Feeding your Eclectus

[Roonil Wazlib]

Hi guys, long time, no see. *waves*

I was here a while back looking for a whole bunch of general information about birds. Im here now because I’m actually, after a year of pining, now adopting a young (she thinks about a year old) Eclectus boy, and I’m super excited to be bringing him into our family.

I’ve done as much research as possible on their dietary needs, and I know they need mostly fresh fruit and veg because of their digestive system. However, cooked foods, such as rice, pasta, wholemeal toast, meat and eggs, and pellets is more unclear. Should these be offered once or twice a week to get some protein?

So far, I’m setting up for his meals to be something like below and taking the food away after an hour or two if he hasn’t eaten them.

8am - 9am Breakfast: Two veg , eg, raw pumpkin and carrot, and two fruit, eg, mango and blackberry (I’m unsure how much quantity a growing eclectics needs though, so quantity would be great too) and a side of seed sproutings - which I’m still to do a bit of research on.

12 - 1:30pm Lunch: one veg, one fruit - I was going to feed the quantity about 1/3 of his morning meal.

6:30 - 8:00 Dinner: three veg and one fruit. 2/3 of his morning meal.

Nuts and sunflower seeds will be saved for training.

No seed mix - unless its required as a portion, or if its great for sprouting. Same for Pellets - should I be offering some no coloured pellets at lunch time so he can get extra vitamins, or are they simply an easier alternative to actual food?

What do you feed your eckies and when?
Thanks

[Wolf]

I do not have this species of parrot and my knowledge of their dietary needs is quite limited, all I know is that they should get 30% of their food as fresh fruit according to The World Parrot Trust. I just wanted to welcome your new friend to the family.

[Pajarita]

Parrots rest at noon, they don't really eat lunch, only breakfast and dinner.

No eggs, no meat (no animal protein at all) and no pellets for ekkies (too much protein, too much vit/minerals). Rice is fine as long as it's brown rice (I use black and red rice and what we call 'wild' rice which, in reality, is not rice at all but another type of grass grain but, if you are going to go with the brown rice, try to get Indian Basmati -lower in arsenic) and toast is also OK as long as it's a good quality multigrain bread and offered as a treat and sparingly.

I fed my ekkies (a SI hen and a RS male) gloop with raw produce (only one type of fruit, one veggie and one leafy green because I've found that, if you offer variety, they will pick only the one they like best and not eat the others) for breakfast and all day picking and a measured portion of a budgie seed for dinner (they require less protein than other parrot species or they develop toe tapping and/or wing flicking). Supplement with a good powder vitamin/mineral supplement once a week.

The key to a healthy ekkie diet is low protein, low fat, high moisture and high fiber.

[Roonil Wazlib]

Thank you Wolf, I'm so excited. Hes either joining our family tomorrow or next weekend.

Thank you for your information Pajarita. Much less work for me not feeding at lunch
do you cook the black and red rice like normal rice? or do they just eat it hard?

Is cockatiel seed also ok, or budgie much better? And if i'm giving the seed mixture for dinner, should/could i split up half his portion and sprout it for him also? would that be more beneficial for him?
Thankyou

[Pajarita]

All whole grains should be cooked al dente. The hard center of the grain reminds them of seeds so they prefer this texture and the cooking them makes them easier to digest.

For an ekkie, I would use a budgie mix except right during breeding season when you can give them a VERY good quality cockatiel mix (meaning not many sunflower seeds and only grey striped ones at that).

[Wolf]

I also don't think that I would do sprouts either, it is my understanding that while sprouting reduces the amount of fat in the seeds, that it also increases the available protein.

[Roonil Wazlib]

Oh my goodness guys, I'm a mummy! Hes been a very good boy today, an hour and a half car ride, and 15 min quality quite time with me. but now settling in his cage for tonight, leaning to wolfwhistle, and saying a very crude hello he still has a bit of black on his beak and its not as bright as what it should be - does this give a good indicator of age? hes so beautiful. How much seed mixture should i be giving him for dinner? half a cup?

one of my cats is actually scared of him

thank you guys. oh, i can finally change my profile to say that I have a bird in the family

[Wolf]

Glad to hear that you have your baby at home and that things are going well. Try not to get too excited about training, remember you really have a baby bird and take the first month or two to work on creating a trusting relationship with your bird. during this period of time your bird requires a lot of reassurance and emotional support. This is the time to sort out and establish a workable routine with your bird as they don't like change. Take time to study your birds body language as it accounts for the majority of its attempts to communicate with you and they really do not understand that we don't always see what they are telling us. This is also the time to establish a good diet as well as to plan the birds first visit to an avian vet. There is plenty to do and learn with and about your new baby during the next few months and then you will have years to concern yourself with training.
Thought I would provide a couple of links to further information on this species of parrot that you may find interesting. I do not agree with some of the information contained in the article by Constance Bacon, but there is still some useful information in the article.
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww7eiv.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclectus_parrot

[Pajarita]

Actually, having a bit of black on his beak is an indicator of age but not a very precise one because they tend to lose all of it between one and two years of age so, as you can see, it's pretty rough - plus, some people say that some of them retain a black stripe or streak all their lives.

You will need soft foods for him, two kinds served fresh twice daily (am and pm) as well as produce and some soft seeds for dinner

[Roonil Wazlib]

What an incredible day! I fed him carrot, broccoli and banana. And seed for dinner. Ill be getting the red and black rice next week, and begin to sprout for him a little, What leafy greens tldo you recommend?

its funny, learning all his quirks. They are so much like toddles. I didnt notice or cant remember it with my budgie, but we had some cuddle time afrer dinner and I was on my phone, and of cause, he wanted it, we ended up giving him an old one to 'trick' him into nibbeling that one instead, even though I was pretending playing with it. He was not having it! he wanted mine, hehe

anyway, I wont post here, because its not about nutrition, but I have a coupple of questions that ill toddle off and post in the correct area. Im sure ill see a reply from you guys thank you