How to Wean a Cockatoo

Weaning a cockatoo, or any pet bird, can be a challenging endeavor. After all, you're attempting to change the only method of feeding that the bird has ever known and become used to. Smaller cockatoos can be weaned between 12 and 15 weeks old, while larger cockatoos should be weaned when they are 15 to 18 weeks old. Most cockatoos can start receiving soggy pellets and other "adult" foods, such as fruit, when they are around five weeks old. By slowly and gradually adapting the way your cockatoo is fed, you can have the bird eating for itself in just a matter of weeks.

Things You'll Need

  • Metal teaspoon
  • Warm water
  • Cockatoo pellets
  • Spray millet
  • Fresh fruit
  • Food dish
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Instructions

    • 1

      Verify with a veterinarian that your cockatoo is healthy and ready to be weaned. Your cockatoo may squawk and beg to be syringe fed, and you want to be certain that the bird is crying and begging to be fed and not because it is sick. Take note of your cockatoo's attitude, energy level and appearance and provide this information to the veterinarian. If requested, provide the veterinarian with dropping samples from the bird. It is important that your cockatoo be mature and healthy enough to begin the weaning process.

    • 2

      Switch from feeding your cockatoo with a syringe to feeding it with a metal teaspoon. Warm up a small container of formula and serve it to your cockatoo on the metal teaspoon. If possible, bend the edges of the spoon up to keep the formula from running out of the spoon. Feed your cockatoo the amount of warmed formula you had been giving it previously at each feeding session.

    • 3

      Stop feeding your cockatoo warm formula and switch to soggy food pellets when your cockatoo is about five weeks old. Mix a handful of cockatoo pellets in warm water until they are soft and soggy. Serve the soggy pellets to your cockatoo using the metal teaspoon. After each feeding session, leave a few soggy pellets and a few dry pellets in a food dish in the cockatoo's cage. To attract the cockatoo to the food dish, leave a spray millet on top of the pellets to get the bird interested in the food dish.

    • 4

      Integrate fresh fruits into the cockatoo's diet during spoon feedings. Add finely chopped fruits like grapes, bananas and melons to the soggy pellets that you spoon-feed your bird. Add additional chopped fruit to the food dish located inside the cage. Not only is fresh fruit good for your cockatoo's diet, it may also help attract the bird to the food dish and help it start eating on its own.

    • 5

      Spoon-feed your cockatoo less and less often until you notice the bird eating on its own from its food dish in between feedings. If your cockatoo begs and squawks to be fed, remove the bird from its cage and give the bird some attention and affection. Doing so lets the bird know that you hear it and are not ignoring it. As the cockatoo gets used to you not spoon feeding it, the bird should turn to its food dish whenever it is hungry.

    • 6

      Monitor your cockatoo's droppings to ensure it is eating enough and is healthy. A healthy cockatoo should produce many droppings each day that are greenish-brown in color. Healthy urate droppings should appear white. Take your cockatoo to be examined by a veterinarian if the bird appears listless, refuses to eat or isn't producing a normal amount of droppings.