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I found these two cockatoos for sale. They are both around 2 years old. the citron is not fully feathered. The Umbrella is beautiful . I was wondering could the diet have any affect on the feathering of the citron ? Because it looks like there is no pellets given to either bird. Just seed .Both of their beaks look good, seem to be happy birds just the citron is not feathered on his chest and legs. I really want to get them out of there because they do not get much attention now, and they just had a new baby on Wensday. I know I will have to work with the U2 because he is a screamer when you are not paying attention to him, he is not out of his cage much either . one is in the living room the other in a basement bed room. I'm having them tested this weekend but want to make sure they have nothing before I bring them in my home around my other birds. I know it takes like a week or 2 to get results back, I might be crazy by then. So any input about the feathers would be great thanks

I hope you're planning to quarantine them in their current home after their upcoming exam. Poor birds. Perhaps the owners will begin giving a small quantity of pellets and EZ-to-prepare fresh food if you provide it. You can buy bags of washed vegetables and greens at many groceries, including WholeFoods and Trader Joe's. Just a small portion might begin to get the birds used to seeing them. When beaking at them as toys, they might discover they taste good. It would be so good to have that gradual conversion process getting underway during quarantine.

Hoping they do well, Paca

A 2-yr old bird which is not fully feathered should immediately raise questions about its health.

ds to vet and then gave him some pictures of his cage and food.So far all tests results that came back are all good. not all tests are back yet. Vet said by the looks of the cage there was not toys in there, and the cage is way to small for the poor bird. I got a cage that is alot bigger and lots of toys to put in there. As for the food is was all wrong ,and now I'm trying to get them eating some fresh fruit and veggies not easy!!! I was also told they were both females and the umbrella is a male !WOW!! The citron is in need of alot of attention. Seems like at one time they did pay attention to them because they are friendly enough. Citron is soo cuddly so is the U2 for that matter. I hope the food problem is not hard to fix. He did not even give me any idea what kind of food he was feeding them. So all I can do is hope they eat what I offer them well. I will be weighing them daily untill things look better with their eating.

I would make gradual changes in the diet. Like Paca said...fresh greens...and find things with a high beta carotene content...Vit. A deficiencies are a major problem with birds being fed an inadequate diet...if they refuse the good stuff...keep offering it...cut it in small bites...etc...They'll learn to like the good stuff...Keep us posted...