new ekkie :)

[illusionz_NZ]

I have just got a new boy and he is stunning. my first thought was "gee your a big ****** and look at the size of that beak" lol coming from the biggest bird i have ever owned being an alexandrine.
7 months old and had him one week. taking time to bond with me and bit me every time i went near him. today he is so much better and wanting to come to me. He flew to my arm for a peanut i had in my other hand.

I would like to know about there claws and if i need to get them trimmed? and how often? and also I have an elderberry tree at home which i see the wild birds eating all the time. do you know if ekkie's are able to eat or should eat these berries?

 

[mrob]

Kia Ora and welcome to the forum!
Nice to see another kiwi!
I have an eccie too ...they are awesome awesome birds. Not sure about the elderberries but there is a link on the forum somewhere to toxic plants - maybe search the threads?
Not sure where abouts you are but claws/wings get done at Bird Barn in Henderson auckland for $15 each - otherwise the vet, or do it yourself with nail clippers and a towel (wouldnt recommend it if you havnt done it before, their black claws are hard to see the blood line and they dont like you much after!!) I trained mine to think the claw clipping is a game - he gives me his foot no problem as long as i go over the top with the Good boooooooyyys and the peekaboos!!
Did you get old about his diet? This sia really good site Eclectus Parrots

Welcome, there are heaps of friendly people on here with HEAPS of birdie knowledge!!

 

[Oedipussrex]

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/449-toxic-list-our-birds.html

there are heaps of lists about which wood, leaves, and fruit to avoid online, as well as here.

Good luck with your new ekkie

 

[illusionz_NZ]

thank you. yes i got a list of foods the breeder gave me and i have done lots of research on the diet. one thing i have not found much info on its training them. I would be keen to learn some tips. would love to toilet train him but i have no idea where or how to do that. also do they respond to the word "NO" and change of voice when they do something wrong?

 

[mrob]

Training for us when he was young was all about the sunflower seeds!
Its about breaking whatever you want him to do into little steps. Just spend time with him till he completes each step and reward, reward, reward! Only reward when he does each step properly....get excited with your praise, really lay it on thick.
About half an hour a day is good - they do get bored after a while.
When my boy was about a year old i taught him to play basketball, ill try and attach a video of this but not sure if it will work. To do that i would give him a bottle cap and hold the 'hoop' (i used a cup at first) under it, when he dropped it in i would praise and reward....if he missed stay silent. And then graduallly move the cup further and further away till he gets the idea. We had a lot of fun with that one!!

I toilet trained mine by keeping an eye on how long between poos - its about 20 min for my boy. So when I knew he was about due for one, I would pick him up and say "go poos!" over and over until he actually did it anyway, then PRAISE AND REWARD. Rinse and repeat and eventually he made the association, so he would poo on command. (oh, make sure you dont abandon the mission until he has actually done the poo and get rewarded though. If your toilet training dont put him down till hes actually done it!!) You can also train them to go back to their 'potty' to go but I never bothered.
One word of warning - after I had toilet trained him my stepkids came to visit and I made the mistake of telling them about his ability to poo on command - he got 3 kids ander 10 bailing him up for a week saying gopoosgopoosgopoosgopoosgopoosgopoosgopoosgopoos and no reward when he did...and he lost the association.
Ive got him retrained now with a new command (its a fart noise haha).

They really are awesomebirds, just work on building that trust bond and you will be fine.

I cant believe what a sweet natured, easy bird I have. He really is a total little angel. That will prob change at puberty though so i hear! Oh, and they are pretty amazing talkers too, so you will have that to look forward to!

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Whoops that was thr wrong video - oh well, sorry its a bit boring!

P.S your boy is gorgeous, thx for sharing the pic

 

[illusionz_NZ]

Thank you. that advice sounds just great. Im so excited to see what lays ahead of me. I dont think you could ever get bored of these birds

 

[illusionz_NZ]

I took him to get his wings and nails clipped. they told me he was very skinny and his feathers were not in good condition that they should not be all split like they are. They told me to feed him up on peas and corn everyday to put some weight on, and suggested that i also buy some conditioning and rearing food to give every day for the next month then they will see how he is. He got wormed and had the mite stuff put on so I hope he gets better soon. I just thought gee lucky i took him in.

 

[lene1949]

Welcome to the forums... The link mrob gave you is a really good one.. These guys are all about eclectus parrots, and they know their stuff...

 

[mrob]

Hi again
Yep I noticed he had a few stress bars on his feathers.
My boy was exactly the same when I got him - underweight and feathers a mess. Eccies wean very slowly - they often drop weight and condition if breeders try and speed up the process. Heres what I did with mine:

Make up a big soft food mix. Boil up some brown rice and mix some mung bean sprouts, chopped apple, very finely chopped silverbeet, corn kernels, sliced almonds, peas, soybeans, and even some seed if he is too skinny ...anything yummy you can find really. Then mash up a whole lot of orange kumara (great for vitamin A) and mix it all together so you have a big, yummy, vegetably, seedy mash. Freeze it in little snap lock bags (the snack size ones are great, enough for a day or 2) and defrost it, zap it in the microwave so it is WARM (avoid hot spots, stir well), and he will gain weight pretty damn quick. They seem to love warm mashes.

You can also give almonds or other nuts (no salt), boiled potato, chicken bone (cooked), egg boiled with the shells on (no yolk), and you can make birdie bread (its like a seedy muffin - heaps of recipes around on google etc. Try not to give normal bread, yeast spores can cause problems especially with a stressed/underweight bird). Keep giving his fresh vegies and fruit etc as usual. Soaked seed and sprouts are also really good.

Eccies tend to be very good and very messy eaters. If you are going to use a pellet, keep an eye out for nutrient related issues like toe tapping or wing flipping.

Now is the time to get him used to as many new foods as possible - once they get a bit older they get set in their ways!

My eccie lost his stress bar feathers after his first moult which by the looks of your guy wont be for a few months yet. They look pretty rough up till then! They are also extremely unco and bash their feathers around a bit... Mine couldnt even walk when i got him, he was just a big clumsy baby.

Digital scales from briscoes are great - keep weighing him every day. Want the weight to go up slowly not go down!! If you gently feel down the front of his belly there is a keel bone running vertically, it should gradualy become less sharp - it should have a thin layer of flesh over it instead of just skin.

Hope this was some help, good luck, honestly try the warm mash, it really seems to work!

P.S. Whats his name?
P.P.S You have to be very careful on here with profanity (and blasphemy), apparently us kiwis have filthy mouths compared to america! I found that out pretty quick =)

 

[mtdoramike]

P.P.S You have to be very careful on here with profanity (and blasphemy), apparently us kiwis have filthy mouths compared to america! I found that out pretty quick =)

Thank you, this is a site for family viewing and participation. So yes, profanity is not allowed.

Mike

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[antoinette]

Welcome to the forum
Your bird is beautiful, such lovely colouring
Great advise from the above members

 

[illusionz_NZ]

Thank you for the advice on the food and i will definately try the mash. His name is Charlie. and sorry for my use of profanity. i did not realize as being my first message.
how many people feed coconut (fresh whole......not the whole thing lol) to there birds?