Found three feathers

[Marlee99]

As I am new to Cockatoo's I'm not to sure if this is normal or it's the start of plucking.

Today I was cleaning underneath Willow's cage (yes I changed her name ) and I found three wing feathers. I was a little alarmed! Should I be?

In case some of you didn't see my original post Willow is new to me, just over a week now. I wonder if this is stress related from the move?

Also, I am having a hell of a time switching her over to pellets. I am giving her Harrison's High Potency. So I feed her usual seed only diet in the morning. I then leave the pellets out during the day and then seed at dinner. I have cut the seed back but I don't know how much I can do that. I know with my dogs they will eventually eat when they are hungry. The cat will starve and become sick if you try to give a food he doesn't like. Are Cockatoo's the same? I have also tried birdy bread, she will not even look at it.

The only things she takes willingly are the following:
Sunflower seeds, apple, corn, and rice. She does not seem to like any veggies. I am of course going to keep trying but right now I want to get her off of the seeds. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[MikeyTN]

They do molt you know. Its that time of the season. Your doing it all wrong trying to change over to pellets. You need to mix them so she have pellets at all times! You have to do it gradually by mix 75% seeds 25% pellets. Few days later 50/50. Few more days 25/75 and the moment you see her eating pellets, yank the seeds out completely even during the beginning. Just make sure she is eating at all times and make sure her weight is normal. Cockatoo can be finicky eaters, I let mine try many things and make a list what she likes and doesn't like. So I usually buy new fruits or veggies in small portions to let them try. They usually eat it if I was eating it. You eat it infront of them then offer a piece to them. Act like its very yummy, they're like little children. Good luck!

 

[Marlee99]

LOL!! I just looked at my post again, when I said I leave the pellets out. I meant I left them out in her cage. I am reducing the seed, and increasing the pellets. In fact I counted the pellets, to know for sure if she's eating them. I did see her eat one today, well she sorta wasted half of it. So what your saying is because she ate a pellet I should take away the seed?
Thanks

 

[MikeyTN]

Cockatoo tend to be very wasteful! At least mine is, I know that from several of my friends that owns Cockatoos, they all tell me the same thing, you would find wasted pellets on the bottom of the cage. They tend to dip their pellets too so your water will foul up pretty quick. You need to put her somewhere you can watch her ALL the time to observe her, making sure she is eating the pellets before you yank the seeds. The moment I saw mine eating more then one pellet, I took her seeds out completely. She's been on pellet diet within a month after I got her. I let her settle in first before I did the transformation. Which it didn't take her long to settle in. So if you are seeing her eating several pellets, yank the seeds doesn't matter if your still on 25/75. Do NOT give her any seeds for treats for quite sometime. My partner made that mistake behind my back and it made me mad. Cause I was told those seeds would be wasted, she went right back on seeds and threw out all her pellets. I had to start over the process again and the second time, I took the seeds out and dump it in the dumpster!!!! There I wasted seeds! HA! LoL