Hello all, I am going to need all the help I can get!

[Chrischan67]

Hello everyone!
For starters about me, as a child my family only ever had small birds like budgies, finches and doves and out of those I only ever interacted with the doves which always seems like such nice, easy going birds. However, I am a veterinary technician and being so everyone I know wants to give me their unwanted pets, so now I am the mother of a Goffin's Cockatoo name Kooka.
He (I am pretty sure it is male cause it has never laid any eggs and it's eyes are black (i've been told that black eyes means male and red means female) the people I got it from thought it was female, but they never had it sexed) has spent the majority of his life neglected and abused. I have no idea how old he is the people couldn't even give me a guesstimate, so I am guessing somewhere around 10 yrs old.
Kooka bit his owner's nose several years back and because of that has spent the last several years in a dark basement covered up. He was friendly with one member of the household, but never spent any real time out of his cage. He eats only sunflower seeds and has no idea what a toy is.
As of today I have had him less than 24 hours and he has plucked out some of his breast feathers overnight and he has already escaped from his cage( which his cage is a complete wreck because the nose bitten owner used to smash it with a broom whenever he was too loud) so today I am off to a pet supply store to buy a bigger and better cage.
So that is all I know about Kooka. Kooka and I are going to need all the help we can get, so any and all advice is more than welcome. He of course will be getting a check up with my vets ASAP just in case. I need tips on: changing his diet from sunflower seeds to pellets, stopping the biting, stopping the feather plucking and introducing new toys and activities to help him recover from being neglected.
I have tried to offer some apple and carrot but he took it and threw it away, lol!
I have his cage near a window (that is closed, so no drafts) so he can look outside and get some light. The room he is in has no other animals in it, but a good amount of people traffic.

[rebeccaturpeinen]

OMG That poor bird!! I cant believe people can be that horrible. Thank you for rescuing it.

I hope and pray Kooka will understand he is in a safe and loving enviroment now. There is a lot of great info on this site (it has helped me a lot!)

And ofcourse... a big WELCOME!!!!!

[liz]

Myrtle didn't have it that bad. She was in a dark house with all the curtains drawn and being terrorized by a CAG 24/7. The woman favored the CAG and ignored Myrtle. The only word she knew was hello. I was afraid she would have trouble adjusting to my crazy house.

When I brought her home I left the door of the cage open. Within 24 hours she was on top of the cage. She had only had seed and water and did not know other foods. She watched us or Rambo eat to see if it was good. She would not take food from me so I put it on a the table in front of her and left.

She will now eat anything that does not get away from her and is building a good vocabulary. Both birds use their cages to store their stuff. I keep seed, pellets and water in them at all times but make them come out on a play patio to get their veggies and treats.

She loves the activity in the house including the cats and dogs. The only thing she is still fearful of is hands. She is always afraid someone is going to grab her.

[tinti]

Oh, poor Kooka!! I can't believe people can be so horrible :'( I'm happy he's got a new home where he is loved and appreciated.

[Mum2rory]

Hi, welcome and a big THANKYOU for taking Kooka from that awful environment. (Some people should not be allowed to have pets or kids, but thats a whole other topic) Good luck with Kooka, it will take time, a lot of patience and love but you can and will do it. And the rewards of having a parrot that loves and trusts you will be worth all the stress and worry you are going to feel till such time. Good luck

[KiwiMango]

It's just horrible that someone would do that to an animal. Kudos to you for getting him out of that situation. You'll find all kinds of info on here, and here is a link to taming for beginners http://trainedparrot.com/Taming/
Good luck and don't give up on him.

[Chrischan67]

Thank you for the posts everyone! Kooka is doing well, he hasn't plucked out any more of his feathers since the first night. I got him to try a piece of banana , which was very exciting. Also I baked him some birdie bread (which he won't eat yet) He is in a new cage cause his other one was falling apart and too small. If given the chance I know he would bite me cause he doesn't trust me yet. He doesn't mind me hand feeding him his sunflower seeds and the banana but he hasn't tried his pellets yet. I haven't let him out of his cage just because I know it would a very stressful battle for both of us to get him back in. That and he has never been out before and he has so much to work on getting used to for right now. I don't want to stress him out anymore than he already is. Again thanks for the welcome. Any and all suggestions are welcome and highly appreciated.

[liz]

Thank you for the posts everyone! Kooka is doing well, he hasn't plucked out any more of his feathers since the first night. I got him to try a piece of banana , which was very exciting. Also I baked him some birdie bread (which he won't eat yet) He is in a new cage cause his other one was falling apart and too small. If given the chance I know he would bite me cause he doesn't trust me yet. He doesn't mind me hand feeding him his sunflower seeds and the banana but he hasn't tried his pellets yet. I haven't let him out of his cage just because I know it would a very stressful battle for both of us to get him back in. That and he has never been out before and he has so much to work on getting used to for right now. I don't want to stress him out anymore than he already is. Again thanks for the welcome. Any and all suggestions are welcome and highly appreciated.

Only let him out when you have an hour or more to watch him. When he is done checking everything in the room he will go back to his "home" where his food and water is.

[Chrischan67]

Kooka update!
I took him to the vet this past Saturday and he got a clean bill of health despite all of the neglect! I also found out that he is at least 20 years old becuase he is an imported Goffin's cockatoo and they apparently stopped importing them 20 or so years ago(My vet happens to have raised them in the past and knows alot about them!). I also found out that Kooka is the sweetest bird ever! Once the exam was over my vet wanted to help me start taming him and so he put him on the bench that is in the room and Kooka was such a gentleman! All he wanted to do was to sit on my shoulder and have his head scratched! So that's what we've been doing all weekend! He's not to sure of some people but he seems to trust me alot, which is just awesome! I am so excited and I am sure so is Kooka as now I can let him out of his cage daily and no one will get hurt. He also has already started to eat his pellets on his own, but if he doesn't have enough sunflower seeds in his bowl too he screams boy does he have me trained! lol!

[Mum2rory]

Thats great news all round. Kooka knows that you mean him no harm and that you are, in fact, going to give him a better life than he previously had. Well done.