Thinking of an umbrella....already own a macaw.

[Ki7hy]

We have a Macaw in the family. A B&G and he's wonderful. He screams when excited but that's about it other than regular talking, burping, etc.

I adopted the macaw for the wife but he loves me most but very friendly to literally everyone. He's 5 so no puberty yet. Male (DNA tested just last month).

We know of an umbrella cockatoo and have the opportunity to bring him home. We are told 100% it's a male, full feathered and past puberty but not sure on the age (they are looking for paperwork). The owner has passed away.

We know the dust off this bird is not good for our macaw but other than having the cages in different rooms, what else should we be thinking about. We know cockatoos are problematic, noisy, etc. I am mainly concerned with having both birds.

Your opinions are welcome. The sooner the better. Thank you, this forum has been amazing.

 

[Kentuckienne]

It seems that the large 'toos are the most common birds needing adoption, maybe because they need lots of attention and are LOUD! One thing to think about is that the birds may call to one another, especially if they are in different rooms, and your macaw may learn what his OUTSIDE VOICE can do. Most parrots seem to like to be as loud as the loudest noise in the environment, so they egg each other on. And you don't know if they will get along. They might hate one another and try to commit parrotcide all day long, or they might bond happily and be best buddies. You kind of have to be prepared for either outcome. Would it be a real problem if the B&G started doing the cockatoo scream?

 

[Ki7hy]

That's a good point. The macaw might do that but it's hard to tell. He talks only when he's not being held. So cage to cage might start a scream off between them. I don't think they would be in the same room just due to the dander the too puts off. Going to try and keep the macaw in good healthy shape but our hopes would be that they got along and both being male we would think it would happen a little more easily without a female bird in the picture other than my wife. This too was bonded to his female owner before she passed away. Currently the macaw is bonded to me but I could see that changing after puberty. So we are trying to figure this all out.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Thank you for considering an additional adoption.
I probably would have explored such myself, except that the Rickeybird is and always has been so territorial and fierce.
If he had been NICE, like your macaw, who knows...?
*sigh*
Good luck!

 

[Ki7hy]

GaleriaGila, well, we don't know if he's nice to other big birds or not. We also have a budgee but that thing doesn't really like anyone. We are working on that but he's happy outside in his cage in good weather and then back in his indoor cage. The macaw goes places with us. Almost everywhere. He loves it and is very social. I imagine we would try to do the same with this Too as well if he's up for it. I know these things are a pain in the ass but my wife and I have always had a fascination with them. We haven't met this one yet and am afraid to do it because I'm a softy so I was looking for options. If they hate each other how are we going to do outside of cage time, etc. It'll be a mess.

 

[GaleriaGila]

I feel ya, Ki...

I guess that's why I never chanced it with the Rbird... just very complicated. But he made it a fairly easy choice by being such a little Genghis Khan.

 

[Kentuckienne]

I feel ya, Ki...

I guess that's why I never chanced it with the Rbird... just very complicated. But he made it a fairly easy choice by being such a little Genghis Khan.

Don't you mean ... a little Genghis Conure?

 

[ToMang07]

I say meet the bird, get an idea of personality and continue doing research. Toos are a handful. I got lucky with a mostly quiet one. She came from a home with a macaw, the reason they gave for giving her up was they didn't get along, and that the macaw would pull the tailfeathers off of Willow.

It could work, regardless it will be a lot of work. Good luck, and thanks for considering the adoption!

 

[Ki7hy]

ToMang, I read your story in my research and you did get lucky. We feel we did with a great macaw as well. I don't think it's the work that worries us. Our macaw is part of everything we do. The people at Home Depot and Lowes know him well, along with everyone in our neighborhood because we go on evening walks and Jolly rides my shoulder and loves it. So time/effort isn't my worry. A cockatoo is a little but I think we can work on behavior. It's having both that would be horrible if they wanted to kill each other all the time. We are meeting Cotton tonight....that's the U2.

 

[Pinkbirdy]

Heres my advice I have 4 Macaws and a Male Umbrella Too. I would quarantine the Too from your baby . Then keep them in the same room . Their flock animals they want to be near each other. Keep them bathed and use a air purifier ,things will be fine. What most likely will happen with this bird, you wont be able to see his true self for awhile. He might be depressed ,will bond to one person,be very anxious. Are they loud YES louder than the Macaws Yes [ in a different way].Are guy came screaming we got him under control in a week. We tried all the tricks we knew. Learned he was worried when he was able to come out. Once he understood the house routine he calmed down . I find hes much calmer doing the same thing [he can count on it ].They demand you full attention. They nip too when their overexcited. This rehome might take lots of trials and errors . They whole house needs to give him consistent attention. You might get bit . Dave always tells me when being around new birds "no guts no glory" Please be serious if you take on this bird . Make it work out . Its not good for these guys to go to several homes,They can be hard but doable. On a more positive note my guys very loving and does tricks.

 

[Ki7hy]

Ok guys. Just got back visiting Cotton the U2. This is a bad story guys/gals. The owner has demensia and has been taken to a home and the poor grandson is dealing with everything and struggling bad. He has a lot on jos plans, the wife and I could tell he can't keep with everything.

We walk in the room and there's a African grey, cotton the U2, two ringnecks, one we can't seem to figure out, and a burgee very sad. So we learn the U2 hasn't been out of the cage in about 6 months. No toys, nothing. He came out and immediately pressed his head on our chests as we each held him and got some neck scratches. Very sweet. Very docile. Very depressed me thinks.

The wife and I want to buy them all, socialize and take care of them and then find them new homes. He just can't keep up. The guy was almost crying when we talked with him about his story with everything. He has a lot going on with different family health issues. It's sad and we feel bad for him too.

 

[ToMang07]

Ok guys. Just got back visiting Cotton the U2. This is a bad story guys/gals. The owner has demensia and has been taken to a home and the poor grandson is dealing with everything and struggling bad. He has a lot on jos plans, the wife and I could tell he can't keep with everything.

We walk in the room and there's a African grey, cotton the U2, two ringnecks, one we can't seem to figure out, and a burgee very sad. So we learn the U2 hasn't been out of the cage in about 6 months. No toys, nothing. He came out and immediately pressed his head on our chests as we each held him and got some neck scratches. Very sweet. Very docile. Very depressed me thinks.

The wife and I want to buy them all, socialize and take care of them and then find them new homes. He just can't keep up. The guy was almost crying when we talked with him about his story with everything. He has a lot going on with different family health issues. It's sad and we feel bad for him too.

Damn, that's rough.

Don't bite off more than you can chew, be realistic in your abilities to help.

Where is this?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Ki7hy]

Arizona. We will be taking the U2 tomorrow for sure. He seems older but not sure how old.

 

[Ki7hy]

Heres my advice I have 4 Macaws and a Male Umbrella Too. I would quarantine the Too from your baby . Then keep them in the same room . Their flock animals they want to be near each other. Keep them bathed and use a air purifier ,things will be fine. What most likely will happen with this bird, you wont be able to see his true self for awhile. He might be depressed ,will bond to one person,be very anxious. Are they loud YES louder than the Macaws Yes [ in a different way].Are guy came screaming we got him under control in a week. We tried all the tricks we knew. Learned he was worried when he was able to come out. Once he understood the house routine he calmed down . I find hes much calmer doing the same thing [he can count on it ].They demand you full attention. They nip too when their overexcited. This rehome might take lots of trials and errors . They whole house needs to give him consistent attention. You might get bit . Dave always tells me when being around new birds "no guts no glory" Please be serious if you take on this bird . Make it work out . Its not good for these guys to go to several homes,They can be hard but doable. On a more positive note my guys very loving and does tricks.

Pinkbirdy, we will do just that. My macaw showers every Saturday and will do the same with Cotton. I just placed an amazon order for a heap air filter even though they won't share a space for a couple weeks at least. We have some house rearranging to do this weekend and I have more toys to build. This U2 isn't going to know what to do with himself he's going to have so much to play with in his cage. Birds will be quarantined at minimum until past next weekend. He'll go to our vet to get. He led out, nails clipped, beak done and possibly wings too.

Thanks for the input guys/gals.

 

[Kentuckienne]

That might not be enough quarantine time...could you give him a month? Some illnesses could take a long time to become manifest, and by then it might be too late to prevent McCaw from catching something. I know it's not like he was in a store...there have been a lot of threads about this.

 

[wrench13]

Aside from all the points made about compatibility you will have to give equal time to both birds. Me personally couldn't see giving Salty less time with myself, he would not like that. I give major kudos to those folks who can work out sharing their time with multiple birds though. It's certainly not for everyone. Good luck!

 

[AfricanGreyEnthusiast]

Is there a parrot rescue in your area that can help with finding homes, getting supplies, vet visits, etc? That's a lot of birds to take on at once.

 

[Ki7hy]

Thanks for the input guys. There's 4 of us in the house that Jolly the macaw loves to play with so he gets lots of time and will continue to do so of course. He also likes his alone time outside. Cotton the cockatoo will be acclimated. This will be a big change for him. The problem with a rescue is cash I think. He's selling his grandmas birds to pay for her funeral from what I gather she didn't have much money and their house shows it. It's sad. We might just take the two ring necks if he offers it up in addition to the cockatoo and then depending on price we might just give them to the rescue. We'll see how today goes. The female ring neck is a plucker so she'll be hard to home. We are going to play this by gut feel. We will also probably take the budget and throw him in eventually with our budget we think he'll like that. Again, we still don't know.

As for quarantine, we can easily give a month or more. No problems there. We appreciate the advice. I'll update this tonight to let everyone know how much we ended up with. We don't want to take them but we struggle to see them this way.

 

[Kentuckienne]

FYI - lots of people use GOFUNDME to raise money for worthy causes, including vet bills. If there is a truly responsible and trustworthy rescue, that would be a way to generate the cash to purchase the birds for them. I believe forum rules would forbid posting such a link, but maybe it would be OK to post the name of the rescue and say what you did?

 

[Ki7hy]

Just an update on this. Later than expected but it's been a busy weekend for sure.

Cotton the U2 is home and happy. He's approximately 24 years old and is very happy and cuddly. I tried to get him to shower but he kept his feathers down and stayed dry mostly. Our Macaw was the same way at first but loves to shower now. Just a matter of time. The hepa air purifier is being delivered today so that should help as well. They are still in separate rooms right now anyway.

Cotton also went to the vet yesterday. He checked out A-OK and I had them draw blood for baseline stats and to check lipid counts. He's 820 grams so he's over weight but he's been trapped in a cage for a looooong time and will get a lot of exercise now. We are going to limit nuts for the time being and count on the chop and pellets to get him through. He was previously on a seed diet.

We also took the ring necks. We paid for them, they are not nice and the female is naked from plucking. Not sure if she will ever grow feathers again. Neither of them will let you touch them without wanting to bite. They are going to take work. They love the chop though. They eat that like crazy. Once we get them in shape we will be looking for a new home for them. I would love to get my money back out of them but if not, it's not the end of the world. Will keep talking with them and hand feeding treats until they get comfy. After just two days we have already seen some improvements.

Our macaw knows there are birds in the other room but doesn't seem to care at the moment. We will see how it goes in the long run once he is brought in that room to see them up close.

Overall, all is good. We took the worst of the bunch to help out. Cotton has a new home he will live in for many years to come.

Thanks for the tips guys, we are just hoping Jolly (macaw) and Cotton (U2) become friendly at some point after they finally meet. Time will tell.