House Eating Cockatoos

[WinstonWolfe]

Just heard from a mate in the country who went on hols for 2 weeks.
When he got back his neighbour told him the cockatoos had been congregating the area in unprecedented numbers. They had then started to peck and bite away at my mate's new house, and the neighbours place, until the neighbour scared them off.

Apparently the cockys chewed the verandah floorboards, rails, and the beading around the windows.

Wondering if anyone else has had similar trouble with cockys or other animals destroying property??? Could be damned expensive damage if unchecked.

 

[LynnH]

Hi Winston Wolfe

Yes - our neighbours have been feeding the wild cockatoos for ages - they went away one weekend and didn't put sufficient food out, so the birds came up to the house and started 'work' on their pergola and outdoor furniture! Yes, it was an expensive exercise - and, no, they don't ever forget to put sufficient food out these days.

Cheers
LynnH

 

[marcodepaul]

As beautiful as these creatures are, it's probably best not to encourage them in the first place. Years ago the bloody things mangled our deck a week after we moved into our new house.

I wouldn't be feeding them.

BTW, they love cedar windows.

 

[Macca]

The NPWS advise strongly to NEVER feed the cockatoos.

Firstly it is bad for the birds as they don't get enough variation in their diets.

Secondly it causes a lot of grief to your neighbours ( and you, if you forget to feed them as above)

The NPWS say that whenever they have a complaint about the birds eating someone's house, there is almost always some idiot in the neighbourhood feeding them.

 

[LynnH]

Hi marcodepaul and Macca

I agree totally about not feeding the birds - it's enough of a problem that the neighbours do!

When we first bought our PPOR we 'inherited' some little winged creatures which the previous owners had been feeding - it took ages for us to convince the birds that the 'restaurant' they had been visiting was permanently closed!!! In the meantime, they fouled our outdoor furniture and visited us everytime we had friends over for a BBQ! Not impressed!!

Cheers
LynnH

 

[Tizzy]

Hmmm, I had a cocky once that always got heaps of food. That bird was just plain naughty. He ate everything he could sink his beak into!! After 4 years we'd had enough and he was retired to a less house proud owner where he still happily destroys whatever he gets hold of.

 

[lizzie]

a friend had them chew relentlessly at the false block cornering they put on the new mcmansions - made out of some hardened foam stuff.

they eventully hung a couple of big rubber snakes over the gutterings - cockies never went never the place again.

 

[twobobsworth]

YES! We had cocaktoos eating the external window & door frames on our PPOR. It was unbelievable the amount of damage they could do in such a short time.

We had a spa recessed into our outside balcony, they would fly down, have a drink from the spa, then start ripping the woodwork apart.

We got rid of the spa and they haven't returned.