I have two cockatoos, work 8-9 hour days and I have no major problems to report.
I've had my large female sulfur crest for more than 15 of her 16 years. I bought her a couple months after she weaned. She's a joker and has a sadistic sense of humor, but she's not terribly aggressive. Even when she bites, she still a wuss. Many cockatoos seem to like to go for faces and Ariel is no exception. She's only gotten me on the nose once and as is typical of her bites, it wasn't worth getting very upset over. I'm not sure if even bled a whole drop of blood, scabbed over quick and a few months later there isn't even a scar. She's generally pretty quiet. So much so, I think I could actually have her in an apartment. She's super loud when she screams, but she rarely screams. She's a great bird to just sit down with after a hard day and let her lower my blood pressure with some good cockatoo snuggles. She can put on an aggressive show for everyone but me, I doubt she's bluffing, but I also think if someone were to call her bluff in an extreme non-drama sort of way, she'd back down pretty quick. The only real problem I had with her was some feather picking and extreme misery and itching from allergies when she was much younger. Since then, she seems to have sort of grown out of it, rarely plucks and she's now a gorgeous bird.
My goffin's is a rehome and sex unknown although thought to be female(I have serious doubts). She's an enigma and kind of weird for a cockatoo. She has some touch me not tendencies although she can be cuddly too. She can also be aggressive. Mostly, she's like having a slightly spoiled brat toddler around the house. I'm really not sure if its hormones or if she just gets into a snit every once in a while, but she has gone through phases of going for my face and meaning it. I'm not sure she's ever really drawn blood though. She also tends to be a wuss when it comes right down to it. But, she is flighted and a shoulder percher, so I take her attempts at face biting seriously. She hasn't done it for quite a while. She went through about 3 months a couple years ago that were challenging, but hasn't done it since. She's supposedly about 11 years old and I got her maybe 5 years ago??? I can't remember exactly when I got her. She does pluck, but she did that before I got her, so my working doesn't have anything to do with it. She has normal cockatoo screaming tendencies, so she would not work for an apartment. I don't get bit badly by her or often mostly because I watch her body language and sometimes I just know that she's waiting to grab me if I make flesh available to her. In contrast, I can get my sulfur crest all wound up, bouncing around in display mode and even if she bites me a little, its more rough housing and no blood drawn or real pain.
I know its disappointing. I don't have horror stories bad cockatoos that we all like to talk about. It helps I have females. Or at least my best cockatoo is for sure a female. I also do think it helps being a single person with a cockatoo or having a very supportive family. One that can take the screaming and not get over protective if someone gets bit. You get a large parrot knowing that there is a real chance to someday need stitches. There shouldn't be any magical thinking or fantasy land where that isn't a possibility even with the best of birds. I think it also needs to be driven home that cockatoos are generally not good with all family members. Just because one person loves the bird, doesn't mean it won't go out of its way to chase and bite everyone else in the family if given a fraction of a chance. I don't have problems with my cockatoos, but I treat them like birds. Not babies. If there is a less than ideally controlled situation going on with other people, then the cockatoos are caged. I don't feel guilty about caging them and generally they handle the ups and downs of life with humans just fine. What they don't handle well is being given the freedom to chase dogs, cats and people around the house at will. I expect cockatoos to act like cockatoos and that means sometimes bites and not being predictable around other people. Then I go out of my way to prevent situations that are likely to lead to trouble. Consequently, I don't have problem cockatoos. My worst bites have been from mature male amazons. And I love amazons as much as cockatoos.
