Good diet for Eclectus?

[IBBean]

I brought home a female eclectus (Star) a couple of weeks ago. She is about six or seven years old and is a good eater for the most part. I know that they need a high fruit/veggie diet, featuring mostly veggies. I am wondering from other eclectus owners what you generally feed? I am currently feeding a morning meal of apples, blueberries, melon of some sort and spinach. About noon-ish I switch that out for her seed mix (Volkman's Eclectus Mix) and her final meal is brown rice, peas, carrots and more spinach. I do have her on a limited diet since she was eating some things with prior owner I wouldn't give as it is too high in calories. Also, I do not give her anything that is vitamin enriched such as the cook and serve parrot foods. Looking for some easy mixes I can prepare a few days in advance and bag and keep in fridge.

Thanks for the input!!

 

[MonicaMc]

Personally, I wouldn't feed spinach *nearly* that often! Maybe a couple times a week, at best! I would suggest feeding sprouted seeds, some healthy legumes and more vegetables.

I don't own an ekkie though, so I'm sure an ekkie owner will be along with more advice!

 

[Anansi]

Hello! Monica is right.From what I've read, spinach has enzyme inhibitors that can block your bird's ability to digest calcium. So having spinach here and there is fine, but definitely not as an every day staple.

The rest of your provided foods look good, but I would just add more variety. I usually give Bixby (my 9 month old male eclectus) a mixture of at least five different foods at each meal, taken from a larger selection of foods and mixed into any number of variations to keep him from getting bored.

Here are the foods that I give Bixby: carrots, endive, pumpkin, bell peppers (red, yellow, orange and green), chili peppers, brown rice, quinoa, corn, pomegranates, grapes, blueberries, asparagus, jalapeno peppers, Jamaican peppers, squash (butternut, green and yellow), snap peas, broccoli, cactus pears, starfruit, bananas, kale, turnips, granny smith apples, papaya, hominy, dandelions, okra, mango, chocho beans and garbanzo beans, as well as Volkman's Fancy Soak and Simmer for the majority of his legumes and grains. And I offer him a few slices of hard-boiled eggs (with the crushed shells - great for calcium!) maybe twice a month. In addition, I provide a separate cup with a small serving of seeds and nuts each morning.

Hope that helps!

 

[MikeyTN]

Land of vos have some pretty good mixes that she gives her eclectus! I usually direct folks with eclectus there as she is the eclectus queen.

 

[Terry57]

Stephen's list looks like what I feed my Ekko. He also gets cooked sweet potatoes, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower and cantelope as well. I also do several different things in each feed to give him some choices, and change it up every day. He is also a glutton for birdie bread!

As suggested by Michael, land of vos has an incredible amount of info as well.

I'd love to see pictures of Star!

 

[IBBean]

Thanks for the feedback! I will cut back on the spinach for awhile. I went last night and did a little bit of shopping for Star and picked up a mango, sugar snap peas, rainbow chard (they didn't have swiss chard so hope rainbow is okay), and will mix up those new items with her carrots, brown rice and yellow apple. I didn't want to get too much as first off I hate throwing away food and am wanting to determine what she likes.

An added bonus to a bird that likes to eat 'real' food is that now my incredibly picky grey, who is also a re-home and has refused to eat anything but seed is now eating the same mix I am feeding Star