Hello

[np76]

I'm a new member here. I have a Rad Sided Eclectus and hand feeding him with syringe. He is with us from last four days and getting better with hand feeding.

 

[Terry57]

Hello and welcome! Your baby is precious Have you named him yet?

 

[Allee]

Beautiful baby Ekkie. Congrats and welcome to the forums.

 

[labell]

What a beautiful boy! Have you hand fed before? Eclectus are one of the most difficult to hand feed and wean of all parrots. It's very important to their long term well being that they wean at their own pace and are provided with tons of variety during the weaning process even if you feel you are wasting most of it. Believe me the more variety you introduce when they first start testing eating real foods the better off you will be in the long run.

Dark leafy greens are very important and something many folks neglect imo when feeding eclectus. Mine LOVE kale, Italian Parsley, Cilantro, Collard Greens, Mustard Green, Dandelion, Arugula. I typically chop it small so I can really incorporate it with all the other fresh foods. Pomegranates are a huge hit with eclectus as well!

Welcome to the forum and we look forward to hearing more about your boy.

 

[kq_fan]

Welcome! The new baby bird is so cute! Congrats!

 

[np76]

I had never hand fed the baby parrot before but he is getting along with me now. Taking his formula with little extra effort just enough to fill his crop. We named him Peeko. He is about 2 months old. Should I introduce some other food to him. I'm feeding him formula three times a day. He got a bowl of seeds in his box. I seen him trying to have those seeds. Any suggestion would be a great help. How about steamed and mashed apple or mashed banana with hand. Breeder advised me to continue with formula till he starts eating himself.

 

[labell]

He is not really old enough to eat seeds at this point all he is going to do is scatter them around. With babies I do offer millet spray because it's kind of a toy and food at this point in their development. If you decide you want to give him some seed as he gets older I would encourage you to buy the Volkman's brand specifically for eclectus. There are no dyes or fortification.

I am concerned that you have never hand fed and having your first be an eclectus as well! There are many really BAD things that can go wrong with hand feeding as well as issues weaning. It is a huge pet peeve of mine when breeders hand over hand feeding babies to people with no experience, in the over 25 yrs that I have hand fed I have heard and seen too many horror stories to not always be worried when a situation like yours comes up. It has nothing to do with you or your abilities it comes down to hand feeding and correctly weaning is much more complicated than most people think.

At this point you absolutely should be putting other stuff fresh fruits and veggies cut small into his cage for him to pick at between hand feedings. I have typed it out more times than I care to count so if you read old eclectus posts here as well as the website "Land Of Vos" you will find all the food advise you could ever want. I do strongly encourage you to do the research on adult diet. The issues that come up with eclectus are almost always diet related.

Have you clipped him yet? If not that is another thing I would encourage you NOT to do yet. Baby parrots and eclectus in particular do MUCH better if they are allowed to fully fledge. What that means is that they learn to fly and land really, really well before you ever consider wing clipping. Even then eclectus are one of the parrots I do not think do well long term being clipped if you can avoid it.

When he starts getting fussy about eating don't force him to take the formula that is the way to aspiration and a dead baby. What temp are you feeding the formula at? Please tell me the breeder let you know to never use the microwave to heat it right?? When he refuses, cut back on the amount first and provide plenty of fresh foods for him to sample if he gets hungry and believe me he will. Eclectus for their size can pack away more fresh food than you can imagine once they get used to it. Next once you see him eating a good amount of the fresh foods you will cut out the morning feeding or the afternoon which ever he seems less interested in. Most I have fed give up the am feeding first because that is when I put in the most fresh then they give up the afternoon feeding and last they reluctantly give up the night feeding but it is super important that you don't force the process.

Keep us posted.. I do mean to scare the dickens out of you by saying that once something goes wrong with a baby they go down fast so it is imperative that you are diligent to what is normal and what isn't.

I also want to add that Red Sided Eclectus being a little larger than the smaller Solomon Island typically take longer than others to fully wean but to give you worst case I have a male Solomon that was 7 months before he gave up that final feeding. As I said to me I think forcing them to go off formula before they are really ready can have long term negative effects so I let them eat as long as they want it (mostly). So to me how ever long it takes, it takes I never go by what books or time frames say, I base it individually on each baby and what they show they are ready for.

 

[np76]

Actually I meant to say pallets not seeds. Anyway I will feed him the formula as long as he likes it. Breeder told me to leave some fresh fruits in his cage starting from tmrw. I warm the water to 45 c and then mix formula. Mix it well and check the temp with thermometer and when it about 40 c then start feeding him. I" ll feed him till his crop is full but sometimes he still beg for more. No clipping yet. Breeder told me not to give him shower until he starts flying. He is flapping his feathers now. Thanks for the detailed answer. I am going through older Eclectus posts to know more about the parrot.

 

[veimar]

Aww, he is so cute!