I need help getting my bird out of her cage

[DeathAngel]

I need some help

I have a goffen cockatoo (coco), I'm 18 and still live with my parents, coco picked my brother as her "mate" and would only let him and my dad hold her. My brother moved out a few years ago and I've been trying to get better with her so she isn't stuck in her cage 24/7. My brother tried to take her with but was not able to take care of her so she's staying with us, and my dad doesn't care enough to get her out of the cage. I held her once when I was younger and I still have the scar from her biting me.

I've been trying to get her to like me more, I've even got her to let me stick my hand in her cage she ate a handful of her favorite seeds as a treat. And I often pet her through the cage, shell hold my finger and insist on scratches or kisses and will eventually end up licking my finger and trying to steal my ring.

Does anyone have any tips on how else I can get better with her so that I can bring her out of her cage?

 

[Pixiebeaks]

Hello !! Welcome to our group ! I'm sure lots of people can offer different ideas that worked for them ,often there are many solutions to help achieve goals .


I myself find it easier to work with them out of the cage . I add lots of perches to the outside of the cage , one right by door but on the outside, and some across the top. The first few times , you will need to make sure you have lots of time to work on returning to the cafe hands free, by food bribes and such . And making sure all the doors to other rooms are closed. You might want to take cage into a bedroom so you can close door and have a small space if she chooses to fly around. If she flys , stay calm and wait till she lands , then talk to her as you walk up and offer a hand or arm to step up , if she takes off again, stand still and wait till she lands again then sane thing walk over calm and sweet talking, usually about 3 fjy offs are all they can manage if they haven't had exercise in a long time . But remain calm and keep trying. Often they are happy to be rescued. Ofvourse you want things calm and fir a fly off to not happen , but you need to be prepared. You might want to have a short pet h you can hold and offer if this happens I stead of your hand . With some work , treats , repitions of phrases , you can teach a bird to return to cage when asked , or wait them out till they do and really praise a d give treats . You will have to determine if this works for you , if you can take enough precautions and patience .
You can watch some clicker training, and see if that works for you . It's a nice hands off way at first to teach them to move to where you ask in or on cage and to eventually step up. It's a way to shape and reward behavior with a target and the clicker is the bridge. I myself don't like trying to manage a clicker ( purely personal , it can be a great tool ) so I just say good birdie instead of clicking as my bridge before giving the treat .

 

[Pixiebeaks]

I really like how they cover target training in this video , and about taking breaks , and the importance of teaching touch the target ( a chop stick ) first , before you move in to other things . It's called one day miracle, because most of the time it takes many sessions over days or weeks to start making progress. It's always fluid with each bird and each person . But it will give you an idea

 

[BiancaHors]

If you’re concerned about being bitten again and prefer starting training while she’s in the cage, I’d start with target training. If she’s already willing to take food from your hand, reinforce that and build on it. Use a target stick at different spots of her cage. She may not be willing to touch it at first, but even stepping toward the target is a step in the right direction and gets a reward. Continue this until she touches consistently, then drop it to only giving her a treat every 3rd time she does it, always putting the target in a new place. Once she can do this, open her cage and work with stepping up, still using the target to keep her beak’s focus away from you.

 

[MommyBird]

@Clueless is that T-stick you like still available somewhere?
If you are too afraid of being bitten, you can use a stick to train them to step up onto, same training as for your hand. It is nice to use a type of stick so they can't run up it to bite your hand or get on your shoulder. (edit to note, when I am talking about a stick here I am not talking about a target stick you might use for target training. a target stick would be more like a chopstick. This would be more like a branch, perch, or thick dowel)
My local parrot rescue trains the birds to stepup onto a hand covered in a folded up small towel. This is also very nice and safe for you.

 

[Clueless]

I don't know if any of our vendors have these in stock ( @Macawnutz ??)

This is the one I have. If you have someone talented with a saw, shouldn't be hard to do. I can send dimensions if needed.

It's my saving grace with a parrot that would like to chew me up most days. Secret is a wild caught, male, blue front amazon (one of the hot 3) and I was totally without any bird experience.

You can do this. It just takes TIME and LOTS of time. Do your level best to NOT get bitten.

You can also use things like a rope ring to get them to step up on to transport them back to their cage.

I'm going to go look for a thread you might want to read.

 

[Clueless]

Found that old thread for your information.

Pictures - The T stick.

If you have a large aggressive parrot (Amazon, Macaw, Cockatoo) such as a rescue/rehome you know fair well how dangerous that creature can be. A happy healthy confident hormonal large parrot is another formidable foe. Handling them becomes a tricky ordeal because they are physically dangerous...

forums.avianavenue.com

 

[Clueless]

This is the one I have. If you have someone talented with a saw, shouldn't be hard to do. I can send dimensions if needed.

I'm so sorry, I'm losing my mind these days!!