He's always been a bit of a horn dog.... regurgitation and all.... but, is say in the last year he's been really bad....I put a cat bed on my desk for my kitties and had to take it off... he was just too annoying!Hi Marvysmom,
Can you put a timeframe around this? Is this recent behavior? How long as it been going on? Has it been consistent or off and on?
A couple of family members do pet on his back... I'll instruct not to... how about chest? I feed him Volkomen Eclctus feed and he gets fresh food daily which consists of hearts of romain lettuce, shredded carrots, purple cabbage, apples, grapes, a bit of egg.... his snacks are some of what we are eating..... bread of sandwich, a chip, chicken, pasta.... also his snack bowl always has pistachios, cashew, almond and walnuts.... the occasional honey nut cereal to......Is it unrelenting, or is it coming in fits and waves with breaks in between?
What can you tell us about his food? What’s his meals like? What snacks do you feel
Also make sure you aren’t petting him anywhere other than the head. Ekkies don’t have a hormonal season like most other parrots. So something in the care of the bird is triggering hormonal behavior. Be it the wrong food, petting incorrectly, among other things.
This is my poor guy right now![emoji20]A couple of family members do pet on his back... I'll instruct not to... how about chest? I feed him Volkomen Eclctus feed and he gets fresh food daily which consists of hearts of romain lettuce, shredded carrots, purple cabbage, apples, grapes, a bit of egg.... his snacks are some of what we are eating..... bread of sandwich, a chip, chicken, pasta.... also his snack bowl always has pistachios, cashew, almond and walnuts.... the occasional honey nut cereal to......Is it unrelenting, or is it coming in fits and waves with breaks in between?
What can you tell us about his food? What’s his meals like? What snacks do you feel
Also make sure you aren’t petting him anywhere other than the head. Ekkies don’t have a hormonal season like most other parrots. So something in the care of the bird is triggering hormonal behavior. Be it the wrong food, petting incorrectly, among other things.
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Holy cow....my poor baby! He should take to the cheerio looking one since he loves cheerios...lol! Where can i find other recipes, Or do you have others....I have heard birds get tired of the same thing all the time....I'll get these going right away. Have any tips to teach him how to play? When we adopted him, didn't play or chew on anything.... have been trying, but he just acts like the toy is a monster that's going to eat him...lol. Will he stop plucking his feathers with the new diet? He normally is so pretty!Aw what a handsome boy!! He’s a barberer my boy is too unfortunately.
I see a huge problem right there with the food.
1) seed diet: Bad! Don’t you dare feed this garbage to this poor guy. THROW THIS OUT NOW!! If you need a dry mix, like me, look into Higgins fruit to veg mix. Or go with a natural pellet like Goldenfeast Goldn’obles I (brown Cheerios looking pellet) or TOPs. Both have natural ingredients (quinoa, Brown rice, spinach, etc) without preservatives or supplements.
2) ties into 1: the all nut snack bowl always filled needs to go,immediately.
You’ve got him on a very fatty diet, seeds and nuts. I see the fresh diet you mention, kudos! But that itself needs some real tweaking, but based on your description fatty foods feature prominently in the plurality of his daily intake.
This is not good, and is likely a huge root of your problem. Ekkies highly specialized dietary needs requires a low fat diet.
High fat diet is often correlated to increased hormonal activity.
Also, ekkies diet is high fiber diet. You don’t have nearly enough fiber there. Where are the grains? Brown rice, barely, quinoa, all really important. Add some tropical fruit in there also, it is a staple of their diet in the wild. Romaine lettuce - lettuce in general - is ok for a snack but for ekkies has no redeeming virtue so really shouldn’t be part of their diet. Work on different sources of vitamin a, the other key nutrient in their dietary needs. Bell peppers are a big source for this. As are sweet potatoes.
My big takeaway here is that you need to get a better handle on Marvys diet. Once you do that you should see some big overall improvements in his general behavior. Major kudos for trying! You just need to do a bit more research into the key needs.
Parker gets frozen chop, here’s one example of a typical chop recipe I’ll cobble together for him:
Brown rice
Bell peppers
kale - leaves separated from stems and included separately as separate ingredients - Parker loves celery so will eat the kale stems like celery
Peas
Green beans
Carrots
Hemp seeds
Spaghetti squash
Corn
Chia seeds
A stroll down the frozen vegetable aisle alone will do wonders for Marvy!
When this is thawed I’ll often top dress with any combination of shaved almond, red palm oil, coconut oil, flax seeds, or assorted herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint, you name it).
Wow....Marvy starts the same time.... right around Christmas, but usually doesn't last this long... That's why I'm hoping it's diet. The other one I'm afraid of is boredom... but like I said...I can't get him to play or chew anything to alleviate it.As far as recipes for chop, just make your own! You can’t go wrong starting with a grain, peppers, and some frozen veggies to start. Build from there: broccoli, cauliflower, sky’s the limit! research bird safe vegetables. Avoid okra; the snotty characteristic makes handling the food very unpleasant.
Here’s what you need to know: high fiber and vitamin a diet. Big fiber sources include leafy greens (but watch for unassuming sources of oxalates like spinach and Swiss chard, feed these more sparingly) and grains. Low fat, low sugar diet so fruits are actually lower on the food pyramid than you would expect <—this is because ekkies, unlike many other parrots, tend to be a more sedentary species, not quite so active. Perch potatoes really. Lower activity level means sugary foods like fruits make them more likely to be overweight.
If it’s not natural ingredients - veggies - don’t feed it. Potato chips? Gone. White pasta? Nope!!
NOTHING WITH ADDED VITAMINS AND MINERALS (“enriched”) SHOULD BE FRD TO YOUR BIRD. Their bodies can’t handle them and it can be dangerous. Only natural ingredients for your boy. THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL.
Note the caps? Dead serious on this point, nonnegotiable. Very serious health implications with feeding enriched foods.
Aren’t you glad I told you to start another thread?
For the plucking/barbering, without knowing why he is plucking there’s no way to say if correcting his diet will lead to improved feathering or not. Plucking and barbering are very complex behaviors that can be caused by so many different issues ranging from nutrient deficiency to lack of mental stimulation and everything in between.
If you haven’t done so already, you really should get him to a certified avian vet to get blood work done to check on all of his critical blood levels and to rule out any Health problems that may be contributing to his barbering.
Depending on how long he’s been doing it, it’s quite possible the root cause of his plucking was addressed long ago but the plucking has gone on so long that it’s now essentially an unbreakable habit. In the words of my avian vet, “there’s nothing wrong with the naked bird as long as that bird is happy“.
My boy actually has a very interesting pattern that we can’t decipher. He has a single malt in late summer and leaves the new feathers alone until Christmas. After Christmas he always starts chewing his feathers one at a time over the course of a few months until he is nothing but down feathers on his chest my boy actually has a very interesting pattern that we can’t decipher. He has a single molt in late summer and leaves the new feathers alone until Christmas. After Christmas he always starts chewing his feathers one at a time over the course of a few months until he is nothing but down feathers on his chest. by March. He’ll sit with Gray down feathers until he starts molting in late summer. Rinse and repeat
Thank SO much for the tip on the dry food Goldenfeast.....idk if it's because it looks like cheerios and he loves cheerios... but, I don't care.... this is the first time in 5 years he has eaten pellet food without me having to crush it up in bird bread or his fresh food...lol.... he's chowing on it![emoji16] I have contacted a vet, we don't have a certified one closer than 120 miles, but found one that has been working towards that goal here in town that is friends with the one 120 miles from here and also has a former classmate that is a avian vet in Florida.... so she's getting plenty of support... taking him in this week. Changed up his chop... that one is going slow (I know birds are set in their ways, but this one is extra stubborn..lol), but going to stick with it. Making him fly more to get more exercise and am trying to get him to at least not shy away from toys I introduce.... I'm keeping them with me when he's around me so he thinks it's mine.... he LOVES anything that's mine...lol!Aw what a handsome boy!! He’s a barberer my boy is too unfortunately.
I see a huge problem right there with the food.
1) seed diet: Bad! Don’t you dare feed this garbage to this poor guy. THROW THIS OUT NOW!! If you need a dry mix, like me, look into Higgins fruit to veg mix. Or go with a natural pellet like Goldenfeast Goldn’obles I (brown Cheerios looking pellet) or TOPs. Both have natural ingredients (quinoa, Brown rice, spinach, etc) without preservatives or supplements.
2) ties into 1: the all nut snack bowl always filled needs to go,immediately.
You’ve got him on a very fatty diet, seeds and nuts. I see the fresh diet you mention, kudos! But that itself needs some real tweaking, but based on your description fatty foods feature prominently in the plurality of his daily intake.
This is not good, and is likely a huge root of your problem. Ekkies highly specialized dietary needs requires a low fat diet.
High fat diet is often correlated to increased hormonal activity.
Also, ekkies diet is high fiber diet. You don’t have nearly enough fiber there. Where are the grains? Brown rice, barely, quinoa, all really important. Add some tropical fruit in there also, it is a staple of their diet in the wild. Romaine lettuce - lettuce in general - is ok for a snack but for ekkies has no redeeming virtue so really shouldn’t be part of their diet. Work on different sources of vitamin a, the other key nutrient in their dietary needs. Bell peppers are a big source for this. As are sweet potatoes.
My big takeaway here is that you need to get a better handle on Marvys diet. Once you do that you should see some big overall improvements in his general behavior. Major kudos for trying! You just need to do a bit more research into the key needs.
Parker gets frozen chop, here’s one example of a typical chop recipe I’ll cobble together for him:
Brown rice
Bell peppers
kale - leaves separated from stems and included separately as separate ingredients - Parker loves celery so will eat the kale stems like celery
Peas
Green beans
Carrots
Hemp seeds
Spaghetti squash
Corn
Chia seeds
A stroll down the frozen vegetable aisle alone will do wonders for Marvy!
When this is thawed I’ll often top dress with any combination of shaved almond, red palm oil, coconut oil, flax seeds, or assorted herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint, you name it).
Thank you so much....I will add some of these to his chop... that part is going a lot slower, so maybe he'll be more interested with some of these...lol![emoji16]Phenomenal posts by Chris! I definitely second all that he's said. I'm laughing because, in just coming to this thread and reading your posts, I was formulating everything that I needed to say to you. But as I read each of Chris' posts, my list of responses grew shorter and shorter.
So all I'll do to add to his already wonderful advice is to put here the list of foods that I feed my own ekkies (I post it on threads like these from time to time because I remember how hard it was to find good, reliable info on ekkie diets when I first started out) and give a link or two:
I tend to provide between 8 and 12 types of food per feeding for Maya and Jolly, weighted heavily toward the veggie side as only 1-2 of the food selections in a given meal are fruits.
Various sprouts, carrots (a part of every meal due to the high content of beta carotene - precursor to Vitamin A - which is essential for eclectus parrots), bell peppers (red, yellow, orange and green), jalapeno peppers, Jamaican Scotch Bonnet peppers, chili peppers, squash (butternut, green and yellow), pumpkin (also high in Vitamin A), blueberries and pomegranates (both among the most nutritious of fruits), snap peas, broccoli (high in calcium), cactus pears, persimmon, starfruit, bananas, grapes, kale, turnips, radishes, brown rice, quinoa, cucumbers, endives, dandelion (nutritional powerhouse offered at every meal when available), sweet potato (cooked), red swiss chard, granny smith apples, papaya, African horned melon, hominy, oatmeal (sans sugar or flavoring), kiwi, barley, calendula flowers, fennel, chocho beans and garbanzo beans, as well as Volkman's Fancy Soak and Simmer for the majority of their legumes and grains.
For food accents I'll add one or two types of the following as well: star anise, milk thistle, elder berries, rose hips, hibiscus, bee pollen and chamomile flowers.
Twice a month, I'll give some hard-boiled egg (with the crushed shell for calcium). Slightly more frequently during a molt.
For their training treats they get an assortment of unsalted nuts (one or two per bird in a given day, broken into small pieces and fed as rewards through the training sessions). And for their "goodnight treat", up to a teaspoon or two of seeds.
And links.
Diet: fruitandveg
Target Training: Beginners guide to target training parrots - YouTube