Male Eclectus mating with perch?

I recently bought a pair or SI Eclectus, the female was proven with her mate who died after an accident with her previous owner's dog and was then paired up with this male. He is 7 and she is 6. I noticed him mating with his perch, what's with this? Anything I can do to discourage him from doing that? I was hoping that they would breed and produce babies......... Any advice from experienced Eclectus breeders would be much appreciated.

featheredfriendsnmore said:

I recently bought a pair or SI Eclectus, the female was proven with her mate who died after an accident with her previous owner's dog and was then paired up with this male. He is 7 and she is 6. I noticed him mating with his perch, what's with this? Anything I can do to discourage him from doing that? I was hoping that they would breed and produce babies......... Any advice from experienced Eclectus breeders would be much appreciated.

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Just because you put a female and a male ekkie together, doesn't mean they will, as you've found out, that they will get right down to business and start working on egg production.....while some birds may not need any dating preliminaries, others do need/prefer/require those preliminaries before setting up a nest together.....

As to him relieving himself on a perch, being 7yo, he's probably got experience with them & may not have been around a hen since he left the nest.....give them time and unless either has alternative preferences, just be patient, they'll get it all worked out.....good luck.....

featheredfriendsnmore said:

I recently bought a pair or SI I noticed him mating with his perch, what's with this? Anything I can do to discourage him from doing that?

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EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK THAT IS...

Birdie masterbation.

Maybe she just wasn't in the mood at that time, and he needed to... err... umm... relax a little bit. Eckie hens are the boss in the relationship when it comes to mating. What SHE says, goes...

Ok, so this behavior doesn't mean that he is a "dud" as a breeder bird? I don't have a nestbox on because I just bought them about 2 weeks ago. Should I put a box on for them? Any thoughts?

featheredfriendsnmore said:

Ok, so this behavior doesn't mean that he is a "dud" as a breeder bird? I don't have a nestbox on because I just bought them about 2 weeks ago. Should I put a box on for them? Any thoughts?

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"Get a room you two."

Probably won't mate without it. I really don't get involved in breeding issues however. The bible site for Eckies is Carolyn Swicegood's Land of Vos. She has quite a lot posted on Eckie breeding behaviors.

http://www.landofvos.com/articles/breeding.html

featheredfriendsnmore said:

Ok, so this behavior doesn't mean that he is a "dud" as a breeder bird? I don't have a nestbox on because I just bought them about 2 weeks ago. Should I put a box on for them? Any thoughts?

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If you plan to breed ekkies, it might give her the idea, but I think they just need some more time together.....

Ok, I'll just be more patient and give them some time. Thank you!

Hello!
My ecckie has a rubber toy that he mates with. OMG the toy is so gross. We took one away from him because he'd bitten holes in it.
So he got a little weird and upset with us. So we got him a new one, took him a bit to become familiar with it. Now the bird is mating with it several times a day. Its funny because I interrupt by talking to him and he hops off his toy and bangs the cage and tells me 'No'.
I think it is quite excessive for several times a day.. I don't have a horn do, I have a horn bird. I don't want another bird, 1 is enough. So he can keep his toy. I'm just thankful he doesn't use somebody.
He's plucked his feathers and I read somewhere that they do pluck feathers during this time of mating??? Am I wrong?
Thank you!