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Dudley, a 30 year old Ducorps Cockatoo joined our family15 months ago. I rescued him from someone that was no longer able to care for him. He had poor nutrition, and some plucking issues on his legs and under his wings. his diet had been poor, no pellets of any kind. He didn't have a lot of energy and would easily stay on his open cage and play area (on top). I changed his diet to pellets, spend time and play with him 45min to an hour every morning and evening. He is in the middle of the living room where he can watch a bunch of cockatiels, conure, and mynah bird play through the day and watch us in our daily activities since we work at home. He is interacted with through the day, petted, all the type of things which would give a cockatoo a wonderful home, except for a few things: He never really learned to play on his own. When I asked the previous owner he said he didn't play with toys except to push his stainless steel bowl around. I added toys to his cage that were never interacted with and gave him wood to chew, coconut husks to shred, boxes, papers, search for treats, ...he didn't do much except sit there most of the day watching his surroundings and then playing and interacting with me when I devoted time to him.
The other day he decided to wander off the cage, ...he shredded the base of a four foot statue. I scoulded him and put him into his cage and closed the door for a while. I then, after an hour, let him out. As soon as I was back to my computer he wandered off to shred the bottom of a cabinet. I once again put him back in the cage and locked the door which obviously upset him since he plucked his legs. He has repeated this activity for the past 5 days and I don't seem to be able to stop him. His favorite thing seems to be to go into the bathroom behind the toilet, so I added a box to his cage to play in where it could be dark and cuddly. I don't want to lock him in the cage, but feel that may be what occurs now. He is obviously feeling more healthy and alive and is bored with his current situation and wants to wander and destroy as his wills. I have tried putting new things in his cage, but as soon as I turn my back he is on the floor and headin' out. If I see him in the climbing down process he quickly retreats back to the top of the cage. If anyone could offer suggestions as to how to proceed Dudley and I would greatly appreciate it!

LaniNoa wrote:... He is obviously feeling more healthy and alive and is bored with his current situation and wants to wander and destroy as his wills...

You're absolutely right. Staying put is NOT what a healthy 'too does. That and their noise are the reasons so many are abandoned. Is Dudley flighted? If not, there are stands designed to prevent a bird's climbing down to the floor. Parrot Tower is one that might work. One with a center pole instead of 4 legs would be ideal. Wayne's gyms are made that way, but I don't know if he's still in business. You might google and see if you can find him. Wayne's Bottlebrush, I think, but maybe someone else knows for sure.

Leaving an adventurous 'too unsupervised even for a minute is not recommended. My home bears many scars from my M2's brief escapades Collect good stands and have one in each room you spend much time in so you can take him with you or lock him in his cage. That's how it works with 'toos.

Good luck!

So I keep him in his cage or on stands about the house, that will prevent distruction of my property but doesn't address the problem of inactivity and boredom. How do I entice a bird to play that hasn't really played all his life? How can I teach him to entertain himself? I fear he will become more and more discontent and increase his plucking.

LaniNoa wrote:...address the problem of inactivity and boredom. How do I entice a bird to play that hasn't really played all his life? How can I teach him to entertain himself?...

Experimentation to see what he likes is the first priority, and introducing toys by showing him how much fun each is, playing with them yourself! since he's chewed the statue and cabinets, you might start with wood toys. There are many types of wood, and the only way to know which Dudley might like is to give him a variety and see what he does. Some birds like soft woods; some hard. Some like small pieces, and others prefer large. Some round; some square. Look at what on-line vendors sell for large birds, and order or copy them. Many 'toos like toys they can take apart and put back together. Dudley might in time, but that's likely not what he'd enjoy tomorrow. A very simple puzzle toy might intrigue him though. Again, looking to see what's sold for 'toos is a great way to get your own creativity flowing.

The site Mytoos.com has some very 'too-knowledgeable members, but they can be hard to get to know. You might find it useful to lurk there and see what you can learn. Because I've had a very full house in the past, dozens of birds large and small, I made many of their toys and found simple pieces of 2x4" untreated pine in various short lengths very popular with the biggest chewers -- the M2, large macaws, and psittacula. I also give my flock a lot of branches cut from safe wood in my yard. Right now their unanimous favorite is crepe myrtle with its seed pods that they love to pulverize.

Good advice from Bluebird!!

LaniNoa, you need to give your cockatoo lots of things to do while in and on his cage. Just imagine yourself in an empty room, no TV, no computer, nothing; now how long do you think you would stay there before you were bored to death. Birds are no different. They were built to fly hundreds and hunderes of miles every day to find food and then we stick them in a cage or on a playstand and expect them to stay there all day just because we want them to. I have 2 adopted goffins. Zazu didn't even chew wood when I got her and I was told Nikki was afraid of everything. Zazu is like a buzz saw these days. I give her lots and lots of small wood pieces in her foraging drawers along with a few pine nuts at the bottom to make it more interesting. Zazu is flighted. She can go anywhere she wants to. Nikki is a feather snipper and stays on her cage. Her favourite thing to do is shred the two phone books I placed on top of her cage. I found the best way to introduce new toys to Nikki was to offer them to another bird in front of her. Birds always want what another bird has. LOL This has worked very well for me and Nikki has lots of new toys in her cage. Nikki is my newest recruit. It will be one year on November 16th. She was "labelled" a biter and a screamer. She is none of those things. She was taught to bite and scream by humans and then she was dumped. She is a wonderful addition and I love her to pieces. I am not my bird's entertainment unit and they need to play independently so I set it up like that. I have 2 greys and 2 goffins in a one bedroom apartment. My apartment does look like a big playstand though but I wouldn't have it any other way. If there are things you don't want destroyed, you have to make sure your parrot does not have access to them. Chewing up furniture (wood) is very, very reinforcing to them so there needs to be lots of wood in the cage. Foraging opportunities are very good too. Dr. Scott Echols DVD is a good place to start and also check out www.goodbirdinc.com

Bev

LaniNoa wrote:The other day he decided to wander off the cage, ...he shredded the base of a four foot statue. I scoulded him and put him into his cage and closed the door for a while. I then, after an hour, let him out. As soon as I was back to my computer he wandered off to shred the bottom of a cabinet. I once again put him back in the cage and locked the door which obviously upset him since he plucked his legs. He has repeated this activity for the past 5 days and I don't seem to be able to stop him. His favorite thing seems to be to go into the bathroom behind the toilet, so I added a box to his cage to play in where it could be dark and cuddly. I don't want to lock him in the cage, but feel that may be what occurs now. He is obviously feeling more healthy and alive and is bored with his current situation and wants to wander and destroy as his wills. I have tried putting new things in his cage, but as soon as I turn my back he is on the floor and headin' out. If I see him in the climbing down process he quickly retreats back to the top of the cage. If anyone could offer suggestions as to how to proceed Dudley and I would greatly appreciate it!

To me, it sounds like he has learned that if he chews on furniture, he gets rewarded, even if it's a negative reward. He probably learned that over playing with toys, because he was probably never rewarded for playing with his toys.

Another example. Bird screams, owner yells at bird. Bird screams more. Why? Well, birds like noise. Birds respond to noise. Therefore, being loud to a bird who is already loud is reinforcing that behavior.


What you need to do is to find something the too enjoys doing, then reinforce that behavior that you like. By trying to punish the bird and trying to teach the bird not to chew on furniture, you could in fact either be reinforcing the idea that it's not good to chew, or it's only good to chew on furniture. Most of my guys (who range 30-250 grams) enjoy popsicle sticks. I've seen some toos who enjoy them as well, but they don't last as long! Either way, try and find something that your 'too enjoys by playing with the too and that item - outside of the cage. Even if your 'too doesn't decide to destroy said item, if he at least looks at it, or touches it, reward him. Give him a small treat and praise him. Any little thing that will make him want to interact with this object more that will be rewarding to him.




Just keep in mind that teaching him what *NOT* to chew is not teaching him what *IS* acceptable to chew. Distraction works better than punishment. Once a bird learns what is acceptable to chew, then it may be possible to teach them what is not acceptable to chew.