Ducorp Cockatoo

[Snowflakebaby]

Hi all. I'm new, so please excuse all the questions:

I have a cockatoo who is 3 months old, she is literally spitting out her food and I land up being covered in formula. I have then tried fruit and veg, chicken, oats..... she does eat a few pellets but not enough to make her crop full.
What do I do? I'm so worried she will lose weight and I wake up one morning to her at the bottom of the cage

 

[Tami2]

I’m knew to the parrot world, but it appears to me she is way too young and needs to go back to the breeder.

 

[Kali]

Hand feeding is not something that should be done by an inexperienced hand. Would you mind taking a video (if that’s allowed) of you feeding him/her so that we can give more informed advice??

It sounds as though you may be depressing the plunger too quickly for him/her. Let the baby set the pace, show you how quickly to go. As soon as the head is bobbing you are feeding the right speed for it, just continue to slowly depress the plunger. Again, a video would be most useful in advising you correctly.

I have a video of my friend hand feeding a young cockatiel that I rescued. It was taken for educational purposes for a FB group. Would you like me to send it to you?

 

[LordTriggs]

I'll start off with 2 questions myself.

1. Have you ever hand-fed a cockatoo before?
2. What country are you located?

If the answer to question 1 is "no" then get back to the breeder and make them wean her properly.

Honestly do not believe any nonsense that a breeder will try to give you. Weaning a bird doesn't make them bond better it is purely so that breeder can get a little extra cash in their wallet.

I would be more comfortable performing surgery than hand-feeding a bird personally because there are so many factors which can kill them, too many for me to list here and if any of those crop up and kill the bird that breeder will at the very most offer you a "generous discount" off another bird.

the only way people can make breeder change their ideas is if you become more stubborn than them over these things

 

[Scott]

I too would be extremely worried and cautious. At a young age they have little margin for error. Food intake and proper technique is critical.

If you could give us a bit more information as requested above it would help us give better advice!