Astounded!

[mjpeter]

I was looking through a rescue for cockatiels, and was looking at all of the cockatoos available for adoption. I don't know much about larger birds...are they more of a difficult bird to raise/handle than other larger species? I was just wondering.

a Refuge for Saving the Wildlife Inc. - Adoptable Birds

So many of them look like they were in bad shape.

[hcarey]

They can be very needy and vocal and it is easy to spoil them since they are so cuddly and demanding. Think of a 2 year old child that lives up to 90 years and never gets any older than 2! LOL If you have lots of time and don't mind noise they are wonderful pets, but you can't ignore a Cockatoo for very long because they will tell you ALL about it!

[tamaran2]

The sad reality is check any rescue and what you will find is more cockatoo's than any other bird. Your asking if they are difficult to raise, well I don't think so but I'm the exception not the rule. If you want the "rules" point of view, just look at the rescue, what does that tell you. Someone once told me, I know people that have had their macaws, amazons, greys and other birds for 10, 15, 25 years in the same household, but I have yet to meet anyone who has their cockatoo after 15 years. Now they may be any older cockatoo but not in the same home for years. Which is really sad. They are ALOT more demanding than other birds, but it is all in how your raise them. They are NOT for everyone.

[jenseits]

Someone said that on average a cockatoo goes through 7 homes in its life. On AVERAGE! How sad is that! Cockatoos are probably the most difficult bird to keep because they need so much that a captive life just can't provide very well.

Go visit mytoos.com for a very blunt view of cockatoo ownership. I don't think you'll find any sites like that for devoted to any other type of bird.

My family used to own an Umbrella 'Too (one of the major "problem" cockatoo types) and we had no idea what we were getting into. We eventually rehomed him because we couldn't pay enough attention to him (I had gone away to college). He started plucking his legs and nothing we did would stop him. And he was not an abused or ignored bird, mind you.

I actually still get teary eyed thinking about him and what a hard life he must have led. Actually, I'm sitting here at work, about to cry on my keyboard right now.

[SDavid]

To make matters worse a cockatoo in a pet store can find it's way into your heart quicker than any other large bird I feel.

Once you actually see, in person, a baby cockatoo, the desire to take it home with you is practically irresistible. I think this is what gets alot of casual buyers. They just don't realise that it's a baby and that will change in time. And, we all know, the people working in the store won't tell them either.

Young cockatoos for sale are so cute, so needy, and they make these human-like sounds, it's as if they're begging you to take them home and take care of them. It's no wonder that so many get sucked in and later find out the reality that they didn't anticipate. Hence all of the re-homes.

[ljhassell]

If people would just take the time to research and do what a cockatoo needs and not what a human thinks they need, alot less would be in conditions of needing rehomming. It is what people do to them that causes most if not all that becomes unappealing to owners. Birds are birds and need to be allowed to be birds not be kids with feathers. We have 12 that live full time with us and we have rehabed and rehomed 15, all of which people have created the problems, health/ behavior, ect. Birds need to be able to do flock calls, destroy wood and be fed a diet close to what they need not what is convient to people.

[SDavid]

I agree with you. I have to say that I don't place as much blame on casual buyers as I used to. Maybe people should research more but I think people do make the effort to some extent. It's just that information as can be found on mytoos.com is simply not out there. I've overheard only too many times people ask what a certain bird needs or whether it would make a good pet for them. Only to have a store owner, employee, etc. tell them it's a "piece of cake" and never anything negative.

Add to this, the magazine BirdTalk. The only magazine available in stores about birds. So, it automatically becomes the "authority." I find this magazine plain misleading about how "easy" it is to have a large parrot. Books that are available are no better. So, where do people really have to turn. Everywhere everyone is saying it's doable.

Anyone who has had a bad experience and has re-homed probably ends up never getting birds again and simply going on with their lives. Most likely they don't make it a point to get on forums, or educate, or tell people the reality. So, prospective buyers only have positive information to influence their decision. A few horror stories and I think many people would think twice if not change their minds completely about getting one.

This is my guess.

[hcarey]

I would like to know what diet you use for the Too's and any other info you have. I want Sunshine to be as healty and happy as possible!

[tamaran2]

I think it is that people see baby birds and they impulse buy, maybe some intend to be a forever home, but birds grow up. They think they can handle the hormones and it soon becomes, I'll love you until. Not unlike marriages...huh?

But the point is, what a baby is like is one thing, what a hormonal cockatoo is like is something most people don't bargain for, nor does anyone tell them!

[Lori~D]

They SCREAM LOUD, THey cover your entire house with sticky white DUST, They shred whatever they get ahold of...................I love my Too!!