Sulphur crested Behavior

[Staatsbrat]

I’ve had a large macaw in the past that was given to me. This is my first cockatoo. It is quite a different experience so far. His past is mostly unknown. He was given to my mother-in -law before she acquired dementia. We don’t know his age. He had been living with my sister in law for years in the basement next to a caged Amazon. He has never liked men. We took both him and the amazon 2 weeks ago. Last week we changed out his 25x25x36ish cage for something much larger. He loves for me to pet him (endlessly if I could I think) and I have no problems moving around his cage or interacting with him in his cage. I am concerned about letting him out without some step up training (more for other pets and household members). However, I did see on here that a t-stick might be safer for training him.

My question is about a behavior he has initiated since we put him in the new cage last weekend. He and I started what I thought was a game where he would make a tocking sound and I would also. he is now burying his head in either the treat or food bowl and doing this. I try to make sure I am only petting head and neck, but he keeps going butt-up so I have to quit and walk away. He does this the minute he sees me. Pretty sure he’s a male bc I see no red in his eyes, but wondering if this is a mating behavior that I’ve overlooked or is he just vying for more attention. Thoughts and experience welcome.

 

[Tanya]

No experience with SC2s but rump up does sound like an invitation to get busy. My guess is that (s)he has just landed in birdy paradise with better food, more light and lots of interaction. On top of that, were hard up on prime breeding season... so all the more reason to up your courtship game. Perhaps limit the amount of wet food, and serve it cold rather than warm. Also, make sure they have 12 hours of undisturbed darkness each night so that they get enough sleep and don't have a photoperiod (time of "day" light) that can trigger hormone surges.

 

[Staatsbrat]

Thank you!

 

[melissasparrots]

Butt up behavior sounds like female to me. I have a greater sulfur crest with no red in her eyes. She is surgically sexed female and definitely a girly bird. Ariel's eyes are super dark brown. They look black unless you see them in just the right light. I'd get a DNA sexing done so you know for sure. If I walked away every time my birds showed sexual behavior, they'd never get attention. I just pay attention to body language and if my cockatoo does a squat and shiver move, then I stop hugging her or petting her back. If I'm sitting in the chair with her, then I just go hands off and ignore her. She can stay with me, I just don't pet, or I pet just her chin and cheeks and don't put my hand over her back.
Its hard to advise about stepping up. Personally, I'd just push my hand gently into the juncture between body and legs to see if I could get her to step up. If that doesn't work, try the same thing from behind to see if she's more comfortable stepping back. If that doesn't work, or if you see outright aggression, then you'll have to deliberately train it. Sunflower seeds picked out of the seed mix and used just for training tends to work. Put your hand out to step up and hold a seed just beyond reach. The bird has to at least put a foot on your hand to reach the seed. Give the treat when it does and when putting a foot on your hand is easy, up the requirement to a full step up or some baby step in between. Be careful with sticks. They are great with aggressive birds that just want to throw themselves in your direction and land any bite they can. A lot of other birds that haven't been specifically stick trained are afraid of them and you can possibly do more damage than good. It doesn't sound like your bird is trying to be aggressive. I'd push just a little bit and be willing to back off and train if you see fear or outright aggression.

 

[Staatsbrat]

Thanks for the advice! I’ve been trying to figure it all out with him/her. Last few days he’s come out of cage and when I want him back in, I’ve shown him his treat and put it in his treat bowl and he goes right in (a piece of a clementine segment which he adores and only gets for this behavior). He did try to walk off the cage once and I just gently used the t stick to kind of herd him. He didn’t seem scared of it so that’s good. It’s too awkward for me to actually hold the t stable and then hold a treat in the opposite hand.

It’s hard to catch Bear on his perch long enough to try to step up right now since he usually runs straight for the food bowl tocking (not clicking, different sound) and for scritches lol! definitely going to try with the sunflower seed though too.
Thank you!