It is way too quiet in this section of PC. Perhaps if I post something the rest of the cockatoo folks will come out and talk.
I started off with one Cockatoo, of course, but they are like Lay's Potato Chips, you just can't have one, so now I have 2 M2, 4 U2 and 1 G2. The rest of the flock is made up by 1 Orange Wing Amazon, 1 Jenday and 1 Sun Conure. The Cockatoos range from Ollie, who is the youngest at 12 to Lover Boy who is around 27.
Sammie, M2 (18 or so) is a mutilator, and a wing amputee. He had a tumor on is wing and had to have it amputated. He mutilates because he got some medicine on his chest from an injection, and we didn't notice it in time. It burned the skin, and he began chewing.
Lover Boy, M2 (around 27) was adopted from Patsnest (South Jersey Bird Club) about 6 or so years ago. I think he is wild caught even though he isn't banded. His color is very dark pink/salmon and his dander is differant from Sammie's - just ask my husband who is allergic to the birds.
Mikalia U2 is oh, hell, I don't know. I'm terrible about their ages. I constantly guess. I'm going to have to pull out the vet records to see when they were first vetted and figure it out from there. But, there is Mikalia U2, Gabby U2, Merlyn U2, Sheela G2.
My house is covered from one end to the other in cockatoo dust in spite of air cleaners and an entire new furnace with special filters and the whole 9 yards. I can dust and 2 hours later have to dust again - all that dust just can't be good to breathe.
The bird room is 17 x 17 and once upon a time was our carport which we closed in. We knocked out the wall from the kitchen to the bird room so I have a view of them and they of me, whenever I'm in the kitchen.
They yell and carry on all day long, and sometime, I just have to go outside and maybe even away from the house for a break. When I come home in the evening, I turn off a main road, and an still 2 blocks from the house, and can hear the birds - How Do My Neighbors Stand It!
Okay, that is enough rambling...maybe one of the rest of you will continue this rambling, and get this section of PC up and running regularly?

I think you have a great idea!!! There are many TOO parents here but most posts seem to go to the main PC. I would love to start rambling but right now I amwinding down from a very long day and my TOO,a Citron BTW who has owned me for 15 yrs is begging for attention. So...I will ramble in the very near future. I hope others join in. You can see pics of my baby in the gallery.

Well, Diane I see there is another Jersey Girl here! I hail from Newark originally, and then Rockaway, then Hopatcong, and then to Baltimore for the last 26 years. This is where it all began with the birds. The worst part about it, is that once people find out you "do" birds, the next thing you know your doorbell is ringing and the phone is ringing, and if you don't know how to say no, you end up looking like a rescue, when in reality, you won't adopt any of them out! So, they come here, and they stay.

I've tried numerous times to get this forum kick started also. I've just been waiting for more cockatoo owners to join.

I have 1 U2 Rico, the love of my life aka "The Golden Child", 1 GW Murray the meathead, 1 S.I. Eclectus, Molly, and finally 1 M2 Rocky The Chopper. Rock and Murray are rescues, Molly is a rehome and Rico was intentional, kinda, and my first bird.

I would have a house full of cockatoos. No I wouldn't, they would have their own house and I would have mine. I love the antics and personality of the cockatoos. I find them to have the A.D.D. and comical personality which is why we get along so well.

I would love to have a goffins and a black palm. My husband and I are in the works to either buy a larger house or sit back, plan and build. Either way, I don't care just as long as we can all live happily and comfortably.

Yes NJ all my life!! Right now I live at the at the shore;Toms River. I know Hopatcong though my ex's family had summer homes on the lake. Anyway besides being owned by a C-TOO I also have 2 teils named Bette & Davis and 3 keets. The teils and keets were all adopted and Nelly my Too was a present.
It's kind of a long story how I got her but when I joined I did post how we came together. She is a love but can be a bit trying at times as can all Fids. For a Too she is very well adjusted considering all the job changes and moves I have made since I first got her. My biggest fear always was when something new came along she would turn into a feather plucker. Often I would come home from work and look for signs or OMG feathers. But I have been very fortunate that she has adapted to all the changes in our lives. Now I am only speaking from personal experience but I have found the key to her being well adjusted is that I try to keep her routine as constant as possible. I work in retail so my hours tend to be erratic. But I make sure I don't change the fundementals of her daily routine. Right now I get up for work at about 3:15 am. Which means so does she. But we have some Too time and I make her breakfast along with the rest of the Fids. She gets her snack when I come home and if the weather is nice we sit outside for a bit. We have been together for a long time and pretty much know each other's habits. She is totally bonded to me and is without a doubt a one person bird. She makes it perfectly clear she doesnt want to be bothered to get to know anyone else. Fortunately I do have a couple of friends that she will tolerate and has stayed with when I went away. One of the traits of a Citron is that they tend to be a bit more independant than say a U2 and that works out fine for us. So this is my rambling for this morning. As I sit here writing this Nelly is sitting on her perch with a pine nut(her favorite BTW) in her foot watching the squirrel sitting on the window sill staring back at her

I completely agree with schedule. If the flock and I didn't run on a schedule I don't know what would happen. With 10 birds, I really don't have a choice but to run on schedule. But, I have always run my life on a schedule. I get up at 4:30 AM and have my cup of coffee. Lover Boy is the morning bird, so he sits on my lap and we watch the news together. At 5 LB goes on a perch, and Jasper (Jenday) comes out and sits on my shoulder while I cut an chop for the 10. Then we serve it and gather water bowls, wash them and replace them. Then I put the pellets out. That is Jasper's signal that it it to go back to his house and he does. When I get home in the afternooon, they get their dinner, and then out they come. Sometimes, I can only manage to get one out at at time, and love on them, and other times, I can manage the entire flock out at one time.

Fortunately my teils live together and have each other and while they like my attention they have each other. The same goes for the keets. So in actuallity the only one who really "needs" me is Nelly. I'm sure I don't know how you do it with 10!!!

Diane - honestly, I don't know how I do it. Sometimes I look at them and tell them I'm sorry I can't give them as much attention as they need, and then they look back at me with their eyes that see into your very soul, and Mikalia will say "I love you" and Ollie will say "baby bird". I guess it is their way of saying it's okay.

I'm sure it is and they love you. They are so much smarter than we give them credit for and sensitive too. When I had my dog I would come home from work and if I had a bad day would call Mandy over for a dog kiss. Yeah right. She just kind of looked at me,looked at the snack cabinet and sat there. But then I would go over to Nelly and say "Mommy had a bad day" and she would put her beak on my cheek and rub it up and down. I really believe that when we talk to them there is some level of understanding and sensitivity that most people take for granted.

Diane - I truly believe that they do understand. You are right. When I first lost Sunny and then Freedom, the flock was unusually quiet for many weeks. Was it because they missed Sunny and Freedom, or was it because they knew my heart was broken. Not sure which, but they knew something wasn't right and behaved with that knowledge.
I know sometimes when I'm at my lowest, Mikalia will look at me and very quietly say "I love you" and nothing else. He will then snuggle up against me and things magically seem to be better.