Your Sulphur Crested Cockatoo is much like the typical Cockatoo because they are loyal and loving and they need lots of attention. However, they are a bit different from the typical cockatoo because they can be extremely loud –particularly when they’re having fun – and they need to chew.
In fact, they chew a lot. Chewing itself isn’t a bad thing. It is when your Sulphur Crested Cockatoo chews on furniture, people, and their own feathers.
This behavior often surfaces when they are not given enough attention. Of course, there is a simple solution to this, give them more attention. A truly excellent way to accomplish two tasks at once, (notice I didn’t say kill two birds with one stone) is to trick-train your bird.
Trick training not only gives your bird what it wants most – your attention – it also teaches them to eliminate many of the undesirable behaviors they might have including screaming which we’ll talk about next!
I also want to recommend that you give your Sulphur Crested toys that he can chew on. Since it is a behavior that is natural to them you cannot expect him to simply stop chewing. If you retrain the behavior, give him something acceptable to chew on, and spend plenty of time with him your chewing and feather-plucking problems are likely to be solved.
Resolving Your Sulphur Crested Cockatoos screaming problem. The most likely cause for your Sulphur Crested’s screaming is that it is being left alone too much. They are extremely social animals and if you cannot be with them then they will become unhappy. This unhappiness manifests itself into destructive behaviors like screaming and biting and self-destructive behaviors like chewing on their feathers.
Provide your Sulphur Crested Cockatoo with plenty of toys to keep him busy when you are not able to spend time with him. It is often recommended that Sulphur Crested cockatoos be kept in pairs to keep each other company. This can help to reduce the amount of time you will have to devote to them. However, it is important to take time every day to spend with your Cockatoo
The Sulphur Crested Cockatoo is a very intelligent parrot and in fact, is often considered by avian enthusiasts to be one of the most intelligent parrots. This intelligence means that they must be kept busy or they’ll misbehave. We’ve talked about toys, companion birds, and spending quality time with them every day. We also mentioned trick training. I want to explore that option a bit more in-depth.
Trick training is an absolutely fabulous way to not only spend time with your bird but it will help to establish and reinforce your relationship with your Cockatoo. Trick training will also eliminate negative behaviors and replace them with positive behaviors.