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Hi, my name is Holly. I haven't posted in quite awhile but I was wondering if any of you have had this happen and what you did. I have a 12yr. male Goffin's. About 2 yrs. ago he started chewing his wing & tail feathers (his wings were clipped). The vet checked him out & physically he was fine so he thought in might be hormonal. During the next 2 yrs he still continued to bite and strip the feathers from the quills (only his wings) - sometimes very badly & other times not so much. I decided to let his feathers grow out instead of clipping them to see if this helped. Well it did. He still picked a little - but nothing like before. Now he was fully flighted but he never flew, he would just flap his wings like a fledgling. His personality changed, he seemed happier and more playful. About 2 wks. ago he realized he could fly, so I would play a game with him that when I said fly & tapped my wrist he would fly to me and I would make a big fuss over him and he would be so proud of himself. He never bit me or showed any aggression (although he has always had a biting issue, but I could usually read him & know when to stay away). Everything was going fine, he would sometimes fly around the room where we hang out and land back on his playstand. He was having fun and getting exercise. Then this is what happened. On Sunday I brought him out like I always do and placed him on his playstand. He sat there eating his food while I was doing other things. As soon as I sat down, without warning he flew off his playstand and attacked me viciously biting my neck then he flew back to his gym acting very full of himself. If I hadn't had my head turned he would have ripped my face off. I know everyone says not to reward bad behavior by reacting, but I was startled & scared and bleeding, so I yelled "no, bad, no bite" I waited a little while & then I clipped him because I was really afraid that he would hurt me again or my other animals. He is now extremely mad at me for clipping him and he is still trying to attack me and biting me whenever he can. I honestly don't know what to do I am truly afraid to interact with him. I used to be able to hold him in my lap for 45 min. to an hour without incident he would give me a nip when he had to go potty but now when I hold him he makes a point of biting me very hard. He doesn't like any other of my animals (2 cats, dog & Macaw). I try to give the same attention to my macaw & him. His diet has never been great (not from lack of trying) he does eat pellets and a bean mix I make and a little fruit at times. I really don't know what to do. I know I did something wrong I just don't know what and I don't know how to correct this behavior. If any of you good people have any ideas please let me know.Sorry this is so long.

Thank you,
Holly

Holly, years ago I had a similar experience with a GSC2. She was typically a gentle bird, but this one day instead of landing on my arm she lined me up and went straight for my face. Based on that incident, I can't imagine how you could have not reacted to such an unexpected outburst. Give it a bit of time. You both are going to have to get over what happened before you can rebuild your relationship. IMHO you will be able to get back to the relationship that you used to have. Just have a bit of patience.

Thanks Patti. Coco is still very upset with me. I have been talking very soft to him because he seems very agitated. He still lets me bring him out to his playstand without a problem. I tried to hold him last night and he was being good but then he bit my forearm. He begs to be held all the time but I am really nervous when holding him now. I do give him scritches all the time while he's on his playstand and that makes him beg more to be held. Anyway, we will work on it.
Thanks again.
Holly

I can certainly understand why you are nervous! It would be virtually impossible to not be after what happened. But remember....Coco is picking up on that. Unless you are a heck of a lot better actress than me....no matter how hard you try to put on your brave face...he knows. This is just my opinion....I've never dealt with a Goffins...only Aussie native cockatoos......but I personally would consider backing off with the interaction a bit til the memory of the incident fades a bit for both of you. I don't mean for you to stop with scritches or even lap time. Just make your interactions brief so that preferably they all end positively. Since he's begging to be held I wouldn't refuse him. But I would only do so for short periods of time and then return him to his stand or cage. Every time your interactions end without incident you are making steps towards rebuilding your confidence and his as well.

Thanks again Patti. We had 2 brief cuddle times yesterday and I was kind of nervous and I know he picks up on this, but he was good. He began to get that look in his eye after about 10 min., so I placed him back on his playstand without incident, so it was a good day, and he was praised to the point that all my other critters were getting very jealous, it was actually funny. I appreciate your help.

Holly

Hooray for your good day, Holly! I want to add just this little thought to Patti's great advice. Many of us think of our birds as our children, our babies, and rub on them to express that love. What we're told time and again by those working with "problem" birds is that the birds think of us as their lovers. The stroking we call cuddling, they perceive as foreplay. And they want more, whether it's 10 minutes or 30. Unless it progresses to intercourse, it's not fully satisfying to the bird. So, disappointment and frustration result and are expressed as anger through biting and screaming.

What the "experts" advise we do is learn to play games rather than cuddle. That's why clicker training is popular, because it teaches us humans to do something with our hands besides stroke our birds to sexual readiness. I wish you quick success retraining yourself and your bird I'm working on the same thing with a 15 year old male grey, so I know it's not easy. That boy KNOWS what he wants

Hi Holly:

I have 2 goffins. I adopted a 16 year old goffin a week ago. Her past is not pretty but that's over now. In the past week, she has totally destroyed her feathers. It has been very stressful for her but I'm working to earn her trust. One of the things I noticed when Nikki was brought to me is that she got full body massages. They would cup her body under her wings and rub her. I told them they shouldn't do that because it confuses the bird. I never rub any of my birds under their wings. Just the head and I even limit that. I try to focus on things we can do like games, singing/dancing and occasionally some clicker training. I'm not very disciplined but my birds have learned how to target which is a good behaviour to teach.

So it might help, if you start from scratch so you both learn to trust each other.

There have been a few times when Zazu has flown at someone and in every case, they did something to her like got in her face or pointed a finger at her. She does not like this so I just tell them she lives here and don't be dissing her. LOL Zazu is a wonderful little bird and I have no doubt that Nikki will be a wonderful little bird. I'm just taking things slow and letting her set the pace.

I also have a Timneh and Congo. All female. All absolutely wonderful birds. And this is because I only use positive reinforcement with them.

Bev

Thank Bev and Bluebird Exotics( I'm sorry I don't know your name). I think you are both right. I think Coco is expecting more when I cuddle & scritch him and I am sending him mixed signals. Now that he is mature I should no longer treat him as I did when he was a baby. I do play & dance with him (I have always done this) but being a too he always wants to be held. I have never tried clicker training but I will look into it. I just want him to be happy, like I said before, he has always had issues which we have dealt with this was just something new and very alarming. Since this happened he has been doing pretty good. I have held him for short periods without a problem, but I will spend more time talking & dancing with him instead of cuddling & scritching but I think I'll miss it as much as he will.

Thanks again & Bev I'm sure Nikki will become an added joy to your wonderful flock.

Holly

That's right Holly, slow and steady is the way to go and you will just be moving into a more mature relationship with Coco.

I want to correct myself. I cannot believe I actually said this. I said "Nikki will be a wonderful little bird".

What an idiotic thing for me to say. Nikki IS a wonderful little bird already. I cannot believe I said that. And we are supposed to be the superior species? LOL I don't think so.

Nikki is the sum of her past experiences with people and I believe that has been rough. I want her to learn to be a bird and hopefully Zazu will teach her that. I allow her as many choices in her day to day life as possible. She actually came out of the cage by herself on Saturday and again on Sunday. Only for a little while but I'll take what I can get. She actually put her head on my chest the other day. It was incredible. Sometimes she will solicit a head scratch and when I put my finger on her head, she turns quickly and tried to bite but I am wise to a goffin's way. LOL Zazu will do that but it's not really to bite just to grab. I can't remember the last time I took a bite from any of my birds. Positive reinforcement is a wonderful thing.

Holly, I think you will find this new kind of relationship with Coco much better for the both of you. And clicker training is fun.

Bev