Need SERIOUS advise with Yellow Umbrella Female Cockatoo

[Veszpertin]

Well, she is a sweet bird given to me that talks and laughs and makes a
goggle sound sort of like a turkey would - she is 17 years of age and
was a breeder for the last 4 years. She
loves to be rubbed lightly ll over - under her wings and massaging her
legs makes her laugh.

I've only had her for a few weeks and I'm sure she can do all sorts of
tricks and stuff. My big
concern is she seems to be rubbing her sex organ agains pillows and
such until she seems
to be having an orgasm and shivers and cackels like a chicken and
fluffs all her feathers out
into a puffy spreed and throwns her yellow umbrella straight up and
foward then gets up on her outside cage and struts about making silly
sounds and spewing gibberish for minutes then she goes onto her perch
which is an old wood walking stick of mine that fits in the cage
great as a steady perch for her.

I may be a prud but is the orgasm thing a normal activity for a 17 year
old past breeder???

[Veszpertin]

Also she has a metal ring on her leg with a
small break and gap in it. She won't let me touch it or get near enough
to see if it has anything written on it. Does anybody know anything
about such a ring?

[Veszp...@aol.com]

OK - this NG seems rather slow but here goes some more post from me
about the cockatoo in hopes of a reply! PLEASE!!!

I just got a female 17 year old that was a breeder for th pst 4 years
and has some sort of
metal ring around one leg with a serial number that I can't read
without magnifing to see what it is all about. I no nothing about the
bird and would love to know as much about this kind of bird as anybody
can possible furnish me in a reply.

She seems happy, healthy a bit shy but otherwise she is a real sweet
tempered cockatoo.
Her name is Percious and she can talk saying sevral words and rather
risk-kay phrases.
I feed her the bird food given to me with her is Avian Science Super.
She loves peanuts raw in the hull and shell and also loves popcorn.
She seems to have no interest in vegatables of any sort nor fruits and
I understand there are 4 foods that are toxic to her; chocolate,
cinnimon and I guess she's having fun when the little white feathers
next to each side of her bill fan out and forward - not sure of that
but she seems happy and the yellow umbrella feathers often flare out
and forward why???? she also cocks her head from side to side
occasionally and will do this sort of twist and twirl of her head and
when I start doing the same thing she gos on in grand fashion until I
stop.

She loves to be scratched everywhere - under the wings and bald spot
under the yellow feathers even the feet -- just everywhere. She often
coos and sort of mumbles in long runs for sometimes up to a few
minutes. She does not do that very often though. She has a fine cage
of heavy iron
bars that run up and down to form a half egg shell shape with a solid
metal ball on the top
and a solid metal floor that I keep lined each day changing it with
fresh newspaper. She
doesn't shread or try to eat it just takes her dump and discarded food
seeds and such on the
paper. There is a wooden perch that seems to be some sort of madrone
branch that is
secured in some unknown but very sturdy method on a stalk of steel that
is welded into
the center of the metal bottom floor of the cage. The door opens wide
and has a good
lock but during the day from about 7 AM to 9 PM I leave her to roam
about her outside cage
and her play station II that keeps her water bowl and food bowl in it
next to a curved upward step ladder and it has a metal swing large
enough for her to herch on and swing back and forth it also has a
little metal merry-go-round thingie that is attached to the floow of
the SPII
that she often likes to swing around on it.

I cover her cage in a cotton cream colored spread that covers it
completely when I coax
her in to the cage for the night. I understand she needs from 10 to 12
hours of sleep and
she usually gets about that much sometimes a little more nd takes naps
on the top of her cage with her head hidden in her neck feathers.

She will for no known reason at random ever day or two let out this
screaming shreek
one or two times. She loves to laugh and quack like a duck and can
even sound like a turkey
cackling at times. I'm sure she has a lot more words and such yet to
be revealed as she is
17 and gives out a new word almost every day - hello and wow being her
two most prominent.

Not trying to sound crud but she also seems to rub her private area and
fluff up all her feathers and shiver - I guess she might be
masterbating???? She has a cage full of toys coiled rope perch and
another one that goes across the middle of the cage from side to side.
I put 5 rope and wood hanger toys somes spinner mirrors and a large 3
sided mirror she looks at for several minutes then goes quack and
leaves the cage to go back onto the Play Station II (PSII) to eat and
drink and fiddle about on the merry-go-round and swing.

I change her water twice each day and she likes to have somebody in
sight or she gets
very verbal until somebody comes in to pet and scratch her in all her
favorite spots like undr her wings undr her yellow feathers on the bald
head spot and massage her legs and stroke
her feet fingers claws or whatever they are properly called. She will
not use the wood perch at all never even goes on it. I'm thinking I
might cover it in something like some sort of non-toxic rug scrap or
such to get her to sit on it. But her two comfie rope perches are her
joys to walk back and forth and un and down on the coil rope from the
top of th cage to the floor of it.

So, I've outlined all I have learned about her so far and any more info
about this type of cockatoo would be most helpful and appreciated. I
uderstand they can live for up to 100 and over years. Is there any
truth to that?

TIA
Tom

[Don Scott]

It sound like you have a normal female umbrella to me. I have a 20-year
old umbrella and the behaviors you mention are pretty common around
here. My female is neutered, the original owners knew a good doctor who
could do that, so the sexual behaviors are nearly non-existant. She
still requires a great deal of petting and attention.

The tag is a control number showing that your bird was bred in
captivity, not stolen from her homeland.

For a good overview of your bird try reading "Outta control bird." You
can buy it at Amazon. While your bird is not out of control I have found
that this book explains parrots better than any other I own.

Good Luck

Don Scott