Eclectus Diet : Need some Advice!

[Amna]

Hello everyone,
My little Rudi is growing up, and I’m a bit confused about her diet. She’s 2.5 months old, an ekkie, and she’s mostly weaned. She eats very well! I give her fresh veggies and fruits every day, along with a tiny amount of natural pellets. I’ve read many articles and learn new things every day, but I’m still unsure if I’m doing everything right. Am I on the right track?

What else can I give her? What about soaked or sprouted seeds? How can I prepare them, and what kind of seeds are suitable?

Also, when it comes to veggies, can I prepare chops in advance and store them in the freezer for weeks or months?

What about treats? When training her, what can I use as a treat?

Here is an image of her (don’t worry about the plants i watch her carefully)

 

[kme3388]

Hello everyone,
My little Rudi is growing up, and I’m a bit confused about her diet. She’s 2.5 months old, an ekkie, and she’s mostly weaned. She eats very well! I give her fresh veggies and fruits every day, along with a tiny amount of natural pellets. I’ve read many articles and learn new things every day, but I’m still unsure if I’m doing everything right. Am I on the right track?

What else can I give her? What about soaked or sprouted seeds? How can I prepare them, and what kind of seeds are suitable?

Also, when it comes to veggies, can I prepare chops in advance and store them in the freezer for weeks or months?

What about treats? When training her, what can I use as a treat?

Here is an image of her (don’t worry about the plants i watch her carefully)
View attachment 78614

She is a beautiful parrot. I have an adult Ekkie. I can’t really comment about a baby as I have no experience with them. I will tell you what I feed my adult Ekkie though.

Harrison’s pepper course pellets

Chop (bird tricks seasonal feeding system as anything I was giving my parrots they refused). It took my Ekkie awhile to eat fresh food. He has gotten better over the years.

Pine nuts as training treats

An almond in the shell for foraging

Nutri-berries as treats

My Ekkie gets a variety diet. He is over 20 years old now. He’s a senior Ekkie. I adopted him almost 4 years ago.

I also wanted to mention as your Ekkie ages, and hits puberty her personality can change a lot. Parrots become more independent at this time, and won’t be as snuggly. Ekkie’s are well known to not like to be touched. My Ekkie cannot stand anyone touching his feathers. There is one person on here that his Ekkie does allow touching. I feel like this is a one off situation.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

What a gorgeous girl she's growing up to be!

 

[saxguy64]

Haha KME, I'm betting that one person is me... and Tucker. I always freely admit, I'm so lucky and truly blessed with a snuggly boy And yes, very true that many aren't that way. Those that allow or enjoy touching, pretty much ALWAYS front to back. They really don't like to have the "do" messed with. My little green oddball will occasionally allow a good roughing up of the feathers, but only when HE wants it.

@Amna I think you're on the right track. Your beautiful girl is still a baby, so now is the time to introduce lots of new foods. Some will be accepted right away, while others might be a while, if ever, but exposing her to them, and continuing to offer different things gives you a good chance of her accepting healthy things throughout her life. The baby side of things, like KME above, I have no experience with. Tucker is the youngest I've adopted, and he was almost 4 when I got him. Best I can offer is to not force her to wean completely. Allow her to make that choice when she's ready.

 

[chris-md]

Everything well said above. Keep trying new things! Formula weaning aside, diet is diet.

For treats, let her tell you what is a training treat for her: different nuts, heck, someone I recall discovered banana was a perfect training treat for them. The items she loves the most get pulled from the day to day diet and reserved for training.

Sprouts, yes! I feel sprouts every meal visit a sprouting website (I use sprout people.org) to get sprouting mixed. If you want to start easy, just try some lentils or chickpeas.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Piccolo eats Harrison's and a large variety of vegetables and fruits. He also has a warm mash. I order a premade mix from a place called Avian Organics(from Canada), but I always mix other things in it for variety. That is how we get him to try new things. I also freeze it in individual servings. I just take one out of freezer and put into frig for the next day. I warm in microwave for a bit, but always check temp prior to giving it to him. He likes their Pineapple Pudding, Pomegranate Pudding, and Strawberry Patch mixes best. By pudding they mean that chai seeds are added in mix so it gives it a pudding like texture. He loves banana, edamame, peas, blueberries, goji berries, etc. mixed in. He was under a year and fully weened when we brought him home. The key for him is usually to sit down with a bowl of whatever it is and eat it with him, and several times. He loves pine nuts and macadamia nuts especially, given as treats or training. Good luck, she is so pretty!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Piccolo eats Harrison's and a large variety of vegetables and fruits. He also has a warm mash. I order a premade mix from a place called Avian Organics(from Canada), but I always mix other things in it for variety. That is how we get him to try new things. I also freeze it in individual servings. I just take one out of freezer and put into frig for the next day. I warm in microwave for a bit, but always check temp prior to giving it to him. He likes their Pineapple Pudding, Pomegranate Pudding, and Strawberry Patch mixes best. By pudding they mean that chai seeds are added in mix so it gives it a pudding like texture. He loves banana, edamame, peas, blueberries, goji berries, etc. mixed in. He was under a year and fully weened when we brought him home. The key for him is usually to sit down with a bowl of whatever it is and eat it with him, and several times. He loves pine nuts and macadamia nuts especially, given as treats or training. Good luck, she is so pretty!

And yes on the sprouts! We sprout our own, and he loves to help make them and sample them along the way

 

[Amna]

She is a beautiful parrot. I have an adult Ekkie. I can’t really comment about a baby as I have no experience with them. I will tell you what I feed my adult Ekkie though.

Harrison’s pepper course pellets

Chop (bird tricks seasonal feeding system as anything I was giving my parrots they refused). It took my Ekkie awhile to eat fresh food. He has gotten better over the years.

Pine nuts as training treats

An almond in the shell for foraging

Nutri-berries as treats

My Ekkie gets a variety diet. He is over 20 years old now. He’s a senior Ekkie. I adopted him almost 4 years ago.

I also wanted to mention as your Ekkie ages, and hits puberty her personality can change a lot. Parrots become more independent at this time, and won’t be as snuggly. Ekkie’s are well known to not like to be touched. My Ekkie cannot stand anyone touching his feathers. There is one person on here that his Ekkie does allow touching. I feel like this is a one off situation.

Thank you so much!
I’m not sure if it’s because she’s still a baby, but she loves cuddles so much! She even asks for scratches. Sometimes, Rudi refuses to sleep in her cage and keeps squawking until I let her sleep in my arms. I have to keep petting her the whole time, and if I stop, she starts squawking again.

 

[Amna]

Thank you all so much for everything! I’m really grateful for your help.
I’ve learned a lot from you guys!

 

[saxguy64]

If you haven't already found them, wee have a couple threads here with tons of useful information on ekkie diet. Special thanks to @chris-md

First:

Thread 'The Eclectus Diet: The Do's, the Don'ts, and Everything You Need to Know But Were Too Afraid to Ask'

Dec 1, 2021

The eclectus diet; much talked-about, always poorly understood. This post will have three objectives:

• Explain the dos and don’ts of feeding your eclectus
• Relate it to wild eclectus feeding behavior
• Examine the discussion surrounding their physiology, and what makes them unique among parrot species.

What is important to understand is that WHAT/HOW to feed them is universally agreed and understood. What may be misunderstood is the physiology that explains WHY they may be so different.

How is the Eclectus diet different from other companion parrots:

This...

• chris-md
• Replies: 63
• Forum: Eclectus

• 
• 
• 

And secondly:
Because I believe most of us also supplement the fresh/chop diet with some dry foods, this has some great info to consider

Thread 'Eclectus Diet - Suitable Dry Mixes'

Sep 19, 2021

A question often seen in the eclectus world, given their unique dietary requirements, is "what dry mix can I feed my ekkie? I'm in ..... situation and can't really feed fresh at the moment".

To begin, we must emphasize that it is critical to feed your eclectus fresh food. Usually amongst parrot owners this is accomplished through serving chop, which is essentially a bunch of fresh ingredients that have been run through a food processor or otherwise chopped up really finely, and mixed together. To help in that respect, below is a thread to a sticky on assorted Chop Recipes:

Chop...

• chris-md
• Replies: 26
• Forum: Eclectus

• 
• 
• 

 

[kme3388]

Haha KME, I'm betting that one person is me... and Tucker. I always freely admit, I'm so lucky and truly blessed with a snuggly boy And yes, very true that many aren't that way. Those that allow or enjoy touching, pretty much ALWAYS front to back. They really don't like to have the "do" messed with. My little green oddball will occasionally allow a good roughing up of the feathers, but only when HE wants it.

@Amna I think you're on the right track. Your beautiful girl is still a baby, so now is the time to introduce lots of new foods. Some will be accepted right away, while others might be a while, if ever, but exposing her to them, and continuing to offer different things gives you a good chance of her accepting healthy things throughout her life. The baby side of things, like KME above, I have no experience with. Tucker is the youngest I've adopted, and he was almost 4 when I got him. Best I can offer is to not force her to wean completely. Allow her to make that choice when she's ready.

Yes I was talking about you. You are the only person I’ve came across that has the gift of being able to touch the Ekkie feathers.

 

[TiredOldMan]

Thank you so much!
I’m not sure if it’s because she’s still a baby, but she loves cuddles so much! She even asks for scratches. Sometimes, Rudi refuses to sleep in her cage and keeps squawking until I let her sleep in my arms. I have to keep petting her the whole time, and if I stop, she starts squawking again.

I absolutely adore needy birds, heck any animal. I guess that's why I love cockatoos so much.

 

[saxguy64]

Yes I was talking about you. You are the only person I’ve came across that has the gift of being able to touch the Ekkie feathers.

It truly is a gift!