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Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Sissy B » Mon Nov 14, 2016 2:30 pm

Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick and to sit on a play station . My 2 yr 7 mo old cockatoo that I just got on October 6 is afraid of step up sticks and he is terrified of a play stand. Does anyone have any suggestions on what or how I can get him to get use to these things. He also only will step up when he wants to nothing more he is very stubborn. Any suggestions would be of great help and appreciated.

Thanks Sissy
Thank you Elvis and Irish Blue's momma
Sissy
Sissy B
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Pajarita » Tue Nov 15, 2016 12:24 pm

You've only had him for a measly month, it's way too early to expect anything of him because he hasn't bonded with you, yet. My recommendation to you is to allow him time to get used to his new home, routine and human. He will step up without a single problem once he trusts you - he will even follow you around and beg you for attention. Just keep him company, talk, sing, dance, give him treats, etc and don't ask him to do anything -not even step up.
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Flight: Yes

Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Sissy B » Tue Nov 15, 2016 3:04 pm

Ok so when do you suggest trying to start teaching him? Also how can I get him to sit on a play station or a perch out side of his cage? He loves walking back and forth on my live seat and for some reason chases my husband and daughter. I thank you for your help and maybr asking lots of questions

Thanks again Sissy
Thank you Elvis and Irish Blue's momma
Sissy
Sissy B
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 22
Location: Cap Vincent, NY
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Umbrella cockatoo 2 yrs old and a blue fronted Amazon (rescued) who is 32 yrs old
Flight: No

Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby ParrotsForLife » Tue Nov 15, 2016 3:23 pm

Why do you want him on a Playstation? Definitely no place for a big beak and id suggest letting him come out of the cage himself and see where he chooses to go.
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Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Sissy B » Tue Nov 15, 2016 5:00 pm

Oh he goes where ever he wants he's all over the back of love seat always looking out the windows and cuddles with me all the time. Maybe a play station isn't what it is I want to try and get him on its a larger perch for him to climb on just curious on how to get him to go on something like that. My Elvis in the short time I had him is the king of the house. He's the sweetest little guy. I love cuddling with him but I cant leave the room with out him screaming so if I can get him on a play station or a perch I can have home on that while I get my chores done and he's not screaming because I'm in another room.
Thank you Elvis and Irish Blue's momma
Sissy
Sissy B
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 22
Location: Cap Vincent, NY
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Umbrella cockatoo 2 yrs old and a blue fronted Amazon (rescued) who is 32 yrs old
Flight: No

Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Wolf » Thu Nov 17, 2016 8:34 am

Screaming for you when you leave the room or move to any place that he can't see you is a very normal behavior and can also be very annoying. This is normally their flock call and there is no quick fix for this type of screaming issue. A parrots flock is in many ways like a security blanket for them as it is part of their primary means of escaping from a predator. It is very hard to catch a single bird when you have 20 of them flying all around your head.

It will not matter whether the bird is on or in its cage or on a play station or any other place, if it can not see you it will normally call for you. What I do and suggest is that you answer your bird when he calls for you. Then when he stops calling for you, even if just for a minute enter the room he is in so that he can see you. I use words to answer my birds or for some of them I whistle to them when they call for me and after a while they begin to call to me using the whistle that I answer them with. The whistle is not as loud or as nerve wracking as their flock call.
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Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Pajarita » Thu Nov 17, 2016 1:15 pm

Wolf is correct, it won't matter where he is, if he doesn't see you or cannot get near you, he will scream. That, in a nutshell, is the problem everybody has with cockatoos and why they are given up all the time and end up going from one home to another: because normal people with normal lifestyles cannot keep them company 24/7/365 and that is the only thing that will satisfy them. Needing constant company is not their fault or even a luxury for them, it's an actual need because it's the way nature made them - and it's also why they don't make g.ood pets even though they are so very loving and funny.

I have two, both males and both came to me with what bird people call 'behavioral issues', Freddy was a screamer and Linus a plucker. It took ten months for Freddy to stop and I am still working on Linus although he is much, much better - but Freddy is what everybody wants in a cockatoo and only very few people get - he is funny, outgoing (a complete ham!), doesn't scream, eats great, loves his baths, doesn't pluck (well, just a little, he still plucks his legs every now and then). For ten months Freddy screamed all day long and, sometimes, even during the night. The only way he did not scream was when he was on me because, if he could see or hear me but he could not get to me, he would scream even if I was standing right next to his cage. I simply reassured him every time he screamed by walking over to his cage and talking to him while I touched him - just to have to do it all over again 5 minutes later :lol: (it was a very trying time, especially with my husband complaining about the noise all the time and saying the neighbors were going to complain). Personally, I don't think that giving a reply flock call from another room works with cockatoos (it didn't work with Freddy) but try it and see what happens. Both my cockatoos now live in the birdroom and I am not there all the time but they live cage-free, have lots and lots of wood to chew, they have the company of other birds and they know I will be there for them in the am and the pm like clockwork because I am very strict when it comes to their schedule and routine so their days are always, 100% the same. Keeping a very strict schedule and routines helps them a lot with the anxiety that captivity brings to them (it's the anxiety caused by the fear/vulnerability that been alone that makes them scream or pluck) so I suggest you do it, too. Also, make sure he keeps to a strict solar schedule because cockatoos are considered 'hormonal birds' due to their having two breeding seasons a year and an overly-hormonal cockatoo is impossible to keep happy.
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Flight: Yes

Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Sissy B » Fri Nov 18, 2016 9:38 am

I really would like to thank you both with the information provided. I will try doing the things that you suggested. I am new to the whole cockatoo thing and my Elvis is and will always be apart of my family. My family are the types of people who love their animals till the end. Yes I do know that is a very long time for Elvis with him only being 2. Wolf I will def try the word or whistle for him. I believe it may have to be a word for neither my husband or eldest daughter can not whistle.

Pajartia as far as a solar schedule not sure what that means. My Blue Fronted Amazon is set in her ways and has been she is 32 and a rescue. So I am not sure what this is. (Solar schedule) are there any books you believe I should get that may help me so this way I am not bother you both

Once again I do appreciate the help the form has given me this far..

Thank you Sissy
Thank you Elvis and Irish Blue's momma
Sissy
Sissy B
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 22
Location: Cap Vincent, NY
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Umbrella cockatoo 2 yrs old and a blue fronted Amazon (rescued) who is 32 yrs old
Flight: No

Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Pajarita » Fri Nov 18, 2016 12:58 pm

The solar schedule is because all birds are photoperiodic - a long word that means that their bodies determine which season it is (the 'period' part of the word) by the length of the daylight (the 'photo' -meaning light- part of the word). I doubt there are any books on it, specifically, but you can research 'avian photoperiodism' and read more about but, to give you an idea, it means that birds regulate their endocrine system (glands) through the number of hours of light there is in a given day (this is called the 'circadian cycle' meaning 'about one day') and, in turn, the circadian cycle 'feeds' the 'circannual cycle' (this is also called annual biorhythms and basically means the different seasons birds have in one year: breeding, molting, migration, etc). The trick is that birds photoreceptors (the cells that register light) are turned on or off by twilight (dawn and dusk - which has a different spectrum than the light at any other time during the day) so, when the bird is exposed to the light of dawn (sunrise ), the bird's internal clock is turn on and, when it's exposed to dusk, it's turned off and the number of hours in between these two events is what tells the bird's body if it's time to start producing sexual hormones or if it's time to molt, for example. Birds only produce sexual hormones when they reach what is called the point of photorefractoriness, which is the number of daylight hours that nature decided, through evolution, is the most favorable for breeding. Some species are short day breeders and some are long day breeders but, when you keep a bird at a human light schedule you are creating a completely abnormal situation that nature never considered: that of a bird that has perfect weather, long days and rich food all year round, something that never happens in the wild. This makes the bird produce sexual hormones all year round, year after year and, because their sexual organs are supposed to be teeny tiny and dormant part of the year and only grow large when they produce sexual hormones, birds that are exposed to a human light schedule will end up overly hormonal which means not only the psychological frustration of been always horny and without any relief but also been in physical discomfort if not actual chronic pain from their sexual organs growing so big that they actually displace other internal organs. This frustration and pain drives them to scream, bite, pluck and even self-mutilate (very common with cockatoos). That's why a solar schedule is so very important from a behavioral point of view as well as a wellness one (a screwed up endocrine system means a depressed immune system, too). The solar schedule simply follows the sun so the bird cannot be exposed to artificial lights until the sun is out and shining or after the sun is halfway down to the horizon. Think of the birds outside in the trees and chickens.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Get an umbrella cockatoo to get on a step up stick

Postby Wolf » Mon Nov 21, 2016 9:26 am

It is never a bother to me to try to answer your questions or even to just talk about parrots in general, it is the reason that I am here for as well as for what I can learn from other people living with parrots.
Wolf
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Flight: Yes

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