Please help us.

[ktwestphal]

dear all,
I have an umbrella cockatoo named Prada. She has been with me for about ten years. I moved him about two years ago to Switzerland to live here with me and my boyfriend. Things have been rough, I understand he sometimes gets jealous. But its to the point that if we are at home all day on during the weekend he does not stop being annoying. We leave the house to get away from him. Its coming to hte point that my boyfriend is breaking down and he can't do it anymore. I want to be able to put Prada in his cage and he is calm. But its like he stressed himself because he is not with us so he screams and is even more annoying than when he is out. I understand my boyfriend I am slowly loosing it too. Or if we sit on the couch he does this very nervous dance like he wants to fly which is very irritating because you know he would want to attack. He never learned to fly and during the summer we clip the wings.

When I am alone with Prada its fine, he is normal annoying. Prada is afraid or respects Cedric. If i put him to bed he hisses at me or when its my boyfriend who puts him to bed, then he says so often his name like he is nervous. I dont want to give up but like I said I am running out of options.

Here in Switzerland I cant give her to a vet for a week for a break.. like in the US. I even feel like getting a break could be a good start. Any suggestions please do send them to us.

Wishing you all a good week!

[marie83]

Your bird is displaying clingy behaviour from what I can get out of your message but it isn't very clear if this is what you mean.

Cockatoos are one on the neediest species of parrot but that doesn't mean to say you cannot teach him to be more independant.
It sounds like he doesn't have any reason to want to be in his cage.
-ensure it is more than big enough, minimum sizes are pretty crap tbh.
-make sure there is plenty to do in the cage, loads of toys and rotate them a minimum of once a week so he doesn't get bored.
-only feed meals in the cage when you put him back in so he has a reason to want to be in the cage.

When he is out of his cage, play with him, encourage him to forage for treats and give him toys so he has something else to do other than pester you. Eventually he will learn to go off and do this by himself but he will still want and need to be with you too, birds are flock animals. You should also focus on training him- theres loads of ideas and how to guides on Michaels trained parrot blog (links at top and bottom of page).

Also let his wings grow back, it will help him be more independant.

[ktwestphal]

Thank you for your reply. He has a big enough cage thats for sure. More toys and variation he does need but I feel like he would ignore that once we leave the room and freak out again. Whenever we leave him in one room alone for a minute he cries, besides when he is in his cage, there he primarily gets angry that he is not with us. I am almost afraid to let his wings grow back because sometimes when he seems nervous/jealous I feel like he would want to attack us. We often put him outside which worries me he would fly away..

I will try more toys and to make it interesting. Is there a site where they only have ideas of home made toys?

What can I do for his constant need to be with us besides toys? I feel like he doesn't learn anything.Every weekend we have him stay in his cage alone several hours while we are there. He just does not stop. Is there a technique to get him to be more independent? Yesterday I am sure he must have been starving when i put him in his cage, and he was so obsessed with wanting to know what we are doing that he wait one hour to eat, and he finally ate when i drove away with the car. Its unbelievable.. Often I feel like for him its best to have his alone time to nap and eat but we cant always leave the house..

Do you have anymore tips, I am all ears to know what else you think.
Thank you again for your reply.

[marie83]

Have a look at the first couple of pages of this thread for some cheap toy ideas

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8782
There are other threads on here dedicated to home made toys as well which will help you. Remember to make any changes gradually, you dont want to freak your bird out by changing everything at once.
Teaching them to forage for food is also something that needs doing slowly if your birds not used to it, start off with easy things, using your birds favorite foods as this will motivate Prada more.

If your bird gets stressed about being in its cage then this is not a good thing, read up about food management techniques, also practice taking your bird in and out of the cage. You will need to dedicate some time where you dont have to go out in order to do this. Put prada in, reward with a favorite treat and get him straight back out, this will help him realise that not everytime he gets put back in he will be left alone or is left in the cage for long periods of time.
With practice you can put him in the cage and walk away, go back before he finishes eating his treat (before he gets stressed) and let him back out again.
When he is ok with that, walk away and pause for a few seconds before you go back, dont give him enough time to get stressed, if he creates a fuss only go back once he has settled down. Over time you will be able to leave him longer before going back to him. Don't leave the room to start with, eventually you can practice leaving the room and going straight back in, then increase the time slowly. Do not go back if he is making a fuss though otherwise in his mind he will think if he gets stressed you will go back to him.
Pradas behaviour will not change overnight, you will need alot of time and patience with him.

You can train your bird and he will learn but you need time, patience and the right techniques. I strongly recommend reading the training blogs mentioned in my previous post. There is alot of info but just take it one article at a time. Its easy to get overwhelmed by it but honestly small steps will get you further in the long run.

Regarding his wings, it is good that you take him outside but even clipped birds can fly in the right circumstances. Please harness train him or take him out only in a secure carrier regardless of if you keep his wings clipped or not. I am very pro flight and believe the advantages to flight far far outweigh clipping. There is alot of info on this subject on this website so you can make an informed choice.

[friend2parrots]

Hi, welcome to the forum

I agree with the suggestions marie has offered above.

I just wanted to give some words of encouragement:

a lot of the behaviors that your seeing can be sorted out with time and patient training, and a lot of reading and research on your part. I think your number one priority right now is to sit down with your partner and set a long term goal for improving the situation with your bird, and commit to having the patience to see your bird through.

If you see it as an incremental process, it wont feel so overwhelming. Decide what improvements you would like to see, and set yourself a reasonable long term goal to achieve them. And then do as much research as possible. Do as much reading and research into training techniques such as clicker training, and learn about flighted lifestyles for parrots. Give yourself time to do all this reading. There's great info on this forum and blog about training and bird behavior, and there are some great books out there on these subjects as well. The more you read, the more you will get a sense of how to move forward. But the important thing is to see it as a long term goal. Things arent going to change overnight. It will take time. But you will be delighted to see the improvements once youre on the right track.

All the best

[Eric&Rebecca]

I know you're afraid but it would really be best to let the wings grow back. A bird will attack you whether its clipped or not, it still has a beak and claws and will still bite. Clipping the wings will make the bird feel even more vulnerable and perhaps more likely to attack. Unless the bird has a medical issue or physical injury where it's best for them not to fly it's best to leave them flighted and deal with the consequences of that with training and further instruction to the bird.

I know this is a contraversial subject, but really birds are flying creatures. Like a human unless their is a medical reason for someone not to walk they should be allowed to walk. (I am sorry for any offence that causes to people who clip but it's just my view).

Cockatoos are quite prone to psychological issues and clipping is known to cause behavioural and psychological issues in birds (I have some avian vet and specialist articles on this). The nervous dancing could be because your bird wants to fly and it can't but it doesn't understand why. It feels insecure which could be a factor in the clinginess. When it's in the cage it's even more confined which may cause the behaviour.

Our cockatiel got very clingy with me at one point (they are from the same family of birds). This was during hormonal stage and we had to train him out of it. He was annoying, he screamed, he bit, he attacked my boyfriend and used to hiss at him. It's still a factor now but we deal with it with training and continual rotation of toys and activities. He used to bang on the bars of his cage and get quite distressed at one point, although his cage was more than big enough we ended up getting one big enough for 4 of him and ever since then he has been really happy.


I'm sorry if any of this offends you or any others, its not meant to, its just a point of view you can take advice from or just ignore but please consider the possibility of growing the wings out and using training to correct your birds behaviour. Michael has some fantastic guides on this!

[ktwestphal]

Dear all,
Thank you for your advice, I am by no means offended. I have always thought that the crazy dance of prada is when he would want to fly away. But the thing is during winter we dont clip his wings, so theoretically he can fly but he doesnt.. we always put him out during the summer we created special perches for him as we live in the mountains and during summer its so beautiful. My boyfriend has thought about creating an outdoor cage for him during the summer season, which I think would be great.

I will try some of the suggestions you have given me. Ill fill you in how it goes. And it is important to prepare my boyfriend for what is coming up, that is great advice. I have also wondered if he wants a friend, but Prada seems to have no interest in other birds. I had a friend who said prada is more human than bird.. which feels like that often with all the feelings this bird has.

I will take a look at everything and get back to you guys. If you have any reading suggestions please send them to me, I am very interested.

Again thank you for all your help. Its already a help knowing I am not allowing trying to deal with my animal, Prada.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Perhaps that's what is confusing to him being clipped one half and not the other... Birds take a hugely long time to learn to fly if they have never flown... You could try as an experiment and see if it makes a difference and accompany this with training techniques. Target training may be particularly useful.

Birds are stubborn things and as much as you want to give in with them you musn't. Sometimes a bit of tough love is what is needed and a huge amount of patience.

I hope things go well for you and good luck! xxx

[marie83]

Was going to say the same as eric&rebecca, he wont know he can fly if he never has. You will need to teach him. Just because he doesn't know he can fly doesn't mean he wont suprise himself and gets lost, if he gets spooked etc, thats why you need to be careful outside even with his clipped wings.