Lesser Sulphur Cockatoo LSC2 - beaking behavior help questio

[rpjmartin]

Hello everyone.

I have just adopted a rescue 6 year old female LSC2. I have had her less than a week. Like many rescue C2s she is plucked around the belly. Apparently she has stopped plucking. Her history is limited. She has settled quickly and I will shortly bring her to a vet for a new pet bird review. I have cared for C2s and other parrots before. She is clearly hormonal and I observed her prior carers touching under the wings etc. Also her diet was less than perfect so I am introducing her to chop etc. over time while monitoring her weight. She is friendly. Almost too friendly. And lives up to her velcro reputation - despite being horribly shy in the shelter. My question is that she seems to want to groom me or my partner all the time. She constantly gently nibbles at my hand or neck. Almost obsessively so. Please see the you tube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BKKflMIF50

Is this just a result of her hormones? Any suggestions what she is trying to do and how I should monitor it. She is NOT food oriented - but would do almost anything to come up and nuzzle.

Thank you for your thoughts.

[Pajarita]

Hi, Martin! Welcome to the forum and thank you so much for adopting instead of buying! Yes, that is a breeding behavior - no doubt about it. Now, it should get better as time goes by but you will have to be VERY strict about her solar schedule and diet (I see you already know about the 'improper' petting and caresses) because, as I am sure you already know, toos are hormonal birds because they are short day breeders. My Linus does something similar with his beak only he does not do it on anybody's body - he merely opens and closes his beak (the same she is doing on your hand) real fast. I actually do it with him most of the time by putting my face real close to his and opening and closing my mouth 'in rythm' to his BUT my Linus is not overly hormonal as your bird seems to be (an unfortunate consequence of living in a rescue where the solar schedule is not kept).

As to her diet, do check out our gloop threads because it's more nutritious (uses frozen veggies) and much more complete (has whole grains in it, thus making it a 'complete' meal) than chop. Of course, she should get raw produce every day, too (for the phytonutrients). I tried chop as an alternative to the raw produce (they get one green, one veggie and one fruit) but my birds don't like teeny tiny pieces of anything, they would much rather have things they can pick and choose and hold in their 'hands' - and they hate 'soupy' food - which is ALWAYS the way chop ends.

[rpjmartin]

Thank you Parajita for confirming my suspicions. I will definitely check out the information on the diet. I agree Toos seem to prefer to eat holding the object. As I said - she is not food motivated right now - will have to get her through the hormone piece. Thanks again.

[Pajarita]

Well, in my personal experience, there is no such thing as a parrot that is not food motivated. Mind you, I am not saying that it doesn't happen, it does, but it is always because these birds have been free-fed protein food so they have no true incentive to do anything for food because what they crave (and what we always use as a high value item) is protein and they are already getting it all the time so why work for it, right? Once you do not free-feed protein, their natural instincts (survival) take over and they become food motivated (as all animals are, when you get down to it). Try it and you'll see. It will take time because parrots are always optimists - they wait and wait for things to get 'better' never showing any impatience or change in their behavior. But, eventually, they figure out that this is the new normal and act accordingly. That's one of the advantages of feeding gloop to them: it's a satisfying and nutritious meal that they like a lot but it's also low protein, high fiber, high moisture and almost devoid of fat (which means they can eat as much as they want without becoming fat on it) so once you figure out what is their high value item (let me know if you need help with this) and offer it as a reward or a treat (I don't 'do' rewards), they are eager for it.