extremely aggressive cockatoo

[Renee]

A friend could no longer keep her "too" so gave him to me. Sunshine is highly intelligent and loves to learn new things all the time. But; I have a terrible problem that I cannot rectify. When he was young, some doctor had him and was cruel to him; so I'm told. Once, he bit the doctor and in anger; the doc tossed him against a wall, knocking him out cold temporarily. When he came to, the doctor's wife was standing over him; and he seemed to mistakenly believe the woman had been the one to harm him... so from then on he hates ALL women, of which I am one. The friend who gave him to me said for all the years she had him (7 +), he constantly chased her around the house, stalked her and would attack her at every opportunity. He shredded her shoes whenever he got an opportunity, and would laugh about it whenever he bit her.


I have found that unfortunately, this behavior has not changed, he treats me the same as he did her. He has bitten me to the bone on my fingers and thumbs, as well as on my ankles and my forearms. I've had him a while now, but have lost hope that his attitude towards women will ever change. However, he loves children no matter the gender. But he isn't really MY bird; he decided long ago that he belonged to my husband and him alone. He is somewhat aggressive towards men too, but nothing like how he is with women.

Is there ANY way in the world to alter his opinion of females? I love Sunshine and really want him to like me; but anything I do only causes him to be even more aggressive. He knows that I'm the one who feeds and waters him, because he watches me refill the bowls in his cages. He has a quarter of one room for a cage, then a smaller one that he uses in the daytime when he's out and about. But I can only feed and water him when he's not IN his cage; or get viciously bitten. It takes my husband to get him off me; as his beak is strong and I can't get him to let go. I've tried not interacting with him for almost two months, but that too was greeted with attacks. I have to carry a spray bottle everywhere I go in the house, as he'll hide then jump out at me around corners or from behind things. Can anybody offer me advice on how to address this dangerous problem? I get so tired of needing stitches and being bandaged all the time.

[Harpmaker]

Hello and welcome Renee!

In your situation I would follow the Parrot Wizard's taming exercises, starting with target training inside the cage. http://www.theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=227

Spraying Sunshine probably isn't helping your situation, since it is most likely to make him associate you with unpleasantness, but I sympathize with wanting to stay away from that beak.

I'm sure we have people on the forums with a lot of cockatoo experience who will be more helpful than I can.

Good luck!

[Pajarita]

Lordy, that sounds terribly stressful for everybody in the household, bird included!. And, to be honest with you, I don't know what to tell you... I take in aggressive birds but they live in a birdroom, they are certainly not roaming free all over the house. I've had birds that prefer men over women but, with time (and because I am the only human they have contact with as my husband fears them), they have accepted me and stopped their attacks. In your case, been that your husband is also around, I don't know how you can break him out of this... especially since he has been doing it for so many years.

Now, do you keep him to a human or a bird light schedule? Because it's a known fact that sexual hormones and aggression go hand in hand in birds so eliminating the production of sexual hormones would have a calming effect on him but we are now rapidly approaching breeding season (and the birds are already starting to produce sexual hormones) so this will not work for quite a number of months - until the end of this year, actually, because when they are kept at a human light schedule for years, their endocrine system goes out of whack and it takes a loooooong time for it to start working right again. I usually have no problem with this because, like I said, they are in the birdroom and, whenever I have a new 'bad' one, I take precautions. I wear things that prevent them from attacking me, for example, if they go after my feet, I wear long skirts (I've worn bath towels hanging from my belt and dragging behind me); if they go after my ears/neck, I wear a towel or a thick hoodie - I have even worn an upside-down broom sticking up from my back like a giant erect crest -LOL- The idea is to wear or do something that would disconcert them (I've also clapped real loud or rang a cow bell) and, by the time this 'strange' thing becomes familiar, the bird has gotten used to me and feeling more comfortable with my presence. I also never interact with them physically (never ask them to step up or anything at all) so they realize that, as long as they leave me alone, there is nothing to fear. The 'fear' is because, when they attack me, I scare the bejesus out of them by cawing real loud and making bird threatening movements (I make my hand into a large beak by putting all the tips of my fingers together and raising it above my head, make downward movements as if the 'beak' was going to bite them while I make the very loud CAW CAW CAW!) I don't believe in ignoring or not reacting to aggression, this is not a natural behavior for parrots so I don't know why people think it's the thing to do. I never actually touch them (I even 'herd' them into a cage for a time-out) but I do show the strong reaction of a bird that is stronger than them and has taken exception to their aggression (a weaker bird would fly away while a stronger bird would keep his ground and make the other back off). I once had a real mean amazon which was also very intelligent and caught up real fast to the fact that it was all bluff but I discovered that he was scared of those long foam cylindrical things they sell for children to whack each other over the head (I think he thought it was a snake) so all I had to do was pick it up in my hand and he would fly/walk away from me real fast. Is there anything that scares him?

Of course, if your husband was not in the picture, it would be better for you to establish a better relationship with himu because you could start target training him from inside his cage and, as this would be the only interaction he has and you the only company, eventually, he would stop the attacks.

But, I'll be 100% honest with you, if you cannot change his behavior, I would seriously consider sending him to a cockatoo sanctuary where he could live with other birds in a large aviary because the situation you describe is not only bad for you and your husband, it's also very bad for him and he is suffering as much or more than you are.

[pennyandrocky]

my cockatoo used to be aggressive with me only when my boyfriend was home from work so I know how you feel . I adopted her, and I do everything for her plus I'm a stay at home mom so I have a lot of time to spend with her but my boyfriend is her favorite person while he's at work or sleeping she loves me but as soon as she saw or heard him she would lunge for me I have scars on my hands from her. I started out just talking from the doorway to our game room while she sat with him then I would do my regular choirs and say hi while going back and forth if she showed any aggression he would tell her "no" as she became less aggressive I would walk by give her a quick head scratch and move on. go slowly with him one small step at a time he has been abused so it will take time to build trust. is he flighted or clipped? if he's clipped allowing his flight feathers to grow out will give him more confidence and instead of attacking you out of fear he will fly instead when he feels threatened. he needs a strict schedule wake up, bed and feeding time should be the same everyday. the best way I've found to bond with my birds is sharing dinner eat with his cage right next to where you and your husband eat you can give him the same healthy foods you're eating for dinner fruit's, veggies,and grains like brown rice. good luck I hope this helps.

[Pajarita]

Sorry, I disagree. You can't keep a bird on the same schedule all year round, you would mess up his endocrine system that way because you are eliminating the only trigger we can actually control which is daylight hours.