Umbrella Cockatoo eating furniture and also very aggressive now.

[ljhassell]

We have always made all our toys- as I can rack up thousands buying toys. I love creating them.




I also load all our cages, they need them, we never want them bored, thats when problems arise.

[GlendaNS]

I get creative in the toy area myself. You do not have to spend a fortune on them. I sift through the toys at the Goodwill store for the birds. I found a Furby that the birds just love! Maxie laughs with it. Baby rattles and hard plastic toys are good finds. Just be sure and wash them!

My Mom gave me a big bundle of paint stirring sticks that make excellent chew toys. Wood chunks are good too. Paper towel rolls if there is no glue on it. I threaded scraps of an old t-shirt between wood blocks. Something about chewing holes in fabric is FUN!

I wanted to tell you, do not let your Too see any fear. They are famous for taking advantage of that! Manipulative lil brats!

[hcarey]

I think thats where my husband went wrong. He fears the birds beak and if she goes after him he will run. DON"T RUN!!!!!!! We must always be the fearless parent and grasp the attitude that this bird had better not bite me or Im gonna ruffle some feathers!
Also are you wearing anything different like a hat, bandanna, something the bird is possible not to happy with then they tend to go nuts! I have to stear clear or prepare myself to hold a bit tighter when we go past the vacume or someone new. Crazy Birds!!!
As far as making toys, I just don't have that much time or talent to make the big toys, so I would like to find a good place to order from when I need a replacement NOW!

[Amie]

Originally Posted by GlendaNS

All my birds have "spring fever" right now as well.

Maxie has forced me to bring out Mr. Squirtbottle. When Mamma says NO, she means NO! A good squirt to the chest-feet area seems to quench her defiance. You might try a squirt bottle with the couch chewing.

Using a squirt bottle for punishment will VERY often cause your bird to fear squirt bottles, showers, and misters. I'm assuming your U2 is a rescue or rehome since you've only had her a few months, but I wouldn't risk the squirt bottle as punishment. U2s have so much dust, that you might not want to get her angry at water.

Not that I have a better suggestion to keep her away from the couch, though.

Try not to respond when she bites you. NO words, not even negative words. As she is (Again assuming) a rehome or rescue, this may just have been her way of getting ANY KIND of emotional response where she was before you. Say nothing, and put her up (or in time out - if you haven't tried the bathroom timeout yet, you should) immediately, and then walk away. Birds (especially those as smart and needy as Toos) will learn very quickly how the formula goes. We were playing, I bit, we're not playing anymore.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, the Toos we fostered never tried to destroy our house since they were in the bird room and bird areas. . . but we had a few aggressive guys come through.

Maybe look into clicker training? I've never tried it, but a few people I know have had some REMARKABLE results with aggressive birds.

Then again, this may all be hormonal and will be over with soon :)

[GlendaNS]

I tried clicker training Maxie a little. She is NOT food motivated at all. She only wanted the clicker!

Maxie goes after my Husband as well. She will even tell him to "Watch-it" if he gets too close. He runs from her as well. It is a fearful thing to have an angry cockatoo chasing you!!!! He cannot come into the bedroom with us. NO WAY!!! I will get a video of that some time. It is funny if you are not on the receiving end!

Too's are very smart and know when they are being naughty. I say "NO" and reinforce it with a squirt if the first "NO" doesn't work. I seldom ever have to squirt her. She learned the very first time! She still loves her showers. Just don't give a shower with the "NO" squirt bottle, she will think she is being punished.

Get a shower perch for her or make one out of pvc pipe. I put Maxie on my hand and put my thumb over her toes to hold her there. She loves to give kisses while she showers. When I first got her, I put her in the tub and ran the shower for her. She wanted to bite me back then, so..... But!!!!! A shower ALWAYS puts her in a good mood!!!

You have had a nice long honeymoon with her!

[PowerBBS]

Originally Posted by GlendaNS

Get a shower perch for her or make one out of pvc pipe. I put Maxie on my hand and put my thumb over her toes to hold her there. She loves to give kisses while she showers. When I first got her, I put her in the tub and ran the shower for her. She wanted to bite me back then, so..... But!!!!! A shower ALWAYS puts her in a good mood!!!

You have had a nice long honeymoon with her!

I tried to give her a shower tonight. She started to give me the evil eye. It was actually shocking. I thought for sure she'd run down my arm as usual, but not this time. I was able to get out of the bathroom after about 10 minutes of attempting to get her down off my shoulder and into the shower. She wasn't having it tonight.

I did grab a towel to dry off the water from my arm and she climbed down and pushed her head into the towel (she loves being wrapped up actually). So I was able to get her to the couch and pull a blanket over me, then in turn over her where I continued to pet her. She hadn't done anything bad yet.

About two hours later though she came out from under the towel did a little flapping tantrum on my hand and then turned around; I grabbed the towel to lift it up for her to maybe climb under and she lunged at my hand and went on the war path (a never ending dash for either of my hands or arms with a wide open mouth - which was scarey as she was right in my lap at the time on the couch).

I immediately wrapped her again and put her away as she was even trying to chomp me thru the towel. You could blame it on me lifting "her towel" but she actually came out with her mouth open and the "look in her eye" so I knew it was comming, that's initially why I wanted to ger her back under the towel in the first place. She's easy to control under there.

Anyhow that was my night, at least this evening she got out for a few hours before she started her war path. I hope that it does get better as I'm feeling bad that I can't get her out for any real amount of time without her starting to attack.

Oh ya, she doesn't care for "treats" per say either. Unless it's meat. Anything else she'll drop almost immediately as she prefers the interaction over the food.

[hcarey]

Have you tried to get in the shower with her? I take Sunshine in the bathroom with me and let her sit on the top of the sliding door railing, wash myself first and she gets the over spray and the steam from the shower too. I talk to her and sing and after awhile she wants to get wet! Then I turn down the heat a bit, and she steps up or I grab her feet and I put her near the spray and start to get her wet. Maybe just let her watch you in the shower a few times if she don't want to go in, then she will see you are enjoying the water and it might make her wonder Hmmmmm maybe that will feel good! Now mind you I have a huge shower with 2 shower heads but the one is like a rain water head and she likes to be under that one, it is soft and relaxing, but the other one with a rope and a handle spray head she will have nothing to do with it, freaks her out!!! It's like the shower head is going to get her!
My goodness how they have us trained! Another method I have used is the kitchen sink and use a cup to pour water over her body and I talk to her and try and play in the water.

[GlendaNS]

Have you taken her to a Vet yet? I would, just to make sure. She could be having problems and this is the only way she knows how to express her discomfort.

Rule out any health problems first, then..... When you decide it is time for a shower, MAKE her take a shower. Offer her the fun way, if that is a no go.... Wrap her up in a towel and deposit her butt in the tub. YOU stand on the outside of the tub and speak happily to her about her shower she is taking. I would tell her WHY she is taking one by herself too.

BTW, they do make a hormone shot to help them get over the mood. Honestly, if they got it bad, I think it is kinder to get them a shot than let them suffer through.

[GlendaNS]

How is everything going?

[PowerBBS]

I attempted to take Franky out of her cage tonight. I got her out and to the couch and see had the "look" in her eye again and was eye-balling my hands everywhere I moved them with her mouth slightly open (ready to strike). I grabbed the towel next to me and she jumped in my lap (in an effort to get to my hands) and I immediately dropped the towel on her. I tried to pet her, but she crawled out from under the towel and immediately continued her persuit to get a piece of my hand, finger or arm into her "jaws". I had to towel her and return her to her cage. It made me sad as she didn't get out yesterday at all (I was gone all day) and tonight only got 15 minutes until I was forced to cage her again.

I'm becomming dishearted at the situation as I do NOT want it to be this way. I want her to be able to come out as she used to and enjoy time with me (us). And now the next week or so she'll be stuck in her cage.

Sunday the 27th I'll be flying down to Orlando for a full week - returning on the 3rd - so poor Franky will be stuck in her cage the entire week. Julie (the Mrs) will be here and Franky is violent towards her when she tries to get her out, so other than a few hours of Julie sitting outside her cage and petting her thru the bars, Franky will be stuck inside of her cage all that time.

I'm not happy about that. But it's a situation that Franky has forced us into. The last time Julie got Franky out without my assistance resulted in a Franky almost taking her eye out. Other times when I've let Franky out of my reach, Franky's found herself atop of Julie (whilst Julie try to stay protected under a blanket) and ready to strike any extremedy she see's. So Julie just won't - under any circumstances - take Franky out of her cage without me to safe guard her.

I can't say I blame her. Especially given her attitude over the last month or so. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and make the 200 mile journey to our nearest avian certified vet. I will try to make that appointment this week and take a few days off of work to handle it.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I haven't yet forced the shower on her. I think I'll get the Vet to take a look at her first. I prey that there is something that he can do to assist me. If the attitude that Franky has suddenly started to display doesn't disway... I'm fearing what I will be forced to do (as I do NOT want to make Franky a "cage bird". I feel that's just ethically wrong).