New Member, New Wild Bird

[TiffanyB21]

A friend of ours found an umbrella cockatoo in his neighborhood. He didn't have any interest in keeping the bird, so he tried to find its rightful owner, but had no luck. Also tried to find a responsible parrot owner and had no luck. So, here we are....with this beautiful umbrella cockatoo that seems to be very wild. He went to the man that found him, however, my husband and I try to handle him and he tries to bite us. Can anyone give me some helpful tips to gain this birds trust and to tame him so we can properly care for him the way he deserves? Are there such things as bird trainers that could come out and help us train this bird? (That probably sounds silly, but I want to be the best owner that I can be).

Thank you.

[liz]

There is a topic you can follow from the main menu of this forum. It is called training.

My opinion differs. Don't try to handle him until he comes to you.

[Michael]

Whereabouts are you?

[JacobBird]

I have a blue-eyed cockatoo. What I do is just to take everything slowly especially since mine is also wild. Just don't force him at all coz u just got him. What I did the very beginning is to slowly approach him and see if he accepts your presents. Approach him and if he is scared, wait till he calms down and then treat him. I basically treat him and then go away from him then approach him then go away then approach. Make sure you give treats when he calms down. Try to do this everyday and spent time with him so that he will get use to you.

[Polarn]

I might add besides taking things slow with him that birds overall but especially cockatoos it seems need their sleep, they should be allowed between 10-12 hours sleep every night, most birds seems to powernap during the day if their sleep is interupted but toos seems to get really cranky. So you should have the cage in an area you can screen off or whatever to be able to shut off the lights for him before you go to bed (unless you want to start sleeping 10-12 hours a night). alot of toos seems to like to be covered at night but since yours isnt tame he would probably freak out if you came walking with a big peice of fabric to put over the cage... also if you ever decide to cover birds make sure the fabric is thin enough to allow some air through and I'd still leave a bit uncovered to make sure ventilation is good enough, especially with tiels, greys and toos since they dusts alot.

To answer your parent trainer question, yes there is a few. it all depends on where you are located.