Need tips for new Eclectus!?

Alex9 · Jul 26, 2013

Hi, I am new to the bird community. I have couple of questions about Eclectus in general. I know this question was asked many times, so you can reply with links as well. He is 1 year old, and i had him for 3 weeks. I wanted to know how much should i allow him to eat per day so he does not eat too much, but also not starve. What is the best way to interact with him? He already will eat from hand and stay on my and my wife's shoulder. We also let him through out of the day out of cage. Any other tips and info about what is best way to make Eclectus happy? Thanks :orange:

jroyal · Jul 26, 2013

When I feed my eclectus, i give her a 1/2 cup of food (fresh fruit, veggies, pellets) for each meal and i feed her twice a day. I usually leave her food bowl in her cage for about 2-3 hours and that way she can go in and eat multiple times. Some days she'll eat the whole thing in about a half hour and other times she just kinda snacks on it in those couple hours that she has it. I feed her breakfast whenever i wake up and then at about 5-6 in the afternoon i feed her again. There is no way to tell you exactly how much to feed your bird. We can tell you what we do and then you'll have to gauge how much your eclectus eats and make sure he isn't putting on too much weight at one time.
When I first got LuLu i put her in the cage and left the door open. and she kinda just watched me for the first couple days but she warmed up to me pretty quickly. LuLu was adopted but she was with people who socialized her really well so her transition was pretty smooth.
My advice would be to just keep giving him attention. When you're just sitting watching tv, see if he'll sit with you. Or whenever you pass his stand or cage just pet him or talk to him.

MikeyTN · Jul 26, 2013

Welcome to the forum!!!! )

You named your male Eclectus Grisha?

What exactly do you feed him right now??? Since jroyal already typed it I don't want to repeat.

Alex9 · Jul 26, 2013

Thank you Lroyal!!! How old is your bird?

@MikeyTN, yes my wife named him Grisha!

we are feeding him a lot of fruits(apples, mango, kiwi etc), also we give him little bit of mixed nuts as well. When he is on our hands or shoulder we give him sunflower seed. I see you have alot of birds

MikeyTN · Jul 26, 2013

Yes I have a lot of birds....lol....My pair is around 6 years old from what I was told. I'm their third owner I think....You need to implement some veggies in there other then just fruits alone! They need to be fed stuffs with high beta carotene in it such as carrots, sweet potatoes, etc. They also LOVE Pomegranate, when whenever they're in season I kept buying them. We also cook egg with shells, lintels, chicken breast meat, etc etc. There's sooooo many things you can feed them!

jroyal · Jul 26, 2013

LuLu is about 2 years old. She absolutely loves sweet potatoes BTW! If I want her to try something new i put a little sweet potato with it and she eats it all (or at least "mistakenly" tries the other foods)

Mikey, I've never fed LuLu meat before. How often do you feed your birds chicken breast?

Alex9 · Jul 26, 2013

I guess tomorrow im going to feed him some sweet potato. I gave him carrots, but if there is something else like apple he will eat apple. Any other tips on good vegetables, and is there any food that they like to chew on?

MikeyTN · Jul 27, 2013

jroyal,

We feed it once in awhile, like once ever few weeks, we change things around. We cook different things all the time to feed them.

Alex9,

My ekkies will NOT touch leafy greens no matter how I feed it to them, IF it's mixed in their food, they will not touch it period. Leafy greens is very good for them! There's so many things you can feed them, a site I like to refer to is by Laurella Desborough's Eclectus Center

Or Eclectus Parrots

nicki · Jul 28, 2013

go down your grocery aisle and try all the veggies! You never know what your baby will love! Orange colored veggies and the leafy greens are what we would like for them to eat. Sometimes I buy a leafy kale or collard greens and weave it through the bars on his cage to make it more foraging fun for him.

My bird in particular, LOVES anything I am eating. So if I eat healthy things, he will too! Hes been great for our health as well

Alex9 · Jul 28, 2013

What do you guys think about wings being clipped?

MikeyTN · Jul 28, 2013

Alex9 said:
What do you guys think about wings being clipped?

That's an individual choice so it is up to you!

drlisaort · Jul 28, 2013

Welcome to you and Girsha! Oliver is almost 11 months old. He loves all veggies, even leafy greens and all fruit. He is picky about freshness, if a banana is over ripe he is not going to touch it. I feed him fruits in the morning, veggies and fruit in the afternoon, and then a mix with beans and veggies. For a treat, he gets a small corn on the cob once or twice a week and seeds and dry fruit a few times a week.

Littlebird2 · Aug 2, 2013

I. Think wings of pet birds should be clipped. I guess two reasons
1) if they get outside they will not be able to survive. They have rreally not learned to forage. In addition, a predator could get them; dog, cat hawk whatever is out there.
2) inside they could fly into a window or anything sharp or the household pet.
All the birds I have dealt with are clipped and seem to do well. No outward signs of trauma. Don't forget their wings and nails too

MikeyTN · Aug 2, 2013

There's always pros and cons to wing clipping and everyone feels differently on the situation so I think it is best to leave it to individual owner to decide on that situation. I personally don't clip my adult birds and leave them all flighted. But if I must clip one, I will depending on the circumstances. But I really prefer not to clip.

dulphinz · Aug 2, 2013

Here I do fruit in the morning, pellets are available all day (Harrison's), veggies and grain at night. I've made a big batch of mixed grains (quinoa, millet, pearl barley, brown rice, amaranth, oatmeal, flaxseed, etc...) to which I add apples, sweet potato and raisins as well as cinnamon and my boy goes nuts for that! I put portions into an ice cube tray, freeze them, then put in a ziploc bag and take a cube out a night, thaw out and add other veggies to this. I've also made some chop which he likes and gets used to depending on what I put in it. I freeze that also. It makes it easier to have a few things pre made so that I have a go to and a little variety. I haven't tried birdy bread yet, but I intend on making a batch soon. I try pretty much every fruit I buy for us. It took my boy a little while to try things but he's getting better. I found that when I introduce something new and I put it on a skewer, he is more inclined to nibble at it

coltfire · Aug 2, 2013

Littlebird2 said:
I. Think wings of pet birds should be clipped. I guess two reasons
1) if they get outside they will not be able to survive. They have really not learned to forage. In addition, a predator could get them; dog, cat hawk whatever is out there.
2) inside they could fly into a window or anything sharp or the household pet.
All the birds I have dealt with are clipped and seem to do well. No outward signs of trauma. Don't forget their wings and nails too

if you show your bird there is a window and you only have to hold your bird and tap its beak on the window a few times and it will not crash into it as for if it gets out side , and your not there your bird is dead as the first cat or dog will eat it , ive never clipped a birds wing in 30 years, its not right in my opinion, how would you like a broken arm for life they need to fly so they dont get wing flip they need to use those muscles, as for there food if you look up my old posts eckkie breaky and eckkie fruit lunch you will have a good idea.

MikeyTN · Aug 3, 2013

Like I've said, it's a individual choice with wing clipping! But let's please not use the word "cruel" like I've said before last time when someone mentioned the word cruel. By keeping them in the house is cruel if you think about it or keeping them period. I personally prefer not to clip my adults as they're all trained but I would clip if I must depending on the situation. This is a touchy subject that's been discussed countless times throughout the forum. Thanks!

Littlebird2 · Aug 3, 2013

There is a great book (not long) called Eclectus Diets by Kim Forster with lots of good info on diets. My bird lets me know what he likes and does not like. I can no longer put corn with his food because he will literally fling out everything else to get to the corn.
. It is pretty entertaining, but can't be healthy. Anyway you can get the book on lulu.com.

Alex9 · Aug 9, 2013

I got my eckkie with wings being clipped, but im leaning more towards leaving them alone. My cage has the top that can be opened, and it stays open thru out the day, but is it necessary to lock cage during the night?

MikeyTN · Aug 10, 2013

Birds should always be observed while out and about so yes I would lock the cage door. You never know what they would get into such as chewing live wires where they can electrocute themselves...

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