Cockatoos – one of those species of parrots who perfectly feel in bondage and can become excellent partners. These birds are rather clever, capable "to dance" to the sound of music, to execute repeatedly heard melodies and also to imitate the human speech (usually 10-15 words and phrases). In a diet of a cockatoo daily there have to be a grain mix, germinated seeds, a fresh forage (vegetables and fruit). Such menu is capable to provide completely all proteins necessary for a bird, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
Instruction
1. The healthy nutrition renders huge value for health and life expectancy of a cockatoo. The diet has to be balanced and various. Many owners of parrots are convinced that modern grain forages of manufacturing are capable to satisfy need of a bird for nutrients completely. Actually it not so. In warm season of grain mix in the menu of a cockatoo there have to be about 50 percent. 25 percent should be taken away on germinated grains and as much on vegetables and fruit. Winter of a germinated forage in a diet about 40 percent, fresh fruit and vegetables – up to 15 percent, grain – up to 35 percent have to be.
2. Grain mixes in the house where there lives a parrot, have to be available always. Usually the box contains various grades of a millet (white, red, black and others), a buckwheat, oats, hemp, corn, a canary seed and seeds of sunflower.
3. For a prorashchivaniye it is possible to buy wheat or oats in poultry markets. However it is necessary to be sure that grains did not spray with chemicals and did not store too long. If it is not possible to make sure of it, buy in pet-shops special forages for a prorashchivaniye. As a last resort, it is possible to couch also basic grain mix. The germinated forage contains vitamins B and E which facilitate process of a molt and in general well influence an organism of a cockatoo.
4. There are two ways of a prorashchivaniye of a forage. It is possible to wet necessary amount of grains in a plateau with water and to leave in the warm place. In 24-36 hours of grain will arise, tiny white sprouts will become visible. Before filling such forage in a feeding trough, it should be washed out well. The second way faster. The grains which are washed out under flowing water need to be filled in bank, to fill in with water (on 2/3 from volume banks) and to lower there a compressor hose for aquarium fishes. After the compressor is switched on in network, water will begin to be saturated with oxygen. In such a way grains sprout within 6-8 hours and do not sour.
5. Cockatoos very much love nuts, however it is recommended to give them as delicacy and in very limited quantities. The fact is that in nuts there are a lot of fats which are badly acquired by parrots. The surplus of nuts and seeds of sunflower in a diet can lead to obesity and the early death of a bird. Ornithologists recommend to indulge a cockatoo the filbert and peanut which was not exposed to heat treatment.
6. The green forage has to be obligatory point in a diet of a cockatoo. In the spring and in the summer in forests and groves far from roads it is possible to collect dandelions, a nettle, a plantain, a zvezdchatka, a clover, a willow. Once a week (winter) can be offered a bird of tens - another of needles of a pine or fir-tree. In them there is a lot of cellulose, essential oils and vitamin C, however you should not abuse such forage. Extremely it is not recommended to give to parrots parsley, a celery, cilantro and fennel in spite of the fact that usually the taste of these plants is pleasant to birds.
7. In a diet of a cockatoo fruit and vegetables have to be daily. It is an irreplaceable source of vitamins and mineral substances. Give preference to vegetables and fruit of your region in the summer. Birds can give strawberry, apples, grapes, bananas, apricots, peaches, a dogrose, a gooseberry, currant, carrots, squash, eggplants, cabbage, peas pods, beet. Stones need to be removed from cherry, peaches and other fruit in advance as they contain hydrocianic acid, poisonous for birds. If you give to a cockatoo citrus, surely clean them from a peel which contains many nitrates and chemicals.
8. Forages of animal origin are additional. If to give them it is too frequent, at birds the serious disease of a liver can develop. The most available animal forage for parrots is boiled egg. It can be given no more than a half once a week. If the cockatoo is not accustomed to such type of a forage, it is possible to grate egg and to mix with grated carrots, beet or apple.