leg band questions

Hello! i just created an account so i could get on here and see if anyone can help me figure this out. My name is Heather and i had been looking for a male eclectus for over a year when i finally found one for sale near me. i didnt want to pay a breeder so i was hoping one would pop up that i could adopt. i found Ziggy in a town about 2 hours from where i live. he was being sold because he belonged to a mans girlfriend and he had bonded to her but when she moved out, the man who he lived with didnt feel like he was bonding to him and thought he should have another female owner. he told me that Ziggy is a 25 yo. Solomon island ekkie. i want to figure out how to decipher his leg band to find out if this is in fact true. his band looks to be made of brass and is a closed band. the letters are kinda worn off a bit since brass is such a soft metal but i can make out GH FL 95 (or 96 its hard to read) but thats all i can see on there. ive googled it a few times since ive had him but all the websites seem to describe a different format that has 3 letters and 2 numbers. if the 95 or 6 thats on there is the year he was born then he wouldnt be 25, more like 19 or 20. so, im confused! ive also been unable to find anything about brass leg bands. ive seen aluminum or plastic.

so, if anyone knows more about this or could help me figure out where he came from and what his true age is id really appreciate it! im hoping hes young enough to live out my life with me! im preferring to believe that their life spans rival the african grey at 60-75 years as opposed to what alot of people are saying about them only living 35 years or so. im taking very good care of him and feeding him lots of fresh food and sprouts, with almonds as treats. no pellets, no seeds. although he has apparently been spoiled rotten by his previous owner and he acts like he will not survive if i dont let him take a taste of whatever im eating. he loves everythingggg.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance if anyone can help!

-Heather & Ziggy

Hi and welcome

I cannot answare about the ring, but it will be interesting if you can show us some pictures of him so we can help you about the age!

Be nice is you can tell us more about him!! Is he talking? Is he hormonal? ect ect

Hello solrac! Ziggy is not hormal as far as i can tell, hes very gentle and quiet most of the time, the only things that send him on a 15 second squalking and flapping spree are barking dogs mostly. he doesnt like loud noises. i was aware of this when i went looking for an eclectus, and my house is generally pretty quiet..but i do also have dogs and they occasionally bark. sometimes that sets him off. other than that hes happy to be walking around on the dining room table, he LOVESSS any food that isnt his, andi try to share healthy looking bites here and there. he moves quick though and steals some any time he sees the opportunity! he doesnt talk much, but he does let out an excited sounding WOOOAHHHH!!! when he sees someone walk into the room from around the corner or through a door, sometimes he says it when he sees something kinda big, its adorable! he mostly makes tiny owl type noises..when i leave the room he seems to be saying whoo whoo very gently and about 10 seconds apart. i take him in the bathroom with me every morning when i shower and he giggles like a little kid when he hears the water running! i turn the shower head to mist and set his stand in there for 5-10 min after i get out and he usually spreads his wings and plays in the water. he came to me with most of his wing feathers chewed but there is still an inch or 2 of the quill end in his wing, so he hasnt ripped them out. im not sure if he chewed them off when his owners girlfriend left or what but ive had him a few weeks now and the first week, he chewed off 2 more wing feathers, and one of the quills that had the rest chewed off was in the bottom of the cage but after inspecting the end of it, it looks like it came out naturally. he cannot even come close to flying with his wings as they are so i hope they come back eventually. he doesnt have a tail at all and im worried he may have plucked that out as well. there are no visible pin feathers there to hint at a new tail growing in. i will attach a few pictures here for you in the last ones you can kinda see the condition of his wings, and ill include a picture of one of the 2 feathers i found in his cage his first week home. he seems to leave an inch or 2 in his wing so hes not pulling them completley out. his beak looks a little long to me but he seems to be afraid of cuttle bones? he has wood toys and a chewable perch but he doesnt play with his toys and ive had a hard time getting him to play with anything really. let me know what you think about any of these! thanks for reading!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By6vWeWiUhiNSVRUYXlIelVPWVU/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By6vWeWiUhiNQWI1YVNQaEp3S1k/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By6vWeWiUhiNQmVfT0VEaDlyQ2s/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By6vWeWiUhiNdDhnaXJiQVBSbUE/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By6vWeWiUhiNYjE1b1NJRXFidWs/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By6vWeWiUhiNaUJXVnNQZkZhWlk/view?usp=sharing

sorry all the photos showed up as links, i cant figure out how to just embed photos apparently..ill have to look into that :/

I think because you have it in Google drive, it won't post on here other then a link? I just tried and it wouldn't work. Try uploading to photobucket perhaps. Then you can click little picture icon on the reply window and place the hyperlink in the popup window, click ok, viola it's there.

When I got my ekkies I had same issue with their beaks. I bought a concrete perch, that took care of the issue instantly as I didn't have to take them in to have them trimmed. Always be sure to place concrete perch as the highest perch in cage so they will use them.

You can give seeds but in small amounts, mainly small seeds. I give mine a table spoon full between the two on a daily basis other then fresh foods.

I would guess based on the format of my own bands that this bird was hatched in 1995 in Florida by a breeder or in an aviary with the initials GH. Your best bet to find out any more about him would be to start digging up and contacting breeders in FL who have been around and breeding since before that. They may know who bred the bird. They may also be very irritated with you for taking up their time, it depends. Also, by the time a bird has been through a couple of homes, the age is often way off from reality.

thanks for all the responses! i do feed him a sprig of millet every other day or so, but thats all he gets for seeds other than sprouts. i bought this mix and i give him about a tablespoon of sprouts with each meal

https://sproutpeople.org/mid-bird-sprout-mix/

he seems to love them and its the first thing he does for in his dish! i make a fresh batch every 4 or 5 days so i have a continuous supply.
as for the concrete perch i believe he has one, there was one in his cage that looks like a concrete type material, and its the one he uses the most but it doesnt seem to be doing much for his beak or his nails. his previous owner said he would allow his nails to be clipped once in awhile but i have yet to try it. i uploaded some pictures to photobucket so lets try this again

His beak is most definitely over grown! The day I had it set up to take mine in to the vet to have their beaks done, I went to get them out of their cage only to find out they filed it themselves. So I ended up canceling the appointment. But if he won't trim it, you need to have it done as soon as possible.

Soft wood toys are also really good for filing down beaks. If he doesn't automatically go to chew on his toys, you might need to teach him to play either them. Show him that toys are fun. You can do this by playing with the toy yourself while right next to him, or tying stuff onto the toy that you know he will chew. Like paper or cardboard.

As far as perches go for filing nails, the regular concrete ones didn't do much for my Maya, either. So I bought a pedi-perch and it made all the difference! It's been maybe 10 months since she's had her nails trimmed.

Great job consistently sprouting for your ekkie! That's huge, nutrition-wise.

As for his feathers, it definitely looks like he's overpreening at the very least, as well as biting off his flights, but there are others far more experienced with plucking behaviors on this forum than I. Allee immediately springs to mind. You might want to check out her sticky in the behavioral section. Very informative.

http://www.parrotforums.com/showthread.php?t=52217

i came home from work today and noticed his beak looks a little different on one side, either he filed a little piece out or he bit the bars in his cage and chipped a bit off? its only on one side so if i was the cage bars id think it would be on both sides. there are no hairline cracks or anything, maybe its starting to bother him and he decided to take care of it himself while i was gone. it definitely wasnt like this yesterday

im very appreciative for all your opinions, i only know one other bird owner so i dont have many people to discuss these things with. thanks everyone!

i have also been trying to get him to use his toys. he has 4 toys inside his cage that are rope and wood, but so far the only thing hes touched is this news paper knot i made to tuck almonds into. he has no interest in his store bought toys but i hope someday to peak his interest in them.

what do you guys think about feeding him cooked organic quinoa mixed in his veggies for his dinner? ive read many conflicting opinions on grains, but id like to serve him something in his dinners that he doesnt get in his lunch to mix it up a bit

I feed grain occasionally, should not be a daily item! He might be trying to trim his beak on his own. Give him a few more days to see if he would take care of it on his own.

Did you see my last post? I gave a few suggestions regarding toys. Last post on page one.

As for quinoa, I feed it to my birds sometimes, too. Good stuff! Not every day, as Michael said, but semi-regularly should be fine.

hello anansi! yes i read your post, ive been reading each and every one of them i will try attaching some twisted up newspaper to one of his toys to see if that makes him more interested in them

when you feed your birds, do you have 2 separate batched of different veggies to feed at different times of day? or do you just pick a half dozen and mix them up, feeding out of the same batch until its gone, then picking different ones for the next batch? so far what ive done is buy 8-10 different veggies, i chopped them all up and measured about a half a cup into baggies to freeze. hes been getting a tablespoon of this mix twice a day as well as a few pieces of something fresh i pick up ((currently hes been eating pieces of a mango i have cubed every morning, and a 1" section of fresh corn every other day, as well as a few wild blueberries)) i dont want to bore him with the same meals all the time.
im worried his previous owner may have spoiled him a little too much because he begs like crazy for everything! he had told me that he would take him for car rides and get him mcdonalds french fries sometimes, and sent me home with a hugeeee bag of unsalted peanuts in shells which i havent been giving him. instead, hes been getting raw organic almonds as a treat. he acts like hes been used to helping himself to anything and everything he sees his humans eating. the other day i was eating a bowl of soup and he charged right over and stuck his beak in, pulling out a piece of carrot! i have to be careful to not eat at the table next to his cage if i have anything i feel is unhealthy after he did the same thing and stole a bite of my spring roll from the Chinese restaurant.
i might be worrying too much but i want to make sure his diet is exactly how it should be to ensure he has a long life as my little green buddy

For my chop, I tend to cut up between 7 and 10 different types of fruits and veggies. (8:2 or 7:3 in favor of the veggies over fruits.) And I make batches enough to last over the next 2 or 3 feedings. 4 at most. So since that only covers 1.5 - 2 days, I never need to freeze. Only refrigerate.

And no, I don't do 2 batches. Since there is so much variety already in my chop, they tend not to tire of the taste even after 3 or 4 meals. And any especially nutritious foods that they don't particularly like, I'll either grate (carrots) or slice up really fine (dandelion) So that they have no choice but to accidentally eat it as they are wolfing down all of their favorites.

I personally wouldn't feed corn quite that often. Though many ekkies eat corn to their heart's content without any ill-effects whatsoever, others have proven rather sensitive to it in large quantities. That, combined with the fact that it offers little of nutritional value, makes it more of an occasional treat for my flock.

And as for his tendency to go after whatever you're having, that's just being an ekkie. He'll always want what you're having. Lol! Granted, his being regularly indulged with McDonald's french fries couldn't have helped, but chances are he'd have been going after your stuff anyway. But at least he doesn't seem to be a finicky eater.

Sounds like you're doing a great job, so far. Please keep us updated.

thank you for that info! ill cut back on the corn and feed it mostly to my chickens instead, they love it! i also love the idea of grating/slicing things depending on how he picks what he likes, i had been grating some things based on what it was for a product not so much based on what he seems to like. for example, i grated up a small summer squash in his chop because i figured it was the easiest out of the fruits/veggies i had to grate, and it would add a different texture. but now that ive had him a few weeks and im getting a better idea of what he likes most i can start preparing things to different sizes accordingly. he seems to like softer things best, he loves the mango, and he went to town on watermelon cubes last week, but i havent found any veggies hes particularly crazy for. i did find he likes chick peas and kidney beans as i gave him some of each one day out of my meal. saturday is usually my day to stop at the grocery store but i may go tomorrow after work and get him a few different ingredients to try out! having only one ekkie i couldnt chop up 8-10 veggies and expect him to eat it all in less than a week but i am a vegetarian and i love all the things ive been getting for him too so i suppose i could eat half of it myself and prevent spoilage!

any meal plans would be appreciated, ive been making lists in a notebook here on my desk any time i find different meal plans, so i can try to mix and match to create the best one. if you feel up for it, maybe make a list of what is in your current batch of chop and ill add that to my list? again, thank you very much youre very helpful! im off to bed now but ill be checking in again tomorrow

Sure thing. I'll make up a list tomorrow.

But when I said chopping up 8 - 10 fruits and veggies, I don't mean the entire thing. A few slices of each. Otherwise you would have to freeze the rest after all.

He is soo cute . Welcome to the forum. I would say that his tail will eventually grow in some where in the next few weeks (most likely when he has a molt). As for huis wing feathers due to the fact that they are still there they will grow in faster. and eventually he will grow some new beautiful feathers. Btw you can increase the speed his feathers grow by giving him a good diet of lots of fruit and about 40% pellets ( such as Harrisons or vetafarm). I hope he will grow out those beautiful ekkie feathers soon.

littleredhen77

Well I must say that you have a very beautiful bird there!!! And love the video of your Ziggy under the shower, my boy dont like showers but i do shower him under the kitchen sink ones a week by holding his foot and force him to stay under the ruining water, after that he loves to go to the deck and dry him self very happy!

I was afraid he had a serious plunking issue and from what i can see his feathers are in very well conditions.

I am very happy to have you and your Ziggy with us as we dont have almost non users with a fully grown male Electus.

Must of us have Electus that are around 2 to 3 years and your experience and the incoming updates with Ziggy will be very instructive to us.

I am always worrying about when my boy will rich sexual age, as for what I have read and search in the internet there are many many Male Electus that end Plucking and obsessed with sexual habits


I am sure you will discover new sounds and words fom your beautiful Ziguy, Electus are very shy and it takes them around 6 months to really feel at home and there is when they start becoming chating matchines that at list mine could drive nuts everybody as he is non stop chating singing and calling.

Forgot to ask you how long is since you have him?