Sketchy Breeders

[klex]

Hi everyone I'm new to this forum, I'm looking for a baby Electus but all the breeders i've contacted are Sketchy to say the least. Does anyone have a good breeder they could recommend? I am looking for a male S. I. hand fed baby maybe 3 to 6 months old.

 

[SilverSage]

Well I don't know any eckie breeders but if anyone offers you a 3 month old eckie put them on you "bad breeder" list. That's the age I expect my COCKATIELS to wean. Even my Ringnecks usually take longer than that.


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[SailBoat]

The majority of Great Breeders do not ship their Parrots and as a result tend to work with Owners that are in their area. Asking for anyone to recommend a Breeder without even an idea of what region of this huge World becomes impossible.

Please remember that Parrot Forums is a World wide community of Parrot Lovers.

 

[klex]

I'm in southern California and your correct about the weaning age 4 to 5 months would be appropriate. So does that help my inquiry at all?

 

[SilverSage]

I would say closer to 5-7 from my research and my deep seated hatred of the practice of force weaning


I'm not sure where our eckie loving members are from, someone may be able to recommend a breeder in your area. My eckies were both rescues that originated in Hawaii so I'm no help in the matter.

Have you contacted local rescues? Eckies are not as common in them as macaws and cockatoos but you do see them occasionally.

My suggestion as a breeder (sorry I don't breed eckies) would be to find a breeder you can trust somewhere in the USA and be willing to travel to get your bird.

Here are my buzzwords for finding good breeders:

-abundance weaned
-Fully fledged
-harness trained.

The first two are animal welfare issues. Force weaning is cruel on so many levels but is still an industry standard. No one who does it calls it that of course, they just call it weaning. But it's basically the practice of reducing formula to force a transition to solid food rather than continuing formula until the baby transitions on its own schedule. The bigger the bird, the more likely they are to he force weaned as it saves the breeder time and money while damaging and harming the mental and emotional development of the baby.

Full fledging is vital as well and almost no one does it. A baby bird NEEDS to be allowed to become an expert flier before his first wing trim and that does NOT mean "given his first few flights."

As an avian professional, rescuer, and parrot lover I attribute about 85%of parrot "behavior problems" to these two practices, 10% to health issues, and the other 5% to owner error after weaning.

As for harness training, I don't see any good reason why breeders can't take the extra FEW SECONDS a day it takes to harness train when you are already doing a good job socializing the baby. If you "don't have time" to harness train them then you aren't spending enough time with them anyway and I want to buy from someone else.


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[klex]

I have, we volunteer at our local bird rescue but no eckies lots of cockatoos and mccaws

 

[SailBoat]

There are a fair number of Breeders in your area. As stated above, Eckies are not as common in North America. So, you will have to work harder to find a good Eckie Breeder.

The advice regarding the Rescues is spot-on!

 

[Laylatoo]

I just got my baby rose breasted cockatoo from wonderful breeders here in Northern California. I'm local to them so I've been able to pick up both of the babies I bought from them in person but I know they also ship. They have two Eckies that have hatched I believe. Eggs-Otic Parroting in Camino Ca. They are awesome and love their babies so much.

 

[LordTriggs]

another thing to potentially look for would be parent-reared birds. Sure it's more work getting them tame but you know they've weaned naturally of their own accord and they understand what they are meaning they're less likely to want to have babies with you.

Like I say it does mean they're not anywhere near as calm at the start as a hand-fed baby but if you put that extra effort in they can become amazing companions. People here know of me harping on about how my conure Rio was the sweetest creature going and he was parent reared with 0 human interaction except for being grabbed to be removed from his family.

Just trying to give you a separate option to the usual hand-fed babies. Hope your search goes well

 

[SilverSage]

I second this! I've tamed parent reared birds and they can be amazing!


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[itzjbean]

JC Aviary in Texas breeds Eclectus, just beautiful birds they raise, there's also Eggs-otic Parroting in California, they just had some eclectus hatch last month. They're listed around the $1500 range.

 

[Scott]

I'm in southern California and your correct about the weaning age 4 to 5 months would be appropriate. So does that help my inquiry at all?

If you live in the San Diego area, North County Aviculturists is a thriving club with possible contacts. My two ekkies came from a local breeder, but she no longer breeds for sale.

North County Aviculturists BIRD CLUB General MEETING - Home