudest behavior and only give attention on the quieter noises. Seemed to work for her, but, then again, every bird is different.

As for your "friend" he sounds like nothing but a glory-hog. He wanted you to get what he suggested just so he could probably tell you how to raise it and got mad because you didn't listen to him. People like that are controlling and you don't need that!! You have plenty of friends here on the forum who will help you when you need it. I know they have helped me greatly, even if it is just the smallest of questions.

His message to you sounded like a scorned woman. You don't need someone like that.

 

[hacatta]

We have an gala and she screams every 3 days for 3 mins..
And even then you wont hear her upstairs or eckie on the other hand...
screams the whole day,the neighbors hear him but don't mind.
And we have an old house so they hear him pretty well.
But if they are a bus length away i wouldn't be to worried.

 

[Sadie13]

haha thanks, it did sound terrible on his end after rereading what he wrote!
We broke our grey of the fire alarm she would do. She came from a bad home where negative attention was better than nothing and within the 2 yrs ive had her i just ignore it and when she says "peek a boo" or "whatcha doin" i will start a game with her or talk back. it seems so have worked wonders and now she will do it a few times in the morning or every great once in a while she will have a few minutes of it.

From what i've noticed, i can hear the birds if the window is open. But i can only hear the calls or "the beep" if im actually listening and in the street. I wouldnt be able to hear it if i was in another house.
those are some of the reasons i was confident in getting a too now, having worked with the bad noises and knowing my eckie was never a big screamer. He use to do a call in the morning but even that turned into him chattering and practicing new words in the morning. That and the fact i dont think it would be an inconvenience to the neighborhood...

 

[drlisaort]

I LOVE toos! When I was at the hairdressers the other day another client and I got to talking about our beloved birds and it turned out she had a beautiful white too. She immediately called her husband to bring him over and what a treat that was for all of us. The entire salon stopped in its tracks and this beautiful bird entertained us beyond anything I'd ever seen. I wanted to scoop him up and bring him home. He was loud but in a little kid kind of way. He was soooooo funny and totally adorable and smart as a could be.

I wish you the very, very best with your new addition. You will never be bored from what I can see of this awesome species...

 

[punkindave]

From what i've noticed, i can hear the birds if the window is open. But i can only hear the calls or "the beep" if im actually listening and in the street. I wouldnt be able to hear it if i was in another house.

Because of Butchie, we seldom (if ever) have our widows open. Even with the windows full closed, he can be heard clearly on the street and the neighbors can hear him too. Nobody really minds it (at least that's what they say), but if it were me I'd be annoyed with it, especially if I spent a lot of time outdoors.

 

[riddick07]

My neighbors actually tell me they like listening to the birds when I have my window open. I have very tolerant neighbors!

 

[Birdman666]

Well, the key is how you raise them...

It's all about a structured routine with these guys, and not holding them all the time...

LSC2's CAN be sweet, and they can also be major tantrum throwers.

And, excuse me, but your friend is a bit of a pompous a$$ himself, so consider the source.

Caiques can be opinionated, little holy terrors sometimes, too, you know.

 

[Birdman666]

i cant really disagree with anything anyone else has written. whilst some species are more prone to specific behavioral issues than others it doesnt mean they all turn out like that.

i've owned 3 sulphur cresteds in my time. one has severe behavioural problems with screaming but i suspect he was encouraged to do these behaviours given i've struggled for 12 months to break him out of these patterns. he is better than when i first got him but he is very challenging. I also have another sulphur crested at present who's nowhere near as bad. she has picked up on freddy's bad traits but 99% of the time she's quiet

my first too (who unfortunately flew away a few years ago) was the quietest bird i've ever owned. he only ever screamed if there was something upsetting him or he was responding to a wild cocky. he didnt care about contact calling me, and he never screamed for the sake of it.

if you're willing to work with a bird i believe you can get reasonable behaviours out of them. if you treat them like crap they'll act that way as well. some cockatoos can be very loud but that doesnt mean they'll "torture" your kids or that you'll necessarily get noise complaints.

your "friend" think's they're an expert. plenty of people on here already have experiences which differ with his. my experiences are mine, doesnt mean they'll be the same for you, but they do suggest different experiences to your friends.

about the only bird i'm not convinced this advice applies to is Major Mitchell cockatoo's. after talking to breeders and a parrot behaviourist i believe these birds do not make good companion birds past a few years

Exactly, it's about how you raise them!

 

[Sadie13]

Thanks, and i do feel like i could raise one without coddling all the time, my other 2 are great and if they need to spend most of the day in the cage its ok.
Thats why i thought i could do a baby, but not a rescue. I can raise a bird, just not sure i could save one to most cockatoos in rescues extent.

When my dad was spending his last few days at the hospital, i was there from 8am to 12am and back again at 8. The birds werent use to that at all and my husband was able to let them out maybe 2 hrs a day with his schedule. they were fine, it lasted about a week like that and i didnt hear any complaints from either of them.

its not always like that, i am home 90% of the time, but i am a nut about not getting my birds into a routine and i think my dads passing was a big test to see how well they could handle it. i give them both and A++++ and was proud as a parront as well!