What foods does your eclectus enjoy?

[justinlm24]

Hi everyone! I used to post here quite often in the African Grey forum, but will soon be adding an eclectus to our flock. My baby will be coming home Sunday and was wondering what types of fruits or veggies your ekkies really enjoy. I've been anticipating this day for weeks now and just want to make her transition go as smooth as possible. I know ekkies require a much different diet than most other parrots so I am open to gather as much info on what you guys feed yours. Thank you all in advance!

 

[Iyanden]

Mine goes through phases with lots of fruits and veggies where she'll gobble them up for a few days and then not want to touch them for a week. But she's always up for steamed and mashed carrots, young coconut, and mango.

 

[chris-md]

Hey there Justin, congrats on the pending baby!

The answer totally depends on what you mean by favorite foods: are you talking favorite treats or favorite meal time items?

The Ekkie diet isn’t a HUGE mystery: get fruits out of your vocabulary, fruits should be a treat since the excess sugar, once the bird is mature, can trigger hormonal behavior. The diet is primarily veggies, legumes (heavy on pulses specifically like lentils and chickpeas), sprouts if you can swing it, and grains (quinoa, spelt, farro, etc).

 

[picklesandjesse]

I would say the number 1 food that he likes is a lychee. I give him a frozen one about once a week. They are only available here in Australia for about 2 months. Also any nut for a treat. He gets one each day when he flies home.

 

[reddfoxx79]

My young ekkies get a mix of mostly veggies with one or two fruits in the mix. Broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, squash, bell peppers, cilantro, parsley, basil, kale, bok choy, carrots, and I'll add apple or melon. I use the colored bell peppers for colors. When I mince it, they don't eat it as well as when it's chopped. The broccoli and cauliflower is minced and everything else is chopped. They'll pick out the pieces of broccoli and cauliflower if they can. I like to add things for color so that not everything is green. If I make a batch they don't like, I can add more fruit to it and that generally works. I keep nuts and apples as treats, and feed the veggie mix and pellets as the main diet. I've also added hot peppers to the mix before, but I also like to feed the guinea pigs and bunnies the chop, so I stopped with the serranos. Hope this helps.

 

[Debbienz]

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help. I was reading that it is good to use herbal teas as a spray and for parrots to drink, does anyone know if store bought tea bags are ok?

 

[chris-md]

Please do not spray your Ekkie with anything.

You can serve herbal tea either as dry leaves over the top of your other foods, or served brewed (and cooled of course).

There are companies that make loose leaf herbal tea mixes explicitly for parrots. Greywood manor is one such company, but there are others. If you don’t km ow what you are doing, I recommend one of these companies over grocery store mixes for the most part.

 

[cytherian]

Peppers! They love them. Especially the seeds. Definitely make sure you include the seeds when you cut up a pepper.
CORN! Probably their most favorite. They love it in wet form the most, but also go nuts for popped corn.
Snap peas are also usually devoured.

Berries are indulged too--blackberries & blueberries mostly.

Banana is also a joy for them.

 

[ghmh21]

Pomegranate, pistachios and passion fruit... weird mix.

 

[MissAnnamarie]

Gala apples are a BIG yes around here! Those are a definite favourite, can't be just any old apple.