Male of Female Eclectus...what is the answer??

Hi everone!! My family and I have decided that we would like to welcome an eclectus to our family! I have read so many articles about the bird and there friendly nature. I have 2 young boys 8 & 4. We are torn between what sex bird would be the right fit for our family. One breeder has told us that the female is the best fit as they are more calm and less aggressive. When asked the same question to another breeder she says male would be better for our family with the young children. The sex of the bird is not important to us we just want the "right" fit for our family. Does anyone have any advice for us??

I would probably go with a male. In general, the males are less likely to go through hormonal stages where they suddenly become aggressive. Just keep in mind that they don't do very well in a loud or hectic environment. Eclectus also have very special dietary needs, so make sure you understand this before getting one.

Thanks for the welcome!! We know that the ekkie is the bird for us. Thanks for your thoughts. Our boys can be a bit loud at times but if raised with them is that something that they will adapt too?

Welcome to the forum.
I have a female and she does have her moments. but she is very intelligent and is talking up a storm. She does not get rattled. I do not have kids but my neighbors do and the kids come over and Abby loves the attention and will sit on their arms.
Abby has adapted to family as I have 2 dogs and cat, she will climb down her ladder too come over to me past the dogs and cat and they do not bother her and she pays them no attention unless they get too close and the she will open her mouth and they will move away...
I do understand that males are more affectionate and to they are good talkers.
Good luck with your choices...

PS. As with any bird, give them alot of quality attention and a ton of toys to play with. Eckies can get bored real quick, so give them foraging toys and toys they can shred. Abby is caged from 6 am to 4:30 pm during the week an she is fine. She is so happy when I get home and let her out.

I just adopted Solomon 2 weeks ago, he is a rehome and we are still getting to know each other. He has been cage bound quiet a bit the last 3-4 years with human contact to be feed and cage cleaned.
Patience is the key word with and bird, young or old.... it takes time for them to bond...

I have a boy. And he is the perfect parrot I don't have any experience with the girls, so I can't compare them, but I had the understanding that someone might reccomed you one as a family because the girls are apparently more independent and able to put up with louder more stressful households compared to the males (something that kinda goes with having a house of kids lol). But there are 8 people living in my house, (my parents, older brother, and 5 younger siblings, the youngest of which is still in year 2, and our male Ekkie holds up fine, and is all the more socialized for it.
People often generalize that the males are more introverted, bonding and cuddly, able to put up with a lot, and a good bird with kids, and females generally get a bad rep because many do go through a hormonal stage and become nippy, and they are generally considered to be more dominant and strong, and less cuddly. But I think you will find many many people with a bird that is nothing like these descriptions at all. Lol.
I suppose it depends on the individual birds personality at the end of the day. And to be honest I half picked pickle as a boy simply because i fell in love with the green XD ... Kind of ironic in my case though.

Welcome and good luck with your choice

Hello!
I have a male, and he is fantastic with my 3 stepkids. To the point that he allows them to tuck him up in the pram and other such undignified behaviour!
He absolutely loves noise, chaos and hectic surrounds. The kids arent with us full time, and he copes equally well with or without them (he talks and plays a lot more with them here).
Ive made an effort to so******e him and he is not scared of new situations, and absolutely loves going for a ride in the car (especially if mum cant be bothered cooking and we go to the drivrthru. He then gets to yell into the speakers, and gets one little frnch fry!)
He is not cage agressive at all (the females tend to be cage aggresive).

He has never bitten anyone, and I love him dearly.

In saying all this, there is a male eccie who i see at the vet every now and again, and he is very introverted, but I gave never experienced it with my one. I have made a great effort to so******e him and he is a happy well adjusted bird.

So, I would have to disgaree with you Oedipussrex - I have the perfect parrot! =) =)

Between the two I have to say male is better BUT it really varies from bird to bird. My Gracie has her moments but she's a sweetheart overall. She will bite strangers though! JoJo freaks out with strangers though. JoJo was not tame at first, seems to have been abused at one point as he's very jumpy and freaks out easily. I had him trained in the first week, got his full trust in a month. Now he's really good with us that he no longer closet talk, he would not talk infront of us before but he's good now.

I initially was getting a female but the night before pick up we were in the pet shop getting some last minute things and the owner of the shop asked us what we were getting. When I said a female he said "don't do it, not if it's your first they can be very nippy". I rang my breeder and asked her what she thought and she agreed as the first bird we were going to get she ended up using as a breeder bird because she was very nippy. She said the female we were getting now was a nice natured bird but she still had the male if we wanted to swap.

We thought a lot about it over night and the next day had decided on the female. I went to pick her up and she bit me! The male who was in the same cage hopped right onto my hand......and that's who came home with us.

One thing I will mention is Puffin does not like a lot of loud noise. I have a son who loves watching football and wrestling and he and his mates can get quite vocal LOL and Puffin will let them know they are annoying him and screams very loudly!

I've been lucky with the girls as they allow me to pick them up. But still no ekkies is as sweet as mine!

When I went to pickup JoJo and Gracie, Gracie was the friendly one while JoJo needed a lot of work. So like I've mentioned before, it really depends on each bird.

There is a forum/website especially dedicated to the Eclectus... It's called eclectusparrots.net....

I have read that females are better in a busy house, whereas males prefer the more quieter house...

My neighbour owns and breed ekkies, they're beautiful birds but very high maintenance. From my observation, males are extremely one-person birds in most cases and the females tend to be as well. I would not recommend an ekkie as a family pet. Something like a conure, small macaw, cockatiel or even a big macaw like a blue and gold would be better suited. Of course, every bird is different... but I have not met an ekkie that would go well in a family environment. I may have only met grumpy ones, though. :09:

The males are likely to be less grumpy, unless bonded to just one person. Girls are less likely to be one-person-birds, but more hormonal. I would recommend meeting a bunch of ekkies before making your final choice, they are great birds but definitely not for everyone.

Sorry Bumblebec but I have to disagree. Puffin certainly is more bonded to me but he loves everyone in our family and plays with everyone and has certain things he does with each of us. He showers with my son, dances with my daughter, plays with my husband and just likes to sit with me and cuddle with me. He loves several of my daughters friends just like family and interacts with our cats by calling them and telling them off LOL.

I have a friend who has a male a year younger than Puffin and a one year old son and Jack runs after Connor's walker and plays peek a boo with him. I think it is all about the individual personality of the bird and how much you put in to working with your bird.

Puffin comes to work with me and is great with my employees and is in general a people person.

The green (male) are known to be less aggressive.

bumblebec said:

My neighbour owns and breed ekkies, they're beautiful birds but very high maintenance. From my observation, males are extremely one-person birds in most cases and the females tend to be as well. I would not recommend an ekkie as a family pet. Something like a conure, small macaw, cockatiel or even a big macaw like a blue and gold would be better suited. Of course, every bird is different... but I have not met an ekkie that would go well in a family environment. I may have only met grumpy ones, though. :09:

The males are likely to be less grumpy, unless bonded to just one person. Girls are less likely to be one-person-birds, but more hormonal. I would recommend meeting a bunch of ekkies before making your final choice, they are great birds but definitely not for everyone.

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Some breeders don't have as much time as others to socailize them. Birds aren't born aggressive. It's how much atteniton they get. But I do agree some that females tend to have more aggressive moments, but then again any bird will have their moments where they don't want to be bothered.