Rehoming my umbrella cockatoos

[Cayenne55]

I thought I would drop you a line about my two umbrella cockatoos coco and razzle ... Coco was a rescued cockatoo who had a home from 1992 until 2005. when he bit his owners daughter and was given to me , coco was very sad and had began to pick his feathers... I set out to fix coco. new and very large cages a aviary and a mate to socialize him that was 12 plus years ago ... He and his mate of 8 years razzle are both PERFECT examples of the species.. I am a veteran u.s.m.c diagnosed with a aortic aneurysm... I was told 3 years ago to re home the birds due to all of the stresses of pressure cleaning and maintaining their cages and environment and making there toys.. of course I ignored all of the requests from the doctor's. My wife also continued to urge me to rehome the birds in some fashion. I cannot put an ad in the paper without knowing who's getting my birds. I considered bringing them to a place called zaxsee bird sanctuary on the west coast of Florida I do not mind paying something for their welfare. however it's an outside environment and neither one of these birds has ever been in a prolonged outside environment..I AM NOT SAYING THEY CANT BE IN A OUTSIDE ENVIRONMENT but they are only in the Aviary when I'm pressure cleaning their cages and cleaning their room. I live in Hollywood Florida and would love it if (someone) would consider taking the birds for their forever home as I said I am not looking to get rid of the birds I'm looking to rehome them and some type of environment where they would be relatively happy my surgery is scheduled for early next year I will know the exact date on Oct 30 18 and then I will be at a Crossroads and they will have to go to the West Coast of Florida.. I can forward pictures of the birds their environment their housing upon request....to bring them to zaxsee bird sanctuary I can't allow the birds to go to a breader. I do have 3 leads to rehome however. They all have some kind of drawbacks I am not 100 % WITH . : one guy lives in New York .. One guy lives in North Florida ..help...

 

[noodles123]

I am sorry you are going through this.
If I were you, I would make sure that the person you adopt the birds to has experience with owning cockatoos. A well-meaning individual may offer to help, but if their only experience is with cockatoos on Youtube/Instagram OR in pet stores OR just with different parrots in general, they may not truly be prepared for life with cockatoos and your birds could be re-homed again (especially since birds act totally different in a home than they do in a shop etc and because yours will likely show some negative behaviors as a result of your separation). As you know, owning a cockatoo is a completely unique (and exhausting) experience...yes, it is filled with love, but it takes the right person.

I already have a U2 and I wish I could help, but she is very expensive and a giant handful on her own. I do feel for you though...There is so much bending/scrubbing/playing etc.

You might look into "Chloe Sanctuary"--there is an eccentric man who runs it and rescues cockatoos (not sure where he lives). He keeps them in his house a lot but they also go outside in an aviary and they seem happy....He has some youtube videos and he really does understand their behavior (uses ABA as well). I am not sure where their sleeping cages are located...


EDIT- The sanctuary is in CA BUT one of the things on the "about us" page states that they can help people find rescues anywhere in the world...soooo, if they can't take the birds, maybe they have connections in Florida that they could recommend.

 

[EllenD]

I'm very sorry you're going through this, and I wish you the best of luck with the surgery, that's a very horrible condition and my thoughts are with you and your family...

As Noodles already told you, you need to be extremely careful who you re-home them to, and I would almost insist that whomever you re-home them to have owned a Cockatoo prior, because most people, even parrot owners, do not understand that Cockatoos are literally like having a toddler to care for, and this is exactly why there are more Cockatoos in rescues and shelters, and on Craigslist than any other bird species; there are literally thousands of Cockatoos that need homes right now, and it's because they bounce from home to home to home because people mean well but then once they get bring them home they can't handle them, they don't have the time or the money to care for them, they think they can keep them inside their cage all day long every day, etc. So if the people looking to adopt them have not owned a Cockatoo before, then I would rather they go to the sanctuary myself, by far actually, because otherwise they are going to end-up in the vicious-circle of be re-homed and re-homed and re-homed again...They are much better-off in the sanctuary, outdoors or not. The last thing you want is them locked inside of a cage 24/7, being screamed at because they are screaming all day long because they aren't getting the attention and affection they need...Especially Umbrella's and Molucaan's, there are more of these 2 species than any others needing new homes...

Also, the other thing you have to worry about is whomever you re-home them to only wanting to "flip" them for money, and then that continues over and over again. It's sad and people just don't care about the birds...

Also, I don't know if you're trying to re-home them together to the same home, but you'll most-likely have better luck re-homing them separately to two different homes, as taking-on 2 Umbrella's is a lot for anyone...

I wish I could help you, but I'm in Pennsylvania, and that makes it difficult...Since you're in Florida, and there are more parrots in Florida than any other state, do you know if you have any Avian Rescues near you that they could go to? There have to be a lot of Avian-specific Rescues in Florida, and that way you would have peace-of-mind knowing that an Avian Rescue is not going to let anyone adopt them that is not qualified to do so...That might be your best-bet, as most Avian Rescues do everything from home-checks to employment/income checks, to requiring that people make several visits and have several interviews before they even consider adopting a Cockatoo...They have a very long and strict screening-process, and this would ensure that they both go to experienced, qualified homes...

 

[brighterdaysaviary]

Have you looked into https://flabirdsanctuary.org/ ?

 

[randalljeanne]

I'm so sorry you have to rehome your birds. They are family. I'm very interested in learning more about yours.
I've been searching for an umbrella or goffin for a little while now, but have wanted another one for many years. I no longer work since becoming disabled and I have tons of time to devote to them andwe are ready for new family member(s). I've ran into several convincing scams in my search, it's a sad thing.
I have experience with Too's.
I'm new to this site, so I was unable to send you a private message, but would love to hear more about your babies.
Message me or whatever you do on here, I'd love to talk with you.

 

[Allee]

Randalljeanne, any moderator will be happy to forward pm’s for you until you meet your quota, our names are in purple. This thread was posted back in October and the OP hasn’t posted since, chances are this cockatoo is no longer available. The date of every post is at the top, upper left corner.