Hand rearing Black Cockatoos photos.



Frequent asked questions: Q: Do I need a license to keep this species of bird?

A: Yes you do, for a pet bird you need a companion bird license. Best is to get in contact with your local state National parks office to find out what you need in your state and at what cost.they recommend to allow 23 days to get the companion bird license.


Q: We don't live in the same state as you do but can we have the bird this weekend.

A: That's a simple request with a long answer. When a potential buyer lives interstate it means that the bird has to be exported out of one state in to another. This involves some paperwork through NPWS ( National Parks & WildLive Services.) with an application by both parties involved to apply for a state import and export transfer license. Cost is about $20.00 but is slow to get and has to be applied for well before the bird/s are to travel.


Q:Can you tell me if there is any difference in suitability as pets between the male and the female, I know the females are a little smaller and have yellow spots as they get older, but as to suitability, I have no idea and can’t find any info.

A: The hen birds and cock birds show the spots from a juvenile stage. The hens spots get brighter with age and the cock bird will loose the spots and barring on the tail after two years and will go fully black with an red tail without the red barring the hen birds retain the red barring in the tail. Because of the time frame involved, if it is necessary to know the sex of the bird it is always best to get the bird DNA tested to fined out the sex. Personality doesn't matter to much between the sexes for the first few years. both sexes are docile and love a cuddle. When the males get older they may want to breed and start to show of there plumage more and spread their wings. Some bird may try to mate your hand but this is rare as there is no breeding log or hen bird to stimulate the cock bird.


Q: How much socialization does the little Red Tail get with people, like kids, adults, other animals?

A: The black gets handled by the whole family on odd occasions but because of their placid nature it doesn't matter to much, they will go to most people at any age. these birds are very layed back and clumpsy at a young age. The bird won't be used to other animals as we only have a dog that likes birds but only for dinner so we keep them well away from each other. They can be trained with other animals but this comes back to the keeper for training again.


Q: Do you train the birds into harneses, clip wings?

A: With Blacks to be kept for pets we recommend clipping the wings as they don't have much flying sence at this age and will fly in to anything and crash land to the floor which could rearange most house holds. Black can be trained for a harness but we don't do the training.


Q: What do I feed The bird when I get him home.

A: The bird will take one or two days to settle in to its new seroundings, it has a lot to get used to like: new noises And voicess, differend people it was used to, other pets etc. For this reason don't panic if the bird doesn't eat to much, it will eat when it gets hungry. The bird has been weaned off on soak pidgeon mix seed and sun flower seed. Black will eat some greens like Milk sishle, silverbeet, andives, broccali corn on the comb and some apple. Later they will love to chew in to any Gum brances, leaves and gum nuts or nuts from bottle brushes seeded bulbs from banksia shrubs and trees, unsprayed fruit tree brances ect. For calcium we feed cuttle bone pieces this give the bird calcium trace minerals and salt.









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