Male Eclectus - Good Talkers, Friendly, Easily Trained?

[KC Cameron]

I have been working with parrots for 25 years and have a 13 y/o Greenwing and 15 y/o Umbrella I have weaned.

I have a magic/parrot show, and I am looking at making an addition to our family. I am considering an male Eclectus because they sound like a perfect bird for me. Not too big or small, talks well, trains easy, doesn't bond and is friendly to everyone and is attractive. The only downside is their diet, but that is no big deal. ---I know every parrot is an individual, but it seems like the Eclectus is as close to perfect as possible

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information, and it appears many people feed the Eclectus a normal parrot diet which causes problems.

I am interested in hearing from anyone with PERSONAL experience with any of the types of Eclectus, as well as recommendations on breeders.

[sidech]

I have a 3 years old Eclectus male. Your description fits the bill, except " doesn't bond ". What do you mean by that ? They are polygamous, but they build strong bonds with the various members of the family. In fact, their major line of problems come with lack of independence. If you don't teach them to be independent and do stuff on their own, they become very, very clingy and needy. And there comes regurgitating and masturbating problems that are very hard to cure once the habit is formed !

They are also prone to plucking. But I personnally think teaching independence and a proper diet would prevent that.

Diet is crucial. They don't do well on commercial stuff. The feathers become dull and greyish very fast, and their general health is affected.

What else would you like to know ?

[Pajarita]

Sidech is right, their biggest problem is diet and hormones. Their natural diet is highly specialized and requires fresh food with high fiber/moisture and very little protein and vitamins/minerals (so pellets are completely out as a staple although they can be used as an occasional treat). The other problem is hormones because their breeding season in the wild lasts up to 9 months of the year ergo keeping them to a strict solar schedule so they can revert to photoperiodism as their main breeding trigger is essential. And I don't know how you will manage that using him in shows which I would assume are mostly at night...

And they are not that easy to train because they are not easy to read (they don't display as other parrots do) and they never give a 'warning' nip, they go for the kill every time.

[KC Cameron]

" Doesn't bond " should have read "doesn't bond to only one person. - sorry

90% of my shows are during the day, but a strict solar schedule could be difficult - is it that much worse than Macaws and 'toos?

And they are not that easy to train because they are not easy to read (they don't display as other parrots do) and they never give a 'warning' nip, they go for the kill every time.

- This causes me some issue since my birds are in a wide variety of situations, including mixing with the public. Can you speak more on this? What is their bite like? Do they bit often? I have seen a lot of trick trained Eclectus on YouTube, so between that and them being social and the males being food driven, I would have expected them (as a group) to be easier to train . . . .

Because my wife and I work out of our home, giving them attention isn't a problem, and keeping them independent too is not an issue.

While we are no longer Vegan, we still eat a large amount of veggies, so we have the recommended diet available all the time.

I understand the Soloman Island tend to be shy compared to the larger types - do you agree? Do different sub-species have different traits?

[sidech]

Mine has never bitten me once, except for the first 3 weeks it took to gain his confidence. I never heard about males biting much. This is not a subject that comes up on any of my Ekkie specialized forums. Females do bite a lot when hormonal. I don't think males bite very much if you know a little bit what you're doing. And you have lots of experince !

My bird gets up at different hours whether my kids are here or not, its week-end, etç. But i don't follow any solar pattern or else. He just goes with the flow ! And no problem with that either...

I think an Ekkie would be very suited for a magic show, if exposed to many different situations very young. They are very adaptable I find and do not get scared easily.

As for reading them, I have no problem doing so myself.

[KC Cameron]

I am glad you have not experienced any biting. I hadn't read of much from males, and I imagine (?) males are not as hormonal.

If we do get an Ekkie, he would be very well socialized with all sorts of people and situations. A few years ago I was hired by Pepsi and Jax (my Greenwing) posed with around 800-1,200 people a day for photos. It wore us out, but she loved it. Both of my birds love being the center of attention and have a few hundred people squealing over them!

[Polarn]

I personally does not have an eclectus but my brother does, and while they are harder to read it isn't impossible (my brothers is a grumpy little bugger and to be honest I find him quite apathic, although he has become better since he landed in my brothers care he is no longer all blackish from bad diet and he is less grumpy since as well, and more active. But he sure is food driven.

Now they do not display the normal warning signs as most parrots do, but they do display signs depending on mood, they actually angle their feathers a bit making the light reflect differently, so they somewhat change color depending on mood. And well I can definitly tell when my brothers ekkie isn't in the mood for a snuggle or tagging along.

Their bite... one of the worst out there I'd say it hurts like a b"##¤, they have a wery sharp point on each side of their upper beak, and it is actually sharp enough for you to cut yourself on it if you do beaky playtime and happens to produce a cutting motion against the upper beak... But yeah absolutely adorable birds, seems to have a tendancy to like confined places such as inside the jacket etcetera.

But as mentioned earlier if you give them the wrong diet for just a short period of time their feathers turns grey/black and then you have a long wait for em to turn all green again. The biting I havn't noticed a straight for the killshot, atleast my brothers will grab your finger and push it away if your pushing him instead of biting, but that may be abnormal i dunno.

[Pajarita]

One of the meanest birds I've had was a male ekkie (I had never heard a bird growl while going after people with a beak wide open -and his name was Romeo -LOL). And one of the worst bites I've got was from a female ekkie (lost the feeling on a finger for over a year and never got it back on he right half of the tip -she stepped up on my hand and while I was moving her to a stand, bit me right between the fingers, where there is that webby skin).

As to some people not having issues with hormones, parrots don't get sexually frustrated (what people call hormonal) when young, it's when they get a bit older so, when people say they have no hormonal issues, one always has to ask the parrot's age because it makes a big difference in their behavior. But not all parrots are the same, even within the same species. I have some that are completely atypical -like a cockatoo that never makes a single peep and doesn't chew anything but his toys even though he is loose 24/7, but that doesn't mean that most cockatoos are not super noisy or that they would not chew your house into toothpicks in a single afternoon if allowed to roam.

As to displaying, they don't. The only thing you notice is that they kind of freeze and look at you very intently and suddenly BAM! they bite fast like greased lightning!

The other problem you would have with training is that he might end up eating too much protein (the 'treats') and could develop toe tapping or wing twitching because of it...

[KC Cameron]

Yes, both of our birds get a bit hormonal at times. I found that regulating their food and sunlight calms them down quite a bit. The theory is parrots reproduce only when their is ample food, so when they get enough food, but not a surplus of food they don't get hormonal. It SEEMS to work, but I have not been doing it long enough to be sure.

I feed them in the morning all they can eat for 20 minutes and the same in the evening. In the wild, I am told, most parrots feed only in the morning and evening. This also makes them a bit more motivated for training before I feed them. (Birds can store food in their crop, so they are not ravenous, just hungry, at meal times.) It also makes them more amenable to healthy foods they may otherwise shun for their favorites.

When Jax, my Greenwing, went through puberty a few years ago, she got hormonal - not terrible, just more grumpy and snappy especially toward women. I had to put her on birth control for 3-4 months, and that seemed to correct most of the issue, and now the controlled feeding seems to be balancing her out.

Can their poor temperament also be because of diet and poor breeding/cross breeding or poor environment (current or past)? The crossbred Macaws I have experienced seemed more temperamental.

I REALLY want to avoid a mean bird, or one that gets hormonal no matter what I do. Nor do I like getting bit! This is a lifetime commitment for us, as well as for my son when we pass. Does anyone recommend another species? We are also considering a Grey. I'm told if they are socialized early and often they can be quite gregarious.

Thanks!

[Pajarita]

I use photoperiodism to control hormones and it works like a charm because even tropical birds (which use food availability as a primary trigger for breeding) revert to it when exposed to the seasonal changes. I don't only do this because it's healthy for them but because without it I would not be able to control the wild caught amazon males during breeding season. They would attack me every time I walked into the birdroom!

I don't like to recommend one species or another because, in truth, when you get a baby, you simply do not know what you are going to end up with so I would suggest you visit a few rescues and pick a young adult because, when it comes to rescue birds, if the rescuer knows his/her stuff and is honest, what you see is what you get. I don't know where you are located but there is an excellent rescue in New Jersey that I could recommend. The couple that runs it are very honest and would never lie to you...