.Umbrella cockatoos make very loving pets.
Keeping and breeding umbrella cockatoos requires commitment and knowledge. Breeding them will be time-consuming, and for all the birds you will need to find owners who are prepared to look after them possibly for their own entire lifetime. They are loving pets and easy to train, although they are not brilliant at talking. Cockatoos can live for up to 80 years in captivity, and with such long lifespans can breed for up to 30 of those years. Umbrella cockatoos can begin breeding when they are 3 years old, but hand-reared birds are more likely to start at around 6 to 8 years. Umbrella cockatoos are easier to breed than some other cockatoos. They are sometimes known as white cockatoos or velcro birds (because of their tendency to cling to their owners' chests).
Instructions
1. Isolate the pair you want to breed in a quiet aviary, preferably with a tree stump for them to perch on. Umbrella cockatoos in Northern America tend to breed in spring and winter, so this is the time to isolate them. If the male becomes too aggressive toward the female it may be necessary to separate them and not let that pair breed, as their attacks can be fatal. However, aggression from the male toward its mate can occur in compatible pairs and if you clip the male's wings prior to breeding season, its mate will then be able to escape from him if she needs to.
2. Provide a nesting box with two entrances so that the female can escape if the male tries to trap her. Make the nesting box out of wood, ideally, as chewing the wood can stimulate reproductive behavior in the pair. The clutch of eggs the female will lay is usually two, or sometimes three.
3. Keep the breeding pair on a high-protein diet.
4. Keep the female and male together in isolation after the eggs are laid, as both incubate the eggs. If the eggs are healthy and incubate successfully, they will hatch between 24 and 28 days after they are laid.
5. Hand-rear the chicks with a special hand-rearing formula. Initially feed them every three or four hours with a syringe. Avoid a formula that is too high in fat, as young umbrella cockatoos use food very efficiently and easily gain too much weight if fed too many calories.
6. Keep the chicks in a brooder (an artificially warm cage) until they grow their own feathers.
7. Move them to a fledgling cage with low perches and bowls of soft food and water.
8. Wean the chicks by gradually moving them onto more solid foods.
9. Let the chicks go to their new owners after 12 weeks, by which time they will be fully fledged.
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