I work at an exotic pet store and one day about 2 years ago a man came in w/ a cat carrier and left it at my work. Inside was a very scared umbrella cockatoo. I already had a Amzon Yellow Nape, so I decided to take her home also. (i've always loved cockatoos) At first you could see that she had been plucking, had a bunch of pin feathers and was pretty skinny. Now after 2 years she has filled in nicely and she is the SWEETEST bird you'll ever meet. Shes loves to snuggle.

We have both bird cages in the kitchen.. about 6 feet away from each other. The birds have never showed any interest in each other. (The amazon is nasty) Bella (the cockatoo) always has her door open b\c she never leaves her cage. She'll either sit inside or ontop of it all day until bedtime. For the most part if you put her in her cage during the day she will scream to be let out. She gets VERY nervous if you take her away from her cage. She will step up, but as soon as you start walking away she'll shake and look around all nervous, sometimes flap her wings. After we put her on a perch (in the other room, or bedroom) she settles down. But always wants to go back to her cage.

Recently (just within the past 2 days) The cockatoo has been climbing off her cage onto the floor (something she has never done before) and walks across the floor and climbs up onto the amazon's cage. Sometimes she will just stand there ontop of the amazon's cage, but a lot of the time she terrorizes the amazon by trying to bite her toes and beak thru the bars. Every time we put her back onto her cage, she goes right back down to the floor and onto the amazon's cage for more terrorizing. Now we have to lock her in her cage, which she is NOT happy about. But she wont stay on her cage anymore! We're afraid that the birds are going to get into a fight while we're not there.

Any advice would be appreciated.

1st, Welcome to Parrot Chatter. Please understand that the advice and opinions you may receive here from experienced bird keepers may not necessarily be the answer you want to hear, but we speak from experience, please keep an open mind. It is not out intent to put you down or correct you in anyway.Most important, the kitchen is not a good place to keep birds. There are fumes and smoke that you cannot see that can affect them. Next thing, I would separate them. A maturing too can become quite dominant and this can create all sorts of issues. Do you have another area where she can be near you but away from the zon? Have you considered investing in a playstand? With good stimulation she may have no further interest in the other bird. This will give her the opportunity to be out of the cage and learn to trust your environment. Does the zon have out of cage time?

Sorry for the questions but we would like to get to know you and your birds so we can offer the best advice.

Sounds like the lovely hormones.

Try moving the cages.

*EDIT* Yea...what Leigh said...perfect advice.

Our kitchen is not a normal kitchen. It is very open and the area where the birds are is more of a "sitting area" than a kitchen area. My house is all open, and next to the kitchen is the living room.

And the cockatoo is already 25 years old. (the amazon is the same age, but we've had the amazon since it was 2) I took the cockatoo to a vet and he looked at the ring around her foot, and b\c it was an open ring that it meant the cockatoo was an import. But they stopped importing years ago so his closest guess was that she was atleast 20 years old...

The cockatoo does have a play stand, that goes into different rooms in the house to be with me. So yes, she does have an area where she can be away from the amazon, but like I said, she doesn't really like to be away from her cage. She was never interested in the amazon before, so why all of a sudden?

Also- the amazon is my dad's bird. ONE PERSON bird. The amazon hates me. I can talk to her but not handle her without her ripping my fingers off. She gets out of cage time with my dad.

Too's are very demanding of attention. They can also be quite unpredictable. That is why there are so many of them in shelters. With it being breeding season, she may just have a case of hormones and in time will show no interest in the zon. Or, it could just be a game she plays to stimulate her. She needs a distraction, something she can destroy, like a big wood toy or some type of foraging toy. At 25 she is still a young bird and can still be trained or conditioned to your environment. I would work with her to get her out of the cage more often but slowly. Her cage is her nest and safety zone. She needs to build trust in you and this could take a very long time. Start slowly, even a foot at a time. Talk to her and walk her around, each day going further. Reach out and touch things so she can see it wont hurt you. She may fuss and wing flap but once she sees that nothing will happen to her she will calm down. This takes great patience on the part of the bird keeper. Over all, its almost impossible to say why exactly she is going after the zon at this point. The more distraction she has the less interest she will show the zon.

Hi shkittlez, Welcome to Parrot Chatter!

Leigh has given some excellent advice. Thanks Leigh!!

You could try putting her on her play stand right next to her cage to see if she would be more comfortable on it in when it's near her cage. A hanging play gym may be an option also. It might help to make the cage legs longer so she can't lower herself to the floor.

Do you have lots of toys and foraging activities for her to do during the day? She could be getting a little bored and going to look for some entertainment.

Try playing with her and teaching her new tricks to do. Give her positive reinforcement interaction and healthy treats when she's staying on her cage or play gym. Sometimes it's so easy to give them more attention when they're being naughty than when they're being good. So don't forget to tell her how good she is and give treats and attention when she's playing nicely where she's supposed to be.

Leigh has given great advice, I second that the birds must be moved far from each other, if the Too has just recently started this I would make sure there is no chance to visit the zon before this turns into entertainment value terrorist activity, usually it is the bird inside the cage that does the toe bitting. Either bird can easily chop off a toe of the other. I would suggest a very close supply of cornflour to stop the bleeding.

Yes, both bird have many many different toys they can play with. They get new ones regularly. The amazon doesn't really play with any of her toys.. but the cocktoo will chew the wood toys a bit and she loves to beable to hold toys also.

Thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it!

Welcome!!!

I have a male Umbrella and it sounds like normal behavior to me. Cockatoo's are the most loving birds but they can be very moody and are high maintenance. My Umbrella is my "velcro" bird, gets into everything and is very demanding of attention. It sounds like Bella has gotten secure enough to venture to the amazons cage for adventure. Maybe you can redirect her attention towards you somehow instead of the amazon.

And I would not assume that she is of a certain age just because she has an open ring. There are lots of reasons why she might: she could be stolen and her band was removed so she could not be identified (and that could also be the reason why she was left at your work) or her breeder might have used open bands instead of closed ones (I used to breed canaries and never used closed bands on them -I think they are dangerous).

As to what to do, like Leigh said, you have no choice, you need to separate them before one of them bites the other real bad.