Cockatoo Adventures

[BrianB]

Do baby cockatoos need a high-energy formula like macaws, greys, and Eclectus do, or does a regular baby bird formula work fine for them? Someone has inquired about giving us a citron chick and I want to make sure I'm using the right one. I can't seem to find any reference to them requiring a high-energy/high-fat formula. I've got plenty of both on hand so I'm prepared either way.

 

[BrianB]

Here is our handsome boy. His toe is doing much better. He pulled the bandage off and it doesn't look infected or irritated at all. He stepped up for me and I was able to take him out of the night cage and move him to his larger one. He even came out for a while and hung out with me. The nail looked really ugly when it happened, but now it just looks like he's missing a nail. He's smaller than the other Moluccan we have, but I doubt it will take long for him to get adopted.

 

[BrianB]

This beautiful girl will be joining our flock today. She’s part of the acquisition of the retired breeders company. She’s just over 13 weeks old. We’ll finish feeding and weaning her then see where she goes from there.

 

[April]

This beautiful girl will be joining our flock today. She’s part of the acquisition of the retired breeders company. She’s just over 13 weeks old. We’ll finish feeding and weaning her then see where she goes from there.

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Aww she's absolutely adorable

 

[BrianB]

Our little one has arrived. We thought she was coming Saturday but we had a miscommunication and she arrived this morning. We'll be doing a DNA test soon, but they said they were pretty sure we have a girl. I'll use "she" until we know for sure. We had to put her in a hutch type of enclosure because that's all we had ready when she arrived. I had to leave for work just minutes later and I didn't get to spend any time with her. She managed to open the door twice and Felix found her sitting on top of it. She went into a regular cage as soon as I got home. I just can't get over how cute she is and she's so sweet. Her little crest is all pin feathers but she's going to be beautiful when she's fully feathered. It's going to be hard to give her up when the time comes.

 

[BrianB]

DNA results are in - we have a little girl. She's eating well, and giving me a lot of attitude because she can't seem to land gracefully.

 

[Kassiani]

She’s just precious!

 

[Tyrion]

She is soooo cute congrats

 

[BrianB]

She can't decide if she's weaning or not. Some mornings she will take 60+ ml of formula but this morning she only took about 15 ml. When she's decided she doesn't want anymore formula, she sticks her tongue over the hole or clamps her beak shut. When I filled her food dish she ignored it, but when I added chopped veggies on top she went crazy. I walked past her cage a few minutes later and she was standing there chomping on a broccoli stem.

 

[scrape]

She can't decide if she's weaning or not. Some mornings she will take 60+ ml of formula but this morning she only took about 15 ml. When she's decided she doesn't want anymore formula, she sticks her tongue over the hole or clamps her beak shut. When I filled her food dish she ignored it, but when I added chopped veggies on top she went crazy. I walked past her cage a few minutes later and she was standing there chomping on a broccoli stem.

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Is she playing with toys? I love watching them learn how to play

 

[zoo mom]

She is just so precious.

 

[BrianB]

Is she playing with toys? I love watching them learn how to play

Not yet. She's mostly interested in eating, biting my fingers, and crashing into things when she flies.

 

[Toy]

She can't decide if she's weaning or not. Some mornings she will take 60+ ml of formula but this morning she only took about 15 ml. When she's decided she doesn't want anymore formula, she sticks her tongue over the hole or clamps her beak shut. When I filled her food dish she ignored it, but when I added chopped veggies on top she went crazy. I walked past her cage a few minutes later and she was standing there chomping on a broccoli stem.

When my U2 was a baby I hand fed her over sized pellets they called weaning sticks. I was told to soak them in hot water until soft. To this day (she's now 23 years old) she loves wet pellets. She eats a pellet, usually swallows them whole, then takes a drink. Eats a pellet, takes a drink. Anyway perhaps your baby would wean off onto wet pellets.

 

[BrianB]

I had a day with Kiwi, the psycho cockatoo that is at the store. He hates children and yesterday not only did the grandchildren come to the store but he had a shower that morning. When he got to the store he was in a mood. I had him on my shoulder for a while and he started to do this singing cry that he does. Then he started to get louder and I realized one of the kids was behind me. I turned around and Kiwi started screaming “Mother F’er” really loud and clear. I very quickly put him back on his tree out of reach from the children and he stopped. Later in the day his favorite toy vendor came in. He was still agitated even though the children had left a few hours earlier. I passed him off to her and a few minutes later she comes to the grooming area where I’m sitting and she’s red in the face and laughing. She leans down to me and I hear Kiwi very quietly saying F You in a singsong voice. He normally just says F over and over but for whatever reason he was saying it very quietly to her but had added the You to the end of it. He’s a menace but sometimes you can’t help but laugh over it.

 

[BrianB]

I saw Daisy's owners on Tuesday. She's doing fantastic. They showed me some pictures and she has some feathers on her lower belly. She will be naked on her chest forever, but I'm glad she's let some of the others grow back and hasn't attempted to pull them out. From what they've said she still has separation anxiety but they both work from home so she's rarely alone. They have a ritual for putting her in the cage when they need to leave the house and she understands that they will be gone and doesn't scream. She gets lots of cuddles and reassurance when they come home. They take her out for walks in the evening and she yells HI! to people she sees on the street. She won't let anyone she doesn't know pick her up but if she is handed to them then she trusts that she is safe. It makes me really happy to know that she's thriving under their care. She feels safe, secure, and loved in ways that we couldn't give her at the store. I think she's coming in this weekend for grooming. Hopefully, I can get some pictures to share.

 

[BrianB]

Our little girl Daisy came in this past weekend. She looks fantastic with the feathers on her back filling in. Still naked on her belly but she's got some new feathers coming in lower down. She's a happy girl and we were all glad to see her.

Another one of our previous residents came in on Saturday afternoon for some grooming. Kookie is a Moluccan who had been with us for almost a year. One of our employees was going to adopt him but she left due to medical reasons and decided to make him available to someone else. A really nice couple who had adopted another Moluccan decided to add him to their flock. When he was at the store he decided I was his favorite person. Moluccans are one of the few big birds I'm afraid of but this boy was a complete cuddle bug and so sweet. As soon as he came in the door he jumped out of their hands and ran across the store to where his cage used to be. When he saw me he got very excited and started calling for me. The owner handed him to me and he put his head on my shoulder so I could scratch his head. He's done pretty well with the new family but he's been biting one of the family members. He's always been nervous if I have a bandage on a finger. Something about them bothers him and I almost always have one somewhere. Dexter, my evil African Grey, had given me a nasty bite that morning so I had a blue bandage on my fingertip. Kookie was ok as long as he couldn't see it. We think he was biting the woman because she usually had very long red fingernails and a lot of jewelry. We thought it might be hormones and the presence of a female Moluccan in the house. Once she took the big nails off he stopped biting her. I hope that's the solution and not just a short term thing for him.

 

[Tyrion]

They are all beautiful

 

[Toy]

Awww she's so pretty. Reminds me of a M2 we saw in Ohio at Hartman's Aviary years ago. Her name was Amanda. They tried many times to re-home her & she'd always come back. She sat on my husbands arm telling him this big long story, turning her head this way & that just yacking away. It was so funny. We almost took her home that day, but already had 3 large parrots & no room for a 4th. I often wondered what happened to her.

 

[BrianB]

Today sucked. I'm not a groomer at the store, but sometimes I help when there is a big bird that needs an extra pair of hands. I'll rub the head to distract them or I'll talk to them just to keep them calm. Today the groomer was trimming a curled beak on a sulfur-crested cockatoo and while I was rubbing the head, the bird had a seizure. We tried to resuscitate him, but we weren't able to. It was horrible.

 

[Kassiani]

Oh no! I'm so sorry that happened at the store.