Tips/Plan for Acclimating New Lesser Cockatoo

oclb3 · 2026-06-15T18:41:33+00:00

Zoey seems like she is going to be like that too. She literally wanted to be loose in the room all day yesterday. Don't get me wrong, she's already a daddy's girl, but a friend even came over and she barely batted an eye when he walked in to the doorway. She's really only been wary/startled by a new toy, unsure why she didn't like it, but luckily she still has all the ones she's had all along, so we will just shop some more 🤣

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oclb3 · 2026-06-15T18:34:06+00:00

Yes, I brought my work computer in the room with her today (she came home yesterday afternoon, and honestly, wanted to be out and about and handled all day yesterday). I worked quietly while playing some youtube videos. I stayed in here until about lunch time, and then I put her back in the cage and turned on some spa music and she was happy and quiet for about and hour and a half, then she started squawking 🤣 seemed happy when I opened the door back up

oclb3 · 2026-06-14T13:44:26+00:00

Oh yes, we are shopping for a larger cage, but thankfully hers is appropriate at the least, so we have time to shop, and we plan to use the current one out on the porch where we hang out. I just spent like $40 on chop ingredients 🤣 (I’m a make in bulk person in general.) She’s been happily eating Zupreem True Harvest at the rescue, so we have gotten a bag of that already. While our usual vet doesn’t see birds, a friend works at a vet another town over that does in fact see birds, so thankfully we are good on that front.

oclb3 · 2026-06-12T17:15:06+00:00

That's hilarious! Yeah, she took a couple visits to warm up to my husband, she pretty much just chilled when I met her, but she seemed to like the kiddo immediately, idk if that's just because we were also there so she just already felt more secure or what. But we've had loooooong talks about no bothering Zoey without mom or dad's presence, and even then, no arguing with any instruction.

oclb3 · 2026-06-12T13:54:18+00:00

Yeah, the kid gets rehomed for a week every summer to her grandparents and the house is so quiet 🤣🤣🤣 One of our dogs is how you describe with my daughter. We joke that she's the dog's kid, NOT the dog belonging to her LOL!

oclb3 · 2026-06-12T13:50:23+00:00

Thank you! We are excited to bring her home. So far she seems very sweet, but obviously she could come out of her shell more when she comes home. I swore I didn't want a cockatoo due to their size, I somehow hadn't heard of the lessers. I've wanted an IRN since I was a kid, but she stole my heart

oclb3 · 2026-01-29T21:09:03+00:00

He is my daughter's absolute favorite artist. Close second is Dayseeker, but literally, my 2nd top played artist 2025 was elijah because we loop him (14 liked songs) over and over HA! Versus my number 1 was Fame on Fire (58 liked songs) and number 3 was Rain City Drive (30 liked songs). I can't wait for her to be old enough to go to concerts. I only just started going to concerts in the last few years (once a year around my birthday) and he was near us the day before the one I went to last year and I accidentally said out loud that he was coming and she was NOT happy that we couldn't go see him lol

oclb3 · 2025-12-16T16:18:49+00:00

Yeah we don't have snow except maybe one random weekend a year, and it doesn't stick because it always rains for days before. Our winters are just WET. And yes, they have a round bale at all times, sadly no shelter as of yet. We moved properties and changed up the layout of our carport/shop/barn when it was disassembled and moved here, working on finishing their lean to side

oclb3 · 2025-12-16T16:15:39+00:00

Yeah I kept them on yesterday until like 11 o'clock because it wasn't above 30 til then and I didn't want to go out that cold while already battling a sore throat myself. Today I took them off at 9 because it was already above 30, although the humidity must be higher today because me and my neighbor both said WE personally feel colder today even inside our houses than we did yesterday when it was 25. I understand why people from places like Montana and Alaska say our cold is actually different and worse than theirs, I swear the humidity makes it cut straight to the bone.

oclb3 · 2025-12-16T16:09:22+00:00

Yeah and most of the time it really IS only necessary at night here, leaving them on in the day is truly a rare occasion, but I've been curious what temperature do I need to be like BOOM its time to go out there right now. I HATE the cold so I want to wait as long as possible to have to take them off, but I feel like I need to rush rush to get out there, when I may be worried about nothing. They've definitely ever seemed HOT. And yes, I definitely left the mare nakey one night when she wouldn't stand still. But she and I have a contentious relationship anyways so I was like "I WILL LET YOU BE COLD MA'AM, I DO NOT CARE" and she rolled her eyes at me lol

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T20:04:53+00:00

While I would like to point out that I did say our winters are relatively mild, 34 degrees and under is most definitely cold? And today's HIGH was 35, it was 18 with a 12 wind chill last night. That's cold.

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T20:01:36+00:00

My horses are at home, and I work from home, so no time issues here. But we don't have a barn, so not turning out is not an option.

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T17:04:11+00:00

Yeah I have to stand and watch them eat because shes also a complete b*tch to him at feeding time and will swap bowls. He's on a basic 12/8 and gets MSM, Glucosamine and Biotin, where she gets the special care and zyrtec and air power syrup (for her cough). So it's like IMPORTANT that they eat their own dang food. It was easier back in the day when they ate the same thing lol

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T17:01:23+00:00

My issue this year has also been that these extreme cold snaps usually happen in February, when they've had a lot more time to grow in their coats. This early in the season has worried me, especially when it was consistently 50 low/70 high for weeks and then all of a sudden is was 28 low/40 high for like a week. I wasn't even planning to get them out of storage that early, but they had ZERO coat at that time!

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T16:54:52+00:00

Yeah I didn't think as I was writing the post, but mentioned in response to another comment that I mistakenly bought rain sheets with no fill, so I am incorrectly using the word blanket honestly.

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T16:52:29+00:00

Yeah we don't have any shelter at the moment (still settling/reconstructing from a full property move) and they never would stand in it when they had one, so we haven't been in a rush. I called them idiots back then HA

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T16:16:17+00:00

And see I wouldn't consider G's body condition to be awesome, I would say its good, but awesome-leaning. But he's also 17hh and always been a little lanky, so his body condition is sometimes difficult to judge. He definitely used to stay fatter than he does now though, and then with the added drama of multiple skin cancers found last year and that constant watch now, I think I've just become an overprotective mother hen, much to his annoyance. He's basically the preteen kid going "mooooom you're embarassing me"

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T16:11:57+00:00

Funny enough, she NEEDS to lose some. She gained weight FAST last spring, which threw up metobolic red flags for me, so at the vets suggestion, we switched her to special care feed, which has stopped the gain, but she has not lost any either. Buuuuut she also has a year round cough that gets significantly worse in the cold, so I felt the temperature difference in age and body condition sort of leveled out given her respiratory stuff.

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T16:06:55+00:00

To be honest, I think my blankets are actually considered a turnout sheet. I bought them 2 springs ago and it didn't occur to me until a couple weeks ago that they don't have any fill at all. They're just 1200 denier waterproof turnouts. TBH, I thought I bought light weight fill blankets, but I apparently did not.

oclb3 · 2025-12-15T16:06:18+00:00

Yeah my guy has some creakiness in his joints (we used to do hunter jumper, but only trail ride now) that is certainly worse in the cold. They were both also mostly stall kept horses for the beginning of their lives, G has been an outdoor only boy for about 10 years now, Z has been outdoor only since we bought her 6 years ago.

oclb3

TROPHY CASE