umbrella cockatoo pecking.

[GMV]

Oh, my dear, please ask your parents to read this because it's VERY important! I am sorry but keeping a rehomed 7-8 year old cockatoo in your room as your personal bird is a tragedy waiting to happen. You are VERY young and have no experience with these birds! They are not easy birds to keep, not even for an adult and not even for people with lots of experience. And I can tell you right off the bat that she is NOT on a good diet and eating too much protein (which makes them aggressive!) because there is no one food out there that is a complete diet for cockatoos which need A LOT of plant material (you did not mention a single fruit, vegetable of leafy green when we asked you about the diet). Just because she has been eating something for the last 8 years, it doesn't mean it's a good diet. I have a bird that ate wild bird seed for over 25 years and it destroyed her liver and kidneys. And 2 weeks is nothing! She is still in her honeymoon period and already biting so we are talking a very dangerous situation here! In another two to four weeks, she will start showing her true colors and will bite in earnest. I hope from the bottom of my heart that I am wrong but I don't think so, I really don't. Birds are ALWAYS on their best behavior during the honeymoon period (even aggressive ones don't attack) but, as soon as they realize this is their home to stay, they change and become much more self-assured and assertive and that means biting. If she is already biting now, she will do it even worse in another two weeks and a bad bite from these birds will send you to the emergency room! God forbid she bites your face!

Please, please, reconsider! A free bird sounds great but you are biting more than you can chew here.

Thanks you for the information and warning. this is GMVs mother, and this is a family project so far. i appreciate your comments about diet, and i agree. that's a topic for a bridge down the road.
now my concern is the honeymoon period, thank you for that warning. she was never known to bite anyone of the 50+ people she met. (except one person she flogges) she has never bitten GMV, but pecked at him (i think to express something like love, or territory) this is where i would like your comment. cockatoos i know can be territorial about the ground. (around their cage)
her cage is in his room, next to his bed. do you think that is a disaster waiting to happen, could you ever see that working out?

[Wolf]

Actually, you did not, you lost patience with him and clipped him to control him. This is the way a predator thinks, by the way. And it can be difficult for a predator to change their thinking to fit into the world of birds.

[GMV]

you didn't even know what an "inappropriate time" was... he flew to us when we were COOKING!
AND ALMOST FELL INTO A KNIFE, a boiling pot, and all that stuff. he would not be clipped if he didn't do this. but no, i'm sure you would just cut your bird. i'm such a bad owner not cutting my birds guts out like that! its just like putting a dog on a leash. all the biting and screaming was just a plus. it didn't affect our decision.

[Wolf]

No, I don't do anything like that, and you are just over reacting because I don't agree with you and am trying to teach you a little about these birds. I do not allow my birds in my kitchen at all. I put up a screen to prevent the very thing that you are describing from ever happening. I am aware that my birds can fly faster than I can run, and that I cannot prevent them from doing what is there natural behavior, as a result of this I have bird proofed my entire house by removing or blocking access to dangerous areas for them. And yes, at times it is a little inconvenient to me but that is part of the responsibility of keeping birds in ones home.
Unlike you, I did not even actually choose to have birds in my home, it came about because of one bird that came to me due to the fact that it was not being taken care of properly and came to my home and it was just too cold for it to survive here in the mountains. I am a predator and I hunt and fish for food. Because I do this I know that all living things have their place and deserve a certain minimum amount of respect, and so I took the bird in and tried to find the owners, I did find them about 6 months later, but kept my mouth shut and kept the bird because of the abusive way that they kept the bird. today that bird is my best friend and I would die to protect her. but it does require certain concessions to give her a safe and healthy life. It is not always easy to change your lifestyle to accommodate a bird and some people can't find it in themselves to make the transition. Others will not devote themselves to the time to do the research needed to become aware of the needs of these creatures and become proficient at taking care of them. And some people will make the transition, do the research, and learn to think in a manner to understand what a bird has to offer.
I have over 40 yrs. experience working with mistreated and abused animals of many types, I do not have as much experience with birds as Pajarita has, but I can honestly hold my own with anyone in the areas that I have gained proficiency in and I am learning more about them each and every day. So if you really care about your birds get off of your high horse and self righteous attitude and try to understand that we care very deeply about your birds and are doing our best to help you to understand the gift that you have by having them present in your daily life. And I hope that you dislike what I am saying and show this as well as your last post to your parents.

[Wolf]

For a bird there is no such a thing as an inappropriate time. They know that they are supposed to be with there flock and you are that to them and they live with their flock 24/7. Also to humans inappropriate times can mean many different things, therefore I contend that inappropriate times is not an adequate description of what a bird is doing, and in a forum such as this is only leaves what you are trying to convey open to misunderstandings and the wrong advice. It is far better to give more detail than you think is needed than it is to give not enough or possibly misleading information, instead strive for clarity when you ask for help. I can assure you that no one here minds offering you help. We all care about the welfare of your birds as much as if they were our own.

[Harpmaker]

GMV, Wolf comes on a little strong sometimes, but he is concerned for both your safety and for the safety of all of your birds. Please read his comments with that in mind.

I can't isolate the kitchen in my house, so we have a rule that when any cooking is going on, my Corsair is in her cage for her own safety. That is not ideal, but that is what we do to keep her flighted and reasonably safe.

I, like Wolf and Pajarita, am concerned about you keeping Lily, because I have heard more stories of cockatoos causing their owners to require hospitalization than any other bird. One of my books had a story about a lady in Hawaii that had been stitched up several times because her cockatoo had ripped her face open. Her invariable comment when urged to re-home him was "but he LOVES me". Indeed, that can be the problem. Cockatoos are often jealous of those they love. And YOU don't have to do anything wrong. Some will bite you because someone they don't like came in the room, and they could only reach you.

My little bird is too small to reach my face from my forearm, but a large cockatoo can reach from almost any perch-site on your body. And cockatoos want to be touching you all the time. They are very affectionate, but their beaks require a large dose of respect.

Remember that prey animals need to be quicker than predators to survive. That means any bird has to be quicker than a cat. Please be very,very careful.

[GMV]

i researched almost once a day for almost a year, don't tell me that we disagree, and try to shove your politics down my throat at the same time. we are working on ONE PROJECT AT A TIME, and until they are done, delight will be clipped and safe. and how come you "did not choose to have birds, but now have four, and did not send you first one to a rescue.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2-3 above
i appreciate you concern, and understand you want to change my mind, but THAT^ was not the right way to try. thank you to the people who tried to help. ( the respectful ones at least )
i will deal with MY BIRD by MYSELF. i'm done with this discussion, most of it was not helpful.

[END OF THIS DISCUSION] (i hope)

[Wolf]

There are no rescues where I live, I did try.
Again I am sorry that you are having difficulties with the answers that you have been given. I don't really care if you agree with them or not, that is your right and up to you, but I assure you that there are plenty od documentations on the things that you have been told. And much that has not even been touched upon by you.
But that does not give you the right to blindly attack people who are only replying to your request for information. It is kind of silly to kill the messenger just because you don't like the message.
Parrots are not domesticated animals they are wild animals and this means among other things that despite them being highly intelligent there are things that they just can't do. Their brains are not wired for it.
In the instance of your conure please do mistake clipping for a means of keeping the bird sale because it is not and because of being handicapped it is in far more danger than ever. Don't take my word for it read the postings and find for yourself the many stories where people injured or killed their bird because it could no get out of harms way due to being clipped. There are plenty of them.
If by politics you are meaning policy then the only policy that I promote is the safety and wellbeing of these remarkable birds over simple human vanity. But I think that you need to look up the definition of politics because if that is what you are referring to then politics is not the correct term.
And again, I invite you to show this to your parents, if you honestly believe that you are behaving in an appropriate manner. Perhaps they can explain where you have been wronged to me, because I just don't see it.

[Pajarita]

Thanks you for the information and warning. this is GMVs mother, and this is a family project so far. i appreciate your comments about diet, and i agree. that's a topic for a bridge down the road.
now my concern is the honeymoon period, thank you for that warning. she was never known to bite anyone of the 50+ people she met. (except one person she flogges) she has never bitten GMV, but pecked at him (i think to express something like love, or territory) this is where i would like your comment. cockatoos i know can be territorial about the ground. (around their cage)
her cage is in his room, next to his bed. do you think that is a disaster waiting to happen, could you ever see that working out?

Hello, GMV's mother. The problem with cockatoos is twofold. On the one hand, they are extremely needy and hormonal birds and both characteristics make them difficult birds to keep healthy and happy and, when you mess up with a Green Cheek conure, you might get a little bite but, when you mess up with a cockatoo, you might get half a lip or an eyebrow bitten off. On the other hand, a cockatoo can hurt both the person it loves as well as the one they dislike so bonding with one is not a guarantee that you won't be hurt because, if you don't pay enough attention to it (and that means hours and hours every single day, no sick days, no weekends, no soccer game, no summer camp, no nothing that will disrupt their daily routine), or you pay attention to another animal or human, it lets you know it's not happy and that means screams and/or bites. There is a very good reason why these are the number one given-up birds and the reason is that they are VERY demanding, very large and very hormonal birds.

The reason why I worry about your son is that:
1- a parrot is almost never a 'family project' because it's in their nature to bond with one individual alone and, in the best case scenario, ignore everybody else but, in the worst, it attacks every other person but their chosen one.
2- putting a parrot's cage in a person's room does not mean that the bird will bond with that person. They pick who to bond with and they not only have reasons of their own that we cannot understand, but they also switch their allegiance from one person to another and it almost happens overnight.
3- I don't see how a 14 year old boy with a normal life can provide the rigorous schedule of daily interaction that a cockatoo would need to be content.
4- I would NEVER recommend a cockatoo as a first time bird, they need somebody with years of experience in large species.
5- I might be wrong on this and I don't mean to offend but, going by what he has posted, bird husbandry is not something that the family seems to know much about and ending up with a cockatiel with a neurological impairment or a clipped GCC is bad for the bird but it won't send any of you to the hospital while an unhappy cockatoo might (and 'unhappy' can come not only from neglect or abuse, it comes from bad diet, bad light schedule, improper handling, etc).

The thing about parrots is that loving/enjoying/liking them is not enough. It works out fine with dogs but when you are talking about an undomesticated species with very difficult to fulfill physiological and emotional needs, it doesn't. And, when you add to this the fact that the species is large and known for unpredictable behavior and dangerous aggression, it's extremely worrisome.

Personally and, again, I don't mean to offend anybody (I am a mother and grandmother and can't help but imagine one of my grandchildren in this situation), I think it was highly irresponsible of the previous owners to give you this bird as a pet for your son. You don't rehome a cockatoo to a home where they have no experience whatsoever handling them or as a child's pet. You just don't.

[GMV]

heres an update, lily has not pecked for almost a week now, and hardly ever screams anymore.
just because i was informed by people you may disagree with, does not mean i am uninformed.
almost every parrot care article is opinion-based, like child care articles.
we are not against flight but sadly, we cannot build everything at once. we can only build one thing at a time, which is only expected out of a group of 4 homo sapiens. once we have enough build we will let delight fly.
now to end this. thank you all for your responses, but in the end, this was not a scenario was not one that could be solved boy anyone that has not met lily. thank you all for trying to help.

(does anyone know how to delete this article?)