TheTameParrot.com - Say “BYE” To Your Parrot Problems

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This bird goes ballistic on plastic lids.

Around 0:42, the cockatoo lies on his back and wrestles with the plastic lid, haha.

Check out the ending too where the bird throws both of the lids off the table and then seems to get upset over it, haha -

***QUESTION***

i have a 16week old galah cockatoo. brought her at 10weeks lod hand reared from a pet store, she is very loving but is starting to bite alot tawards me and my 3 girls when we all want to pick her up,or if we are playing with her, she has no proble stepping up to come to us when she feels like it or to come ut of her cage, but my biggest problem is when she is sitting on y shoder or o the floor playing she is really biting hard with all of us.i have tried the technieck of putting her in her cage when she bites and walking away and coming back 5 or 10 mins later to see if she has learnt her lesson, so il open the cage to pat her again and she loves her head rubbed but then all of a sudden she will bite again really hard. and yet other times she is so loving and gentle and still lets out that little baby bird sound and loves me patting and kissing her, and now all of a sudden she will just lunge out and peck me in the eye or my nose or face for no reason. how do i stop this befor she gets 2 rough.

Kim. Mosbey

***ANSWER***

At 16 weeks old it should be easy to break it quickly. My question is, when the bird bites what kind of a reaction is being given? Reacting verbally can be reinforcing him to bite more.

All baby birds go though their nipping and biting phase. I believe it is their way in trying to test their independence and try to show dominance over the family. As long as the family reacts it only feeds the bird to bite more.

The baby bird needs to know the handler is serious about the “no biting” rule.

From what Kim said about how her bird loves to be petted and love on and then to turn around and bite her shows that the bird is telling her “I am done with the hugs and kisses” and “I am the Boss - The Boss is always the handler of the bird”

The first thing I would do in breaking the biting is not to allow it on my shoulder. He would only be allowed on my hand or arm. Having it on her shoulder gives the bird too much control over the handler, and until he understands who “The Boss” is he will have to earn his place back on the shoulder.

Please post any questions or feedback you may have in the “comments” section below. Thanks!

If you are looking for a pet bird, check out Cockatoo rescue shelters. These organizations are dedicated to trying to find homes for unwanted birds.

These shelters accept birds from people for many reasons. Most often they just don’t understand how to handle these types of birds. They are quite intelligent and very demanding. Unless the owner understands their mentality, they can easily become spoiled or aggressive.

When we ran our aviary, we were asked many times to take in these birds. There are not a lot of Cockatoo rescue shelters in our state, but we never turn down a bird needing a home. Their background and stories are always interesting.

In one case, we took in an Umbrella Cockatoo named Abby. This bird started out being sold to an elderly women who never had a bird before. After two years, she simply could not handle the birds constant screeching and aggressiveness. She turned the bird over to one of the larger pet stores to find a new home.

Unfortunately, many pet stores are not in the business of doing Cockatoo rescues. They are in the business of making money. Therefore, they sold Abby to the first customer who showed interest in this bird…for $1100.

After this person got home, he realized the mistake he had made. Within hours the bird became quite aggressive. Then the man walked past the case, and Abby jumped on his back and bit him very hard. The man had a couple of children, and having an aggressive bird in the house certainly was not what he intended to do. The pet store would not refund his money (but would take the bird back for nothing so they could “adopt” him out again). He was about to just let the bird fly away, but his vet convinced him to turn him over to us.

What in interesting day that was. While my wife was in the kitchen, Abby jumped off the cage, stomped into the kitchen with a loud screech, wings spread out and beak wide open…and charged at her. He hit her shoe with her beak, looked up and waited for the predictable show of utter fear from my wife. Nothing! She just stood there!

>>For many more taming techniques check out “The Easy Parrot System”

We had already figured out Abby’s game. He wanted to show who was the boss…but my wife wasn’t going to have anything to do with that game. As time went by, the bird calmed down and became very friendly. We adopted it out to another family and Abby has been a success story! He found a new home with people who understood him.

Lesson learned…if you are trying to locate a Cockatoo rescue shelter, look for someone who is actually going to work with the bird, and not looking for a quick profit. Many Cockatoo rescue shelters are nothing more then breeders looking for animals to mate up and earn a profit from the babies. They don’t “sell” the birds but may ask for a donation to help continue their work with animals. Look for groups that are listed as a 501c3 organization (and can prove it). If they are not listed as a non-profit group, take extra care to look at their credentials, check out references, and look at their bird housing.

If you would like a list of recommended Cockatoo Rescue Shelters, check out the NetPets organization, which keeps a list of national rescue groups at http://www.netpets.com/birds/birdresc/birdgrp.html.