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Hi Jeb,
and welcome to tooville. I'm Jeannie and I live with 5 Cockatoos.....doesn't make me an expert but does give me some experience to draw on. Three of my Cockatoos are Umbrellas and 2 of them are Goffins. Just my opinion but I believe Goffins are one of the hardest Cockaoos to live with.

There is a lot of information out there if you wanted the help. I was at a conference on the week-end where Sally Blanchard spoke. I think she has a lot of common sense and experience. You can find her articles, etc on the web.

There is also an online behavioral course and Dr. Susan Friedman's articles can be found at

http://www.behaviorworks.org/

All of that said,
you did say you don't have the inclination to make it work. Hey you are being honest and now you are trying to do the right thing.

The advice I can give you is when you rehome the bird have the paperwork ready to be signed. Have it so, if the new owners circumstances change that they have to give you the first option on taking him back or of you finding a new home for him.

There are people out there who have a heart for birds (Cockatoos specifically). In my area (I'm in Canada) we have to be careful of so called rescues who will take your bird just to make money off the back of the bird.

Do your homework and you should be able to find a good home for the little guy.

Keep us posted,
Jeannie

Jeb -

I feel for you. My first bird ever was a LS cockatoo and he was mine, all mine, and my husband couldn't touch him. It got to the point where he wouldn't let my husband into the house and we had no choice but to rehome him (landlord insisted). I miss that bird, but I'm so much smarter now.

I have several adopted birds now, rescues, misfits, whatever, but no more cockatoos. I do have one that prefers my roommate over me, and he is nasty to me (Amazon). It doesn't bother me at all any more, but it did at first. My son is 6 and he doesn't go anywhere near them.

We've had great luck with stopping the screaming though, we tied a string to the cage, several in fact, long strings that run into various parts of the room, when the screaming starts we jerk the string, and the cage rattles a little and he doesn't know why and assumes it's the screaming, it usually stops the screaming. you have to do it the moment the screaming starts or he might wise up. our amazon did that - darn it.

Good luck.

Jeb I really hope things work out for all of you. It is hard when you get into a situation that you don't know much about. Like I said before feel free to ask any questions at all.

Jeanie I love that stings on the cage idea. I might have to try that myself

Jeb,
Couple of things that have come to mind while reading your post.

I number because it helps me think

I am not sure if you have any intention of trying to make it work..... or if you are interested in doing that... on the one hand I feel like you just want to find him a home at this point but at the same time you have commented a couple of times about how much you love him so I guess I am not sure what YOU really want to do.

If you are going to find him a home I would follow the others advice about a contract saying you can get him back if it doesn't work out.... .

but if you have any interest in making it work
I have a couple suggestions coming from a person who almost found her bird a new home after he drove me nuts.

1. read..... my parrot my friend is good
guide to a well behaved parrot is good as well
these will help you understand your bird and how he thinks.

2. TWO is a terrible age for birds and birds have terrible twos as well.... many birds lose their homes at this age because they are just obnoxious..... bhakti almost found himself new digs at two due to biting and screaming..... he is now 8 and doing well......

3. your daughter and wife need to raise their value to your bird.... my bhakti doesn't like my husband so it became that Craig was the only to give bhakti almonds, his favorite treat..... and it definitely raised his value to bhakti.... now while he still doesnt handle him.....bhakti doesn't pitch a fit whenever he is in the room now.... craig has learned to play games for bhakti and works on the training with him.....

4. wing clips..... don't let your bird have free reign of the house ... in some respects it sounds like he has a bit to much freedom and is allowed to be a putz..... I would give him a good wing clip and that will help him to understand his role and make him a bit more dependant.....

so there ya have it .... my thoughts.... I am not expert but I do have a bird that I almost rehomed on two occasions..... one when he was age five.... and once at age two........

the string on the cage is a great idea.... and a second cage that I do use when he is getting on my very last nerve and for his night night cage.

good luck with whatever you decide.
S

Hi Jeb,
I was under the impression that you did want to rehome your bird but if you think you would like to keep Peaches then get in there 100% and work at it. With the internet and other sources we can't in all honesty plead ignorance. The tools are out there and it's like anything in life; we get out of it what we put into it. Sure there is a lot of negatives to having a pet parrot but there is so much joy to it too........if there wasn't we wouldn't all be cleaning, cooking and spending the money that we do on these guys. So yes if you want the help to make it work it's out there. You have to decide.

Lzkamp ~ no that wasn't me that suggested the string idea. In fact I strongly disagree with that and because Jeb is someone new who wants to learn I have to say what I think. Everything we do with our birds is either trust building or trust destroying. Our bird's cage is suppose to be the one place that they feel safe. Behavior does have function. Find out the why the bird is screaming and then change the circumstances. To even shake, rattle or upset a bird's cage is unfair. That is like us feeling pretty secure on our feet and feeling underneath what would feel like a small tremor or earthquake. Scarey. To purposely invoke fear is wrong. It's using negative stimuli to try and change behavior.

Jeb I have 7 birds in my house and they are all clipped simply because there are 2 other people in my house that I have to consider for now. However everything within me says a bird is meant to fly and I will have fully flighted birds when I can change my circumstances to make it safe for them.

I don't believe you should clip to take a bird down to his "place" in the household or to make him more dependant. I've seen the opposite with flighted birds, they are confident and happier. However the issue of to clip or not to clip is a whole other topic.

Also Jeb, are you Peaches first home ? Wow if you are, you should have a clean slate to work with. Some of us have birds that we will never know what they've been through in other homes. Believe me parrots are worth the effort. I hope you work through this and Peaches gets to stay in your home the rest of her life.
Jeannie

Hi Jeb,

Pennsylvania....beautiful state! My husband is from there and that's where we were married.

You can change your guys behavior if you want. I have been helping people for years and if you would like to work on this things can improve. It will take some work however on your part....you may see changes fairly soon....or it may take longer.

There is a LOT of well meaning advise these days but much of it isn't based in anything other than this worked for me, or this worked for such and such...and what worked for X may not work for you or even backfire as there is a lot of wrong advise out there. You can easily use applied behavior analysis (sounds like a mouthful but its gonna feel more like .....oh shoot, why didn't I think of that)..which is science based and has been proven to work and has been around for 60 yrs or so now. There are also a lot of books and publications out there but again...they can take you down a wrong path that either won't finish the help or mislead you somehow ending up in more frustration. So I don't recommend them as I've found them to most often end up with bad results and then the person needed for forget what they've read or learned and have to start over.

The only place I recommend going to read on the internet is
http://www.behaviorworks.org or the same articles can be see at
http://www.thegabrielfoundation.org/HTML/friedman.htm

THe only books I recommend these days are fairly new
The Good Bird
Solving the Parrot Puzzle
both by trainer Barbara Heidenriech who had Susan Friedman consult and edit

I know you have no idea who I am but I'd also be happy to work with you if you like. You can e-mail me at arobe@comcast.net or shauna@thegabrielfoundation.org

Shauna....we're the same age *smile*

Jeb:

There is also a book written by an avian vet called "Manual of Parrot Behaviour". It is an excellent book but a bit expensive. It is written by Dr. Andrew Luescher. I got it from Amazon for less than $70 Canadian.

You need to teach that bird how to be a bird and not a human ornament. LOL

Take the help Shauna is offering.

Bev

I think I'm going to put the books mentioned on my Christmas list....the one I buy for myself. I haven't updated my parrot library in years...so some fresh air will be good.
Jeb, also...like Bev said...take Shauna up on her offer...she knows these birds...spends time working with and observing them...when I have a problem...she's the one I run to...and I've been living with cockatoos for more than 10 years...but learn something from them daily....good luck.

Jeb,
I didn't read every posting but I DID read that you have Peaches in the kitchen with you and wonder if you are aware of the 'teflon killer'?
Cooking on teflon will kill your bird. I have a friend who had about 12 birds in her kitchen and she left the fire under her teflon pan (she forgot about it) and all her birds died. It doesn't have to be a high heat, it can be low and it'll kill the bird.
There's my two cents.
Gloria

P.S. My 3 cents is..............give Peaches some time and a little effort on the part of your family (if you want to keep Peaches). I'm still working with my Goffin and sometimes she's a real BIT*H! But I see her calming down (she's about 3 years old) and I know she's gonna be a good bird. If you don't want to keep Peaches I think that your doing well in looking for a good home for her.

Welcome to our world..LOL...If you make any mistake with Peaches, trust me, I've made it, and so have most of the folks here. Most of us try to work with it, and I think that time and consistency are the main elements. (a cockatoo's time frame is totally different than ours).
Provide plenty of good foraging toys and chewey things for Peaches...so that she likes to be in her cage...and not on your 24/7...I work, have 7 cockatoos...and they play and play...and sometimes it's just a piece of computer paper with a nut wrapped inside. keep 'em busy...there are web sites that can give you info about foraging toys...
Birds Just Wanna Have Fun is one....if you are handing with a saw and a drill press...I get little 1x2's at Lowe's...always untreated wood....and drill holes and tie beads and such on them....you can find lots of things on ebay...always use 100% cotton rope...none with the nylon fillers....
You'll do just fine...and we're hear to listen....and help with what we can...and to also learn from you and your learning experiences...none of us are experts...it's a continual learning process with these guys....
Cyndie

Jeb,
I'm glad your gonna keep Peaches.
When I first got Annie she was about 2 years olda and had been so neglected that she chewed her wing feathers and tail feathers off. Poor little girl had no balance. And stupid me! What did I do?!?! I let her ride on my shoulder and she fell on the kitchen floor!! CERAMIC TILE FLOOR!!! She bit her tongue so bad it wouldn't quit bleeding. I just knew I killed my bird. We went to the emergency room and the doctor fixed her up. Thank God it was the Avian Vet's night to work.
Anyway, we all make mistakes and learn from them (Annie doesn't even WANT to ride my shoulder anymore! )
But this is the best place I've been to for advice and to learn things. Everyone is kind and not belittling. Stick around and you will learn so much and make so many new friends.
Gloria

Kind of limit the peanuts...and with my goffins...I do crack the shell a little for her..just plain ole white computer paper is what I use...
Watch where you pet this little one....they consider most everything a sexual come one...and you don't want her to start laying eggs...Shauna can tell you more about the areas...
I keep my bribes limited to a quarter piece of whole wheat toast with a teensy bit of peanut butter on it...not the healthiest snack...but it usually works....

bhakti who is now 8 almost 9 will sell his little soul for an almond..... I went to a website called birdsjustwannahavefun and bought some thinking toys for bhakti.... one of them is a wooden cup with a cover and I put it so the cup is outside the cage.... the almond goes into the cup so he has to reach out of the cage to grab his almond and bring it into the cage.

I also have Craig give bhakti his almonds.

I can also tell you that they like making things happen and it took about five minutes for bhakti to learn how to play peekaboo....

you are right about them being like a two year old..... so think about a creature as smart as a five year old with the maturity level of a two year old and you pretty much have a cockatoo.....

I get my almonds from fosters and smith..... I just bought bhakti 90 lbs of almonds..... and we use them for everything...... he loves them.

good luck with peaches, I was sensing that you were conflicted, I am glad you decided to keep her.

S

Hi Jeb,

You're right..there are a lot of lucky 'toos if they belong to the people here at upatsix and now your Peaches is one of them....and I'm so glad! for you both.

I'd really like Peaches to stay with you. I've see too many 'toos over the years lose their homes due to misunderstandings of their behavior. We get in screamers, biters and never see the behavior. That's because we aren't the source or the teachers of those behaviors....so I hope you don't mind.....

When you wrote "I am noticing that the noise 9shrieking) stops instantaneously when I get him out and/or just pay specific attention to him. " That's a GREAT observation...really good so now.... If you play over in your mind a few times do you see a pattern? What I see is a bird that has learned that if he screams....YOU come to get him. In otherwords, he's learned or been taught that this screaming works and is working very well. you can't expect him to stop. Screaming isn't done very often just for the sake of screaming...it has a purpose, a function to the screamer. Without that the screaming would not be happening or woudl stop.

I'm betting by this time and what you've posted on this board that Peaches has become a champion screamer. ....but it can be worked on. There are things you can try and come up with a plan but because my time is limited if you need further help I would need you to e-mail me..please. I'd be happy to work with you but I just don't always get over here to upatsix. My e-mail is arobe@comcast.net or shauna@thegabrielfoundation.org

What you can try is to respond immediately.......its really important that it be immediately after Peaches does a chosen sound. (to see what immediately is you can try a silly sounding experiment but it may not be as simple as you think. Take 3 bags and partially fill them with something...such as some nuts. Have someone take the first bag while you watch and drop it straight to the ground. You clap the instant it hits the ground...I bet you miss *smile* and clap just afterwards. Try it again and again..and you'll better see what I mean by timing and praising immediately after). You and your family need to decide on a noise that Peaches already makes that you can tolerate. IT may be hello,it may be a little whistle or something that he does...and every time you hear Peaches make that sound reinforce it by going to him...and praise him. You're going to reteach Peaches what sound you respond too if he wants your attention. Meanwhile I wouldn't suggest ignoring his screaming either...because you won't be able to...but downplay it...and really respond to the other more tolerable sound.

Also a bird on the shoulder all of the time isn't the best practice. I'm not talking anti shoulder but Peaches needs to learn other activities and ways of interacting. Something that could be fun for the entire family is what's known as clicker training. You'd teach Peaches a target first and then the sky is the limit. There is a good training video out by Barbara Heidenriech that takes you step by step pretty much to get you started.

Shauna Roberts

[Hey Karens, are you going to the Parrot Festival in Houston in Jan?
I'll be there along with Lupe, Tina, Sue, Mel and Anne...it'd be great to meet some more UAS folks..
Cyndie





H
quote="thekarens"]Hi Jeb! Glad to hear all is well with Peaches. My partner and I inherited a 14 year old LSC2 and approximately the same age G2 when her mom passed away and her dad was diagnosed with cancer.

Our household was used to the peace and quiet of a grey only abode and it was quite the shock to bring in the screaming goffins and the lesser sulphur that wanted to eat me.

Scooter the goffins is also an attention hog. He wants to be with you ALL the time and he likes to scream when he's not. Knucklehead the lesser spent her time wanting to bite me, but after 7 months she has gotten to the point where she will occasionally let me pet her and either Scooter is getting better or I'm learning to ignore him. I'm not sure which.

Good luck with your baby!

Karen[/quote]