Which Sex Male or Female

Hi, This is my first post. We are getting a SI Eclectus in about 4 months from an excellent breeder Laurella Desborough I have read that Males makes the best pets. I wanted to find out if that is true with people that own them. I've read all the hormonal issues with females. We really want to be able to have a bird that doesnt bond with one person and is a good pet. We are a family of 4 with 2 kids ages 16 and 13. We had a Gray which only loved me but died after only having it for 6 months due to a congenital problem, plus i don't think it was fully weaned. and the so called good breeder would'nt help, but thats another story. Currently we have a SI Male reserved but we wanted to make a sound decision. Thanks

Males are commonly reccomended, I've read many websites that say so.

Actually, Dr. Rob Marshall (an avian veteranarian) reccomends buying a male parrot over a female. The reason, I'm not 100% sure of.

And a warm welcome to the forum! Enjoy your stay!

Hello and we are happy your are with us. It is funny you should say this question. Yesterday I spent 3 hours at my bird club meeting where there were a male and female Eckie brought in for adoption. The female was quiet and would step up on anyones hand. I could hardly get her off my shoulder she was so loving. The male was not as quiet but later spent about 1 hr. sitting in the lap of a child and did not make any noises. both birds were wonderful. F was recovering from plucking due to an abusive household. They are being rehabbed by The Baily foundation.

Hi & welcome.

I did heaps of research before getting my Ecky, spoke to vets, owners and breeders. Everyone contradicted everyone and in the end we decided on a female as we have a pretty busy house and felt a male may get stressed in our environment.

Apparently they are both good talkers however from what I saw/heard the males have a greater vocab. Females do have hormonal issues but they aren't the only breed and it does pass, females are the more dominant of the Ecky's (which is maybe why they are less prone to getting stressed).

From what I have researched with the correct training and diet they both make excellent additions to the family. I think you can be comfortable with going for a male.

I've come to believe that the "species traits" are very broad. And there's always an exception to the rule...or lots of exceptions. They're also pretty subjective...loud or messy to one person could be completely different to another person.

You're probably okay getting either sex, because I believe it's kind of a crap shoot. You never know what you get until they come home.

HRH Di said:

I've come to believe that the "species traits" are very broad. And there's always an exception to the rule...or lots of exceptions. They're also pretty subjective...loud or messy to one person could be completely different to another person.

You're probably okay getting either sex, because I believe it's kind of a crap shoot. You never know what you get until they come home.

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Well put HRH, so true

Welcome! If this helps at all when we first decided to get an Eckie I wanted a female as I fell in love with the colours. Our breeder had one of each but I was taking the female. The day before we went to get her I went into a pet store to get supplies and was talking to the owner who asked me what bird we were getting. I told him and he advised us not to, he said take the male. I asked why and he said females can be very nippy and then hormonal. He suggested for a first bird a male would be better.

I rang the breeder and asked her what she thought and she agreed that some females can be nippy, her last one she had returned to the avairy due to it being very bonded to her and nippy to anyone else even at 6 mths. She said this one was a nicer nature but she still had the male if we wanted it.

We arrived the next day and I was still undecided. I put my hand in the cage and the female bit me and Puffin ran staight up to me and up my arm and nestled into me. Needless to say, he came home with us!

I have a male and female Vosmaeri Eclectus (the bigger ones.) I can hoenstly say either make equally good pets.
My male is generally more accepting of strangers, but because of this means he is more likely to go off and get up to mischief as he is pretty confident. He is fully flighted and well if he is bored of being on his playstand he just flies whre he wants to be, our female doesn't. She is much more chilled, ok she isn't as fun and playful, but she loves the people she knows. She is less accepting of strangers but is much easier, she stays put whereever you put her, is happy just cuddling and not climbing around....whereas our male wants to investigate everything! I don't think either one makes a 'better' pet, they just both offer different things. But this is a generalisation and Every bird is different! Hope that helps a bit

Hi there, glad to hear you will be getting an Ekkie. I think most of what needs to be said has been said. But just to add my 2 cents…

I can’t personally vouch for the female Ekkies, as I have never cared for one. However, I hear they make great pets (despite some hormonal issues and maybe a little nippyness). Ekkies do make great pets and are heaps of fun, my male RS -Ekkie says a few words very clearly, but very rarely (then again I’m fairly quiet myself). He does whistle and mumble a lot though. He is very friendly and has only shown true aggression towards me once over the 3-1/2 years I have had him (I still don’t know why, must have been my shirt or something). I spend the most time with him and he flies to me for security, but he generally accepts anyone’s hand after knowing them for more than 2 minutes.

Anyway, I think regardless of which gender you get, how you raise it and care for it will have a far bigger impact on what sort of companion he/she will be. It’s great to see you doing your research

Btw, I do have a female cockatiel (7yo) and she can get slightly aggressive during breeding seasons, but if you respect her need for some space there are generally no problems (I’d imagine this is similar for most birds). Good luck

HRH Di said:

I've come to believe that the "species traits" are very broad. And there's always an exception to the rule...or lots of exceptions. They're also pretty subjective...loud or messy to one person could be completely different to another person.

You're probably okay getting either sex, because I believe it's kind of a crap shoot. You never know what you get until they come home.

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I agree with you totally HRD Di...... it could go either way

No matter what species, each and every bird is so different !!!!!

I have had AG's, of both sexes. Congo the male, was a very aggressive bird, who just loved to be in his cage all day.
Two of the females were totally different, Gigi was very quiet and lovable, Mishka is a livewire, 24/7 chatterbox.

Good luck with your choice

Hi there,
I have a RS male ekky and I also have 3 teenagers aged 16, 17 & 18. So I can understand that you would like the bird you choose to like or be friendly with everybody. I was very worried that my Jack would only like me at first which can be hard if ever Im not able to be there. Very fortunately with more patience from my hubby he LOVES him as well as me and 2 of my 3 children. For some reason he doesnt like my eldest son. Jack initially would only stay with me but with lots of patience and plenty of attention by the whole family your birdy will love you all, they love attention and play and plenty of praise. I too read that females are more choosy of their owners and tend to want to stick to just one or 2 in a family which was my reason for picking a male. My jack is turning 1 on saturday and his vocabulary is already approximately 25 words , we all talk to him all the time and keep repeating things, he mimics too. I was flossing my teeth the other day and I had a fairly long piece of floss, Jack was on my shoulder and I was watching the telly whilst doing my teeth. I turned to just look at Jack and found he too was flossing with the other end of the floss thread ! I laughed sooooo much that he stopped in his tracks and looked at me like I had something wrong with me but he wouldnt let go of that floss. I did put that photo on here. They are gorgeous mimickers.
But personally I believe for a 1st bird, as me with teens, a male is the way to go. Its also how you raise them too. Make sure all your family interact with him. That way he will go to any of you. Be aware though, at first he may only choose 1 of you , it will take time for him to eventually like all of you. It took a bit of time before Jack finally liked all of my family. I think male or female they initally turn to one for security & protection then they realise you all arent that bad lol

Robyn

While it is true that each parrot has its own personality and that species traits come in a very wide spectrum, there are genetic predispositions that one can take into consideration.

When it comes to ekkies, females are the dominant gender so they tend to be much more aggressive than males. They also tend to be more hormonal than the norm because, in the wild, they have very long breeding seasons. Plus, they are more needy and require more personal attention because they are one of the few species of birds where a female will have more than one male in attendance during breeding season.

I had a female ekkie and I now have a male ekkie and, by far, the male is much milder in temperament and a million times more easygoing than the female ever was once she was fully mature. As a matter of fact, I had to rehome the female because she only loved my husband and hated everybody else and, as he worked late every day, she was not getting enough attention which was not fair to her. She now lives with a family and she still loves the man and hates everybody else but this man works on an evening shift so he is home during the day and they don't have any other birds she can attack out of jealousy as she did here at my house so everything worked out fine.

Robyn just out of interest, is your eldest son very affectionate with you in front of Jack? The reason I ask is because Puffin is great with all my family ( hubby and kids aged 26,21 and 19} but he loves me most! However if I have him out and my youngest daughter comes near me he gets really narky with her yet if she has him when I am not in the room he is sweet and well behaved. I put it down to him being jealous as she is a really affectionate person and always cuddling up on the couch with me or giving me hugs and she is the one home most with us as my other daughter lives with her partner and my son is only really home late in the evening and weekends so he doesn't see me interacting with them as much. So I was wondering if Jack is jealous maybe?

Hi Caliopi,

No my eldest son isnt affectionate at all with me at any time, so we dont know what it is. When we first got Jack , he really adored my elder son and stayed with him. My son really enjoyed sitting him on his knee and talking to him in the first few weeks. But it suddenly changed , my son wouldnt hurt a fly and loves animals. So we dont know if at any point he maybe startled Jack by accident , maybe a loud voice , yelling at any point , we just cant quite pin point it. He is only starting to go to my other younger son after all this time but that son realised Jack would go to him when he had food, so my son really liked this and encouraged Jack. Jack LOVES my husband as well as me, so its good that he is comfortable with more than one member. My elder son hides that he is hurt by trying to shrug it off and ignoring him now, but you will on many occasions hear my son say to his mates as they are coming over " careful , MY bird is out " or is always very aware of doors not being opened etc, so he does care. We just dont get it.
Jack turns 1 tomorrow, the 19th June , my lil baby is having his first birthday lolol.

Robyn

Thanks everyone for your advise. My breeder said the SI males for some reason are a little more forgiving then the other sub species? I trust her she is well known in the Eclectus community. And she is one of the few breeders out there that guarantee your getting a pure species not a crossbred. Are the SI's that much smaller then the Red sided ones? My SI Eclectus is still in the Egg so I'm looking at around November till I get him But it will give me time to keep reading.

Are the SI's that much smaller then the Red sided ones? My SI Eclectus is still in the Egg so I'm looking at around November till I get him But it will give me time to keep reading.

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you must be getting excited, it will be worth the wait!

I have a book here that has a chapter on eclectus taxonomy, identifying the SI with an average length of 33cm and the RS with an average of 37cm so yes it may be a little smaller.

Jack turns 1 tomorrow, the 19th June , my lil baby is having his first birthday lolol.

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Happy birthday Jack, congrats on the big 01!

diehl2229 said:

Thanks everyone for your advise. My breeder said the SI males for some reason are a little more forgiving then the other sub species? I trust her she is well known in the Eclectus community. And she is one of the few breeders out there that guarantee your getting a pure species not a crossbred. Are the SI's that much smaller then the Red sided ones? My SI Eclectus is still in the Egg so I'm looking at around November till I get him But it will give me time to keep reading.

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Good to see your preparing yourself so far in advance. If you have a good breeder that has the birds interest at heart you can be encouraged they will not sell you a bird that isn't suited to you or your household.... less than 5 months to go

Happy Birthday Jack :gift:

Thanks.. Yes my breeder is Laurella Desborough.. Here is her web site

Laurella Desborough's Eclectus Center