New Owner

Hi everyone,

My husband and I decided that we were ready to get a bird that was more high maintenance than a cockatiel and since my husband works at a school that has a bird avairy (that houses an Eclectus), we chose a female Eclectus. We are picking her up this Thursday from a bird trainer who says he just doesn't have the time that she deserves. We have a 48x36 cage for her, and we are very excited. She is gorgeous and when we finally have her settled I will post some pictures. My only concern is that the man told me that he feeds her the commercial pellet mix and seeds. All of the research I have done says she is going to need an all natural diet with fresh grains and rices and pastas and fruits and vegetables and sprouts. While hunting for the perfect bird we also visited a breeder who had a 3 month old Ecky for sale and she told me she fed her Cockatiel mix. Now I am just a little confused as to what is right. These birds both looked fine, but I want to feed this bird the best thing that I can. My main sites for information have been Land of Vos and EclectusParrot.net. I just want to make sure the research I am doing is right. Please let me know if I am on the right track. Thank you.
Vicky

First of all, a big warm welcome to the forum! Pleased to meet you.

You're absolutely correct, it isn't a good idea to feed an all-pellet diet to an eclectus. It just doesn't work well for them, because they have very distinct diets apart from other parrots. Ideally, 60% of an eclectus' diet should consist of fresh fruits and vegetables. The other percentage consists of sprouted seeds, and seed mixture. Always choose a high-quality seed mixture (Kaytee, Harrison's, Volkman's, etc.), and I'd reccomend cockatiel food as the seeds to be offered.

Here is some instructions on how to sprout seeds: Sprouting for Birds

Which foods are bird-safe, and which are not: Safe and Toxic Foods for Parrots by Grey Feather Toy Creations. Bird Toys, Parrot Articles, Bird Toy Safety, Bird Toy Parts, Parrot Swings.

I hope this helps you some!

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new fid!
Eclectus are birds that need a specialized diets rich in veggies and fruits. Eclectus are most prone to health deficencys. A pellet and seed diet isn't going to cut it. Your eclectus will be prone to many health probelms. Here's a good link with a sample eclectus diet: Laurella Desborough's Eclectus Center A really good source of nutrients to feed you eclectus are sprouted seeds. Hope I helped

A big welcome to you and your soon to be new feathered friend.

I found the info on diet really confusing esp on wether or not to feed pellets. One consistency however as PQ said is that they need mainly fresh F&V, sprouted seeds are fantastic and I feed a very small amt of parrot mix and nuts each day. I've found Shadow likes a skewer with big chunks and a bowl of mushed up or finely chopped F&V as well. I can't wait to see photos. Any issues there are plenty of people here to help.

Thank you all for the information. One more question. I ordered one of those sprouting kits to start sprouting some seeds, but they will not be ready in time for when we get her. Is it ok to feed her the organic bean sprouts from the organic section of my grocery store until the ones I am sprouting grow? Thank you again for all your help.

Just be careful with the ones from the store. If they have been there for a while they can harvest bacteria and mould. It wouldn't be an issue to wait for your kit to arrive as long as there's plenty of F&V on offer

Welcome to the forum, this is a great place. Congratulations on you new family member (when she arrives). Ekkies are such awesome birds!

Great advice given above. I feed fresh F&V everyday and supplement with Pellets/Seed (when I finally get them eating pellets well enough I will remove seed). Diet is so important for birds, especially for eclectus.

Hello and welcome, friendly and informative forum you have joined.
Congra't with your new bird, so exciting.
Great info from the above members.
Fantastic that you are doing research, so much to learn.
Get the camera ready, we love sharing pic's.

Welcome to the forum! Wow, lots of new Ekkies lately. I can't wait to see her. Female ekkies are, IMO, the best looking parrots, just below CAGs, RFMs and Alexandrines, of course.

Good advice on the diet above. You can probably do without sprouts until you get the sprouter in since it'll just be a few days. Besides, she's going to need some time to get used to her new diet.

I can't wait to see pictures. I may have missed this, but does she have a name yet?

She does have a name. Her name is Ezmerelda, but my husband and I have decided to call her Ezzy for short. Thank you everyone for your responses. I appreciate it. We are picking her up tomorrow so pictures will be coming very soon. Thank you again.