Mating of Triton sulphur crested cockatoos

Ivanmig26

New member
Nov 5, 2019
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Hi! Im just new to the forum. I own a pair of Blue and Gold Macwa, sun conure, jenday conure, greencheeck conure and a pair of tritons. Im from the philippines and currently rescued/bought the pair of tritons.

They came from a small cage and according to the previous owner they are about 5-6 years of age. Build a bigger cage for them with toys and wooden perches and after a week decided to put a camera to check up on them online. After putting up a camera i noticed that the male often gets aggressive to the female and chases hee off but often time too the preen with each other. And i saw them Mating too! For a week i think i saw them 4 times. So i decided to put up a nest for them. Build it from scratch. After a few days the male gets cuurios and tries to get in but the female seems just peeks inside from time to time

My question is:

1. Usually after mating, how long do the female lay eggs?
2. When do the female go in? Hiw can i make her go in?
3. Is it normal for the male to be that aggressive and chases the female off then preen with each other? Love and hate relationship eh? Hehe


My cage is about 6.5 feet high and about 6 feet wide. Nest has two entry.
 

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noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
Hello and welcome!

I apologize ahead of time because I don't think I answered any of your questions in the post below, but I just want to emphasize that before you take on this HUGE undertaking, there is SO much more to this than mating birds...
It can get really complicated (and dangerous) really fast (for you, for the birds, for offspring). If I didn't have to get to work soon I would find you a link to first-time breeding and all of the risks etc that go with the territory.

Have you bred birds before? Have you had experience with cockatoos before? How long have you personally had these birds and what is your relationship with them? Cockatoos are very near and dear to my heart and they are the most surrendered/re-homed bird species of all time. 99% of of people who get them are unprepared to care for them, so breeding them means that you will be responsible for meeting their needs and the needs of their offspring. Caring for 1 is taxing for most, let alone a whole family.

Although that is a large cage, it is not much space for 2 birds, let alone the babies if you manage to hatch some. They will all eventually need their own cages in the long run and cockatoos are poor pets for the majority of people, so what will you do with the babies if they hatch? Siblings will reproduce with siblings so you can't bank on housing the hatch-mates together because you can quickly end up with an inbred populous of genetically troubled birds.

These birds are super complicated and smart. Unless you have years and years of cockatoo experience (not just bird, but specifically cockatoo experience) plus a breeding background (including hand-raising etc) I would never ever suggest you breed cockatoos. I would never ever attempt to breed them myself and so I am not just saying that. In my opinion, there is too much that could go wrong. Have people done it? Yes...Should you? Not unless you are an absolute expert on it. I would suggest you learn all you can well ahead of time instead of trying to figure it out as you go.

They also really need toys and foraging activities in that cage and those round/smooth dowel perches are not healthy for their feet because they put pressure on the same muscles and areas all of the time (leading to the formation of sores and arthritis-type issues that are almost impossible to cure once they begin). You need to add bird safe toys and mazanita-style branches to prevent bumble-foot. Think of them as 3-year-old kids and yourself as their pre-school teacher (that's kind of how you need to approach interaction and activity planning when dealing with cockatoos). They should be engaged and actively doing stuff to keep their minds busy and beaks/bodies healthy.

Another thing-- just because they mate does not mean they NEED a nest box, but by adding one, you are encouraging it. Birds will sometimes mate and not lay eggs but if you add the box you increase the odds that they will attempt it and there are health risks for the female (make sure you research egg-binding). There are a ton of nutritional components to this too, so I am just scratching the surface, but your female is going to need access to things like leafy greens and cuttle-bone if she is going to pass an egg without it getting stuck (egg-binding).
 
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ParrotGenie

Member
Jan 10, 2019
946
19
Indiana
Parrots
2 umbrella Cockatoos One male named Cooper and female named Baby 1 Little Corella male named Frankie and have 5 Cockatiels three named Male named Pepper, Fiesco for the female and female named Wylie.
Hi! Im just new to the forum. I own a pair of Blue and Gold Macwa, sun conure, jenday conure, greencheeck conure and a pair of tritons. Im from the philippines and currently rescued/bought the pair of tritons.

They came from a small cage and according to the previous owner they are about 5-6 years of age. Build a bigger cage for them with toys and wooden perches and after a week decided to put a camera to check up on them online. After putting up a camera i noticed that the male often gets aggressive to the female and chases hee off but often time too the preen with each other. And i saw them Mating too! For a week i think i saw them 4 times. So i decided to put up a nest for them. Build it from scratch. After a few days the male gets cuurios and tries to get in but the female seems just peeks inside from time to time

My question is:

1. Usually after mating, how long do the female lay eggs?
2. When do the female go in? Hiw can i make her go in?
3. Is it normal for the male to be that aggressive and chases the female off then preen with each other? Love and hate relationship eh? Hehe


My cage is about 6.5 feet high and about 6 feet wide. Nest has two entry.


They are definitely a mated pair, last picture said it all. Now as far as the male being aggressive? This could be a huge problem, as they can seriously injury and even kill one, or the other, yes I seen it happen over the years. Usually breeder will try to correct behavior by clipping the aggressive bird, so the non aggressive bird can fly away if they have to. Reason it important to have a very large cage, so it reduces cage aggression and they can have their own space when they want to get away from each other. They will remove the male and move into a different cage and then after a while introduce back together with supervision. Now if I see a male is still way to aggressive, I split and break the bond. Usually a professional breeder will try to match the pair with non aggressive to a non aggressive mate and hope they will accept each other.

Breeding is very tricky and not for the faint of heart, You have to know behavior patterns and etc, otherwise could end in complete disaster and heartbreak. I know even expert breeders that lost birds. It is not something I recommend you get into as larger birds are way more complex to breed. Then you have to have experience, setup for Hand Rearing, just in case parents reject baby and that a whole another topic. Plus birds have to be vet check and blood work done, especially the female, otherwise you run the risk of egg binding and other issues and you have to change diet and provide a large cuttle-bone and mineral block.

When you say aggressive is it just protective over each other, or dominating behavior and chasing? If it is the dominating behavior, it best to separate ASAP, before something goes very wrong. Just keep cages close to each other.
 
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Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
While breeding cockatoos is fraught with hazard, I can share the enormous gifts shared under the right circumstances - and much of it is purely coincidental and/or luck.

My family bought a pair of wild-caught Goffins in 1987. Untamed but very bonded, they allowed minimal human interaction and accepted food from hands. Our intent was to breed and produce one or two offspring to be tamed and cherished.

Eight years and several changes of environment passed until the first chick hatched. Parents were dutiful and fed him for three or four days, then simply abandoned. Fortunately, my mom was sick and stayed home that day, noticed an oddly silent nest box. She extracted a tiny, greyish, cold lump of flesh near death. A former nurse, mom quickly obtained advice from a breeder friend and completed feeding till weaned. Yes, she awoke every few hours the first few weeks and hand-fed, bringing him to work, thanks to a sympathetic boss. Gabby is now 24 years old and sitting on my shoulder as I write. But the story continues.... The parents produced another viable chick (Abby) the following year, skipped one trip around the sun and concluded with Squeaky. So all three required intervention within the first week of birth. Mom was sufficiently fatigued to remove the nest box!

Epilogue: Both parents were deeply bonded in my home for 23 years. A few years ago cockatoo aggression developed and Peanut/Popcorn were forever separated. The male (Popcorn) currently lives with a female Citron in a flight cage absent a nest box. (no desire for a Frankencockatoo!) Alice is just large enough to stave off unwanted actions, for now. Peanut, the female tamed nicely and is about as sweet as her offspring. She lives in a bird room with Abby, Squeaky, and a Timneh AG. Gabby is deeply bonded to me and others, lives in a separate area. Soooo, cockatoos are not for the faint of heart, but can return indescribably joy and companionship!
 

Kiwibird

Well-known member
Jul 12, 2012
9,539
111
Parrots
1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
What are your motivations and goals in encouraging these birds to breed with the addition of the nest box? Are you looking at becoming a bird breeder to sell baby parrots or just looking to add to your own “collection” of birds like Scott was in allowing his cockatoos to breed or what?

In any case, I would strongly recommend you have all supplies ready in case the parents turn out to be bad parents. That means a brooder, formula and hand feeding supplies like syringes and a thermometer. I would also hope these birds have been vet checked for any communicable diseases that can be passed from parent to chick as well as given a overall clean bill of health as being in good breeding condition. Often rescues have had poor diets and need time to recover and may have untreated infections or other health concerns which need treatment as well. In some cases, rescues can also have extremely serious and untreatable diseases like PBFD that would make it unethical to ever allow them to reproduce. You would also hopefully be looking for a more experienced breeder or avian vet locally to help guide and teach you. Parrots can be very tricky to breed in captivity and hand raising their offspring is extremely difficult as they are so delicate before weaning.
 
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Ivanmig26

New member
Nov 5, 2019
2
0
  • Thread Starter
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Hi guys! And thank you for the welcome!

Thank you for the replies!

Well first off, my intentions would be the same as Scotts. Would probably breed them and produce offspring to be tamed and give all the love they need.

I have breed birds before but smaller breeds. When i was growing up we had a pair of umbrella cockatoos and red vented cockatoo. My dad really loved them until had to go to another country and he had to have the umbrella cockatoo rehomed. We were just little that time. The redvented cockatoo was tamed and he let it free fly but in one instance the bird flew with the other birds flying by and never returned. Sad day for my dad.

Fast forward now, these pair of macaw my father in law had them for while. I think around 15 years to 20 years but sadly itvwas in bad shape. I started taking care of them 2 years ago after i got married and just this last month i came across the pair of tritons and they were awfully not been taking care of. Small cage no proper diet. So i took the liberty to buy it from the previous owner.

Both pair i incorporated diets that i got from asking around. I switch up diets from just sunflower seeds to giving them fresh veges, fruits, and different seeds. Bought the VetaFarm supplements, calcium and other vitamins as well.

To the question what would i do if i babies hatched? Would build another bigger cage for flights and eventually teach them on free flying since we have a lot of groups here in the philippines that does that and help us out to train them.

Reason why i am here is to learn and sponge all the learnings i can get from each on of you.

I tried to get a hold of tony silva on facebook and asked him about it too and he had about clipping the male bird so as to when things go bad the female can escape. But im having second thoughts of clipping as im not comfortable in doing that. Sometimes male chases the female but then they preen together and sleep side by side together. So i guess he just probable be being protective i dont know. That why i installed a camera to observe them and try to figure out what to do.

I gave them the nest box because i seen them mate after i installed he camera thinking that they might need it.

Just ordered new toys for them to play with and chew.

Will be buying a brooder, and all the supplies needed if they produce eggs an hatch. I understand the circumstances and will be ready if ever that happens.

Sadly we dont have avian vets around that are expert in parrots. Im still looking to get them checked if i find a avian vet.

Thanks for all the replies and hopefully will learn from you guys!

Will keep you posted.

As of now upon reviewing the cctv footage the female just peeks and not go inside.

Also made a jounal for monitoring there behaviors.

First mating happened was on oct 31 then 2nd mating was after i build the nest on November 3 then 3rd mating was november 6. Im now wondering when will the female getvto lay the egg? I was told she would take around 2- 3 weeks?
 

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
Thanks for the information- glad you aren't in it for money.
Make sure she has a proper diet with calcium- did you research egg-binding?
I wouldn't leave the nest box there unless you WANT babies. If she lays eggs, she will still sit on them elsewhere (just my opinion).
If 3 babies hatch, you are looking at 3 cages, plus lots of money for toys etc and food...
just keep that in mind when considering this.

I would really suggest that you live with the pair for at least 1 year before ever attempting to breed...
 
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