Please help! New Cockatoo biting

[Utoomom]

Hi...I also brought home a too, an umbrella at that! LOL~~ I only had experience with tiels and budgies, never with a large bird. I learned by trial & error which is why the others have given you the advise that they have. The only thing I WILL add is that you make the home a safe birdie place and research on the MANY chemicals and fumes that a normal household has that may literally kill your pinkster! You have specified only on behavior which is EXACTLY what I was concerned about at first......THEN~~well, lets just say it was a costly lesson to say the least. So please, research the many harmfull things that you might want to eliminate from the home...don't get intimidated, take it slow. She will warm up to you before you know it...The best of luck to ya~~!

[friend2parrots]

My issue is about a new bird. A Moluccan. This was a rescue. Like Jekyll and Hyde this bird! One moment sweet, cuddly, loving and the next, longes out and bites. Now if I'd had any inkling this was going to happen, I wouldn't have walked so close. Now I know. In the past, I'd carry a water bottle with a spray head on it and when bird would lunge, bird would get hit with stream of water. I don't know if this is PC or not, but it's always been effective. Is a rescue a lost cause or is there hope for this multiple-personality parrot?

Thank you.

I agree with the others that no bird is ever a lost cause. there is definitely hope for your rescue Moluccan. any and every bird, regardless of its background, or severity of its bad behavioral problems, can be turned around into a sweet, calm, and wonderful companion. what it requires is time, training, and the willingness to research and implement scientifically proven methods of bird behavioral modification, and the willingness to abandon methods that have been shown to be either ineffective or detrimental to the reinforcement of desired behaviors, and the willingness to meet the various biological, physical, and psychological health needs of the bird. but it can be done, it just requires a lot of patience, time, energy, planning, and reading into training methods and health maintenance.

give yourself a long term goal, and plenty of time to do research into clicker training. clicker training and positive reinforcement techniques are the magic key to behavioral modification and rehabilitation for distressed birds. there's lots of good, clear info on Michael's blog and this forum that walks you through the basics of clicker training. there are also some great books out there on parrot behavior that would help you as well. Barbara heidenriechs book The Parrot Problem Solver is really good. she does not talk that much about clicker training, though, but the rest of the info in that book is extremely relevant and important for your situation. Read that book VERY thoroughly, and then use the clicker training advice from Michaels Trained Parrot Blog (link is on the top left corner of the page) and this forum to shape your Moluccan's behavior using positive reinforcement. you can find clicker training advice on the forum by using the search box and typing "clicker".

P.S. I just read through this entire thread that we're on, and found some REALLY fantastic positive reinforcement training advice on it earlier in the thread. so as part of your reading and research, don't forget to read this whole thread from start to finish if you haven't done so already.

good luck and let us know how everything goes.

[Andromeda]

...what it requires is time, training, and the willingness to research and implement scientifically proven methods of bird behavioral modification, and the willingness to abandon methods that have been shown to be either ineffective or detrimental to the reinforcement of desired behaviors...

This is so well put.

Although you have had success with using punishment in the past punishment is an outdated method of behavioral modification. It was once used widely in animal training but is no longer advocated due to advances in behavioral science showing conclusively that animals respond better to positive reinforcement than they do to punishment.

You may not "get behind" the idea of ignore the bite but it's a proven fact that ignoring the bite while also teaching desired behavior using positive reinforcement is more effective than using punishment, as well as more compassionate.

Using punishment with a "Jekyll and Hyde" rescue is really inadvisable because although you can usually get away with punishment (blowing in the face or squirting with water) on well-adjusted or young birds the likelihood of it backfiring with a rescue is very high. If your rescue is unexpectedly lunging or biting it has trust issues and the way to address this is over time establishing a history of trust by making sure the bird always associates you with positive things. If you use punishment with a rescue bird the bird will associate you with the punishment and it will damage your relationship and the bird will have no reason to trust you and may even begin to mistrust you because you are the source of negative things.

Barbara heidenriechs book The Parrot Problem Solver is really good. she does not talk that much about clicker training, though, but the rest of the info in that book is extremely relevant and important for your situation.

I agree that The Parrot Problem Solver is a very good book and would be relevant to your situation; it deals specifically with aggression in parrots.

He doesn't like getting air in the face, I don't like getting bit.

Please seriously think about what you are saying. A bird doesn't bite because it deliberately sets out to do something you don't like. It's not being malicious. It bites as a response to feeling fear or aggression because it's a wild animal that's acting on instinct.

You, on the other hand, are a human being who does not act on instinct and have higher reasoning and the ability to plan your actions. When you explicitly set out to do something your bird "doesn't like" as a reaction to something the bird is only doing out of instinct you are retaliating against an animal for doing something that just comes naturally. Why would you do that?

I know you are a compassionate person because you have not only taken in a rescue but have also nurtured another malnourished bird back to health so please reconsider "getting revenge" as a strategy to combat biting.

In the past, I'd carry a water bottle with a spray head on it and when bird would lunge, bird would get hit with stream of water.

Birds in the wild and in captivity need to bathe. Bathing is a happy time! Water should only be associated with positive things. If you use water as punishment (and especially if you use the spray bottle both for punishment and for giving a bath which you may or may not do) then it's very confusing to the bird because water has both positive and negative associations.

Good luck with your rescue and I hope you can "get behind" the idea of using only positive reinforcement to address his behavioral problems because rescues can be delicate psychologically. They require a lot of patience and time but it's very rewarding to gain their trust over time. I know because I have a rescue.

[Nir]

damnnn.. cockatoo as a first time bird. good luck -_-.

[helpthisgrey]

cockatoos can get very demanding and nippy if you give them too much attention or not enough attention I think.