9 week of female ecky, advise please

Hi all, finally got my long awaited female ecky. I have researched food and diet on many sites and most sites are saying "mashed" food. So I am giving her cooked apple, pumpkin, peas, green beans, corn and carrot and then mashing it up. She is also eating raw corn and the breeder also gave me "vetafarm paradise pellets".

1. Red Pepper? says eckies love this, but isn't it hot? or only to us humans? Advice on red pepper and whether or not to take out seeds?
2. Capsicum? take out the seeds?
3. How important is Vitamin D - putting her in the sun?
4. What else should I be feeding her at this young age, I have only had Angel for two days now.
5. Can I make up a batch of cooked vegies on the weekend, freeze them and then thaw them out daily?

She is learning to step up and I'm getting to scratch her head, but she is still going for my hand a bit when I go into the cage. She has parrot toys and rope for entertainment and fresh water.

Any other advice seeing she is only young?

Regards
Brunettesrule and "Angel"

Please tell me she is still being hand fed formula as well right?

Peppers are great, mine love the seeds parrots and birds in general have a tolerance to Capsicum that most mammals do not.

Right now it is important to try lots of different foods she may not like them at first but the more she is exposed to the better.

You can freeze some stuff for convenience but I always add fresh stuff each day as well.

The website "Land Of Vos" is a great place for diet list, recipes and general eclectus information.

I'm no eckie expert but at that age she cannot possibly have been properly weaned, right? So you are still hand feeding her? Please research abundance weaning. Your breeder should have told you what foods she needs for weaning unless they force weaned her early, poor baby. Also, eckies have a longer digestive tract and they need about 70% fresh foods like veggies and only about 30% of her diet at the most should be pellets.

LABELL - No she isn't being hand fed formula. The breeder said he had weaned her off formula and was eating food. Should I be worried?

SILVERSAGE - Will research abundance weaning and am on land of vos now.

I am hand feeding her and am watching how much she eats on her own.

brunettesrule said:

LABELL - No she isn't being hand fed formula. The breeder said he had weaned her off formula and was eating food. Should I be worried?

SILVERSAGE - Will research abundance weaning and am on land of vos now.

I am hand feeding her and am watching how much she eats on her own.

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Yes you should be worried 9 weeks is WAY too young to wean no matter what sub-species she is.

Okay I really, really need to have a little rant here, not as much at you but the breeders down under that have let too many young un-weaned babies go will-nilly around here that I have had to read about on this forum, it makes me happy that I am half a world away and too far to SLAP them!!!

There is no way, no how that baby was properly weaned by 9 weeks old and anyone that says it's possible I will straight up call a liar! Please get a hold of some one near you that knows how to feed and have them either take over and finish feeding and weaning her correctly or see if you can be mentored. There are a million and one terrible things that can and do go wrong when hand feeding so you must be shown and way more than once. Frankly I just feel sick!

Agreed you have a lot of research ahead of you if you want this baby to be ok. Not only are there tons of physical problems you could run into, but the psychological consequences of what has been done to this bird can be huge, and you are going to have to do everything in your power to correct them early. Force weaning is animal cruelty. Just because a bird can consume some solids does not mean they are weaned! Just like the second a baby human begins to eat his first cherio doesn't mean he can stop drinking milk and move on to a steak and eggie diet, he would starve. He might survive, but he would have life long physical and emotional issues because of it. Is there an avian vet near you you can go to to learn to hand feed? Eckies are notoriously difficult to hand feed. How long have you had her? I am just SICK with anger at the low-life breeder who sold her to you. We will do our best to be here for you, of course, but you are in for a long road.

Btw hand feeding means feeding formula from a spoon or syringe, not just puting solid food in her mouth with your hand.

Also, to your original question, red peppers are great, any peppers really, especially fresh and especially with seeds, they love the pepper seeds! Not sure about the other veggie listed, I'm not familiar with it. Vitamin d is very important, and you should harness train her asap so that you can safely and conveniently take her out with you. Also immediately begin recall training, even if she is clipped (which only a HORRIIBLE breeder would do to a bird that age, but we have already established your breeder has either zero knowledge or zero ethics). Raw fruits and veggies are best, as well as sprouts, please research sprouting it is so good for them and so cheap to do. Focus on leafy greens. Limit fruit to a small amount daily to prevent fatty liver disease. You can absolutely freeze and thaw your veggies. With my large flock I absolutely MUST freeze.

Focus on training, the younger the better. Make sure she is. It held constantly, she needs to learn to self I eat ertain so she doesn't turn into a screamer. Has she been to the vet yet? Have as many people hold her as possible, socialization is key at any age, but the younger the better. Consider letting her come out of the cage to you sometimes instead of you always going in for her. If she is biting, ask yourself if you are being respectful of her. Birds need firmness, but also respect.

with the "sprouted seeds and beans", can you give them Fresh Sprouts Alfalfa, bean sprouts (white ones)?

I do not advise buying sprouts at the store, as most of them will have been stored for a while and be full of bacteria even if refrigerated. You can sprout your own seeds quite easily, alfalfa is fine but might be hard to find. I sprout Volkmans brand seed mixes for various species, quinoa, chick peas, mung beans, lentils, and others. NO NOT feed any beans unless they are cooked or sprouted.

I wouldn't feed sprouts yet anyway at such a young age. You need to get some formula for her and finish the weaning the breeder failed to do.
Why in the world, did they clip her wings at such a young age! ? She needed to learn what her wings are for BEFORE they did that. You will need to be extra careful when she moults them out and new ones in. She will be older and heavier, and get hurt easier.

Mango121913 said:

I wouldn't feed sprouts yet anyway at such a young age. You need to get some formula for her and finish the weaning the breeder failed to do.
Why in the world, did they clip her wings at such a young age! ? She needed to learn what her wings are for BEFORE they did that. You will need to be extra careful when she moults them out and new ones in. She will be older and heavier, and get hurt easier.

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Thank you for being the only one besides me that is more concerned with this baby being put back on formula, as that is what she REALLY needs! Forced weaned at 9 weeks is going to cause a lifetime of long term issues, I will bet on it!

UPDATE ON ANGEL: I now know the breeder let her go too young, I think she is older than 9 weeks. Pic of Angel in signature and she is in the photo gallery as well. I received her Friday night and I am typing this Monday morning (5.30am). All Friday night to Saturday night, I was patting her, getting her used to my hand (which got bitten a few times..lol) and talking to her. She has eaten carrots, beans, corn on the cob (heaps of), pumpkin, peas, mango and some millet seed (which she loves) as well as Vetafarm Paradise Bird Pellets (but only a little bit), not even sure she ate them - I don't want her to eat a lot of pellets. I am a responsible mature person and have had birds before (GCC's and a princess parrot), but never a larger bird like this. When I call her name, she squawks back...lol

All day Saturday and Saturday night I was with Angel all the time, training her and monitoring her eating and drinking habits. She ate heaps and drank heaps all weekend. I also started "clicker" training her and she is already flying to my hand (very impressed with her), I have already ordered sprout mix and a proper sprouter (ingredients: Wheat, G/S Sunflower, Barley, Feed Oats, Safflower, Mung Beans and Sorghum) - Product from Breeders Choice Seeds - The clean seed people where the dust and husk removed for healthy nutrition from the “Parrot Rescue Centre” website.

I did nothing but research raising and training juvenile eclectus parrots all day Saturday and Sunday with Angel next to me. I also put her under the shower and "towelled" her so she gets used to being wrapped in a towel in case she needs "meds" or toe nail clipping. Whilst researching this forum I jotted notes down like bathing, towelling etc and then researched everything. I had her out of her cage at least 6 times on Sunday and she was sitting on her rooftop perch (that I rigged up). Every afternoon I rolled her cage next to our big glass sliding window which gets heaps of sun when its open, so she is getting Vitamin D and at night the cage gets rolled back into the lounge room near me. I spent the same amount of money I did buying Angel on a massive cage, so she has heaps of room, toys, natural perches (tossed the generic ones), stainless steel bowls etc.

I love Angel and will do everything possible to allow her to grow into a healthy loving bird. I have rearranged my house to accommodate Angel. Some comments sound like she will turn out to be retarded!!! I will take your comments on board and get the breeder/vet to show me how to give her more formula. I have read the entire Land of VOS website.

The only question at the moment is leafy greens, can someone give me some examples? I know about broccoli and parsley, what else?

I will keep you updated in a few days or next weekend. Please just don’t criticise me!

P.S. I never said her wings were clipped - they have NOT been clipped. She has been flying around the house.

I never implied that she would be "retarted" (not a word I use) but she could have nutritional imbalance issues, trust issues, that long term could have some lasting effects.

Dark leafy greens: Kale, Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Italian Parsley, Cilantro, Watercress, Dandelion, Arugula are all excellent choices. I do not feed spinach at all, it can interfere with the absorption of other nutrients so I just avoid it all together since there are way better choices without that side effect.

I do hope that you have wonderful success with Angel, she is beautiful. I do remain concerned with the age she was forced weaned but wish you the best with her.

Just sent you a private message.

RubyRose said:

Just sent you a private message.

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Unfortunately, the OP doesn't have enough posts quite yet for PMs...messages can be forwarded through any Mod until then, though