I need advice for my female ecky

[hope]

OK, here is what I know. I have a 4 yr old female ecky, that I just rescued from these people that wasn't taking good care of her. She is very aggressive, and won't let anyone touch her or get near her. She can fly, but she doesn't seem to have the cordination. She flys for a couple feet, and then lands on her back tail feathers. (she has lost almost all of her tail feathers). The previous owners feed her seeds and chicken and pasta. So, I have been trying to ween her off of this but she will not eat if there is no seeds or anything that she is used to. So, I need advice on how I can train her to be less aggressive and get her to eat the food she needs. I haven't taken her to the vet yet, but I will do that soon. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!!

 

[mtdoramike]

Female ekkie's are a bit more aggressive or high strung than males are. But I would get her wings clipped, which hopefully will make her a bit more dependant on you. I take my eclectus and put him at the dinner table with me and he eats what I eat most of the time, which includes lots of veggies and fruits. I also have them in his cage during the day so if he gets hungry, he will have something. I do give him about a spoon full of seed in his treat bowl daily.

 

[Spiritbird]

Time time and more time. It could take a long time so just act natural around her till she gets used to what goes on in your home. She will come around.

 

[JensFlock]

I second what mtdoramike said.
My ecki will eat absolutely anything I give him now.
When he was a baby, I offered new things every day. I know you"re not working with a baby, but if she is anything like my boy, she will start trying new things when she realizes they are good. It's important to give them a good diet, and from what i understand, eckies aren't usually picky eaters, so keep trying new foods and try pretending to eat them in front of her.
If I eat anything and my eckie doesn't get any, he looks at me and says "Meeeeee?"

 

[MikeyTN]

Ekkies can be very picky on their food. When we first started reading up on their diet requirements and it was said they accept anything. That is so not true! If my ekkies don't like something, they throw it as far away from their cage as possible!!! But we kept trying different fruits and veggies to find what they like and dislike. We also cook sweet potatoes, egg with shell, chicken, lentils, etc. Those are given every so often. I would give you the site to go see all this info. if I was on my computer. Hopefully someone can post the one we use.

Like it was mentioned, its a lot easier to train when you clip their wings. But I notice ekkies don't have very good grip and tend to fall easily. So I never clip mine and I was lucky mine were easy to train.

 

[MikeyTN]

I got one of the link we use. I did a quick copy...here

Laurella Desborough's Eclectus Center

 

[c3honey84]

I have a three year old female who I adopted from someone. She was also aggressive when I got her. First thing I did was clip her wings. I was sad to do it, but it was the best thing I did. You can always let them grow back in later. However, in order to form a bond with her, she can not be flying away from you all the time. Plus, if she is aggressive, it will be nearly impossible to get her back in her cage. So I clipped her wings the day after I got her. I would then take her out of the cage with a stick and put her on a perch. I would feed her nuts and other things from my hand to get her to like me. I would also always sit right next to her cage and just hang out. Eventually she realized that I wanted to be her friend and began to calm down. Now we have a great relationship, and it has only been 6 months! She is still a little jumpy and does not love being touched near her head, but I am hoping we can work through that! You can too! It's going to feel like it's moving slowly at first, but you will be surprised at your progress in just a few months. Just say "step up" and reward her with something every time she steps onto the stick. Eventually you can move on to your arm. Just always make sure to reward her when she is being good, and ignore her when she is being bad. She will get the idea.

Also, as far as the food goes, if I were you I would look for sprouts in the supermarket. This is supposed to be a good way of weaning birds off of seeds and getting them to eat their veggies. My eclectus loves them! Mix the sprouts in and then put less and less seeds in until there are none. Good luck!

 

[mtdoramike]

My Ekkie won't touch sprouts except brussel sprouts. He was hand fed and came from a loving home and although hand tame, he still doesn't like to be touched that much. I can pet him under his beak, belly and wings, BUT NOT THE TOP OF HIS HEAD, no way he will allow that. So I respect his boundaries.

 

[MikeyTN]

JoJo wouldn't let me touch him period when I first got him. He was terrified of anything and everything. Any sudden move he would freak. I just kept working with him on a daily basis until he accepted me only after a week. He comes to the door willingly now for me to bring him out. He talks infront of me now instead of being a closet talker like he used to be. That took longer for him to do, he did it all on his own.

 

[Cowtown]

Everyone has give you good advice...the main thing is to gain her trust... remember she was not taken care of properly.
Abby does not want to be touched on the head... chest, legs and under her wings...

Just will take time and she will come around...