Umbrella Cockatoo eating furniture and also very aggressive now.

[PowerBBS]

I've been battling with my cockatoo to get her to try and not go after our furniture in the house (mainly our couches) and see them as a chew toy. Unfortunately, it's with relatively no success. Those of you who have Too's know what I mean when I saw a Cockatoo doesn't want to play with anything, they want to destroy it.

Franky - our U2 - is about 4 years old now - we've only had her since Oct 2007 - and she's been great up until a few weeks ago. It seems when she sees our couch she gets an unavoidable urge to cease what ever she's doing and go and chew on it. I get to her rather quickly so very little if, if any, damage is done to the couch. But she then relentlessly tries to get to the couch over and over again to try and chew on any corner she can get her mouth on.

I was wonder what any of you might suggest to help disway or stop this behaviour. All suggestions welcome.

She's got plenty of wooden toys in her cage that she does a fast job at destroying and we have chew toys on her play gym. It seems nothing looks any more fun to her than to just try and chew on the couch. I say "No franky... no chew... bad bird..." and then remove her from the corner she's chewing on.

And that's just the first problem. The second is:

She then gets very aggressive (angry) and I'm forced to put her back into her cage before I'm mauled by what used to be a very friendly beak and now I'm attacked by it. She's drawn blood in me almost 5 times in the last two months biting at my face, arms, neck, head and fingers with extreme force. Once she gets on this war path, I have to toss a towel or blanket over her and rush her to her cage. As she will not stop her attack for nothing, flying right at me mouth wide open. She doesn't nip, she takes a good 2 inches of flesh into her mouth when she gets a chunk and pierces the skin.

Again, "No bad bird... bad Franky, no bite... no bite!" I say sternly and with the towel I have to capture her in (because she'll bite my fingers/hand/arms off if I don't protect myself against that mouth) put her and leave her in her cage for the evening as she doesn't settle down for days sometimes. This has been happening for at least the last 4 weeks. Does anyone have any ideas on what it is I can to rectify/correct/help my situation? First to avoid the furniture as a chew toy and also (mostly) to get my gentle girl back. I haven't been doing anything different. She's been a "dream girl" since we got her and now this.

The only environmental change that has occurred is that we got her a larger cage almost two months ago (double the size of her old cage). I've also increased the amount of chew toys in her cage (including rawhide, leather, wood and rope). It's getting to be a "gamble" to even get her out anymore as we're afraid she'll get out of her cage and two minutes later get on the war path again.

Originally Posted by Old cage: 24x36x50

Originally Posted by New cage: 46x36x84

She used to be my "cuddle bug"... and was always trying to crawl under my hand, chin, or arm to get me to pet her. Now sometimes that's followed by an onslaught of war.

Again any help from some experienced Too owners would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

[jenseits]

A lot of people are complaining about hormonal birds right now. It's "their time of the year"

Besides making sure she gets a lot of sleep and avoiding anything that would encourage stimulating breeding behavior, I'm not sure I have any advice to offer.

As for the couch, can you cover it with a blanket or something?

Don't despair - it'll pass eventually.

[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.

Hormonal biting just comes with the territory. Turn your back on her when she does it. (They hate that) Snub her for a little while. Also you can try the earthquake if she is going for your arm or hand.

I freaked out and dropped Maxie when she bit me. She landed pretty hard, luckily she wasn't hurt. I am a big chicken when that beak goes for blood! They got some surgically sharp beaks don't they?!!!

Keep a blankie handy when you hold her. Right now Maxie wants me all to herself and gets really pissy if anyone else is around. Is she good when you are alone with her? That might be why she is biting.

[PowerBBS]

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.

Thank goodness a reasonable thing for me to attempt. I will get the squirt bottle ready and handy. This might be a good permanent disciplinary solution as she shouldn't associate it with bath time (actually shower time - she takes a shower about once a week). Good idea... Thanks!

Hormonal biting just comes with the territory. Turn your back on her when she does it. (They hate that) Snub her for a little while. Also you can try the earthquake if she is going for your arm or hand.

When she gets angry, if I don't put her away she'll not stop attacking at all. One time I picked her up after she had one of her squalking bits (I can't tell if she's doing it out of excitement or frustration really) and she jumped onto my shoulders and back and began attacking my neck, hands and even bit my face (left cheek about 2 inches below the eye - it bled pretty good to). She didn't stop until I ran with her on my the back of my neck (with a chunk of neck flesh in her mouth), face and finger bleeding into the living room and tossed a blanket over my head to forcibly remove her - with the assistance of the wife.

I freaked out and dropped Maxie when she bit me. She landed pretty hard, luckily she wasn't hurt. I am a big chicken when that beak goes for blood! They got some surgically sharp beaks don't they?!!!

Keep a blankie handy when you hold her. Right now Maxie wants me all to herself and gets really pissy if anyone else is around. Is she good when you are alone with her? That might be why she is biting.

Yes - I do keep a blanket permanently handy now (or a big towel - my towels are thicker than the thin blanket anyway). She actually Loves going under a blanket or towel. This is a normal behavior of being on my lap. She always wants to crawl under there and have me pet her either under or thu the blanket. Or I just have to raise it up a bit and she'll push her way under. It's good she's used to getting into a blanket, it makes it much easier come capture time as she'll typically just lunge at the blank and all I have to do is catch her and wrap her.

Both the time I got bit on the face and even this morning, I was completely alone with her. Other times she's been in the room - as usualy - with both me and my wife. It doesn't seem to matter. If I watch her face and actions carefully enough I can predict her biting sometimes now. She gets that "look" in her face and eyeballs me as she slowly walks towards me with her mouth 1/4 open.

I thank you for the suggestions and the info on the fact that she's comming into "season" right now. Any ideas on how long the "season" will last?

Thanks again, it's much appreciated!

[GlendaNS]

Sounds like she has a bad case of pms.

Try giving her more showers. Maxie gets at least 3 showers a week. It seems to help wash away the grumpies. If she is really moody I will give her more. She loves taking a shower, but she hates the squirt bottle. Actually all I have to do now is show her the squirt bottle and she straightens right up.

Make sure she is getting plenty of sleep. It will pass. I don't know how long, but it will pass. Also, taking them out of their comfort level helps. For example, going for a car ride. I think they just need some out of the house time. Don't we all? Life gets boring.

Ever hear this nursery rhyme?
There once was a little girl, that had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid.
It describes a Too perfectly!

[ljhassell]

Id place more toys in cage all over- shreading ones. Rolls of adding machine paper. We have found that hormones are very high this time of year. Watch the foods you feed as well as they to play a part when hormones are peaked.

[PowerBBS]

Originally Posted by GlendaNS

Sounds like she has a bad case of pms.

Try giving her more showers. Maxie gets at least 3 showers a week. It seems to help wash away the grumpies. If she is really moody I will give her more. She loves taking a shower, but she hates the squirt bottle. Actually all I have to do now is show her the squirt bottle and she straightens right up.

More showers... that sounds like an idea. I'm sure she'd do it. I'm scared a bit though, as her showers typically land her on my shoulders as she walks out on my arm under the shower head and then comes running back to my shoulders again. (Yet, she's never shown any aggression while exiting the shower onto my shoulders - she does love the hair drier though).

Make sure she is getting plenty of sleep. It will pass. I don't know how long, but it will pass. Also, taking them out of their comfort level helps. For example, going for a car ride. I think they just need some out of the house time. Don't we all? Life gets boring.

We have as yet to ever take any of our birds outside of the house. We're quite afraid of loosing them as they're all full fighted. However, I have been able to (but only just once) to get a harness onto Franky. I think I will try again --- but maybe only after she comes "out of season".

Thanks for the ideas. I will do. I already got the squirt bottle, however so far Franky hasn't had the chance to attack me or the couch as she's been "nippy" and moody all day - so I've been to affraid to take her out of her cage today, as this is the same behavior she exibits just before she goes on the war path.

[PowerBBS]

Originally Posted by ljhassell

Id place more toys in cage all over- shreading ones. Rolls of adding machine paper.

This is currently a plan in the works. I've just purchased about 200.00 worth of toys (as Franky will shed anything I put in there within just a few hours typically). They will be arriving tomorrow afternoon according to UPS tracking.

We have found that hormones are very high this time of year. Watch the foods you feed as well as they to play a part when hormones are peaked.

Currently she is on a 50/50 mix of seed and pellet. If we go 100% pellet we come home to find all of it on the floor and rug, as she just sweeps her beak thru it looking for the occational sunflower, safflower, pine nut, peanut, dried pea, etc... But she does love the pellets too, especially if we give her the fruit flavored ones.

Is there something else you would suggest to control the hormones?

Oh ya, treats... bread, pizza crust, hamburger, chicken, oranges, grapes, apples, peas, corn, oatmeal, cereal, etc...

[ljhassell]

We put 1 dropper of liquid St. Johns Wort in water daily for 2 weeks. This has worked wonders for our 27 yrs with U2's.
I to have never had an aggressive bird stay aggresive while wet.

[hcarey]

Speaking of toys...I went to a different bird store over the weekend and was not to thrilled about the selection of Big bird toys, they had some, but when I went to look at them a bunch of bugs came running out! I was like, oh no! I am not bringing those into my house! I have been in search of a great online place for cockatoo toys. I want the big long full of wood to much on toys. It seems like the ones strung on a metal rope chain seems to be the best. Where do you all get great exellent Cockatoo toys?
Also I wanted to mention that I found taking my Cockatoo outside on her swing and putting the water bottle down on a spray myst and spraying her with it gently seems to be a lot of fun for her. She starts lifting her wings and wants to fluff out and the spray falls on her all over. I have done this inside the cage as well and it seems to mellow the bird out.