One of the most unique parrots we have bred was the Eclectus. These are very gentle and quiet birds that are rapidly becoming popular by pet owners. But they are not the easiest birds to breed, making them in low supply, and therefore driving up the cost to well over $1000.
Eclectus are very unique parrots, because they are sexually dimorphic, which means there is a very big difference between male and female, making it extremely easy to identify them. Male Eclectus are green, while females are predominately red and blue.
It was during the late 1880′s that scientist discovered that the green Eclectus were the males and the Red Eclectus were the females and that applied in each of the Eclectus species. This made sexing the chicks easy for breeders since there is no doubt by the color of the pin feathers as to what sex the baby was, so this was a financial savings on DNA testing on all the chicks.
BACKGROUND
There are 16 documented species of the Eclectus, however only 4 are generally available in the United States and Europe. These are the Solomin Island, Red Sided, Vosmaeri, and Grand. The Eclectus is a medium sized parrot. Solomon Island’s are the smallest, being 12”-13” long. Red-Sided Eclectus are the biggest at 16”-17”.
Eclectus are a bird native to New Guinea , the Solomon Islands, and southwards to Australia. In the wild, they are very good fliers, and spend much of their time flying over the jungle canopy.
As pets they are very gentle and playful. While they have a loud scream they are normally very quiet. They are excellent talkers, being rated in the top three of the parrots. From our experience, the males have always been the best talkers, and the most friendly and sociable of the sexes.
They are fairly difficult to breed. Breeders that start out as pets have a difficult time learning to parent and are the most difficult to breed. Wild Eclectus parrots seem to do better.
The female will generally lay 2 eggs and only she will incubate them, coming out of the breeder box twice a day to be fed by the male. When the chicks are a bit older she will come out and feed herself. The chicks are weaned by the age of 16 weeks.
In captivity, Eclectus parrots do not require a large cage, as they tend to not fly much. Many breeders who are offered large cages simply walk around or stay on their perches. The female spends most of her time in her breeding box. As pets, they enjoy spending their time on their cage, or on T-stands. They enjoy being petted and cuddled, but don’t usually get involved in active play with their owners.
Therefore, they will do great in a medium sized parrot case of 30x24x50. They are active chewers, and will quickly destroy their perches. So be sure they have extra wood toys to chew on, or invest in some good Manzanita perches. These are a very hard, dense wood that is difficult for birds to destroy.
Eclectus have a few unusual dietary needs. They must have a diet with a low fat content (adults only) due to their longer digestive tract. They are also susceptible to having low vitamin deficiencies, such as A, E, and D. Too much cholesterol will quickly develop into liver problems and a host of other blood related issues.
Therefore, they must have a very well balanced diet. It is important for an Eclectus owner to understand these health issues, and be able to identify the signs of potential problems. The very best method is to have your bird checked annually by an experienced avian vet, who will do a CBC blood test. Otherwise, you must learn to watch for feather problems, especially discoloration and blackening of the tops of the feathers. Also monitor them for fatigue and signs of diseases that are brought on from immune system problems.
There are some special pellet diets on the market designed for Eclectus parrots that contain a very low oil and fat content. When we bred them, we used just a standard pellet (such as Zupreem or Kaytee) and monitored their other food intake. They must be given extra vegi’s loaded with Vitamin A and E. Some research indicated they do not handle vitamin mixes, but I am not really convinced by this research to the point of abandoning them. We have taken in Eclectus birds with obvious deficiencies, and the vitamins brought them back just fine.
As a pet, the Eclectus is an excellent choice for a large parrot. They are intelligent, and known to just sit quietly and observe what is happening around the room. They are friendly and affectionate, great talkers, and will generally stay on their cage or stand. If you are planning to get one as a pet, it is recommended that you choose a male over the female, as they tend to be more docile and adjust to their new homes much quicker.
[tags]eclectus parrot, eclectus bird diet, eclectus parrot info[/tags]
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I just wanted to say that I was reading about the eclectus since I have a female eclectus and I believe she’s a solomon island eclectus at that. We got her from a family member and she is already full grown exact years I do not know but I want to know if you have any advice of how I can get her to stop biting me? She’ll talk to me and take food from me only but when I try to touch her or hold her she’ll attack me. Is there anything I can do? Thank you.
Hi there! I too have a 4 year Female Grand Eclectus that I just got. I was warned by her previous owner that she had gotten a bit nippy as she had been neglected as she started spending more time with her “new” african grey”. She seems moody to me as she can be quite definitive about not stepping up from inside her cage during the daytime, but turns into a complete baby at night. She’ll come out and lie on my chest and pretty much go to sleep. She likes being petted on the neck back face and is a totally different bird at night. She has different behaviours as I took her to the vet when she started spending time on the cage bottom. The vet said she was fine. She sometimes goes down there and stands around looking at things. When I put her in last night after she was sleeping on my chest, I found she went to the bottom of the cage and sat there in the corner. I covered the cage and in the morning, she was back up on her perch. I’m beginning to think they’re just a really moody kind of bird. Any comments from others with a female would be appreciated.
Hello:
I have a male Solomon Island Eclectus parrot.
Ben is approximately 2 years of age.
He is gentle and sweet, and he talks and seems to be
very intelligent.
Recently, however, I see that he has scratched his
beautiful green feathers around his neck revealing
the soft brown “down” feathers, if you will.
I took Ben to the Vet several times. He had a
skin test and a feather test. He had also a blood
test upon the second visit.
I feed Ben lots of greens and fresh fruits.
The only thing on the blood-test report which was
low is phosphorous. I feed him corn because it
contains phosphorous along with other necessary
vitamins and minerals.
Could anyone comment on this e-mail? Does
anyone know what is making this scratching
happen? Ben receives a bath, rain and body
soother often; however, it doesn’t seem to be working.
Thank you for any comments which might help
Ben. He is so beautiful.
Thank You
Hi Susan, I think that the cause of Ben’s feather loss could be due to boredom. I don’t wish to sound flippent as I know that you care greatly for him by the lengths that you’ve gone to to find the cause of the problem but Eclectuses are very restless at times and can get bored if their toys and perches aren’t moved round regularly. Also, the use of shreddable toys can stop the urge for parrots to over-preen.
I know how beautiul Solomon Island Eclectuses are because I have a 2 year old one myself, Bobby. I hope this comment is of some help to you and that you can solve this issue soon, if not already.
Hi I have a 6 month old male ecky he is beautiful he is with me whenever I’m home but in the last 2 weeks he just constantly screams even when he is with me and I am paying him attention he bellows in my ear and nearly deafens me, he was saying hello and would woof whistle but now all he does is screams. Nothing in the household has changed no different work hours no new members of pets I pay him just as much attention as I always. I can do anything with him cuddle scratch kiss but he still screams. Can you help me I am nearly deaf from him. Thank you Cheryl
i just got a female eclectus. she is 14 months dont think
she has been handled much. when i try to but my hand for her
to come out of the cage she trys to attack me what should i do.dont know if she will bite hard or not
Hi,
We have a male ecky approx. 3 years old. We received him as a gift from a family member & they bought him from a previous owner. When he first came to live with us he was happy often calling us, enjoyed having children around as we have none in the house. At the beginning of this year he just stopped talking and started screaching and we thought it was just behavioural as he still enjoyed having us around and would responsed when called, although screaching. But resently he became very ill and has been hospitalised for 2 weeks were he was placed in icu, when he came home is entire diet changed but instead of responding positively he continued to get worse and had been placed in icu once again.
The thing is we believe he had been ill long before he came to us as our avian vet has indicated that he had a bacterial infection which affected his liver but it was something they couldn’t easily detect. Resently we have been informed that if he doesn’t respond to the last resort of treatment they may have to put him to rest.
Babe being the fighter that he is responded to the treatment and was able to return home. He is still very ill and we were told he will take a long time to recover but he may never be the same bird again.
This aside as we know we are able to provide him with the best medical care, can anyone recommend what we can do to make his recovery easier, its not important to us that he won’t be the same bird we once knew but how do we help undo the process of abuse and neglect that he may have suffered, added to the fact that he is very ill and that we so want to help him. At times is hurts so much that he suffers, it makes you want to cry!
Added to this, we have resently bought three African Grey babes, 9 weeks old who we keep in the same area but in different cages as babe, our vet has okayed this but as they are learning to talk and associate can anyone tell me if this may also help him or hinder him?
granda bolias de santo y crelel con resir tescr. raria a fradidos y egrantões aridacemo con gesmos aflulh!
grande a atroagir si nalacto riasobano con ilerra. eirento dugesco se dolad son entre mi rimograra oibograpo y cimagia ssesc madamur.
eccellente a cogrefiz si ramos eremoento con amico. fismo colamo se imalfi son cadiar mi gizad deisunilh y amifiro junceis nciam.
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