upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Hello everybody,

First, excuse my bad english, my first language is french, please be patient

Here is our story. I am an almost 30 year old vet technician, and now university student. I have been in contact with parrots a lot in my practice and kept a few at home while looking for the right family. Many of our clients aquired parrots that had to be rehomed after a few years and since I always have a special spot in my heart for parrots, I took a few in from time to time and worked on small behavior problems and such.

Recently a collegue contacted me because she knew of someone that was trying to find a home for a 20 (maybe more maybe a little less) year old goffin that had to be rehomes that weekend. I offered to take her in until we could find the right family to adopter her permanently. That was 4 weeks ago.

Gisèle was owned by a 90 year old woman that was scared of her. Therefor she kept the poor little girl (wasn't DNAed) locked in her cage at all times. The cage was ment for a cockatiel and is really inapropriate: No toys, 1 wooden perch and many many locks). She kept Gisèle for 10 or 15 years, she couldn't tell me exacly.

So I brought her home and cut the locks. I put her is a quiet part of the house and didn't try to open her cage for 2 days. After 2 days, I opened the door and she came right out on top of the tiny cage. She wasn't agressive, but didn't want to be touched (understandably). So for the next week I gave her fruits and veggys from my hand and she didn't try to bite. I spent a lot of time talking to her and sitting close to her.

Week 2: She steps up on my arm

Week 3: I can pet her, she loves to be touched. Here the problems begin. I made a mistake and started petting her and preening her...a lot. This is when she decided that I was her person, me and only me. My children give her treats and such and she is fine with them (I don't allow them to touch her) but my husband can't get near her cage or she attacks. She has bitten his many times, really hard and will chase him away anytime she can get to him.

She is especially agressive when she is close to her cage. When she is on her java tree she is better. Anyhow, here are my questions:

1. I think I might have overstimulated her sexually by preening her under her wings and such
2. How can I undo the damage? I didn't have parrots for many years and kind of forgot to limit the cuddles to the head and neck

Thank you for your answers!

Marie

Marie,

Welcome to Up At Six! Your English is far from bad. I took French in high school and college, and I can guarantee that your English is much better than my French!

Poor little Gisèle. You are right that you should keep the petting to the head and neck areas and not pet the back or under the wings. That being said, Gisèle could very well prefer females and may have chosen you as her favorite anyway. Some cockatoos can be aggressive when they mature. This bird may have acted the same way towards your husband even if you hadn't pet her inappropriately. I have a friend with a male Goffin, and he can be aggressive to others. I do not think you caused any damage, but I do agree that you should limit the petting to the head and neck areas in the future.

It sounds as though you are already improving Gisèle's quality of life. Have you gotten her a larger cage and some toys?

I don't really have a lot of ideas to deal with aggression off the top of my head. Does Gisèle have a favorite treat? If so, since you are obviously Gisèle's favorite person, have your husband and children (not you) be the ones in your house to give these treats. If I think of some other ideas, I will post again. I'm sure others will be on soon to give you more ideas.

Marie, there is certainly is a way to curb the aggression in Gisele. Petdiva is right, you should not pet her under the wings. It confuses the bird. I have 2 female goffins, rehomed. One for screaming and one for biting and screaming. They don't do that anymore.

What you need to do is make your husband more valuable to Gisele. You need to back off and let him do as much as possible for her. He must avoid being bitten because biting is reinforcing to the bird. Does she have favourite foods? Can you access the cage from outside?

There is a little parkette that I have to go through on my way to work. I started feeding the pigeons in that park. Now they fly up behind me like a cloak because I have paired myself with food so many times that I have become valuable to those pigeons. They never know when I'm going to have food, so they fly up behind me most of the time.

Bev

Hi,
Like Marie I am having a problem with MY newly aquired 20 year old Goffin Cockatoo
We got Hercules (Herc) on Tues. We are his third home, he lived in his first home for 14 years, and he would have been in his second home 6 years in Nov. Like Gisele he has been kept in a Cockateil cage, with padlocks on the door, and food slots. He DOES have a few toys in his cage along with 3 perches. Herc was fed nothing but sunflower seeds, potatoes, rice and pasta, with the occasional egg. I have since put Herc on good quality pellets and food.
Since I have never owned a large bird before ( I did own a cockatiel for 10 years) I tried to do what was best for Herc. he was VERY stressed and was panting, screaming, hanging on the side of his cage and then started to pull his feathers out, so I removed all of the locks and opened the cage door. He immediately went to the top of his cage, and looked around, and settled right down.
My husband talked gently to him on Tues evening, and was petting his head, neck, and as I just found out, mistakenly rubbed/petted/scratched his back and under Herc's wings. he has offered Herc treats which Herc takes willingly.
Now comes the problem........ on Wed. night, right after my husband had fed Herc a treat, and scratched Herc's head and neck, Herc attacked him....he bit him on the arm, then the neck ( two different occasions) those "bites" were more pinch than bite. Last night, he bit my husband on the hand, then neck and then his arm ( again in three different incidences within 10 minutes) drawing blood in all three places. Herc will scream while doing this.
Is there any way to stop this ?? I really don't want to have to keep Herc in his cage when my husband is home......my husband works 12 hour shifts, on a 4 on 4 off, then 5 on 5 off schedule.
Herc is fine with me, I clean his cage, feed him, and walk around him and talk to him with no problems, which is strange since in his LAST home, he was bonded with the man, and would attack the woman when out of his cage ( hence the lock up !!)
ANY advice would be appreciated !!!
Viv

Bev and others will be along soon, but I have just a few very quick bits of advice. I would get his new cage fast, then you will be able to leave him in safety with plenty of toys whenever you need to.

Second, advise your husband to NOT put his flesh in harm's way until you three know each other much better. Each bite teaches Herc to bite again. It's not bravery to TAKE a bite; it's foolishness. "...strange since in his LAST home, he was bonded with the man, and would attack the woman..." You're bonded with your husband, but does that mean you bond with EVERY man? Herc knows your husband isn't his last owner.

And last, sorry for being in such a hurry, don't rush! I know it's hard, wanting to get off to the best start and having this high-energy bird who never takes breaks. But consider this: let Herc WANT to know you. Let him watch you more and touch you less until you're all three at least a little bit familiar with each other. Let him grow to like you. There's no reason for such racing to touch and love. You have years. Have your husband continue to deliver treats, but only in the safest way. If one method earns a bite, don't use that method again for a long while yet. Herc is reeling from the changes in his life. He'll continue to change for quite awhile, as he begins realizing he's staying. Changes can be good or bad, as we label such things, and many of them temporary during these early days and weeks. Observe, learn, be patient and consistent and unbitten.

My best! Thank you for taking him in. THAT'S bravery!

thanks Bluebird !!!!
I think that Herc is less aggressive with me, because I give him his space. I talk to him, clean his cage, make sure that he has fresh food and water and treats, but I don't try to touch him, unless he invites me to.
He has flown to and landed on me 5 or 6 times and every time that he does, I say "Hi Herc, you're a GOOD boy !!!!" but I never touch him unless he lowers his head to invite me to scritch him.
He is in his forver home now no matter what changes that we have to make to make sure that he is happy !!!!
Viv

Hi Viv, you got excellent advice from Bluebird. She is absolutely right, you need to give Herc the choice of whether he wants to be touched/held/picked up by anyone. The more choices he is allowed in his life, the better relationship you will have with him. I have 3 rehomed birds and two of them are goffins. Zazu was rehomed for screaming and Nikki for biting and screaming. They don't bite me and they don't scream other than the normal cockatoo vocalizations. When are you getting Herc a new cage. A goffin needs a big cage as they are very, very active birds.

I have written some articles on behaviour and if you would like them please PM me and I will gladly send them to you. I wrote an article about my rehomed Timneh Gypsy. She was dumped for biting. When she first came to live with me I set things up so I could avoid being bitten. A bite means you have pushed the bird too far and given him no other alternative. They learn this from us because we keep pushing. We need to back off and slow things down.

Bev

Thank-you SO much Bev !! When my husband came home this evening he stood away from the cage and talked to Herc, but didn't approach him. Herc sat on top of his cage and talked and did the "flirty thing" but did not attempt to fly to, nor bite him
Later, Ed ( my husband) was sitting on the couch and Herc kind of hopped down to the back of the couch and talked to him, so I think that the aggression WAS from being pushed
I told Ed that he should maybe NOT offer any treats, unless Herc approached HIM, and not to attempt touching until Herc is ready.
Herc will be getting a new cage on the weekend, that is when Ed is off. The previous owners told me that they HAD put Herc in to a larger cage, but all he did was scream so they put him back in this one. I tend NOT to believe that since I was also told that Herc would ONLY eat sunflower seeds, but since he has been here he is eating all kinds of good stuff.
I would love anything that you have written !! Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.
My e-mail address is v_chernoff@live.ca
Thank -you both for the suggestions they are working !!
Viv