Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!intercon!kdb@intercon.uu.net From: kdb@intercon.uu.net (Kurt Baumann) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Cockatoo feeding problems Message-ID: <1283@intercon.UUCP> Date: 18 Jul 89 23:54:43 GMT References: <6468@cloud9.Stratus.COM> <20519@cup.portal.com> Sender: news@intercon.UUCP Reply-To: Kurt Baumann Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation Lines: 48 In article <6468@cloud9.Stratus.COM>, mm@cloud9.Stratus.COM (Mike Mahler) writes: > In article <20519@cup.portal.com>, Chris_Del_Grande@cup.portal.com writes: > > > > I have an 18 month old non-domestic male Umbrella Cockatoo that will > > not eat fruits and/or vegetables, which apparently they are supposed to con- > > sume regularly. We have tried mixing particles with his seed and no go. > > Hand feeding usually works, except for the fruits and vege's. Anybody who > > may suggest alternative methods or specific types of food (fruits & vege's) > > please contact me. Thanks a lot. > > > > Chris_Del_Grande@cup.portal.com > > > Hi Chris - > > Has your umbrella been fed sunflowers seeds? It's a young bird > and it just might no be used to eating fruits and veggies. Remove > ALL it's seed for 1 day leaving only banana and cantelope (personal > preferences). If it doesn't respond in 1 day (ie: doesn't eat ANY) > then switch back to seed for a day (never leave it without food for > a day) and mix it with the same but fresh fruit. If nothing happens, > try celery and carrots. I've always had luck using a WHOLE carrot since > they play with it and eat it at the same time. It's important that it > learn to eat fruits and veggies and will often be a source or added > vitamins you may want to give it (vitamins you add to water are useless). Being in the process of weaning a 4.5 month old Molluccan Cockatoo, I add a few things here. First, sun flower seeds are BAD for your bird. They have a tremendous amount of fat in them. Birds can die from heart problems caused by eating sun flower seeds. Second, we had to move one of our other Cockatoo's off of seeds and onto pellets (I recommend these as they provide all of the vitamins etc. that your bird needs). We would grind up some pellets and put the powder over the seeds, to get him used to the taste of the pellets. Then we gradually cut back on the seeds and added more and more pellets to his dish. When we noticed him eating a few of the pellets we removed the seeds altogether. We now give sunflower seeds as a treat. Third I have heard of some people who have left their bird with just pellets in the bowl for a couple of days. Birds seem to pick up that they should eat it when hungry (I don't recommend this, but it might work as a last resort). The above mentioned way of switching from day to day, may work better. Hope that helps.-- Kurt Baumann InterCon Systems Corporation 46950 Community Plaza Suite 101-132 Sterling, VA 22170 Phone: 703.450.7117