by Sally Blanchard

Over twenty-five years ago I did an in-home consultation with a Moluccan Cockatoo. He had only lived with the couple for a few months and was a very loving companion. However, the bird seemed to be agitated a lot of the time even though he lived in a home where he received attention and good care. There was one major exception. He lived with a couple in a duplex and he screamed a lot. Luckily the neighbours didn’t seem to care, but his caregivers were still concerned about his behaviour. This was one of those consultations that was pretty easy to figure out.

As I walked into the living room, I noticed the Moluccan’s cage was right next to a big screen TV. This was back when these TVs were huge and took up a lot of space. The man worked the day shift at a local company and the woman worked the night shift at a nearby hospital. The few hours that they were home together were usually spent relaxing, watching TV and giving the cockatoo attention. There were quite a few hours when only one of them was home and that person often watched TV if they weren’t sleeping. This was the problem. With the overlap, there was little time when the Moluccan could actually sleep.

Buy Now!