LS2's behavior has gotten nasty

[ConEkatoolet]

I am posting this for my "mother in law."

The issue: after a month of owning her, Pearl, a 10yo female lesser sulfur cockatoo, has developed some REALLY bad behaviors. After becoming attached to Jen's husband, she was becoming aggressive towards women- she bit me twice last month for just sitting near my boyfriend, both times breaking the skin. They were able to put the stops on that problem and she stopped biting women. But she has also started chasing Jen's foster adult boys around the house (she has 2 adult males with severe mental retardation, both of which ignore Pearl). She chases them around the house to bite them and will scale their legs to get up closer to bite. She has also become a screamer, she is now your stereotypical screaming cockatoo who wont stop and they have results to a squirt bottle which works when her screaming really escalates and wont cease. She has also become destructive to the home. She has destroyed both their couch and their loveseat, curtains, lamp shades, and has been chewing their wooden railing. They try to watch her and keep her with them in the room they are in, but often when Jen is cooking dinner Pearl will floor travel to the livingroom in a heart beat and destroy things before Jen can get there. I've given all the advice I know, but she isn't improving. Currently, I am typing without the use of one finger. She had jumped off of the couch, latched onto my jeans with her beak, and when I went to scoop her off me to move her, she bit down onto my finger puncturing it. HURTS LIKE HELL, btw.

History: Jen and I purchased Pearl and a female Goffin's cockatoo from the same home (the Goffin's is my Furby, and a total angel!). Pearl was also destructive to furniture in that home. They were both in rough shape due to an all seed diet, no baths, and a 7yo boy in the home he sexually stimulated them pretty much hourly (pressing down on their backs). Since getting the birds, they both have been put onto proper diets, have cleaned up and grown their feathers back (they were plucking each other), and we have been working with the sexual behaviors. My boyfriend and I put the nix on Furby's behavior right away after a few sharp nips when she refused to get off his shoulders. We used positive reinforcement to turn it into a game and she is a really good girl now. As you can see by my profile, we have a good amount of birds and all of them are well balanced individuals. Unfortunately, Jen does not have the calm patience we do and often just yells at Pearl when she is being bad and tosses her back into her cage, where she begins screaming.

I don't know how to tell her she basically just needs to calm down with the bird. I need advice on how to word things and, well, advice on how to deal with all of these terrible behaviors. They are already working on making sure she is being constantly supervised, but I know this is causing her a lot of stress.

Pearl really is a fun bird, and this aggression has never happened with her in either of her previous homes. She does tricks, plays fetch, snuggles, gives kisses...

[pennyandrocky]

has she contacted a rescue to counsel her on how to handle pearl? that could help. has she asked her son's not to run from her? she could think that's a game they are playing with her. it really sounds like she took on way too much but if she's willing to listen and follow advice she could still turn it around. if she wants to contact the woman i adopted from her name is diana beck she runs lovemyparrots. i'm sure she could help her find a way to live with pearl she has 15 toos of her own.

[ConEkatoolet]

She tries to tell them not to run, but they are mentally retarded (autistic, brain deformations, etc). I will suggest she contact a rescue.

[ConEkatoolet]

Oh and don't get me wrong, they aren't even THINKING of getting rid of her, they love her to death. She will take advice for sure, but I just don't think she is performing my advice correctly. Like when she was being aggressive towards women and guarding the men from them, I told her Pearl shouldn't be allowed to interact with any men whatsoever for awhile- the next day, one of her sons (like REAL sons) posted a Facebook status about Pearl pooping on him that night. She got a good lecture from me, lol. But her female aggression has stopped.

She will listen, I just don't know what to tell her or how to tell her to calm down when Pearl gets bad without offending her, you know? She's had tiels and amazons her whole life, so she is willing to deal with just about anything. Just not the biting.

Also, when Pearl is chasing the boys, they aren't RUNNING away, they are walking, they just tend to move fast because of their autism.

Pearl is the kind of bird that feels the need to be the center of attention, and that is what I feel is the bird's flaw, and the family's flaw for spoiling her.

[pennyandrocky]

that's why i suggested diana she will help with advise where some rescues,i wouldn't trust anyway, won't help they just want you to surrender. diana would prefer birds stay where they are whenever possible rather than having 1more in a rescue.when mya tried to chase me off my boyfriend i told him to tell her "no" i had read that helps and it worked for us. i also let her know i would not be bullied by speaking to her while walking by him then petting her head when walking by.