my bird cockatoo is only 5 month old when he 4 month he eat seeds but after i send him to my cousin house for 4 weeks he told my he eat properly there house but when he come back to me know he just take hand feed only and with seeds he only play i took him to doctor he told me he quit fit no problem here may be he take deperation so help me please
Hi,
Sometimes a baby bird will revert after a stressful situation. The cockatoo sees you as his caretaker, then he was moved. He may have eaten there, but once he saw you again, he wanted to be hand fed again. In the wild, the larger species of cockatoos may remain with the parents getting supplemented for a year or so. We do not know exactly how long each species remains with the parents before being fully weaned, but we have learned they should never be forced to wean before they are ready.
To begin with, he shouldn’t be eating seeds – this is a terrible diet for any pet bird. Loose seeds offer very little nutritional value, and any added vitamins are lost when the bird removes the hull. Even if you try to give him vitamins in his water or on soft food, it will not make up for the poor level of nutrition from seeds. He will eat too many seeds and eventually develop a fatty liver and/or heart disease.
You need to buy him a nutritionally balanced food like pellets. You should feed pellets as 80% of his diet, with the other 20% being leafy greens, veggies, a small amount of fruit, some nuts, and healthy human foods.
Each morning before you hand feed him, give him a lot of foods in the cage. A dish of warm cooked rice with veggies mixed in, a dish of warm formula but mixed thick, pellets – you can offer some dry, and some soaked in warm water, plus some of the other foods I mentioned. Leave the room and go where he can’t see or hear you. Do not go back for at least an hour. When he thinks he is alone, he is more likely to explore all of these foods. Then go and hand feed him some formula after an hour – you should feed less than it takes to fill him so he is still hungry. Keep all of the foods in the cage, along with fresh water, and replenish as needed for any of the soft foods that might spoil after a few hours. Repeat this before every feeding. He will soon eat more on his own and want less formula, until you are only hand feeding 2 times a day, then one time, then not at all. During weaning, you will end up throwing away a lot of food, but you must keep offering it in order for him to learn to self feed, and to eat healthy foods.
I highly recommend that you watch this webinar on Cockatoos so you can avoid making mistakes as you raise him.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
