She's Home...

[The Outlaw]

She is stunning. Of course, the girls always are. I would NOT recommend feeding your Ekkie pellets. They have led to more problems than any benefit they bring. Tracy is correct when she warns against them, even species specific pellets. Many an ekkie has started plucking within days of feeding a pelleted diet. My own was no exception.

Do go to www.landofvos.com and read everything there you can. It is probably the BEST ekkie site on the internet. Full of really useful information. Believe me, there is nothing sadder looking than a plucked ekkie. Its their striking coloration and sweet voices that bring us to our knees. Its more work to feed a fresh diet, but in the case of eclectus, its your only smart option.

[Miro The Macaw]

Thanks for all the comments... Yeah, she is a pretty bird- and I am sure that with time, she will become a great pet. I have looked over the ekkie site that you reccomend, and will read it more thouroughly... Especially the diet portion.

The breeder I got her from has a breeding pair that is plucked except for their heads... Sad looking, but they are still great birds- Friendly (which is amazing for breeders!), and entertaining. I got to hear the 'infamous' Ekkie scream- Both birds screach 4-5 times whenever someone enters the room, and then are quiet. Man, that is LOUD.

She is just over 1 year old... I have been told that she is a red sided for sure, as she is too big to be a solomon. If I understand what I have read so far, she isn't quite done growing yet (most web pages say they grow for 2 yrs?)

As far as the diet goes- My Veterinarian SWEARS by pellet based diets, though I have not talked to him specifically about the eclectus yet... My Severe is on a pellet based diet, but he gets plenty of fresh food, probably 1/3 to 1/2 of his diet. I will have to read more about the specific dietary requirements of the Eclectus...

I'll be starting her 'retraining' slowly in the morning, slowly. She isn't too bad, really, just needs to learn that people are friends. She ate a grape out of my hand today, which I see as a good sign...

-Andrew

[Lori L]

I think there are a few people here who's vets are pellet happy as well but have still decided that fresh is best. I do know that if you do decide on pellets do not use the colored one, they will rob your Ekkie of her gorgeous coloring

[red192]

Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful!

[Doug W]

She is gorgeous!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Outlaw]

Let me explain why the pellets don't work well on ekkies. In their native lands, good food is pretty scarce. What they do have access to is nutrient poor. Consequently they eat a lot. They have longer digestive tracts to help process their food better. That's why feeding pellets is a bad idea. In theory, pellets provide everything your bird needs (I'll challenge that any day). However, if your bird doesn't NEED all that they provide, then they can run into problems. I believe its called over vitamitosis or something along those lines. Carolyn addressed that in her nutrition essays. Most vets just assume that we can't or won't provide a good diet to our birds. Most vets have seen too many cases of people only providing bird seed.

If you look at birds fed fresh diets and other birds fed seed and pelleted diets, side by side, you'll immediately see one thing: the birds on the fresh diets have nicer feathers and don't have dry flakey skin. And their feathers are more irridescent. Many old time breeders would NEVER feed pellets to their birds. After all, we've kept birds in captivity for hundreds of years feeding them exactly what we had to eat ourselves. In fact, any bird over the age of 50 HAS to have survived without pellets. They didn't even exist back then. Pellets don't grow on trees. Of all of the parrots, the ekkies require a fresh and varied diet more than any other. Many died in the early days as breeders assumed they needed seed diets. That eventually killed hundreds. Through trial and error and paying attention to what did and didn't work, we know what they actually need to thrive.

Besides, all vets would tell you that pellets and seed alone are not enough. Birds need fresh foods, too. So, if you have to provide fresh food, what's the point in feeding pellets in the first place.

By the way, you mentioned that the parents were plucked. HELLOOOOO! What were they being fed?

[Miro The Macaw]

Thanks for all the info. It makes sense- Regional differnences in diet would make a big difference in what the bird needs- A bird from Papua New Guinea is obviously going to have evolved to handle a completely different set of circumstances than a bird from the amazon...

I think that my vet is more concearned about people who keep thier birds on all seed or seed diets supplimented with fresh, and from what I have been reading, it appears that ekkies are best kept on a fresh diet supplimented with seed... This makes sense, as it is pretty close to what they would eat 'at home'.

Now, I just need to find out what she eats!! I suspect that for the past year, at her old home, since she was feared by her owner and not touched or talked to, that she likely didnt eat much fresh food...

Originally Posted by The Outlaw

By the way, you mentioned that the parents were plucked. HELLOOOOO! What were they being fed?

The breeding pair weren't this birds parents, they were another pair that he had taken in, a sad story... They were kept together by someone who tried to breed ekkies but knew nothing about them- or birds in general, really. The guy put a nesting box (built of CEDAR, no less) in the cage with them full time, and the female plucked the male bare, then started on herself. The male doesn't pluck- But lets the female do it to him... They are on a seed/fresh diet.

[Miro The Macaw]

Had a Gram stain test done, as a precaution. Everything came out OK. I realize that this test doesn't tell TOO much, but I don't want to bring her in to the office until she is a little more comfortable being handled. The vet is out until later this week, but is going to call me, I am going to ask his opinon on diets, although the fresh/seed makes more sense to me. I am sure that most vets reccomend pellet diets because they are PROBABLY afraid that the average person isn't going to take the time and trouble to ensure that the bird gets the variety that it needs with all fresh foods.

I picked up some seed mix today to suppliment the fresh food, It is a safflower blend (the breeder said that she eats around sunflowers anyway). She liked it, but ate all the 'fun' stuff out first (peanuts, some dried fruits/veggies).



She also ate plenty of fresh food- She loves corn, lima beans, and peas. Didn't touch the carrots. We shared a salad at lunch-



It was a 'mixed green' salad, and she munched on most of the types of greens in there. It was funny, she stared at them looking confused until I ate some myself, then she tried it.

The 'retraining' is going quite well. She allowed me to reach in to her cage this morning to get her out, although she needed some convincing to 'step up', as she was never step trained. She showed NO aggression whatsoever today- Didn't even act like she was going to nip me.

Once she is out, she is content to sit there on her stand. She is still a bit apprehensive about stepping up when she is near her cage, but when I take her to the training stand that I made (out of sight of the cage), she steps up, and allows me to pet her on the head and back.

She could use a bath- I think I might try a sprayer on her to see how she reacts to it... I dont think that she has ever been in the shower. Don't want to stress her too much too soon.

Considering she was drawing blood only days ago, I am encouraged... I am going to try to work with her for several short 'sessions' each day, to keep the stress at a minimum, but she is already MUCH better than even when she arrived yesterday!!

Oh, yeah- Doesn't she match my wall color nicely?? :)

-Andrew