Meisha is a thirty-one year old Umbrella that I acquired at eight months. She keeps a busy itinerary, goes to work with me at least five-days a week. She gets as much as eight hours of sleep in a twenty-four hour period.
She has laid infertile eggs in which she has never shown interest. Has shown unimpressive nesting behaviors in one egg preparation. The interest in preparation and an egg might be different with the dedication of a mate.
Meisha’s environment is best described as monitored open latitude. She is seldom confined to a cage. It’s an earned freedom in the wake of various respects, recognitions and self disciplines.
- “He goes down to the floor of his cage, puts his beak to the floor and then walks to the far corner of the cage,” GardeningGirl.
Meisha does something similar on a larger scale a few times a year. She will put her beak to the living room floor and run altering her direction to continue the sprint. It’s not a hop or gallop. It is an impressive run.
I discourage all activities on the bottom of the cage.
- “He repeatedly pushes his tongue out of his beak and then pulls it back in, over and over,” GardeningGirl.
Meisha does that along with the opening and closing of her beak. Only happens when I pass by or speak to her when she is with another family member. I’ve seen dogs perform a similar behavior.
- “Nigel taps his beak on hard surfaces to make a knocking noise, a lot. I thought he was just playing and we (the whole family) knock back to him,” GardeningGirl.
That’s quite interesting. Meisha does not have any measurable tapping behaviors. Does Nigel respond to your reply? Might simply be an interaction action. I would not discourage.
- “Another thing he does is when he's sitting on my knee he rubs his beak on my leg,” GardeningGirl.
The primary function for Meisha rubbing her beak on a surface is to clean it. Secondary could be for sensation. I doubt it is out of affection. As a beak related action, Meisha seems to appreciate scratching of the beak for the sensation. No hormonal reflection.
Unless he seems to some how enjoy it more than he should, I would not discourage.
- “Nigel loves being rubbed under the beak in that delicate area at the front of the neck,” GardeningGirl.
Meisha will message her neck, area under her beak and areas around her head including the scalp with her claw. I message
if I had fingernails to speak of it would be a gentle scratch the area under her beak, the beak it’s self for sensation and the fleshy area between the beak and the feather-line, without hormonal issues.
I would not discourage.
- “I'm trying on learn how to minimize biting,” GardeningGirl.
I had a similar challenge years ago as when I brought my hand up to Meisha, she would open her beak. Appeared to be a defensive measure. She would open her beak in preparation to bite or grab if she deemed necessary. With me, worst case is she would stop me with a grab. A result of not knowing what I was going to do. I sought successfully to eliminate the open beak behavior. I made it a point to make a passive action when passing her. Giving her very brief attention recognition without disrupting her stance or activity. The actions include a simple gentle tap on the beak. So gentile as not to cause movement of her head. Actions include gentle fluffing of the small feathers around her face as to not cause movement of her head.
You might be able to implement a similar practice to improve trust.
- We discourage all activities at the bottom of the cage. It's unsanitary as is pulling paper from the bottom of the cage. The activity has dropped of sharply. Meisha responds promptly to commands to get off the bottom of the cage.
- Regarding nesting. Male cockatoos are programmed with a modified version of instincts in comparison to female. In my opinion issues of nesting regarding a male is involuntary passive. It is unlikely a male will engage in nesting rituals without the bonding and activity engaged in reproduction. The female is programmed instinctively for the preparation. The male can be influenced by the hormonal female into the task.
