New to Your Home · Birds
Macaw and Cockatoo Care
High-Fat Nutrition, 6-Month Weaning, and Heavy Beak Safety
A baby macaw or cockatoo takes months to wean, eats by the cupful, and grows a beak that can hurt you before it learns not to. 10 lessons on 18 to 22 percent protein and 12 to 15 percent fat formulas, crops that hold 100 mL or more and the syringes to match, the 4 to 6 month dependency phase, avoiding the whiny cuddle-only chick, bite inhibition with the earthquake wobble, whole nuts and hardwood for heavy beaks, why clipping a heavy bird breaks keels, puzzles for a 3-month-old mind, slow harness introduction, and weaning hunger strikes.
About this course
Big parrots are a long commitment from the first feeding. This course starts with the formula: 18 to 22 percent protein and 12 to 15 percent fat, because a Green-Wing or Hyacinth fed a budgie mix ends up with flaky skin and bad feathers. Lesson 2 handles the sheer volume, crops that hold 100 to 150 mL, 35 to 60 mL syringes, formula kept at 104 to 106 degrees in a water bath, and the 10 percent rule that still applies. Lesson 3 explains why weaning takes 4 to 6 months and what wild babies are learning in that time. Then the behavior lessons: how endless cuddling makes a screaming, helpless adult, how to answer a hard bite with a gentle wobble and a balsa block instead of a yelp, and how to give a beak built for nuts something better than your furniture. Lesson 7 is a plain warning about clipping heavy birds, whose keels break when they fall. Lessons 8 and 9 build the mind and the outdoor routine with puzzles and slow harness work. The course ends with the hunger strike many big babies stage mid-wean, and why you step back to comfort feeds instead of waiting it out.
What you'll learn
- High-fat, high-protein formula for giant nestlings, and what a budgie mix does to a macaw
- Feeding 100 mL or more per meal: big syringes, water-bath warming and the 10 percent rule
- Why weaning takes 4 to 6 months, and raising a chick that can be alone quietly
- Bite inhibition with the earthquake wobble, and whole nuts and hardwood for a heavy beak
- Why clipping a heavy bird risks a broken keel, and puzzles for a 3-month-old mind
- Slow harness introduction, and stepping back to comfort feeds during a weaning hunger strike
Who this is for
Breeders taking on their first macaw or cockatoo clutch after years with smaller parrots; new owners who brought home an unweaned giant on a breeder's word that it was easy; and anyone whose four-month-old macaw just stopped eating from the bowl and started screaming for the syringe.
Course outline (10 modules)
Quiz & Certificate
Knowledge quiz
After completing all lessons, take a short quiz to test your understanding.
Go to quiz →Completion certificate
Pass the quiz and earn a shareable certificate of completion.
View certificate →Frequently asked questions
Ready to get started?
$9.99 · Lifetime access · 10 lessons