Meet Jasmine

justinlm24

New member
Jul 6, 2012
73
0
Trenton, OH
Parrots
Eclectus (Jazmine)
African grey Congo (charlie)
I am sorry this post is so long. I tried to keep it as short as possible. Ok, so we are on day 4 of having our baby home. We finally agreed on Jasmine as her name. She is so beautiful but we just have a couple questions. So the first couple days we basically allowed her to get used to her cage and surroundings without trying to handle her or push her too much. It was obvious she was unsure and scared which is to be expected. I still talked to her and fed her treats and some food from my hand which even that she was very unsure of. Yesterday I finally tried to see if she would want to step up. That was a no go. She was immediately in what looked like defensive mode with her beak half opened, and owning a Grey I am well aware what that means. So I backed off and tried again later with some food. Still, a no with my hand. She was however comfortable stepping up on my forearm. I praised her and did it a few times and rewarded her for it. Now today, day 4, I opened her cage this morning while i prepared her breakfast. She climbed out and sat on her door. As I walked towards her cage she flew to me. This caught me off guard but I was able to get my arm up in time and she landed on my forearm. I allowed her to sit there for a few minutes and eat from her bowl. I eventually put it in her cage and let her eat her breakfast. After she was done, I tried again to get her to step up on my hand, but she still isn't having it. I was able to get her to fly to me on my arm a few more times, but she seems so frightened of hands. I allowed her to sit on my lap and I slowly worked her up to allowing me to touch her beak and even kiss her. But she still is very against hands in general. So my question is why and how can I get her to allow me to pick her up with my hand. I am starting to question if her opening her beak when I put my hand near her is a biting thing, or if she is expecting to be fed. She doesn't lunge or growl, just open her beak halfway and makes a calling noise. The breeder said she is fully weaned but having hand fed my Grey for a a month or so I am not so sure. She is 14 weeks old. Any thoughts or opinions on that? She eats well. I've been giving her asparagus, romaine, green beans, celery, corn, apples, carrots and red peppers. So I'm a bit thrown off by her behavior towards my hand. My other question, all day today anytime I walk by her cage she flies to my shoulder. However one time she beaked my ear, did not bite down, but obviously not a behavior I am ok with so I immediately put her back on her cage. I want her comfortable coming to me, however I have never been a fan of parrots on your shoulder for any reason. But her not allowing me to use my hand to step her off my shoulder leaves me in an awkward position. I just want to make sure I am doing what needs to be done to build a relationship with her. I did some target training today and that went well. I want to teach her "gentle" to discourage the rough play. I'm open to any advice you guys have or maybe things I am doing wrong or could do better!! Thanks!

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Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
10,702
USA
Parrots
Full house
Beautiful girl!

We have many Eclectus owners who will offer advice. I would say have a scale and tracking weight.
 

Alembic772

New member
May 13, 2020
239
52
Spring Hill, FL
Parrots
Basil - 22yr male SI Eclectus
River - male GCC
Nemo - female BCC - handicapped
Summer - female pineapple gcc
Rainbow - male yellow side gcc
Lando - male black headed caique
Paprika - female SI eclectu
Beautiful baby!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Iyanden

New member
Feb 9, 2021
29
13
Bay area
Parrots
Female eclectus (Celeste, ~3 yrs old)
My experience was that it took a good while before our eclectus was comfortable with our hands. In the beginning, she'd usually run right up our arm to our shoulder, and if we reached with our hands to remove her, she'd sometimes try to bite our fingers.

To get her more comfortable with our hands, we encouraged her to eat while on our hands. That is, if she was on our arm, we'd slowly move her food bowl closer to our hands. To eat, she'd have to move closer to our hand. She would get to a point where she would no longer reach for her food; that'd be her comfort point. After doing this over some weeks, she became fine with eating while on our fingers. We also did target training where she'd need to be on hour hands. We'd do step up training too. It was much easier for us to do all this while away from her cage. She was and still is very territorial when in or on her cage.
 
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justinlm24

New member
Jul 6, 2012
73
0
Trenton, OH
Parrots
Eclectus (Jazmine)
African grey Congo (charlie)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
I appreciate the responses, and after giving it some thought and continuing to observe her behavior I tried some formula wirh her and there is just no way this baby was fully weaned. I am convinced at this point she was force weaned. She ate almost 20 ML of formula. This after having plenty of food throughout the day. She was also letting me handle her and touch her no issues while feeding her so I am just a bit upset. I feel so awful for her. I have emailed the breeder and am awaiting a response. Having hand feeding experience I am not stressed about it, but I just wish I had known cause now I feel like I have starved her for 5 days. She eats her breakfast and dinner as well as treats throughout the day, but I question how much of that is actually being eaten opposed to just being nibbled on. As we speak she is sitting on her perch all content making that cute beak grinding noise which she has not done any night before bed since I have had her. I'll just use this as a good bonding experience until she is fully weaned. Luckily I kept my scale so I can monitor weight gains and make sure she is getting enough food. I just hope the breeder gets back to me soon so I can try and figure out what she was feeding. Still guys thanks for the replies. I will keep everyone updated!!!
 
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reddfoxx79

New member
Mar 4, 2021
37
4
Houston
Parrots
Fennel, Solomon Eclectus female (12/25/20)..... Lulu, Solomon Eclectus female (10/1/20)..... Vegas, Harlequin macaw (2/2/21)
May I ask where you got your bird? I have a similar experience with a breeder in Texas. I got my female ekkie when she was 13 weeks old, fully weaned. Obviously, the breeder weaned the bird and she didn't choose it on her own. I've had her a month now, and had to use luring techniques to get her to step up and teach her that hands are safe. (I have a Finnicky Fennel journal under the Community>Incredible Journeys section if you want to see how it's been for me with such a young, untamed bird). I took her to the vet after having her two days, and the vet said as long as she was eating and gaining weight, that I was not to reintroduce hand feeding. Even though the baby would take to it, the stress of moving can cause them to revert, and it could take a much longer time to wean the second time around. You have experience, though, which is great. And her flying to you is also a really good sign that she's a good bird so far. Use your target training to target her from your arm to your hand, and feed her from your hand so she knows it's safe. A lot of times (I've found), my ekkies will lead with their beaks to be sure my hand is stable before stepping on it. Then later, I teach to lead with their feet. But at first, she may be opening her beak when your hand approaches as a way to see if it's stable or not. (She may also want to bite... sometimes you don't know which it is until you get close enough.) I used a piece of apple in one hand to distract her, and kept it far enough that she'd have to step forward onto my hand to reach it. That worked. It got her passed the hump of not stepping on my hand. Then I moved the treat farther away, waited for her to step up, and then brought her to the treat. I recently started working on step up, step off, treat. Repeat. And that has helped with her comfort level with my hands to know she can come, go, get a treat, do it again, and never got hurt by doing it. Yours doesn't seem nearly as wild as mine, so I think you've already got a huge advantage in the trust department. Good luck!
 
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justinlm24

New member
Jul 6, 2012
73
0
Trenton, OH
Parrots
Eclectus (Jazmine)
African grey Congo (charlie)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
Thanks for sharing that reddfox. She is a breeder from California. I have yet to get a response from her but I spoke to my vet this morning and we decided to allow her to eat her regular foods throughout the day and only offer her some formula in the evenings and see how she does. There is already a 100% turnaround in her behavior. She will now step up onto my hands, even give her scratches. No sign of fear or trying to bite. In fact she will not stop flying to me anytime I leave the room. I am not implying one handfeeding has solved my problems but it has sure come a long way in easing her fears. Her vet appointment is Monday so hopefully all that goes well. Thanks again guys for sharing your experiences
 

reddfoxx79

New member
Mar 4, 2021
37
4
Houston
Parrots
Fennel, Solomon Eclectus female (12/25/20)..... Lulu, Solomon Eclectus female (10/1/20)..... Vegas, Harlequin macaw (2/2/21)
The stress of moving to a new home can cause babies to revert to needing hand feeding. Not so much for actual food intake, but for comfort. That's probably what your vet is thinking, as well. Feeding her formula at night will provide a feeling of safety and comfort to her, so she knows she's okay. I'm so glad she's doing better! How exciting!
 

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