WINGS:

There are two sets of feathers: the primary - which provides lift, and the secondary - which help break the fall.  I usually trim about the first five long feathers, about half way down.  The one thing you will notice about many people who do this is that they will wrap the parrot in a towel, both for the birds safety and their own.  Rocky doesn't care for confinement and he has trusted me to do this without wrapping him up.  I also have to be very careful not to trim a blood feather, another reason you should not try this alone if you've never done this.  Smaller birds can take to the air easier, so you may have to test your bird to see if you've trimmed enough.  Remember: it's easier to fix it if you've trimmed too little, and impossible to fix if you've trimmed too much, and you risk injury to your parrot.

Trimming his wings is for his own safety, as I mentioned.  Some agree, some disagree, to each their own.  The actual trimming of the feathers doesn't hurt the parrot in any way.

NAILS:

Rocky chews on his nails often to keep them sharp, then I go in and take the point off.  Why?  Because those nails hurt!  That's why!  Well, also, if the nail is too long it can make it difficult for him to grip things...like the perch he's on.  Again, most people perform this task by wrapping their parrot in a towel and using a dog-nail clipper or a rotary tool, like the one I use, or a nail file.  I prefer the rotary tool because it's quicker and that suits Rocky just fine.  As with the feather trimming, he doesn't like it much but tolerates it and trusts me.  I keep the tool at a lower speed and I'm very careful not to cut too much off...if you cut too far you could injure the bird and that would be like a hangnail to him...very painful.

Trimming the nails keeps the point down so he won't cut my skin when I hold him, and this doesn't hurt him in any way either when done properly.

PREEN:

If Rocky had a girlfriend he would have someone to preen his newly forming feathers.  As it is, I get to do that task.  He will preen much of his own, as long as he can reach it, but for the ones that he can't reach I have to grab the shaft of the feather and twist out the feather until the feather is released.  I am very careful to not do this too closely to the blood line.  A feather will start as a blood shaft and as the feather fills the shaft the blood recedes and the feather grows.  With Cockatoos there is a lot of "powder" in the shaft and as I twist that out it's like baby power, cockatoo dust, as it's often called.

This is usually a comfort thing with cockatoos and they seem to enjoy it.  Without doing this his feathers may not grow in properly and they will fall out prematurely.  This doesn't cause any discomfort to the bird, when done correctly.

BATHS:

Most birds like to take a bath or shower.  Not Rocky.  Some people with smaller birds just turn on the faucet in the kitchen sink, but Rocky needs a bigger venue.  So I put him in the shower stall and turn the water on.  Be sure to keep the water luke warm!!  If it's cold in your home I don't suggest you give him a shower and let him drip dry.  make sure it's warm in the home or he could catch cold.

Showering does two things: it helps keep the dust mites off of him and also keeps the dust itself down.  Some people shower their birds daily, some weekly and others "whenever".