Advice with feeding 8 week old Umbrella 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

 

[parrotqueen]

She's adorable, what a sweetie. Thank you for sharing that sweet picture!

It's a good idea to be introducing as many fruits and vegetables as possible, so that she can make a habit of eating them as an adult. You need to consistently do this.

There are plenty of 'superfoods' that my cockatiels find tasty; such as spinach, collard greens, broccoli leaves, and carrots. I have a garden at home where I raise my own broccoli, so that's where I can get the leaves from. I often will offer brown rice to my birds, which is a very healthy treat. Brown rice is rich in B1, B3 and iron. Just make sure to always wash vegetables thoroughly.

I'll give you a list of what my birds love:

Cooked brown rice
Steamed broccoli crowns
Raw spinach
Steamed carrots
Lettuce
Cabbage
Cauliflower

Fruits:
Mandarin oranges
Apples
'Mott's natural applesauce', strawberry, blueberry, and 'country berry'.
Navel oranges

I hope this was of help to you! Let us know how she does with her diet.

 

[antoinette]

Congrat's......... She is so beautiful. She looks quite a "home" already.
Not familiar with the Umbrella Cockatoo's diet etc.
Found a link, with so much info from A to Z, about the bird.

http://www.susanclubb.com/pdfs/umbrcock.pdf
Hope this was useful
I know other members will give great advise and tips.
Enjoy your new bird, got a name yet?

 

[greycloud]

Your baby is adorable. She is a far way off from being weaned. Continue to offer the formula at about 105 degrees. You can try mixing in some cooked, mashed sweet potato. This is very good for baby birds. Offering a handfeeding first thing in the morning, mid-day and bedtime. Offer her lots of warm mixed veggies and fruits with brown rice. You need to keep hercrop and under her beak clean of the formula. It hardens and becomes uncomfortable. Use a warm wet wash cloth and wipe it. The worst thing you can do with a Too is force wean them. Attachment problems and behavioral problems develop. Make sure you take her for a vet check since the conditions she left were not real clean. She could have a bacterial infection in the crop.

 

[Bear]

Thanks so much for the responses, and Parrotqueen, wow, thanks for all that info!

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. So yes, I'm very happy with her!

We are lucky that we run a lodge and have unlimted access to a great kitchen, so she has unlimited access to the freshest fruits and veg of any variety.

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.

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