Need diet advice for Umbrella Cockatoo

[paper_lantern]

This isn't my bird, however I will be taking her in for a week or two prior to bringing her to a parrot sanctuary. The owners want her out NOW. She is 10 years old and has had a pretty sad life. She is confined to a dog-crate with no perches, no toys. Apparently according to the owners she has only had (seed, peanuts, french fries, and popcorn) to eat. So I was planning on getting her to try fresh fruits and vegetables while she is here, because the man who runs the sanctuary feeds veggies and fruits in addition to a pelleted diet.

Any advice on how to introduce fruits and veggies?

And please, I know how hard it is to take care of a cockatoo, please don't tell me not to do this. I have to. And its just for a week or two until I can make the long trip to the sanctuary.

I think she will be a lot happier there, she will be able to go outside into her own flight aviary area.

[Graybeard]

Good for you, rescuing an animal from torture. We had a U2 for two months, and she was a magnificent creature, but a crazy-maker.

Be careful you don't get too attached...

GB

[paper_lantern]

Thank you for the response! Yes, I hope I don't get too attached. I've met her before and she is a darling...loud, but very sweet. Even if I do get attached I highly doubt I can give a cockatoo a great home, they are too much bird for the long term (for me) =P

But it will be a nice experience (although challenging, I'm sure).

[pennyandrocky]

first i think it's great your taking this on.too's have to be cooked for mya will try anything hot.best way to get any bird to try new food is to eat it with them.it's not really that much harder to care for a too they just hate being alone even for a minute and let you know very loudly.

[paper_lantern]

Thanks Penny, I will try cooking a few vegetables. I won't go with anything too scary at first (broccoli, etc) I'll start with something fairly easy...like corn and steamed carrots, and I'll eat it with her. I never had a problem with my GCC he eats anything =P

[pennyandrocky]

must be a thing penny does too.mya also loves plain oatmeal for breakfast in the morning since she doesn't care for fresh fruit,she likes hot fruit too, i put it in oatmeal.

[jayebird]

You are a wonderful person

I would try making a mash (it can be so cheap if you buy things on sale!) and offering her to that in a bowl. She'll pick and choose what she likes and honestly that's fine for right now while she's transitioning homes and lifestyle. This is a really great recipe to start with:

http://www.pamperedpeeps.com/mash.htm

I sometimes add quinoa, fresh sprouts daily on top, a single almond every now and then for a treat, and whatever fruit I'm snacking on that day or is in season...

I actually don't really use the food processor too much. I hand-chop it into small bits. I find that if you use the food processor (like she does) the mixture gets kind of goopy and my bird prefers the actual foods to hold in his food and eat/play with rather than getting his beak messy.

This way you can offer her a lot of variety at once without being overwhelming and she'll immediately start getting the nutritional benefits of fresh fruit!

[paper_lantern]

Thank you for the kind words!

I make a mash for my GCC every now and then but I do use the food processor, I'm not sure if its because he is a smaller bird, or because he is just lazy, but he prefers not to have to hold his food apparently. =P

The Umbrella is bigger however so I think chopping the fruits and veggies by hand would be better. Is there any chance she could get sick since her body isn't used to fruits and veggies?

[jayebird]

She shouldn't get sick per se, but she could have some mild gastrointestinal upset for a very short period. It's not that she'll be changing diets so much as.......being offered real food for a change! You probably already know this, but in case someone reads this who doesn't, watery fruits and veggies will cause her stool to be more liquidy than "normal" and sometimes the color can be affected by what she eats (lots of carrots & yams & squash = orange poop!) -- this is not something to get alarmed over right away.

I wouldn't expect her to have a lot of problems, especially if it's free-choice and supplemented to what she's already eating (as crappy as it is, sudden diet changes - even to better food - can stress out a bird.) Putting her on actual food is a good thing. I would make sure to change/check her substrate often to keep an eye on her droppings and see what she's throwing to the floor, etc, and other than that go for it!

-- One thing though, I would absolutely make sure that change the food out very frequently. It sounds like she's in such bad condition that she couldn't handle even a mild infection that might come from food that grows even a minute bit of bacteria. That can start happening in as little as 4 hours. One way to combat bacterial growth is to use acidic fruits in the mix, put a couple of drops of apple cider vinegar on the mash, or use drier foods (bananas vs. oranges.)

[pennyandrocky]

food processer?i put the the fruit in cut up while the oatmeal is hot since she will only eat warm fruit.