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Today I came accross a Greater Sulfur Crested Cockatoo that needed a home very badly. This Birds Owner Died a couple of days ago and her sons had no Idea about these birds and was selling it in a grage sale along with the rest of her belongings Apperantly she had the bird since it was weined and it was abviously he was very loved He has a huge cage 48in wide 36 deep and 5 ft high with a play top and every thing/ The bird is in full feather and isn't a plucker. She was obviously having trouble keeping up his care ar the end because the cage is covered in poop an inch thick on everything except the paper which where pretty clean I guess thats all she could manage. Anyway they where selling this bird for 800. with the cage I had visions of someone buying the bird on a whim and this poor bird being passed from home to home So I offered them 600. and of course they took it and I now have a new Sulfur crested Cockatoo he's very friendly already lets me give him scritches He loves to play what a ham bone he is. His name is Mr. Magoo. I had to have his cage taken apart to get it home. so right now he's in a smaller cage until I can get his disinfected and put back together. I really don;t know much about Cockatoos I have A Amazon and a congo African grey so I'm going to have to do some research. I didn't even know if he was a Lesser or Greater sulfur crested Cockatoo until I looked it up he's a greater Sulfur crested I've read a few web pages about them and I know they require a lot of attention. I'm still unsure if they have to have anything special in thier diet so if anyone can help me with this that would be great. I'll post some pictures tomorrow Ithink he might be a little on the thin side and I;m going to take him to the vet fr a check up so I have him quarintined right now until he gets a clean bill of health he looks like he could use some good nutrition to get his feather shiney and healthy looking . Pat

Bless you for taking him, I would have done the same thing! I have a Lesser Sulphur and an Umbrella, I feed them the same things, my lesser is a little more willing to try new things. If you already have a Citrion the diets would be about the same.
Good luck!

Hi Pat:

If you have your other birds on a good diet then that will be good for your Mr. Magoo too. There is a honeymoon period and now is the time to use lots of positive reinforcement to lay the ground work for future good behaviour from him.

There are some excellent articles by Dr. Susan Friedman at www.behaviorworks.org

I too think you did the right thing.

Bev

Congratulations on your new Cockatoo! I thought my Triton, which is a subspecies of Greater Sulfur, was a thinner bird. Cockatoos (except for Rose Breasted) seem to be a little leaner to me than Greys or Amazons.

One way to clean the cage quickly... If you have a pickup, you can haul the cage to a high pressure car wash, the self service ones where you hold the sprayer. When I moved, I hauled my cages there and sprayed them down. My cages are big (29" x 46" x 6') and heavy so they had to be partially disassembled. It works really slick, plus it was fast.

I would have taken him too...

As it turns out my new Cocstoo is not a sulfur Crested at all I guess this womans sons took an uneducated guess and came up with that He's a Citron crested Cockatoo and I'm glad I can feed him the same as my grey and Amazon what a sweet sweet bird this guy is I was a little leary about him but he insisted that I pick him up and not with a stick he climbed up onto my hand and rubed his face all over my arm. So I sat on the couch with him and gave him a scritch and began petting him down his back then I was giving him scritchis on his chin and her rolled over onto his back and laid down on my lap and let me pet his tummy what a little mush pie. and so cute and playful just a little clown I'm going to have lots of fun with him. I have noticed that my other birds noses are a little out of joint though. I'm going to have to really reassure them that I still love them just as much and that they are still my babys. Pat

A Citron is one of the Sulfur Crested Cockatoos. I think they are more closely related to the Lesser Sulfurs? He sounds very sweet.

My first Grey's beak was bent out of shape when I brought my Triton home also. He was the first bird, and he was pretty jealous over the attention she got in the beginning. Now I think he'd be a little lonesome without the other birds to chat back and forth with while I'm at work.

It sounds like this little guy lucked out and got a great new home. I have a LSC....and he is the wood chuck of my flock...so I keep a little SS bucket in the cage with wood pieces and parts and leftovers..for him to keep busy with...he is a busier bird that my larger toos...but loves the wood...I think I got my little one quart buck at petcare.com.....very reasonable...I just hang it from a piece of rope and he climbs up to see what is in it...usually, the scraps from the biggers birds toys...Good luck.