How Do I Help My Newly Rescued 12-year-old Ducorps Cockatoo?

Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

In 2 weeks, he lets me pet his head and loves being on my arm.

He is flighted and only caged at night.

His diet was previously crap…I am having a difficult time converting him to pellets diet, fresh fruit, and veggies.

However, he will eat raw nuts.

Will he eventually eat?

Or starve first?

He is a wood chewer for sure!

Any suggestions there?

I know vets learn from books, and tell me how these birds are in the wild, but it confuses me because my bird isn’t IN the wild, nor was he BORN in the wild.

I like your perception of what birds truly are, and how you look at them.

I would soooo appreciate any suggestions or info you could give me. God bless.

Hi Karen

Congratulations on the new D Too and thank you for the kind words. He won’t starve. Think of him as a three-year-old (forever) autistic child in a feather suit.

We have a rescued African ringneck over my left shoulder helping me write this.

Focusing on a pellet diet isn’t necessary because pellets are counterintuitive to birds.

We often say “there are no pellet trees in the rain forest”.

That said he (and if you’re not sure I would advocate getting him DNA sexed) would probably like would like Higgins Safflower Gold because it has all sorts of things like the nuts he likes as well as fruit while containing morsels of Higgins inTune Pellets.

It’s one of the most well-received bird foods per our customers and you will know quickly if he accepts it or not.

By the way, we rescued him two years ago and through forensic Facebooking, we think he’s around 18 now and we’re his 3rd to 5th home.

He’s sweet but a biter – he’s too cute not to be lovable.

Chewing is good because it represents instinctual foraging in enrichment activities.

Birds that are chewers can be satisfied easily and cheaply.

Try hanging a phonebook in the birdcage.

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If you’re light on cash this month put all your bills in between the bars of the cage and they be shredded.

For chewers that are hard to satisfy watch this video called Make Big Bird Toys Cheap and Easy.

If you’re a tool gal it shouldn’t be too hard to produce these wood chunks.

If not perhaps someone in your household or friend can assist you with this task.

It will provide an endless supply of chewable wood. We have cotton rope and beads and other toy parts if needed available.

I hope this helps you off to a good start.

Please update us as time allows.

Best MitchR

Hello once again.

I worry about my tiel and night fright so I placed a baby monitor in the room, and oddly enough it’s almost as if they can SEE the darn thing and its keeping both my tiel and my Too awake longer.

Their eyes are wide open and glowing.

Is it possible they see strange waves or something technical?

Lol also, my too hates the dry skin on his feet.

Is there anything I can apply to them?

He doesn’t have mites.

Thank you

Hey Karen

For your Too, try rubbing an oil like Black seed oil, red palm oil, coconut oil into his feet. Try each one for a week to see which produces the best results.

You can also try nuking any of the oils (20 seconds max) pouring over the food to help with feather and skin dryness

As for the tiel consider a Night Fright Light.

Let us know if that works for you.

Best

MitchR

Hello, once again

I did purchase the Higgins Safflower Gold, and both my Tiel and my Too love it. Thank you for the info and suggestion.

I decided to start with coconut oil for my bird’s feet, and after watching your video and suggesting I dipped a Nutri-berries in the coconut oil after warming it slightly…I tried it!

Neither one cared too much for it, but they both get so excited and SUPER LOVE just eating a bit of the coconut oil right from the JAR…TO MY AMAZEMENT. AWESOME ❣

[videopress XDYxnjpa]

And I decided to try the soft light of a Himalayan salt lamp to ward off possible night fright on my tiels part.

You are such an amazing guy!!

🙂

When I have my Too, on my arm…he sort of clicks his beak together constantly, and does what someone told me is Heart Wings.🤷‍♀️

I have never heard of this.

The clicking is an I’m happy noise (says MitchR)

I don’t pet him below his head or under his wings BTW.

Should I be covering both my birds at night??

I’m in a big dilemma about to cover or NOT to cover.

Thank you kindly for SO MUCH of your time and generosity in spreading your knowledge…

Sure, Karen, that’s why we are here

Best practices speak to a bird’s cage that should be covered every night for the same 12 hours give or take.

The reason for the cover is not to plunge them into darkness but is to help them relax and get some rest without seeing you walk by all night long constantly disturbing them.

Bird outdoors have the cover of leaves to give them privacy and cover for their restful sleep.

Our bird cages get covered at 7:30 PM and the covers are removed at 7:30 AM.

Keto our ringneck will assert his inalienable right to have his cage uncovered by 7:31 AM with never-ending chatter until the said cover is removed.

We do not respect daylight savings time (not that it’s done anything wrong).

Pet birds don’t understand it so ours get covered and the lights go off/on from 8:30 PM to 8:30 AM.

If a commercial formfitting birdcage cover is not in the budget, you can use a sheet or tablecloth that covers all four sides of the cage.

We use a darker one in winter and a lighter one in summer but both allow a certain amount of light through so the cage is not in total darkness all night.

Lastly, we’re not huge fans of Himalayan salt lamps – here’s why.

Take care