Introduction

[Kenzie36]

My husband and I used to breed and sell parrots and conures quite a few years ago, until his health declined enough that he could no longer maintain care of all our breeder birds, so we sold the business.
Now, we have acquired a pet Eclectus male we have named Kiwi. We are absolutely head over heels in love with this species and have missed the handfeedings, the customer education opportunities, etc. with that being said, we are picking ups breeder pair of Eclectus this weekend. We could not possibly be more excited for this opportunity and how it will be with only feeding one clutch at a time.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you! I hope your husband is doing better!

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed.

 

[Kiwibird]

Welcome.

I hope you'll explore some of the newer ideas and techniques of 'coparenting' chicks- i.e. humans and parent birds working together to raise the chicks. For birds destined to spend their lives around humans in domestic homes and not in the wild, this is likely the best route- to grow up with the solid foundation of what it is to be a bird (plus the probiotics etc... that can only come from being fed by parent birds) but also that humans are safe caretakers who will eventually be who they live and interact with.

Looking forward to watching some chicks grow up!

 

[Laurasea]

Welcome and congratulations. Ekkies are prone to plucking, and there is significant data that links this to hand raising parrots. Parant raised parrots do not pluck as adults. Certainly it will make raising babies much much easier, as they stay with the parents, and you just spend time socializing them. I hope you will give this serious thought. Welcome to the community.

 

[Birdscanfly]

Hello. Already at the introduction we have people drawing attention to important issues. I also hope you will learn about allowing parrots to be parent-raised. I just got one that was bird-socialized and I think it's great. Please look into it. Hopefully this forum will be a supportive place for you to learn.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums! A beautiful Ekkie couple!!

 

[GaleriaGila]

I was not aware of the passion behind these issues. I was equally unaware of any science or documentation of handfeeding vs. co-parenting vs. parent-only feeding (as associated with plucking, for example), and I'd look forward to more education.
I know that mine is an experiment with a subject count of one, but the Rb was completely handfed, and has not plucked or shown other serious behavioral anomalies, other than being a complete vandal and home invader.
I'm glad you're here, sharing.

 

[Terry57]

Hello & welcome! Kiwi is beautiful, and so is your new pair you are getting. I am so happy you joined us and I can't wait to hear more about your babies.