Troubled Rescue 'Too

[Beemer]

My friend adopted a Cockatoo, we were told it was a female. Her name is Bango (or Bongo). Bango was super friendly when he got her, very vocal but not a screamer, she talks a lot and says Pretty Bird, Nice to meet you (offers her hand to shake), etc. Hello, Hi, Look at the Bird, lots of other phrases and words we can't really understand but we know she's talking. If company came over, she would talk and show off, puffing up her crest and head-banging, hanging upside-down, hopping... if the company left the room she would scream but not in a fearful way, just looking for attention.

It's been 6 months or so, and she's gotten a bit different. Bango is still a talker and acts sweet, can be handled most of the time and steps-up when asked. She gets lots of attention and has a great diet. She's the only bird in the house. She screams very loudly and very frequently, unless you're standing at her cage and talking to her. Even if you're in the same room, if you aren't looking at and talking to her, she screams. She has a nice big manzanita tree perch in the living room so she can be in with her family. She will offer to step-up and if you dont let her, the next time you approach her, she bites! She will fly off her perch onto your shoulder or lap and if you try to get her to step-up onto your hand she will bite, if you try to keep her off your head she will bite. If someone else tries to get her, she bites. She's not defending her person, she loves everyone. She is acting like she's a spoiled brat and we have no idea how to get her to stop screaming and biting. Any help?

 

[Tammy]

Sounds like she is a little spoiled. I let Mr. Precious get away with it for awhile & I finally had to have his wings clipped so I could regain control. There's lots of Too owners on here that I'm sure will have some great advice for you.

Funny thing is, all the problems Too's seem to have make me want one even more. I guess because I'm neurotic & a little nutty, I think I could tolerate & enjoy a Too. I just don't know if Mr. Precious would be willing to share me with another bird & my first responsibility is to him.

Good luck

 

[mele]

I know she was adopted but do you know how old she is? It could be hormones
It also seems she is use to getting what she wants and has free range of the house. For smaller birds this might be ok, but for larger birds and too's its asking for trouble. Too's are very demanding birds and its ok to be effectinate and play with them. The worst thing a new too owner can do is make the bird their constant focus. The bird needs boundries and a strict schedule.
Do you give her timeouts? You might not like the idea but for the purpose of retraining you should have her wings clipped. Does she play with toys? A lot of too's believe their soul entertainment is their people. I have my U2 and macaw spend a good part of the day foraging on their trees. I don't like the idea of bowls filled with food all day. When they have to forage, less time is spent screaming and other bad habits can be avoided. I find when Lotty gets in a screamming mood it helps to distract her with a new noise. She will stop to listen and it may help in changing the scream or at least the pitch.

Good Luck

 

[MikeyTN]

What kind of Cockatoo is she??? She sounds like she is spoiled and given free range. They will run you over any way possible, this should never be allowed. When you giving them too much affection, it's actually hurting you instead. They need time on their own like foraging, playing, etc. The best thing for your friend to do is to have her wings clipped. When your allowing a Cockatoo to free range and to fly onto shoulders when they want to, it can be very dangerous! She needs to learn alone time when she plays on her own without needing to be needy. Java our U2 was the head of his household prior to here, he run them over. He kept screaming in my house and trying to bite when he don't get his way. He knows now it gets no where with me as the moment he starts to scream, I walk away without responding. I would tell him to quiet down and if he kept on, I would tell him bye and leaves. So now days he's being very quiet and no longer screaming. He's actually being nicer to my partner now days too which before he wants to attack anyone that gets near me, I still don't trust him completely and I don't think I ever will as he's bitten me pretty good several times because he didn't get his way and all I do is walk away and bandage up my hand and try and try again....lol....

 

[Beemer]

My friend hasn't spoiled her but we dont know what her life was before she came to him. She is not free-range, she has a ccage the size of a refridgerator lol and a playstand, she only comes out of the cage when he is home and inside to watch her. Pretty much if she starts screaming he does walk away but if she hears him talking to someone or on the phone she starts right back to screaming. The couple incidents when she flew onto someone, happened when she was on her playstand. And the incidents were followed immediately by her being returned to her cage (which earned her owner a couple nasty bites)... I'm thinking the general consensus that its hormones might be spot-on, since there hasn't really been any other behavior change until the onset of spring...

 

[Beemer]

And Bango is an Umbrella Cockatoo

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

I knew just by reading that this had to be an umbrella. While wing clipping is a good idea with all birds banging this way, I never trim a 'too... especially in a situation like this. And I would definitely NOT clip an umbrellas... I'd wager that a trim would have certainly be fastest, but if you combine a wing trim with a change in the rules the umbrella will almost definitely figure out to shred the remaining wing feathers, and then things go downhill from there. I do LOTS of cockatoo rehabs here. I would personally do what I always do... which is cage the bird throughout most of the day and get the bird out periodically during the day when he or she is quiet and entertaining itself in constructively. If the bird fails to step IP or lashes out then I close the door and try again later. Most cockatoo problems arrows from a failure to communicate properly. The other thing that causes a huge amount of problems with cockatoo owners is a failure to understand how a 'too thinks... For example, some people will notice a good behavior like "oh, sweety are you making yourself pretty?". If you say that often enough to a well behaved 'too they will preen for attention, and if they don't get attention they'll preen harder.... cockatoos have an unnatural amount of focus and memory compared to other species I work with. So, while sometimes I notice when a bird is being good, I try to always keep in my mind how a cockatoos brain will interpret my behavior and what it will eventually do to get my attention. Umbrellas and goffins are very prone to becoming spoiled... you MUST set clear limits while also figuring out how to pay attention to the bird to keep from causing other negative behaviors to arrows. The bird old hard truth is this.... very few people are cut out to handle 'toos and in my experience if a 'too be becomes spoiled in a certain home, that it is nearly impossible for those same owners to course correct and happily get the bird under control...in fact in the years I've been specializing in 'toos I've never seen anyone do it without outside help. I own 14 revoked 'toos. Many of them are now breeders, but with each one I had to correct a lot of behavioral problems before pairing. Please consider getting some outside help to show you what you are doing wrong... if not foe your own sake, then for the sake of a cockatoo who needs you to step IP to the plate and make sure he or she doesn't wind up on my doorstep someday. You can correct all this, set boundaries and be fair, and maybe find someone to help take a look at things and determine the best course of action. I could walk you through how I do it, but it won't help you much since you are not me and you will naturally have a different temperament.

 

[Mare Miller]

Wow! ShreddedOaks, you took the words right out of my mouth! (Just kidding)....
I wish I knew so much, but I don't.

I do know that when mi Amigo came to me he was pretty awful, screaming, biting, I didn't know anything about these birds or any bird, for that matter. It took at least two years before I could even start to understand what was going on in this guy's head. Once we started to learn more about each other, things started to smooth out. It takes time, lots of time.

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

On a side note... it's easy to blame hormones, and admittedly they do cause a lot of trouble but they don't make a bird different... just an amplified version of what's already there... so, the truth seems to be the bird is spoiled. And if one loses control of behavior during that hormonal time, then the bird often stays that way to at least some degree. And Umbrellas will breed all year, spring really doesn't see an increase of those behaviors in the cockatoo section here, and I keep my single pets in there as well and they don't change either.