What pellets does everyone feed there eclectus?

19266022

New member
Nov 22, 2014
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Queensland, Australia
Parrots
Jess is our Male Indian Ring Neck and Ruby is our Female Eclectus
I was told to swap the brand of pellets I feed Ruby. One bag of vetafarm maintenance then Harrisons etc. I wonder why? I was wondering what pellet would best suit the unique dietary needs of eclectus. Of course I feed her fresh vegetables and fruit daily. The pellets are for during the day in her cage while we aren't home.

Also are the natural coloured pellets better than the multi coloured variety. I have read conflicting articles on this topic. Some say the coloured pellet has colour additives that are bad for birds. Others say that the multi colour act as an enrichment and aids in foraging.

Sometimes to much information is not a good thing haha
 

chris-md

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2010
4,349
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Maryland - USA
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Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Around here, safe advice: IF you do feed him pellets (some refuse and believe they are bad for ekkies...I know nothing an am not wading into that discussion), DONT feed him the multicolored fruity pebble type. Many ekkies are sensitive to the artificial dye used to color them.

The latter part I can speak to. When I adopted my red sided ekkie earlier this year, he was a plucker, which is a known side effect with some ekkies on a mostly pellet diet, and he was on the multi colored crap. I put him on a mostly fruit and veg diet and he's now mostly fully feathered.

Before



After

 
Last edited:

Allee

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Oct 27, 2013
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U2-Poppy(Poppy lives with her new mommy, Misty now) CAG-Jack, YNA, Bingo, Budgie-Piper, Cockatiel-Sweet Pea Quakers-Harry, Sammy, Wilson ***Zeke (quaker) Twinkle (budgie) forever in our hearts

DexMom

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Jul 18, 2015
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Dexter, SI Eclectus
I have been through the pellet gauntlet and read everything I could find in regard to pellets for Eclectus parrots. I think the most important piece of information to have is that any food that is fortified with vitamins and minerals (synthetic or natural) is not in the best interest of your bird, due to the Eclectus' unique digestive system. Too many vitamins/minerals are actually bad for this species of parrot and can cause health and behavioral problems.

I feed a rich diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, cooked beans, homegrown sprouts and varied healthy grains - yet I still feel the need to provide a dish of dry food (a pellet, dried fruit, nut mix) to ensure there is no critical gap in nutrition.

The only pellet I have found that is made from high-quality ingredients and does NOT include extra fortification is Goldenfeast Golden'Obles. My Dexter does not love them, but when I mix them with dried fruit, nuts and a scant amount of hidden "bait" seeds, he will pick at them.
 

MikeyTN

New member
Feb 1, 2011
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Antioch, TN
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"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
Land of vos is a good site to reading about Eclectus Parrots. Please do try not to feed pellets at all. We feed ours fruits and veggies along with cooked foods and some seeds, mainly small seeds. Very minimal seeds we feed them.
 

SilverSage

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Sep 14, 2013
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Columbus, GA
Parrots
Eclectus, CAG, BH Pionus, Maximilian’s Pionus, Quakers, Indian Ringnecks, Green Cheeked Conures, Black Capped Conures, Cockatiels, Lovebirds, Budgies, Canaries, Diamond Doves, Zebra Finches, Society F
I feed pellets to my eckie only rarely, such as in extremely bad days when everything goes wrong. And when I feed them I have the following requirements based on my research:

NO ADDED VITAMINS OR MINERALS OF ANY SORT
NON GMO
NO PRESERVATIVES
COLD PRESSED
 

chris-md

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2010
4,349
2,119
Maryland - USA
Parrots
Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Land of vos is a good site to reading about Eclectus Parrots. Please do try not to feed pellets at all. We feed ours fruits and veggies along with cooked foods and some seeds, mainly small seeds. Very minimal seeds we feed them.



Mikey, that website has unfortunately been down for a few months now :(
 

Anansi

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Dec 18, 2013
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Somerset,NJ
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Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
Great links, Allee and Wendy! Just adding a link to the site that I consider the dietary bible for ekkies: http://eclectusparrots.net/fruitandveg.html

I'd suggest reading every subsection on that site. It's chock full of helpful info!

As for your question, 19266022 (should we call you 192 for short? Haha!), while some have proclaimed some success with pellets, there is a significant number of others whose ekkies have exhibited detrimental effects such as feather discoloration, toe-tapping and wing-flipping. Now, not all ekkies who are fed pellets suffer these symptoms, but they definitely appear to be more susceptible to complications arising from the enriched nature of pellets than other parrots.

So for me, considering that I've been able to provide a balanced fresh diet for my ekkies, I've opted to forgo pellets altogether.

In answer to the other portion of that question, if you do get pellets STAY AWAY from the colored types! Many have adverse effects on their plumage.
 
OP
19266022

19266022

New member
Nov 22, 2014
43
0
Queensland, Australia
Parrots
Jess is our Male Indian Ring Neck and Ruby is our Female Eclectus
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Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Definitely some great links Wendy, Allee & Anansi. Land of vos is a great site!! I'm going to avoid pellets as much as possible maybe a tablespoon 2 or 3 times a week.

Oh yeah I must change my username from 19266022 to my actual name haha. Thanks guys for the info
 

MikeyTN

New member
Feb 1, 2011
13,296
17
Antioch, TN
Parrots
"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
Land of vos is a good site to reading about Eclectus Parrots. Please do try not to feed pellets at all. We feed ours fruits and veggies along with cooked foods and some seeds, mainly small seeds. Very minimal seeds we feed them.



Mikey, that website has unfortunately been down for a few months now :(

That was a very good site, I had no idea it was taken down.... :(
 

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