"typical female Ekky"

[felisdomesticus]

what does this mean? One of the women from the bird rescue described Scarlett as such but I'm not exactly sure what she was trying to illustrate by saying that.

In the next breath she told me that she's worked with her for 6 months using behavior modification to get her to stop biting.

I don't know if the 2 comments are related or not.

[The Outlaw]

Unfortunately, they probably are. Ekkies aren't really recommended for first time bird owners. They are extremely complicated creatures. Especially the females. My first bird was in fact a female Ekkie. The females are very hormonal and at a very early age. In fact, mine started acting like a grownup at 13 months of age. She became very cage protective and I would often wind up with nasty sometimes bleeding bites from her if I attempted to extract her from her cage. Many are taught to step up on an extra perch and then removed from their cages to another room.

Also, they can start feather pulling anytime after 2. In the wild, they line their nests with feathers, usually removed from the chest area. Consequently, this instinct kicks in with the raging breedng hormones. Some birds never do it, but MANY do. My Ekkie is just now 5 and on 2 seperate occasions has removed every blue feather and a few red. Once the breeding season passes, she regrows everything. However, its getting longer and worse with each episode. Drives me crazy.

The males seem a bit more stable. They are sweet and charming. They also seem to pluck less often, but many do. They co-parent in the wild and therefore duplicate nesting and feeding behaviors.

My ekkie hen is very sweet when she is out of her cage. She NEVER bites then. In fact, she hasn't even tried to bite me in years. However, I have learned to respect her private space. Pick your battles wisely.

I would recommend removing bottom cage papers if she starts to shred them. Many hens will create nests and start chronic egg laying if given the tools to create a nest. That's a road you don't want to go down.

The eclectus parrot is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful birds on Earth. Its up to you to do your homework and educate yourself on what they need to live long and prosper. Try checking out Carolyn Swicegood's Land of Vos. Here's the address: www.landofvos.com.

Hope this helped.

THE OUTLAW

[felisdomesticus]

A few people here on BirdBoard have said that these guys aren't great as a first bird. It's a moot point, though, now because we adopted her almost a month ago.

I have read Carolyn's site several times and find myself still going back and re-reading certain parts almost daily as I try to learn as much as possible about birds. I also spent a few hours at the foster's house when I met Scarlett asking questions about her care. She did try to bite me while I was there but the foster said it was just a matter of Scarlett and I getting used to each other. She also bit the hell out of me the first 2 weeks here which was frustrating. Now I'm learning that there may be more to the story than my inexperience and "adjustment". Out of self-preservation, I've learned a few ways to get her to stop and she's also not trying it nearly as much as she did before. I am trying to get more information on her behavior issues and history from the rescue but have not been very successful thus far.

She does have a spot on her chest that looks like it's missing a few feathers--you can see her gray down feathers. I've been watching it carefully for the past 2 weeks and it does not appear to be getting any larger. I also haven't found any in her cage or under her boing other than the occasional down feather.

How long is breeding season?

[sari]

Re: Eckies-After six months after introduction HE was first blocked by HER from getting food, so they were seperated. Then HE hounded, chased, and scolded HER for months, threatening, nasty, etc. She was very passive with HIM. She was obviously interested in HIM and was becoming more passive and wistful as time went on. Meanwhile HER behavior with us improved, the biting has almost completely disapeared, she has stopped attacking me (male) but HE is now attacking my wife. HE was a plucker when we got him, SHE is in beautiful full feather, neither can fly. Today amazingly HE showed his stuff and was doing his clumsy best to ride her. SHE was more than compiant and agreeable (at long last SHE must have thought), so I was wondering if there is anything we should be doing to 'support' them. I don't even know what an Eckie nest box should look like, but the nest boxes we have for lovies and tiels will never work out. BTW, the third (hen) Eckie is mutually disliked by the other two and attacks me still, but is getting on famously with my wife, nuzzling, cooing, best friends. Yes Eckies are complicated. What do we do with these lovebirds, ah Eckie (in love) birds?