charmedbyekkie
New member
My partner and I went to an ekkie community meetup today (for those who don't know - we don't yet have any parrot for a variety of reasons), and who did we see again but the ekkie who had showed up lost on our balcony! My partner insisted on going to the meetup because he was sure the little guy would be there.
Based on when the ekkie (keeping his name mum for privacy reasons) visited us, I figured he didn't quite like being touched anywhere but his beak. His owner, who laughed when he saw us, offered to let me hold him - much to my surprise. The little guy was really reluctant to step up onto my hand, but his owner insisted. He reached out with his beak and gently put pressure on my hand before stepping up. At the time, I thought he might be testing the stability of my hand since he's still quite young and unfamiliar with people. But once he was on my hand, I quickly realised he didn't want to be anywhere but his stand. He was very kind to me though - slowly building up pressure with his biting; however, by the time his owner took him off my hands, I lost a bit of skin on my thumb. (Here, I think we're quite lucky my response to animals is to stay quiet and calm). Still, I was so happy to see him again and to see him doing well
On the flip side, it was interesting to interact with the local bird community:
- I found myself empathising a little with the newcomers to this forum when I met a person who is considered the eclectus expert (and breeder) in the community. The person was trying to discourage us (understandable) without asking about what research we've done ourselves. Despite my partner saying how I've been reading nonstop, the breeder just assumed we were ignorant. I think a better approach would have been to ask what we already knew, and then to work from there - something I'll keep in mind when encountering newcomers here in the forum.
- The main basis on which the breeder was trying to discourage us from thinking about adopting an ekkie was the fact that handfeeding babies are difficult. My unspoken question is why on earth would anyone sell an unweaned bird?! But I also realised quickly based on the other group members' stories that buying an unweaned baby is considered the norm and actually expected.
- The breeder also seemed to try to encourage me to go for babies rather than adults because, simply put, adults come with baggage. This quite upset me for a variety of reasons. I've worked with children with special needs (who are hidden away culturally), I've worked with animals coming from abusive histories, and I don't think lesser of any of them. Sure, a different type of work has to go into your interactions, but it's not bad if a bird screams or doesn't want to interact with you for months. We all work at different paces and in different ways. Argh, it was just upsetting to hear people pushing parrot mills over rescue.
- Almost every ekkie was chained by the leg to their tripod stands, which resulted in several trying to fly off but falling to the ground as they pulled their tripod stand to the ground with them. I stifled my alarm since the community members were very blasƩ about it happening, but I made a mental note that until we've managed to complete harness training (with future ekkie), there'll be no trips to the meetups.
- Another common pattern in the community was using punishment on their birds. They shared stories on how their parrots learned not to bite certain things by hitting them once and the birds freeze in biting when their hands were raised to whack them a second time. (Considering corporal punishment is legal here - I'm not surprised, though the technique goes against what I've read as well as my instinct.)
Overall, good perspective for us - I think - gives me a better understanding of what I can reach out to the local community for (where to purchase supplies, where to socialise with other birds) and what I should reserve for this forum.
Based on when the ekkie (keeping his name mum for privacy reasons) visited us, I figured he didn't quite like being touched anywhere but his beak. His owner, who laughed when he saw us, offered to let me hold him - much to my surprise. The little guy was really reluctant to step up onto my hand, but his owner insisted. He reached out with his beak and gently put pressure on my hand before stepping up. At the time, I thought he might be testing the stability of my hand since he's still quite young and unfamiliar with people. But once he was on my hand, I quickly realised he didn't want to be anywhere but his stand. He was very kind to me though - slowly building up pressure with his biting; however, by the time his owner took him off my hands, I lost a bit of skin on my thumb. (Here, I think we're quite lucky my response to animals is to stay quiet and calm). Still, I was so happy to see him again and to see him doing well
On the flip side, it was interesting to interact with the local bird community:
- I found myself empathising a little with the newcomers to this forum when I met a person who is considered the eclectus expert (and breeder) in the community. The person was trying to discourage us (understandable) without asking about what research we've done ourselves. Despite my partner saying how I've been reading nonstop, the breeder just assumed we were ignorant. I think a better approach would have been to ask what we already knew, and then to work from there - something I'll keep in mind when encountering newcomers here in the forum.
- The main basis on which the breeder was trying to discourage us from thinking about adopting an ekkie was the fact that handfeeding babies are difficult. My unspoken question is why on earth would anyone sell an unweaned bird?! But I also realised quickly based on the other group members' stories that buying an unweaned baby is considered the norm and actually expected.
- The breeder also seemed to try to encourage me to go for babies rather than adults because, simply put, adults come with baggage. This quite upset me for a variety of reasons. I've worked with children with special needs (who are hidden away culturally), I've worked with animals coming from abusive histories, and I don't think lesser of any of them. Sure, a different type of work has to go into your interactions, but it's not bad if a bird screams or doesn't want to interact with you for months. We all work at different paces and in different ways. Argh, it was just upsetting to hear people pushing parrot mills over rescue.
- Almost every ekkie was chained by the leg to their tripod stands, which resulted in several trying to fly off but falling to the ground as they pulled their tripod stand to the ground with them. I stifled my alarm since the community members were very blasƩ about it happening, but I made a mental note that until we've managed to complete harness training (with future ekkie), there'll be no trips to the meetups.
- Another common pattern in the community was using punishment on their birds. They shared stories on how their parrots learned not to bite certain things by hitting them once and the birds freeze in biting when their hands were raised to whack them a second time. (Considering corporal punishment is legal here - I'm not surprised, though the technique goes against what I've read as well as my instinct.)
Overall, good perspective for us - I think - gives me a better understanding of what I can reach out to the local community for (where to purchase supplies, where to socialise with other birds) and what I should reserve for this forum.
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