Help! Wing Flipping

This past Wednesday I brought my 4 month old eclectus home. He seems to be adjusting very well! Today he even had his first shower which he enjoyed.
But today I also noticed that he is doing wing flipping! I thought I noticed this when he was still at the pet shop but since I've been able to spend more time with him at home it is definitely wing flipping.
I understand it is usually related to their diet. I suspect that the pellets he's been eating are to blame (Roudybush Maintenance). He gets fruits and veggies twice daily including peas, corn, carrots, kales, green apple, and orange.
I decided to take the pellets away but could it be something else?? Any advice would be helpful!
(he was recently weaned off formula also)

I understand it a deficiency in their diet. They can also develop toe tapping has well. It's just a matter of diet adjustment. But I would see your avian vet and get a blood test performed. This will highlight what is need to fix the deficiency.

I also suggest that you look for and order a book called " A guide to the eclectus parrot".
It's written by a vet called Rob Marshall who specialises in the Eclectus and covers just about everything. Rob Marshall is in fact a world renowned Eclectus specialist.

I am very concerned, I have never seen or heard of a case of wing flapping in a baby, imo 4 months is still a baby. Unless he was weaned super fast he must have just recently been weaned so that tells me they (the pet store) was not supplying him with the proper weaning foods.
Mine do not get pellets at all. Just fresh foods, dark leafy greens are very good! Except spinach which I don't give, I use collard green, mustard greens, arugula, kale, dandelion, watercress. Fresh sprouts, Fennel, mine love it, broccoli, peppers, cooked beans, brown rice, quinoa. With eclectus it is best to keep it plentiful and varied. At night when I remove the fresh foods around 5 or 6 pm I put in a little Volkmans eclectus seed, it is formulated with them in mind so there is no fortification, dyes and some of the stuff you see in regular seed.

Here is the thing with eclectus though..years ago I had a male that began wing flapping, he was fed a great diet so I was stumped. Turns out I eat blueberries in my smoothies daily and I was giving them to him daily. That's what it turned out to be! So sometimes with them too much of a good thing can be bad. Literally within a few days of me cutting back on the blueberries the wing flapping stopped.

Thank you both!
I actually have a vet appointment scheduled this week for his first visit. I plan on asking about pellets as part of his diet because I have read that its actually a controversial topic regarding Eclectus parrots.
Yesterday I decided that I wanted to limit the amount of pellet he has in his cage and I have seen an improvement with the wing flipping! I was also giving him a few shaved almond which I stopped too. I honestly think that the weaning process at the pet shop wasn't the best because he received A LOT of formula when I was there as well as having pellets and seed mix available at all times. He did get veggies such as corn peas and carrots but i don't think it was more than 50% of his diet.
Since he's been home with me I've been giving him a range of fresh veggies everyday and adding new things each day and I've also started sprouting foods for him. I really don't want the pellets to be part of his diet at all but I wasn't sure if that would be ok for him since he is still so young.

Eckies are just diet sensitive birds. They tend to do better on fresh/chop mixes than other species.

And pet stores do tend to use one size fits all hand feeding formulas... and a lot of them force wean.

I'm also concerned to see this in a baby...

It can also develop if vitamins are OVERSUPPLEMENTED!

Also check out the land of vos site. That's the Eckie Bible in my mind!

peeko.the.eclectus said:

Thank you both!
I actually have a vet appointment scheduled this week for his first visit. I plan on asking about pellets as part of his diet because I have read that its actually a controversial topic regarding Eclectus parrots.
Yesterday I decided that I wanted to limit the amount of pellet he has in his cage and I have seen an improvement with the wing flipping! I was also giving him a few shaved almond which I stopped too. I honestly think that the weaning process at the pet shop wasn't the best because he received A LOT of formula when I was there as well as having pellets and seed mix available at all times. He did get veggies such as corn peas and carrots but i don't think it was more than 50% of his diet.
Since he's been home with me I've been giving him a range of fresh veggies everyday and adding new things each day and I've also started sprouting foods for him. I really don't want the pellets to be part of his diet at all but I wasn't sure if that would be ok for him since he is still so young.

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It has been my experience that most vets do not know much about eclectus diet and lump them into the needs of other parrots so they recommend pellets instead of seed (selected seed for eclectus without vitamins or fortification are best imo). I do not believe giving pellets is the best thing for them and even will go so far as to say that vets often over- simplify it with pellets vs seed in general. Neither are bad except if they are fed to the exclusion of REAL foods which I feel should make up a large portion of any captive parrots diet and especially eclectus.

Here is a link to the land of vos eckie diet recepies:

Land of Vos - Carolyn's Recipes

When I was fostering Eckies this was the mash receipe I used:

Land of Vos - Carolyn's Recipes

Sweet potato and oatmeal with stuff mixed into it were also inexpensive to feed favorites. You can cook a large sweet potato, cube it and freeze, and then reheat it in the microwave in 30 seconds. One large sweet potato can last a week, which is significantly cheaper than pellets!

I am expecting this vet to not have much experience with Ekkies, but I'm kind of interested in what she has to say. I am currently watching Peeko right now and he has not wing flipped at all! I have significantly reduced the amount of pellets he gets.
Last night he cried for the first time that he was hungry (i remembered it from my visits to the shop) so I did give him some softened pellets. I provide fresh veggies daily and incorporate new things each day. Today I plan on going to the market to find more leafy greens for him along with the suggested funnel.
At this point I'm going to focus on weaning him off of the pellets! he just seems to love them so much since I think it was a large part of his diet at the shop. But he does love all the foods I've been providing and has a large appetite. Also, I just received a scale in the mail and he weigh 323.5 grams! That seems a little low, but could it possibly be due to him not receiving any more formula? He also isn't his full size yet, I'll include a photo.
I appreciate all the advice and help!

He's so darn cute! I just wanna squish and snuggle him!

He's in perfect feather looking at that picture.

Birdman666 said:

When I was fostering Eckies this was the mash receipe I used:

Land of Vos - Carolyn's Recipes

Sweet potato and oatmeal with stuff mixed into it were also inexpensive to feed favorites. You can cook a large sweet potato, cube it and freeze, and then reheat it in the microwave in 30 seconds. One large sweet potato can last a week, which is significantly cheaper than pellets!

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Thank you, I made him mashed sweet potato and oatmeal for some soft food and he seems to be enjoying it

Those were some of my female eckies favorite foods, along with cooked beans, pasta, brown rice, and a little bit of chicken and fish.

These guys - ahem - enjoy their food....

When I had my eckie, I just made mash, and froze it, and that's the fresh stuff all my birds got every day.
My eckie just got an extra portion of mash, and no dry food. Simplified morning feedings.

Are you located in Southern California? There is a super vet in Woodland Hills! Knows everything about ekkies! Saved my birds life because of his ekkie knowledge.

rbreck said:

Are you located in Southern California? There is a super vet in Woodland Hills! Knows everything about ekkies! Saved my birds life because of his ekkie knowledge.

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Out of curiosity, what super vet are you talking about? I work in Woodland Hills and have been looking for a great vet, as mine has limited knowledge when it comes to birds

What's wing flipping?

rbreck said:

Are you located in Southern California? There is a super vet in Woodland Hills! Knows everything about ekkies! Saved my birds life because of his ekkie knowledge.

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I'm in San Francisco. The vet I went to was nice and knowledgeable about birds, but it wasn't specific to Eclectus parrots.

goalerjones said:

What's wing flipping?

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Wing flipping is the involuntary movement of wings. Its kind of like a wing flick. Its caused by an issue in the diet usually by fortified foods such as pellets which can have too much vitamins for Eclecuts parrots. It can also be seen when they are falling asleep, which wouldn't be an issue if they weren't displaying it in addition to the diet issue.

labell said:

I am very concerned, I have never seen or heard of a case of wing flapping in a baby, imo 4 months is still a baby. Unless he was weaned super fast he must have just recently been weaned so that tells me they (the pet store) was not supplying him with the proper weaning foods.
Mine do not get pellets at all. Just fresh foods, dark leafy greens are very good! Except spinach which I don't give, I use collard green, mustard greens, arugula, kale, dandelion, watercress. Fresh sprouts, Fennel, mine love it, broccoli, peppers, cooked beans, brown rice, quinoa. With eclectus it is best to keep it plentiful and varied. At night when I remove the fresh foods around 5 or 6 pm I put in a little Volkmans eclectus seed, it is formulated with them in mind so there is no fortification, dyes and some of the stuff you see in regular seed.

Here is the thing with eclectus though..years ago I had a male that began wing flapping, he was fed a great diet so I was stumped. Turns out I eat blueberries in my smoothies daily and I was giving them to him daily. That's what it turned out to be! So sometimes with them too much of a good thing can be bad. Literally within a few days of me cutting back on the blueberries the wing flapping stopped.

Click to expand...

Hi Peeko and Labell,

If I may chime in here in regards to the bird wing flapping. I have handled, trained and had quite a variety of birds (parrots) and birds of prey nearly 42 years. It's not uncommon for birds, even that young to flap like that...burst/release of energy.

There are 2 things that you are giving your birds that many people fell because they are fruit, it's ok.....Sugar. natural sugars found in fruit can be too much of a good thing. It's a little birdy buzz to them. Ever see a child on too much sugar? same thing. Birds can't process sugar that well. A little is fine, too much, well They want to fly somewhere.

Pookie, Ummm oranges I would not recommend more than once a week. it contains an acid that can't be broken down readily by birds and too much can make there blood content a bit acidy, like having the shakes from too much sugar. Most (not all) have some form of acid content, and sugar content (natural sugar).

A parrot is capable and actually needs the Omega 3 found in baked fish, or tuna, I never known a parrot that didn't go ape over seafood. A parrot also needs protein. Feeding a bird chicken meat that is baked (never fried) is ok, they even like the bones to chew on. it's very good for them.
Throw the pellets out, Parrots rarely eat them, and is hard on their digestive track. if anyone actually believes pellets are good for parrots . I'll save you airfare by letting you in on that bridge from California to Hawaii you can walk on for free...