Pair of Umbrella Cockatoos

This is my pair of U2`s that I bred and hatched in an incubator on the kitchen counter. I have to keep an eye on them when they are together because they like to abuse each other. Cocks (most cockatoos) have a tendency to occasionally kill or maim hens when kept as pairs for breeding, but this hen has turned that around and now abuses him! Chases him all over the place and wears him out! Payback is hell! The cock is a 3rd generation bird that I raised from babies I held back for breeding (all tame hand-fed pets) .The hen was hatched from a pet hen and a wild cock. Both hatched in 2002.. Yes, they have mated, but I split them up when the cock would not let the hen out of the nestbox.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• parrots
• Umbrella cockatoos
• pets
• birds
• pair of birds
• cockatoos
• pet birds

[parrotnutz]

@Bokkapooh true, but they can`t go far if trimmed correctly, so you can get them back easily enough. I don`t leave them unattended outside the cage/aviary.

[Bokkapooh]

@parrotnutz

Clipping a bird does NOT prevent it from flying away folks!

[parrotnutz]

Yes, Umbrella `toos are notorious for the male killing the hen. Most of the Umbrella `toos I have had were hand-fed by me, and most incubator hatched. Even if the pair will feed the first baby hatched, they would often not feed the 2nd, sometimes even outright killing it. In the wild, the 2nd baby is kind of like a back-up if the first one dies. I learned to incubate eggs and handfeed babies from day one many years ago.

[nestlemarie]

Such beautiful birds. Are most of these birds hand fed? I have read that they really don't care for their young that well!!

[parrotnutz]

I trim their flight feathers when I take them out without holding on to them. Out of hundreds of birds I have had, I only lost one cockatoo; it was a wild caught bird and the cage lock had been left open at night, doubt the bird could see to fly back. Domestic bred birds prefer the security of food, cage and person(s) they are bonded to. They fly right back.

[shalindriaharam]

your 'toos are so people friendly and pretty.. when you take them outside they don't fly off? That happened to a friend of mine, she opened her door last winter and he went outside, never to be seen again : (