Advice on feeding an 8wk old cockatoo?

[Bear]

Hi everyone,

If you saw my previous post you will know I was going to look at a baby U2 this week, well needless to say, she came home with me yesterday

She is an absolute sweetie, very quiet, loves cuddles and I'm very happy with her. when I first saw her my first decision was I was not bringing this bird home. she was very dirty, the place she was being kept was really not good at all, and the lady was having trouble with feeding her. She was handraised and had only been in an incubator so far.

Anyway I thought well I've done it once with my CAG (who was being kept ing a small fish tank at 14wks old fed nothing but porridge) so I took the plunge and bought her.

I wondered if anyone has any tips for what she might find tasty?

I am currently giving her the Av Plus Phase 2 porridge which is for birds 6 weeks plus and she will eat enough of it if I mix a bit of weetabix in with it. She also likes mashed carrots and apparently oatmeal although I haven't tried her wth this yet.

Being a cockatoo she is being true to form and naturally fussy, although I'm satisfied with the fullness of her crop after feeding...I would appreciate some suggestions from people on what worked for their baby too's, or any foods they love which I'm missing.
Obviously I want to introduce her to as much fruit and veg as possible so we don't have problems with her being fussy later on.

Here is a pic from lastnight, it was a 12hr round trip for me so a long day!
Hope you like her

[pchela]

Is the porridge the same as formula here?

Does she take the porridge from the syringe easily (or the spoon if you are spoon feeding)? Cockatoos are notoriously difficult to feed and she may refuse to eat sometimes when she still needs food. I'm assuming that's what you mean by fussy? A gram scale is particularly important to have with a Cockatoo to make sure she is eating enough and not losing weight.

Anyway, my baby Grey who I have been hand feeding is being weaned onto Multi Grain Cheerios, a variety of mixed fruits and veggies, Glop ( http://www.parrotislandinc.com/articles/aglop.htm )
which I highly recommend as not only a weaning food but a staple of the birds diet (and your Greys!) sprouts, oatmeal, some seeds and nuts (no sunflower), pellets and table food that is not too sweet or too salty. Basically you want to introduce as many new foods as possible at this point so she will be a good eater when she is an adult.

She's adorable and congratulations!

BTW- I hand fed baby parrots for a pet store for over two years so if you have any questions let me know!

[pchela]

I also wanted to say for anybody reading this and considering buying an unweaned parrot, please don't! It is not necessary in order to bond with your bird, in fact in can be detrimental to your relationship in the long run and it is not easy. It is however incredibly easy to seriously hurt or kill a baby parrot by hand feeding wrong. If you don't have a lot of experience, don't do it! I just don't want anybody to read my advice and assume that they can easily hand feed a bird. Thanks!

[Bear]

Thanks for the responses And yes I agree do not hand feed a bird unless you know what you are doing!

I am feedig her with a syringe, just an open one, as its tidier than a spoon. she was spoon fed when I got her but she was filthy from it, she must prefers the syringe as its easier to control and we have very tidy feeds now

Yes the 'porridge' is a weaning formula, it contains everything they need.

Just a quick update. She (must think of a name for her!) is doing so well, she is amazing me with how smart she is. when I brought her home on Saturday she had never perched or climbed. put a perch in her cage for her (only 2 inches off the ground) and it took her 4 minutes to work it out, how to turn around on it and so on. She has also worked out how to climb up and down her cage, and after watching my grey get onto my shoulder, can now do this. She is amazing me honestly! She is the sweetest bird, loves kisses and cuddles but is just as happy chilling behind me on the sofa.
We are having No problems with feeding despite what her breeder said, she is eating well at all 3 meal times (7am, 1pm, 6.30pm) and she seems very happy. She was nervous the first night I brought her home (of course) but is now acting like she has always been here. She is very quiet too, 'talks' softly when I talk to her but that's it, no shouting or crying.


Here is another pic of her lastnight showing her new shoulder skills



Does anyone have any tips on how I can clean her up? It is far too cold to bath a baby so young now (it's winter here) but when picked her up on saturday she was filthy with dry encrusted porridge. Are there any special little tricks you have to get rid of this without bathing her as that is not an option?
With my grey I weaned I didn't have this problem as I cleaned him after every meal, sadly this was not done with my little too.