What we found works for us

We feed our birds a basic diet of beans (I get the 15-bean soup mix and make it without the flavor packet), macaroni, raisins, pieces of apple, frozen mixed veggies and rice - freeze it in small containers and microwave at lunch and dinner time. They then get well-cooked meats (chicken and chicken bone), pasta, egg, potato, oatmeal, raw broccoli, fruits, etc. as long as it's healthy. We get a couple of good larger bird seeds mixes and mix them with few sunflower seeds and some of the pellets and have that available in one of Rocky's cups all the time. He also loves ice cubes for some weird reason and if he hears Mark chewing one, will rush over for a piece. They say not to feed birds from your mouth - it's a no no because of bacteria....and it's a little gross, but I taught Tiele, who came to me eating only seed, to eat more nutritious foods by eating from my mouth like a baby bird and now he eats most things (and doesn't eat from my mouth any more) - loves raw broccoli, beans, eggs, etc...he's not keen on bananas, but that's about the only thing I've noticed he doesn't like. Rocky also likes Flavor-Ices that we have in the summer (especially the green ones for reasons known to him) and NON-DAIRY ice cream...but we keep the sugary stuff to a minimum.

We went through MANY different kinds of pellets before we found Zupreem Fruit Flavored Pellets which Rocky now loves.

Millet and mega millet are favorites, although the vet told us that it's unusual for a cockatoo to like millet. We think Rocky was imitating Tiele. We order 5 lbs. of millet for less than $25, cut each piece into smaller sections and bag it...and it lasts most of the year. Both birds love it and this way it costs a fraction of what it does if you buy it at the bird store or grocery store (my birds seem to like millet this way better than the stuff bagged at the store anyway...I don't know if the plastic and heat they use to package makes it taste different or what, but I notice a difference in the amount they eat. - you can also get 5 lb boxes at bird shows). It took Rocky about a year to recognize it as food. He would hold it in the middle and run his beak out the end, effectively spraying the seed everywhere. He thought it was a great toy. Now he eats it so daintily...likes he's eating corn on the cob! You will find this with most things...It may take a good while before your Goffins will eat something, but don't stop offering. Eventually, they will eat everything!

Whole nuts are great! Rocky "peels" the outside off of almonds (still) and decides he's done. I think this is true because he prefers softer foods - yet will break a chicken bone in half - go figure! I have given him sliced up almonds and he likes those - easier to eat! Walnuts are his favorite! I started by cracking one in half and he would hold it and eat the nut out...practically the whole thing! Now I give him a whole one and he does it himself...sometimes he just makes a little whole in one end and pulls the nut out slowly with his tongue. He also likes to play catch with them because they have ridges he can get a hold of and throw at us! :-)

Professionally-made toys are fantastic, but here are some other supplemental toys that are great too! And, by the way, Rocky's favorite toy is us!

Plastic slinkies are Rocky's favorite toy! It's like his own little "knitting project". He does a preening type motion on them and spends hours bending them, weaving string and beads into them...and will "pick up" on his project at any time. He has several he's working on throughout the house! When we brought him on his 2200 mile car ride to move to California, we set up a special slinky, string toy hooked to a carabiner clip. Mark was calling it his "Gamebird" Hee hee But it kept him busy most of the way! I think it's the number one reason he hasn't become a feather picker, but I have no proof.

The plastic ball is actually a cat toy, but Rocky likes it because he can grab it and throw it too - catch is a good came! You can find them at the grocery store for not much money. The slinkies I find at the grocery store in the party favors aisle, but they also have them at bird shows. You get 6 or 8 for about $3 at the store. And beads can be gotten at craft stores. Get large enough beads so they can't be swallowed easily.

Goffins are very imaginative and pretty easy to make happy with just a little creativity and fun!

Shoe laces are great! I included a little piece of a curly shoe lace, which are harder to find now, but great fun for a bird.

We used to go to a place in Michigan called the Scrapbox. They gave us a bag and we could fill it up for $2 with cardboard tubes of all sizes and various things that birds like - even though the store wasn't meant for birds, but had the cardboard they love to shred and destroy.

Baby pacifiers and baby plastic keys (those large keys) are great toys. Just make sure what you get is non-toxic as all baby things are...and that there aren't small pieces they can choke on or swallow.

Empty Paper towel rolls skewered over the end of a perch are great for them to play with for a while.

Plastic bottle caps are great. They have a plastic-y rubber piece inside that Rocky pulls out and then the game is over...

And believe it or not prescription bottles with the cap on are a treat. Make it even more interesting by putting a nut inside. Cockatoos are bright enough to figure out the tamper resistant lids!! Darlene suggested a lot of these "make-your-own" toys to me.

Oh...and stuffed animals. Rocky chews the eyes out first - nice bird! I get stuffed animals marketed for dogs and babies - make sure they aren't for cats or they could be filled with cat nip (Watch out for scents...they can be toxic to birds). I bought 2 Santas for Rocky and Tiele last year that are still good this year, but are losing eyes and stuffing! Tiele doesn't do much with his, but Rocky's is a goner!

Rope perches are great! We have one strung across a corner of Rocky's cage that has "clearance" so he can do loop-de-loops. He gets going and will do about 30 of them in a row if we clap and cheer him on! Once he got so excited that he fell right off his perch. He got back on though! :-)

And Boings (that's a brand name, I think). It's made out of the same stuff as rope perches, but is formed into and cork-screw-like curve. You attached it outside the cage and they can hang from it and flap their wings.

Rocky unties my shoes for me, plays with buttons, pretty much can make a toy out of LOTS of things you would never think were toys! Keep that beak busy! :-)

Anticipating Bad behavior and making changes in yourself to avoid them

Rocky has idiosyncrasies: He won't go to sleep if we accidentally leave the porch light on or the hall light and he will call to us until we shut it off. Had we not known this was why he was screaming, we would have thought he was screaming for no reason.

We learned to remove keys, cell phones and pens from Mark when he comes home from work. Rocky yells something like "Dada" when he hears the garage door open... and Mark got one particularly bad bite one day when Rocky latched onto his keys and got skin by accident. Hence the rule that all possible "problem causers" get removed before approaching the cockatoo!

I was once home after an operation, out of sight of the birds and they screamed and screamed and screamed. That was poor planning on our part! Once they could see me, they stopped.

Training, Manners & Getting along with the "Flock"

Cockatoos are deeply attached flock birds...Cockatiels must be a little more independent in the wild because I haven't noticed this or read about this with tiels. Cockatoos look for "pecking" order. As long as you maintain that everyone in your house is "higher" than your bird in the pecking order, you won't see aggression and get "pecked" - at least as much.

If you really watch closely, you will notice that your bird is very consistent. He does what you want him to do when it is something HE wants to do like stepping out of his cage. And it's really hard to make them do what you want them to do when they don't want to...unless you have a little "intimidation" factor - We use a small birdie ladder (the one Tiele climbs - it also keeps Rocky off of Tiele's cage). Just pick something your bird doesn't like, don't let him get comfortable with it and name it so he knows it's coming. I tell Rocky "I'm going to get the stick", a walking stick we have that he doesn't like for some reason...and when I'm downstairs "I'm going to get the ladder". Now just saying the word gets a reaction.

I have to be clear that Rocky has never had bad experiences with them, he just doesn't like them and will move into his cage to get away from them. We use praise for positive behaviors and ignoring for negative ones when possible. When he's threatening to bite because he doesn't want to go in, I use those words and he hops in. That's how my mom got us to behave too. If we were at the mall, she would say "You wanna sit in the car?" She said it had to be a "threat" that you could follow through with. I once heard a man tell his child he was going to "leave without him if he didn't quit asking for a toy". Now...you know he wasn't going to do that!

We have found that most new things that Rocky is exposed to, he is initially afraid of...and needs comforting, guidance and exposure to get used to them...sometimes seconds, sometimes minutes, days and months. We had a ceiling fan in Michigan that we quickly found scared the heck out of him. When it was off, he was fine, but the minute we turned it on, he would jump off us, flop on the ground and run under the coffee table. It was very obvious what was bothering him...so we started turning it on slowly while cuddling him and telling him it was OK. It took MONTHS, but eventually we could have it on and he finally ignored it. He was that way with a Dum Dum lollipop last summer. My parents were visiting and we were playing poker with Starlight mints and Dum Dum lollipops for chips. I had Rocky on my shoulder and was sucking on a lollipop, turned my head to him and he "freaked" (which means he got startled, spread his wings, tail and crest). So I slowly held up the whole lollipop to him and sure enough, my pen stealing, straw chewing cockatoo was afraid of lollipops! You never know! So I showed him it was OK and he was soon OK with it too. Rocky is our scaredy cat. Tiele is brave as can be. You would think it would be the other way around!

What I am suggesting is that if you find there is something your bird reacts to like that - like Rocky does with the birdie ladder and a hiking stick we have, then use it for motivation if your bird is being difficult. That's all.

My other advice is to pick out a "Time Out" spot. Ours is the downstairs bathroom because it's close and he can't hurt himself. Then...when your bird misbehaves in any way, say "Wanna time out?" We say "Wanna go to the tub?" because our first time out spot was the tub in Michigan. The tub is gone, but he knows what we mean. And then do it. Especially if he has bitten or is screaming with bad intent...not the accidental nips and occasional screams. At that point, your hand hurts anyway...and Rocky always stopped any wrong behavior at that point.. the "power" shifted from him to us when we picked him up and carried him to his time out place. He would hold on tight to his perch because he didn't want to go sometimes (they're smart enough to know right from wrong - and they take advantage of this knowledge too, just to be ornery) and sometimes it took one of us to pull him off and the other to pry his toes loose, but he always went to the time out area when he did wrong. He goes once in a blue moon now. We just say it and he stops his bad behavior most of the time.

Territory and Who's the Boss?

When your bird gets comfortable in "his territory"/your house, he will try to figure out who the "leader" is. The minute he maliciously nips, screams and just takes a swipe at you or your family or another pet, everyone paying attention should say "No" and "Bad Bird" or "No bite!" with a very firm voice and put him in his time out area and close the door. Leave him there for 2 or 3 minutes and then open the door and ask him in a nice voice if he is "ready to be a good bird". You will be amazed at the quick change in behavior. Then bring him out and "let" him be part of the family (flock) again. Repeat as necessary, use the voice changes and try really hard to be consistent. He will test you more and more as he gets older and if you let him "get away with" stuff, you will have trouble.

We have a lot fewer times of problems, but they do still happen. We just had an episode with Rocky. He took a swipe at my finger with his beak, connected, but didn't get blood. It was sort of "payback" to me because he had to be in his cage last night. Plus, he isn't getting as much lap time as he did over the holidays. The reasons only matter so we understand him, but it doesn't make the behavior OK. Mark was sitting next to me so when I grabbed my hurt finger, he said "THAT's NOT OK!" in a loud and firm voice to Rocky, picked him up (at this point Rocky was in "ut oh" mode so it was easy to pick him up) and put him in his time out area. He sat there for a few minutes, squawked once. I waited until he was quiet so he wouldn't think the squawking is what got me to get up and get him and I let him out again.

Later, he was playing on top of his cage and still had a little "attitude" so we decided he needed a little flight school. We both went to his cage (we "double-team" him a lot. It shows that we are both unhappy with his behavior) and he immediately went inside. He KNOWS when he is being bad. We worked on getting him out, told him he was being bad and he must need some flying - just talked to him - and he wouldn't come out. We decided he got the message. We went back to the couch and he was sweet as pie the rest of the night.

Many people would see this as bad for a bird. They think just let a bird be a bird and we do to a point. But he is really a part of our family and if we don't take control, he will be an obnoxious, bad-acting one. He is capable of learning as long as it isn't abusive, is consistent and he gets praise for things done right as well.

It takes a village to raise a cockatoo!

From talking to people, there is no real rhyme or reason for why birds pick certain people. So having one family member ignore the bird (in an effort to not become the bird's favorite) may not even affect whether the bird likes him or not. I have heard where birds that were supposed to be a particular person's bird suddenly take a shine someone who may not even really like birds. Your bird may see you as his "Mama" or he might respect you because you are taller than other family members...or any number of reasons. Plus, they can change who their favorite person is over time too. That "bonded for life" idea isn't necessarily written in stone.

Rocky has different relationships with Mark and I. I am the "slave" and nurturer. He knows that I provide the food most of the time (although Mark feeds him too) and cuddles most, although Mark cuddles with him too as you can see in the photos. Mark gets more respect from Rocky than I get. Rocky will "pick" on me more because he sees Mark as the leader. I work hard to make sure Rocky sees me as higher than he is in the flock. Mark doesn't take any crap from Rocky. I'm more the "home base" for Rocky. When they rough house, Mark is usually the rough-houser and I'm the one Rocky jumps too when he's had enough.

Rocky seems to not have become a one-person bird. He will sit on Mark for a while and then when he wants to, he hops over or steps over, depending on how close we are, and cuddles with me. We had a while there when Rocky would be on the other side of Mark happily curled up and then I would put my head on Mark's other shoulder. Rocky would get possessive/territorial like he wanted both shoulders and lunge at me. We made it clear time and again that that wasn't acceptable behavior by telling him so and putting him in time out. And trying again. Now I can put my head on Mark and Rocky will curl up in the same shoulder right behind my head. I can feel Rocky's warm back behind my head and have to get up slowly so I don't topple him over. It's cute and nice, but took a lot of work!

Oh..and that reminds me, you want your husband to have a relationship with your bird because you are going to be going out of town and your bird will need watching by people who know how to handle him - more and more as he gets older and bossier...and if your husband is in there as you go, he will learn as you do.

Rocky also goes to Mark for reassurance if something scares him. I think he thinks Mark is more capable of protecting him than I am! That's OK. We all have our roles! As a result of a lot of touching and playing, Rocky is trusting of us to file his toenails with an emery board and clip his wings without being restrained. It's trust and respect.

As you get resistance, keep at it with positive and negative reinforcements. Don't let your bird get away with shooing a family member off. Have that person get a favorite treat of the birds and do a little bribery. He just may need more time to get used to that person - like Rocky has with EVERYTHING! If it's not working where you are, all of you move to a different area of your house for a while and try again. Birds are less "pushy" in less familiar territories.

Another trick is to put your bird down near the "unaccepted" person and have her put her back to him - it's less intimidating in the cockatoo world and cockatoos like to think things (like getting on someone) are their idea! If we want Rocky to come to us and he's being ornery, we just turn our backs to him and wait about 10 seconds and he will jump on our backs.

Baby birds, like baby humans, learn by example. Rocky wasn't crazy about the toys I made him this Christmas until Mark and I went all crazy about them saying how much fun we were having with them. A few minutes later, Rocky wanted his toys back to play with!! Also...if your bird is rejecting a family member, make a fuss over that person in front of the bird ...and definitely move your bird off of you if he is being bad to to that person. He may think he is pleasing you by keeping her away! If he is bad to her, tell him and make him go for a time out until he is being nice. And it may take a long time for it to work so be patient, consistent and work to get your meaning across to him as well as you can. See my section below on communicating with those who don't speak your language.

Road Readiness and the importance of introducing things slowly

When we were preparing to move from Michigan to California, I gave the birds "road readiness" lessons. Tiele had been on several plane rides, but Rocky couldn't go under the seat and we knew he wouldn't handle not being right with us well at all - talk about a possible freak out situation. Problem was that Michigan is 2200 miles by car from California. So I started taking them on car trips. Every time a realtor would call to show the house, we would pack up and get in the car and hit the road! Small trips and gradually extending them (first around the block and eventually on the highway in the rain), finding out that things like windshield wipers and rain are a big deal to them!! So we got used to that too. By the time we did the trip, I also found pet friendly hotels, they were fine and love the car now.

As I said before, Rocky is initially afraid of most things. With guidance, a lot of cuddles and slowly introducing him to things, he is great with most things now! Check out Rocky with a kitchen pot below!

Communication & Understanding what your bird is trying to say

I have this story of when I was 8 or 9 that I think works well with the idea of non-verbal communication between people who don't understand each other's language...and how that can apply to communication from bird to person and vice versa. We were on vacation with a family whose daughter was my age too, Nicole. Her family was Mexican-American and her grandparents spoke fluent Spanish, but she didn't really understand it because they only visited from time to time. We were out by ourselves playing on a huge rock one day and this older woman walked by and said something firmly to Nicole in Spanish. When the lady left I asked her what she said. Nicole said she said to quit playing on the rock because we could get hurt. I said "I thought you told me you didn't understand Spanish". She said "I don't, but I didn't have to understand her to know what she meant!".

It's an instinctive thing for birds to call to "flockmates" so they know where they are and are OK. If your bird can't see you, he will "call" to you. This can be misread as just screaming, but they actually have a message and meaning.

They are true devils in angel suits. Are sweet as pie most of the time, but if they aren't happy, they will do things to get across what they want - usually screaming and biting. Your challenge is to make sure you don't "train" them to scream by going to them when they are screaming and to make sure they respect you as the leader of the flock. They have a big weapon - their beak - which makes it tough to maintain control, but if you learn techniques like the ones here and those taught by many professional bird behaviorists, you can avoid the beak.

I can't stress talking to him enough...and I mean for training purposes. Use tone of voice. Rocky knows "Jump back" which I say anytime he jumps somewhere he isn't supposed to from his cage. His cage is in the kitchen so he likes to jump to me while I'm cooking, for instance. I say "Jump back" and a lot of the time he does. We have also discovered that if we open a cabinet door near his cage, he won't jump. We just don't have it close enough for him to chew on!

Bird's are emotional and expect things to stay the same in their flock. When Mark goes on business trips, Rocky calls to "Daddy" in the other room thinking he will come. It was sad at first so I decided not to mention Mark's name at all. About a week into the first trip, I said "Daddy" and Rocky started yelling "Dadda" at the top of his lungs. After that, I started saying "Daddy went bye bye, but will be home soon." He seems to get that. I tell him we are going bye bye but will be home soon when we drop him off at the boarders too.

Actual Words

Rocky talks some. He isn't extremely clear on a lot of words, but we know what he's getting at...and he's getting clearer and clearer. When he first tried to wolf whistle, it came out as a "Weet Wooo". Eventually, he got whistling down perfectly. Our cockatiel actually taught him his first word "Pretty Bird". We assume that Tiele was talking when they were both at the boarders, was getting attention and Rocky wanted attention from talking too. They both wolf whistle...and then Rocky says "Hey Boo!", which is what I say to him a lot - if I would only say "Hello" to him clearly, I am sure he would say that instead, but somehow I tend to say Hey Boo. He says "Bye Bye", "Mama", "Dada" and can call us with a pathetic drama at times that blows me away! In fact, I just say "I gotta go bye bye, but I'll be right back" and he says "Bye Bye" until I leave. The "Mama" thing is more of a "Nana" noise and must be something kids and birds can pick up instinctively because we never taught him that! Once he did though, we started on "Daddy". He gets points across with body language. Recently, he would sit on Mark at about 8 o'clock at night and stare at me. I eventually found out that this meant he wanted millet. Don't ask me how I figured that one out.

Don't try to stop biting with biting

This may sound like common sense, but a lot of people try it and we are no exception. Mark's family bred Doberman Pinchsers for a while and once had a puppy that was nipping so Mark nipped him back to show how it hurt and it never happened again. Rocky was into a big nipping stage and I was desperate so I nipped his wing once after he had bitten me. He yelped, took a look at me and bit me harder! Don't laugh...after that I talked with someone who had tried the same thing with a macaw...and needless to say, the macaw won!

Aggression and Height

Birds work on a "visual height" thing where they think whoever is physically higher is higher up the pecking order ladder. If you notice your bird is being aggressive while on top of his cage (most likely higher than you), don't let him get up there until he quits. Be sure you have control of your bird before you "allow" him on your shoulder. This will sound insane, but on your shoulder, he will feel equal to you. Birds sometimes see your shoulder as the perch and your head as "the equal" and start nipping at your head to get you "off his perch". The minute you have trouble, take him off your shoulder, have him on your hand and put him down by your waist or on the floor - anywhere lower than you.

It's all a matter of control and trying to maintain that control while still having fun and not getting anyone hurt. The better you understand why he is doing what he does (and a lot of the times it really isn't your fault, it's how he's perceiving your action at his level of development.), the happier everyone will be. All birds are different in their likes. Tiele still doesn't like his body touched. I scratch his head and shoulders and that's all. Rocky likes all over petting. Your bird will "tell" you what he likes and dislikes...and the longer you are together, the more you both will be able to do!

Another part of this is birds like to be aggressive. It's fun! Ever watch bear cubs or tiger cubs or puppies, cats, kittens and dogs for that matter play rough with each other? Birds like it too. Ours do. Instead of looking at it as annoying, we play along depending on the situation. We also try to anticipate that this is what they mean, which after a while is pretty easy to do...and then rough house back. We are careful not to hurt anybody and try hard to not get hurt too, but they really love this. It's like a 2 year old saying "Chase me Chase me!" Our birds do that too - for the fun of it! "Sparring" with oven mitts, rolling around on the floor and tossing toys and crumpled up pieces of paper, wrapping them up in blankets like little burritos and having them squirm with delight (this is also good for "towel training"), playing "catch" using them as the ball, and playing "keep away" tossing a toy back and forth between us and every now and then letting Rocky "get it". He then gives it back and we start all over again! :-)

Regarding the holding on type of biting while he's playing. It took a long time for us to get across to Rocky that that hurts. Now when he gets too riled while playing, we stop and change the type of playing. Switch to tossing a crumpled up paper back and forth or get a towel (he might shy away at first), but tie your hand up in it and let him "punch" it with his beak to get some energy out or try the oven mitt "sparring" idea. It took a good 6 years to teach Rocky to do a soft bite like a hold rather than a hard bite that hurts. My neighbor, who got the puppy, was telling me that she had heard where some breeders leave puppies with their puppy mates longer because they learn a soft bite from other puppies. If they nip each other too hard, they learn quickly that that hurts and is unacceptable. That's the idea we had when I tried nipping Rocky's wing. As I wrote here, that back-fired on me. Every time Rocky would bite hard and draw blood, I would cry (because it hurt) and show him the blood and say "It hurts" and "No" and stuff and give him time outs...anything. It's hard to punish him for the bites he really doesn't mean to give, but he has to learn a soft bite. We did it with trial and error and a lot of pain.

Jealousy and, unfortunately, all birds aren't friends

Rocky gets jealous of Tiele when Tiele is out just a little. Rocky is out and with us 20 times more than Tiele because Tiele likes hanging in his box and cage, but when he is out, I can see the "green-eyed" jealous monster come out in Rocky. We thought they would be friends, but they aren't and I have talked with a lot of bird people who say theirs aren't either. Some are, some aren't. Just like people.

"Potty Training"

We got Tiele "potty trained" by interrupting him with a noise when we would notice him squatting. Then he got so he would make a noise when he was going to poop - of course we had to know what he meant or that wouldn't work! Then he started tapping me on the cheek when he needed to poop if he was sitting on me. Same way worked with Rocky. We also noticed that Rocky will go to a particular spot on the couch when he has to go so when he's heading that way, we stop him. We have learned when they need to go partly from timing - if they haven't gone in a while and partly because they start fidgeting. Then we pick them up and say "Gotta Poop" and they do. I guess you could say that they trained us! Gets the job done most of the time.

Tricks, Exercise & Playtime

We once heard Sally Blanchard, a noted bird behaviorist and editor of Companion Parrot Quarterly (I think most people have heard of her, but I don't want to assume), say that people would ask how she taught her bird to do certain things. If I remember correctly, she could pick up her bird, play like she was winding him up and he would hop. When asked how she got him to do that, she said Caiques just do that naturally. She added the winding motion to make it look cool and like a "trick"! We have done the same things with Rocky and Tiele in a sense. Tiele kept banging his head like a woodpecker so I started doing the Woody Woodpecker song every time he would do it. Then I would sing the song and eventually he started doing the action AFTER the song because he figured out what I meant. Rocky kept falling over backwards on his bird stand. He would hang on, but he would fling himself back and hang and then get back up and do it again. I think he just did it for fun and attention. So we started saying BANG when he would do it. Eventually we could say BANG and he would fall over. Of course, few of these tricks will they perform on command for friends and family. We spent a whole weekend trying to get Tiele to say Pretty Baby for a friend. After that humiliation, we decided to not try the "bird show" again. If they do stuff for people great, if not it's for our entertainment only.
So...most of the things Rocky does, he showed us first. We didn't show him. He just started doing the things on his own and we praised him and reinforced them - like rolling over and climbing the stairs. He does a gunslinger trick where he holds onto our finger with his beak and hangs and we flip him up and over like an old-time gunslinger. Mark does it more than I do because occasionally Rocky will clamp down and it hurts. We "play catch" (flight school) with them by tossing them back and forth so they fly. Rocky doesn't really like to fly so a lot of the time Mark will toss him in the air and he will flap down. It gets energy out and can lessen screaming. A lot of the time, they just have pent up energy that they don't know how to get rid of. So play and exercise are great for this!
Rocky likes to weave one thing into another whether it be string and beads, a piece of sweatshirt into an eyehole where the string comes out or shoelaces into the web of shoelaces at the tongue of the shoe. He especially likes to stuff toys in our mouths - not sure why, but he gets a kick out of it!
	We play with him on the stairs having him jump from stair to stair to get toys or crumpled pieces of paper that he then flings back to us. He also will jump up several stairs and then jump to us and we put him down to do it again.
We put him on the floor and toss toys to him. He gets all excited and contorts his body to play with several toys at once. This is a time when he is so worked up that he sometimes bites without meaning it. We know this and are careful not to put our fingers in bad spots.


Sometimes Mark and Rocky run through the house together with them both screaming like they're on a roller coaster and Rocky flapping away. It's so funny to see and Rocky can't wait to turn around and do it again! Mark puts Rocky on his back under the covers in our bed and does a coo-che-coo thing through the blanket. Rocky loves it and will lie on his back for quite a while. They really are clowns. Play is so important for socialization, working out excess energy and just plain having fun!

Preening is when birds remove the waxy stuff around pin feathers (new feathers that come out of their skin in a point). You can do this too...especially around their head and neck where they can't reach. I take my fingernail and carefully "chip" away little pieces of the waxy stuff being careful not to go too low into the area that is still growing. You can tell because the area you shouldn't work on is pink or red, which is blood. If you see a pink area in the feather shaft, leave it alone and try not to break it. They call them "blood feathers" and if they get broken (by the bird rough-housing, or hitting them in some way or you by accident), they can bleed quite a bit. The broken shaft will have to be removed by pulling it out with pliers to stop the bleeding. We had it happen once and it isn't fun. Look up "what to do if you break a blood feather" and keep the info in a place where you know how to get to it.

A few weeks after we brought Rocky home, he got new feathers on his face near his beak and they seemed to be bothering him - like itchy or maybe painful. He was touching his face and kind of moaning. He rolled over on his back on my knees and kept touching his face. Tiele got on my knee, carefully approached Rocky and started preening the feathers above Rocky's "nose". It was very sweet! But a few minutes later, Rocky oafishly jumped up and scared Tiele away. That was the end of their brief friendship!

Bathing

Taking a shower is is trip! They warned me that Rocky might be frightened by it, but Tiele had "told me" when he wanted to take a shower with body language and loved it from the start. So I figured Rocky would be the same way. I let him see the shower water, opened the door and he stuck out his wings and headed in! I guess it's nature! He gets SOAKED, lays with his wings open in the shower with me getting all warm and then we blow dry.

We bought "parrot shampoo" when we first got Rocky because we wanted to keep our white bird white. It isn't necessary. I think we used it twice. I just take Rocky in the bathroom with me everyday and he decides when he wants a bath - about once every 2 weeks...more when it's warmer...less when it's colder. Warm water is all he needs and we keep it pretty warm and towel him off and blow dry quickly. He shivers when he's cold so I know when I can stop drying and let him air dry the rest of the way...

Watch out for birds eating Poinsettias. They are poisonous. This is an old photo and I don't even get them anymore.

Jewelry - I wear rings and earrings and Rocky only nibbles at them every now and then. I gave up on necklaces after he broke my 4th chain. He figured out quickly how to open the links. Darlene gave up rings except for an inexpensive band to use for her wedding ring when one bird pinched her original one on her finger. She works with much larger birds and I don't think Goffins can do that, but they do have strong beaks. I have rings with stones that he leaves alone most of the time.

Electrical Cords and Cabinetry - make sure you supervise your bird if he is near stuff that could hurt him or that you would be unhappy about if he chewed. Tiele has the run of the bird area since we got the draft dodger to protect our woodwork. Rocky is supervised all of the time except in the bathroom, but there isn't anything he can get hurt with in there - toilet seat is down so he can't fall in and I am close enough to hear him if he does anything funny.

No chocolate, avocado or overheated Teflon pans...and there's more. Read, read, read, go to seminars, join a bird club...all are great for teaching you how to have fun with your bird while keeping it safe and not becoming another person who painfully has no choice but to give their bird away!

Rocky is STILL a "velcro" bird as he approaches birthday #8 and we assume he will always be that way as cockatoos just are. We have him somewhat independent with all of the areas of our house for him to play in, but he still will jump to us and sit on us if within reach. Luckily, he also likes to play in his cage with the door open while we watch TV. His clingy behavior is something we have accepted... and it's sweet most of the time. It was great over Christmas, we all sat on the couch and watched movies and ate and played!