Female Ekkies Can Be Wonderful!!!

Husband and I have seen many posts on the internet that question owning a female Ekkie. I wanted to post my story here for others because I have a wonderful devil princess, it all seems to drill down to hormones.

My story is that I watched a male Ekkie hatching and growth on this blog, the females were so beautiful and I wanted one. Husband and I were walking through markets and found one at a pet shop, my Venus. She came right to me and even visited Husband. She was 2 years old. She and I bonded quickly. Out of my three fids, if I have one on my shoulder, it's her. She's my super buddy! Out of my three fids, she will hang with me all day, eat with me, shower with me, ride in the car with me, she's amazing.

Then puberty hit.

Puberty arrived in January of 2016. We have worked through this, focusing on Venus, she has had her moments, I have scars. However, even though she is a raging hormone, yes she is a raging hormone even today, I get her being a woman and have processes in place to handle her. Even though she has her rough moments she still snuggles with me and we have our girl time. Today I opened her cage, I thought she would go for her playtop but she changed her routine, she ran to me and we had girl time. She was being so sweet!

Female Ekkies can be hard core and hormonal, but they can also be so sweet!!!! If you are considering a female Ekkie, please think about and understand that with their hormones, they can be very volatile resulting in injury. If you need to see I have pics I can share, lol!

Totally agree, but my Angel is strictly a one-person bird. This despite attempts to broaden her horizons; she was hand-fed from a chick exclusively by women! She will grudgingly tolerate the presence of a male, particularly her vet, but women are terribly scorned!

Trace, I just want to say that I love how you've stuck this situation through. You've found the balance between curbing and regulating her behavior, and adjusting your own behaviors and habits to more organically mesh with her own. You've been a wonderful parront to her, and I thought you should know it.

Kudos to you for sure. It's sad to think about how many parrots have been given away because they're not willing to work through it. I hope things get better.

Great job Tracey!

I had a female Ekkie well into maturity, and she didn't display any aggression or overt signs of hormones. So for anyone apprehensive about getting one, they aren't all super hormonal. Maybe mine was just unusual though(?)

I'm curious about getting an Ekkie - However am fearful of the aggression and biting. My husband suffered some severe bites from an old pineapple conure, and i'm hesitant to bring another bird home that might have a much bigger and meaner bite!

I've noticed across touring countless youtube videos that I hardly ever see Females speaking, or performing tricks. Is this because they are less prone to doing either, or because people predominately pick males as pets?

I don't have the numbers to back it up but I believe the males are a little more common. Add to that not every owner is going to train their birds. Males do tend to be a bit more vocal, as their job is to scream their fool head off at the burrow.

Let's assume a well behaved bird hitting hormones. The worst case scenario is a constantly aggressive during that time of the year. Here's what it's like.

[ame="https://youtu.be/zD8R7zcD9NI"]How to handle a hormonally aggressive eclectus - YouTube[/ame]

chris-md said:

I don't have the numbers to back it up but I believe the males are a little more common. Add to that not every owner is going to train their birds. Males do tend to be a bit more vocal, as their job is to scream their fool head off at the burrow.

Let's assume a well behaved bird hitting hormones. The worst case scenario is a constantly aggressive during that time of the year. Here's what it's like.

How to handle a hormonally aggressive eclectus - YouTube

Click to expand...

What an AWESOME video!!! Your video is awesome. I have been doing the crooked hand/arm with Venus!!!!! A great finding. I started doing this because she wanted to make a B-Line to my shoulder. A great share Chris!!! As always Parker is gorgeous, even when Moody, lol!!!!


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chris-md said:

I don't have the numbers to back it up but I believe the males are a little more common. Add to that not every owner is going to train their birds. Males do tend to be a bit more vocal, as their job is to scream their fool head off at the burrow.

Let's assume a well behaved bird hitting hormones. The worst case scenario is a constantly aggressive during that time of the year. Here's what it's like.

Click to expand...

Thanks Chris - So is it normal for an Eclectus (male or female) to get hormonal and aggressive/bitey around the same time every year??

EsJ87 said:

chris-md said:

I don't have the numbers to back it up but I believe the males are a little more common. Add to that not every owner is going to train their birds. Males do tend to be a bit more vocal, as their job is to scream their fool head off at the burrow.



Let's assume a well behaved bird hitting hormones. The worst case scenario is a constantly aggressive during that time of the year. Here's what it's like.

Click to expand...

Thanks Chris - So is it normal for an Eclectus (male or female) to get hormonal and aggressive/bitey around the same time every year??

Click to expand...

Look up my posts if you are interested in a female. I have posted a ton with my adventures with my female Ekkie, good, bad and painful. It has proven to be a challenge but I love my Ekkie and am not giving up on her. We progress and have slow success, I rate it as slow so expectations are rated. You have to work at the fid's pace.


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Thanks guys . It's exactly why I made this video and my flight recall training video: I wish I knew more clearly what it was like.

Esj87, no, not all get like this. Every bird reacts differently. Some males for example simply become amorous, masturbating constantly. If you search for masturbating eclectus you'll find dozens of threads on how to stop this behavior. Others get aggressive, like Parker.

And on the rare individual you may not notice any difference at all.

To be clear though, Tracey's bird is currently going through puberty. My bird is 7, went through puberty long ago, so I deal with annual hormones, which only last a week or two at most. Two different beasts. Once puberty is over, they settle down and you only deal with hormones once a year...for the most part.

EsJ87 said:

...I've noticed across touring countless youtube videos that I hardly ever see Females speaking, or performing tricks. Is this because they are less prone to doing either, or because people predominately pick males as pets?

Click to expand...

I can definitely tell you that it's not a matter of them being less prone to either. While Maya doesn't talk as much as Jolly does, her mimicry of the human voice is better. She's imitated my wife's voice well enough to fool me!

And as for tricks, Maya can hold her own in that arena as well. Though she definitely has a sense of humor about it. I've shown these videos before, but for any who haven't seen, this was when I was initially teaching her to fetch and identify colors:

[ame="https://youtu.be/htMxgQtYk3Q"]Messing with Daddy - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://youtu.be/qE-8zC17suM"]Forgetful Maya - YouTube[/ame]

I adore those videos ��

Maya is so cute Stephen . I love how her body moves when she walks in the last one. She's adorable.

Thanks Chris and Jules!

Yeah, she does have a "I am a Diva" way of moving about, doesn't she? Real languid and unhurried, like you are expected to patiently await her arrival. Lol!