Corella Care and Feeding

The classic corella mistake is copying the wild diet. Wild corellas eat mostly grain and grass seed, so owners fill a bowl with seed and call it natural. Cockatoo species are very prone to obesity on seed-heavy diets, and the fatty lumps that follow can interfere with the bird's movement. Build the diet on formulated pellets and fresh vegetables, keep seed to a small measured serve, and make the bird work for it rather than leaving a full bowl out all day.

Corellas are large, powerful chewers, so give them the biggest cage or aviary you can, in powder-coated or stainless steel rather than a painted or galvanised finish. Add natural perches of different thickness, plenty of safe chew material, and foraging enrichment that gives them something to dig at. Keep to a natural day length and darken the cage at night, because long light hours push moulting and hormonal behaviour.

Corellas are among the loudest and most demanding parrots kept in Australia, and they bond hard. Daily interaction, training and out-of-cage time are essential rather than optional, because a bored corella screams, chews and can start plucking. Keep sessions short, positive and consistent, set kind boundaries early to head off nipping, and give the bird jobs to do so its attention is not entirely on you.