Need advice on newly adopted female

Bgodz22

New member
Apr 16, 2019
2
0
Iowa
Parrots
1 female eclectic
I recently adopted a female eclectus from friends that didnā€™t have time to spend with her. She is in pretty rough shape from a feather standpoint. She has plucked most of the feathers from front and back. They said it was from stress/ lack of attention but most things that I have read state that 90% of feather destruction is dietary/ nutrition based. It appears that most of her diet was a seed/ pellet mix (including dyed pellets). I have attempted to give her fresh fuits and veggies ( bananas,apples,oranges,carrots) but she rejects most and goes right for the mix.
We live in a very rural area and our only vet is very country and deals mostly with livestock etc. just looking for some advice to get her back on the right track to being happy and healthy. I donā€™t have any experience with parrot care but have done a lot of reasearch and am committed to doing everything I can to help her.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks to all
 

charmedbyekkie

New member
May 24, 2018
1,148
82
US/SG
Parrots
Cairo the Ekkie!
Hey there! Welcome :)

It does take time for some birds to adjust their diet. I mean, if you've been eating candies nonstop, it's hard to be convinced to eat your greens :p Some people just don't offer the seed/pellet mix and try to go cold turkey, and that might work for some birds. For ours, his first meal I sprinkled and mixed his pellets into the chop. Then his second meal, I crushed his pellets and sprinkled it on top of his chop. The third meal, we managed to convince him to eat his chop and haven't looked back since.

As for what exactly she should be eating, on this Eclectus section and the Parrot Food, Recipes and Diet section, you can find a lot of recipes :) Anansi, chris-md, and Owlet have all posted good recipes for ekkies (I think my recipes are quite spread out and limited to Asian produce).

That being said, feather issues can be diet based, but they could also stem from other areas. If you poke around this Eclectus section, you'll find a lot of other parronts who have tackled this issue. For some, it's humidity or hormones. For some, it's psychological. You'll have to slowly take time to figure out what's her trigger.


As for happy and healthy living, parrots are too smart for their own good, so space, toys, and attention is key. Since you've got a lady ekkie on your hands, you'll have to keep an eye on her hormones, which means no hidey holes or dark/cave-like places for her.

Hope to hear more stories about you and your new little one! (What's her name?) :)
 

Lamb

New member
Apr 14, 2019
32
0
Parrots
American Budgies: Puppy, Birdie, Rainbow, Blu, Avalanche.
Lovebird: Mango, Orchid, Wolfie, Opal
English Budgies: Jasper, Anna, Ginji, Aoi, Ōdanna, Rocky.
GCC: Gracie
Cockatiel: Sol
IRN: Blue, Tik
I recently adopted an ekkie too! charmedbyekkies has been the ABSOLUTE BEST for advice. My guy was on a pellet diet but heā€™s taken to ā€œchopā€ really well. Hasnā€™t missed his pellets much at all and weā€™ve probably only gone though a few tablespoons of his pellets in the last few days.
 

Owlet

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
2,750
1,886
Colorado
Parrots
Lincoln (Eclectus), Apollo (Cockatiel), Aster (GCC)
When I first got Lincoln he was also on a rainbow pellet / seed mix diet. It took some convincing to get him onto chop but what I would do is just mix the pellets into the chop so then he would have to pick through the chop to get to the pellets and thus got a taste for the chop. If you can, maybe switch over to a healthier pellet like TOPs if she continues to be reluctant.
 
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Bgodz22

New member
Apr 16, 2019
2
0
Iowa
Parrots
1 female eclectic
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Thank you all for the quick response and great advice! I will keep you posted on her progress and post some pics too. Her name is Ruby btw ;)

I am not normally a forum user but have already found more info than i ever could have by doing random searches. What a wealth of information!

Thanks again!
 

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