Introducing me :)

[mrstweet]

Greetings everyone,
I came looking for a forum because I recently adopted a 12.5 yo cockatoo. "Baby" is a Goffins who hasn't had the best life, but he has had just one owner who might have cared for him at one point. He was locked in his cage for months before I got him.

Because he's my first large parrot I am a little wary of him (and he of me) so I am looking for help, advice, options, etc. For example, he only partially knows the command "step up" and then immediately runs up your arm to the shoulder, which I am not ready for.

I have 5 other birds at the moment, three "originals" - Lovebird, gcc and tiel, plus 2 parrotlets I recently rescued.

Hope to make some new friends here!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Welcome! I wish you the best of luck with Baby! Our Cape has recently taken to rushing the shoulder, also, which I think is pretty rude and am trying to work with. Plus he has an unholy fascination with ears. What seems to work pretty well is holding my arm with a good bed at the elbow and a little out from my body so he can't as easily grab my shirt to rappel up. Then I block his chest gently with my other hand if I need to. But he's quite tame and trusting with me, so I'm not particularly worried about damaging his trust by physically blocking him like that. I'll be interested to see what others say about best technique to actually prevent a "Shoulder dash".

[mrstweet]

I picked Baby up Monday afternoon, so this is only his second whole day with me. I haven't been asking him to step up much because he just sits there--you have to do a lot of prodding to get him to let go of the cage or perch in order to step up. The few times he has tried to rush up I have crossed my left arm over the crook of my elbow to block him climbing (Seems to work, but he still tries, which is what I don't want unless he is invited). I went out and got a clicker yesterday, and I'm starting to condition him to the treat (this is hard, because I'm trying to convert his diet as well, as she had him on a seed diet, so he HAS to be offered it until he converts to the pellets).

Thanks for your advice. I LOVE your GCC--by far my favorite parrot species that I've encountered!

[patdbunny]

Have fun with your new monkey - er, I mean goffin.
He probably was locked away for days/months on end because it's hard to keep up with their busy-ness (DAVE!). It gets old after a while.
My husband got a goffin early in our relationship. Very sweet and fantastic bird; but can you say ADHD?
I'm "into" birds, but it was really hard to keep up with Sally. She now lives with my friend who has less birds than I do and can dedicate more time to keeping Sally busy and occupied. Despite this - Sally ended up with me periodically, and a third family. Basically, the three households serve as her extended family and she goes visiting for months on end when the current household needs a break.
This works well for Sally. She knows she's not being ditched.

Not to say this is an arrangement you need to have. Just trying to express the extreme mental needs of a goffin. I have a lot of birds, but even my prior african grey could be kept busy with a new toy for 1/2 hour or longer. The goffin, 10-15 minutes and she needed something new.

Roz.

[patdbunny]

Oh yeah - for the rushing. I don't block the bird, I put my hand up and get the bird back onto my hand. I keep repeating this and the bird usually catches on pretty quickly that where I want them is on the hand.

[mrstweet]

Have fun with your new monkey - er, I mean goffin.
He probably was locked away for days/months on end because it's hard to keep up with their busy-ness (DAVE!). It gets old after a while.

Roz.

Actually, the owner said she literally lost the key to his cage. Clearly, she didn't make an effort to get him out, as it took 10 seconds and a flathead. I"m hoping everything will go well with him--I am willing to work with him to stop the biting. As long as I can get him back in his cage at the end of the day I am more than willing to handle him, let him out, play games, give treats...however, for an hour or two of playtime a big fuss to get him back in without getting bitten is a problem. I know he is just scared and lashing out because he a) wants the attention and b)has been locked away and c) is scared of the new environment.

He doesn't step up onto my hand, but will sometimes do it on my wrist. At this point I'm almost ready to say he just doesn't know how and start from scratch.

Right now I'm trying to decide the best way to let him adjust, but I don't want to understimulate him too much, as he is a plucker.

Maybe I should cross post this in one of the other forums?

[patdbunny]

Lost the key so lock the bird away for months on end. That's messed up.

[GlassOnion]

That whole 'lost the key to the cage' sounds like bs to me.. But anyway congrats! I hear goffins are the easier cockatoos to own.

[patdbunny]

Goffins being easier to own? I've had mollucans and umbrellas, in addition to the goffin. I'd definitely say the goffin is harder to live with due to it's ADHD qualities. The mollucans and umbrellas were a lot easier to keep entertained and occupied by themselves.

[Dave]

I guess we have been blessed with our "monkey". Her cage (sorry Roz, "room") is about 4' wide by 3' by 2' deep. She has no problem being in there all day if we are not home, but usually we are here. At around 5:30, I bring her upstairs and she hangs out between her perch, my chair, and the floor all day. At night she follows me downstairs into her cage for the night.
I agree they are way busy, and I make sure she is "busy" with stuff I dont care about. tons of cardboard parrot toys, wood clothespins, (thanks to Micheal) and apple or so. She pretty much poops only on her perch or under it on the ground, but we have a mat there, so no big deal.
My daughter thought up hanging colored plastic chain from the perch because she seems to like climbing so much. She spends quit a bit of time hanging by one foot and stuffing food or chewed debris in and under her wings.
Oh yeah, she want to eat whatever I we are eating and if we let her, she will take it right out of our mouths. But she is also sharing because she tries to stuff her food in our mouths. I have been woken from a nap in my chair by her shoving chewed sunflower seeds in my mouth. Ummm thanks, Pookie, but Yuck!
This bird is my wife's and I had never considered them before -- not my type I guess. But I have been pleasantly suprised. Very quiet, overall quieter than our lovebird! She has her moments, but they dont last long.