Well I asked my vet about trimming my CAG's beak. He told me that he doesn't suggest beak trimming unless it's medically necessary. He said that you can actually start diformities by trimming beaks wrong.

As far as the screaming......that's one reason, as much as I love parrots (I've got a CAG and a B&G Macaw)....I can't stand Cockatoo's. From what I've experienced they scream a lot and it's SOOOOOOOOOOO LOUD!!!

You're doing the right thing by ignoring her when she's loud, however with her being 8 years old just remember you have to re-train 8 years of bad behavior.

As far as getting her in her cage I would try this.....Depending on how big her cage is you may have to have 2 people. Have one person hold her by her cage door, the second person should have a treat that she LOVES. The person with the treat needs to hold the treat inside the cage (obviously from the outside) where she has to climb in to get it. It works pretty well....I actually found a video on You Tube that demonstrates it witha B&G. Here's the link (it's about 4 minutes into the video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6n9648cpV0&mode=related&search=

At night when you put her away do you cover her up? I leave a night light in my bird room. Birds don't have very good night vision so having a night light can be comforting to them.

Hopefully those ideas will help you.

-Chris

What you're doing is fine as long as you remember that when she is silent & pleasant for about 3 minutes, drop everything & go to her & give her loads of attention. She'll learn from this. If you forget (it is easy to do) when she's quiet then it won't work.
Cocketoos are clever birds, she'll pick up on this quickly but you do need to be persistant about it as well as giving her the attention that she sisn't get with her previous owner. She needs to know screaming is unacceptable, but at the same time you're not going to leave her alone for long periods too.

Offer a good size playgym, load it with hard wood chew things to keep her occupied, place treats in various part of her gym so she uses the gym to climb, find the treats & become interactive. The busier you can keep her, the more distracted she will be from screaming in the first place.

Cockatoos are fantastic pets. Too many people get into cockatoos without finding out the facts first & end up re-homing them because they scream uncontrolably, therefor they're often hated. They never scream for no reason & are often very missunderstood...
I've heard MUCH worse screams than cockatoos also.

To bring a cockatoo into a home is like bringing in & raising for your entire life a teenage kid. Something you must be prepared to take on, otherwise the cockatoo will suffer.

What kind of cockatoo is she? The species can also make a difference as to the screaming & behaviours.

Covering her up will be more of her preferance & what she's used to. If she hasn't been covered up her 8 years, this is what she'd be used to, if she has, then she's is used to this.....

Also what are you feeding her & have you changed her diet since adopting her? If you have changed her diet, this can contribute to her screaming. They shouldn't have a sudden diet change. If it needs to be changed, it needs to be done very gradually, over a few months. If she's ona poor diet, this can also cause screaming in them.

Also her beak & nails should never be clipped just because she hurts you. Beak & nails should only ever be clipped for medical reasons.

Try stick training her. Instead of traing her to step up on your hand, train her to step up on a stick until she stops biting, then you can start having her step up on your hand.

Wear thick gloves so the bites don't hurt but DON'T handle her with the gloves. This may make her misstrust you & you won't get very far with her then. With the stick & gloves, it will help because you won't have a reaction to her bites, once she see's this, she will start to give up on biting you & start to settle down. Unfortunately when you decide to take on a rescue cockatoo, you have a great deal of baggage to deal with & should expect nothing less than several hundred puncture wounds in your skin.

Be very patient & deturmined with her. If she prefers hubby to you, then YOU do majority of the feeding, handling, playing etc...to get her used to you. She will bond to the person who gives her the most out of life. If you both do an equal share of this, she can only bond to you both equally. If you don't do this, she will do what all cockatoos do so well, try & run you out of the house....

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Kim
Cricket (tiel)
Eddie (eclectus)
Squash (sun conure)
Australia

I would agree with the stick training idea, but I would strongly disagree with the gloves idea. In most cases from my experience gloves scare birds anyway.

Gloves with a cockatoo are an exception to the rule, especially when they're more than capable of completely removing a finger in a single bite. Also the gloves wouldn't be used for actually handling the bird, just as protection for your hand when it's lashed at by the bird, so there is less possibility of fear of the glove because you're not going to pick the bird up. There are many cockatoo owners who do this successfully & recommend this.

A cockatoo is also too smart for his own good sometimes. A lot of them learn to step up on a stick & walk from one end of the stick straight to your hand to bite it. Cockatoo bites would be the least pleasant bites of all parrots.
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Kim
Cricket (Little S***) normal grey male tiel
Eddie (Green Guy) RS x SI male eclectus
Squash (Little B***) Female sun conure
Western Australia