My Ecelectus - Loki & Rubi (Guess which ones the female?! :) )

[madbradjohnson]

Hi All,

I have an Eclectus pair. They have bonded and have started breeding. I am still not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Rubi, the hen, always lays a double clutch of eggs. Last year, we had our 1st hatchling which sadly passed away a little after 1 month.

Now, recently, about 2 weeks ago. Out of her clutch of 3 eggs, 2 of them hatched.

Both chicks seemed to be healthy and feeding. One was almost about the same size as the other.

Today, after feeding them some greens, i checked on the eggs and to my surprise, the one chick is almost double in size.

I am worried that the 2nd (smaller chick) is not getting fed.

Should I be concerned?

 

[chris-md]

Hello and welcome!

Have you ever raised baby parrots before? Ekkies are one of the hardest to hand rear and wean. If you’ve never done this before, it’s probably not the smartest thing to allow you two birds to breed. Ekkies above many others are not a “just for the hell of it” species to breed.

If you’re a chick isn’t being fed by the parents you’ll have to pull it and hand feed it. Are you equipped to do so? Brooder, formula, etc?

 

[LordTriggs]

you need to have a gram scale and need to weight the chicks daily. Check the crop after momma bird comes out of the nest area. If the chick isn't getting fed you need to get a temperature controlled brooder, hand feeding formula, thermometer and all the other accoutrements needed for raising a baby bird.

Check out the breeding subforum and check the thread at the top titled "So you bought an unweaned bird" whilst not the situation you're in the stuff does apply. Oh and don't forget to get rings for the babies to fit soon and hatch certificates as you need those if the babies are going to be passed on to new homes.

In future if you don't want babies you can replace the laid eggs with fake eggs so your pair can do their thing with the eggs and get bored in their own time. Hopefully breeders like Silversage will be on soon and can provide some more in depth advise than I can offer.

Best of luck to you! (hope to see some pictures of them all)

 

[madbradjohnson]

Hello and welcome!

Have you ever raised baby parrots before? Ekkies are one of the hardest to hand rear and wean. If you’ve never done this before, it’s probably not the smartest thing to allow you two birds to breed. Ekkies above many others are not a “just for the hell of it” species to breed.

If you’re a chick isn’t being fed by the parents you’ll have to pull it and hand feed it. Are you equipped to do so? Brooder, formula, etc?

Yes, I raised both of my Eclectus by hand. First fed with a dropper, then feeding tube, then a bent up teaspoon. (The teaspoon was still the best way in my experience.) I was more curious to see if I should pull the 2nd chick. I would like the couple to at least rear one of their hatchlings to a full fledgling.

I personally dont find Eclectus a mission or difficult.

 

[madbradjohnson]

In future if you don't want babies you can replace the laid eggs with fake eggs so your pair can do their thing with the eggs and get bored in their own time.

Best of luck to you! (hope to see some pictures of them all)

I am considering the fake eggs. I am going to approach my local pet specialist and also ask his advice.

Will hopefully upload some pics soon.

 

[chris-md]

Or you can skip the eggs and keep the birds in a separate cage so they can’t breed at all. Nothing says reproductive barrier like the oldest condom in the book I’m flashing back to old stories of men and women lying together in bed at their parents house with a wood partition separating them while they sleep.

Look, myself and and lordtriggs have never handraiaed a bird in our lives, so take our advise with a giant boulder of salt. You’ve got more experience than we do, it sounds like.if you’ve handraised your two...we’ve really got no business advising you at all in this. we can just provide small sign posts we pick up along our journey.

But ekkies are a bit different, this we do know for fact. For example, I just read a piece that said pulling an ekkie chick before 28 days can result in stunted growth illness and death. So pulling an ekkie chick shouldn’t be taken lightly.

You’d be best served reaching out to an actual eclectus breeder, which on this forum we unfortunately lack. We have a number of breeders who might be able to help you in this, and hopefully they’ll speak up soon! You might reach out to laurella desborough at eclectusparrotcentre.net. She’s a standard bearer for necktie breeding, if somewhat lacking basic biological knowledge (my last interaction with her, she was firmly of the belief that vitamin a was a man made nutrient...). She’s be a fountain of knowledge for you to get you over this first months hump.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Wow!
Welcome. I'm glad you're here. We have a community of dedicated Eclectus lovers here. I am sure you'll enjoy trading information with them.

P.S.
Thanks, Chris! Great information!

 

[LordTriggs]

aha well you already have a wealth of knowledge on the breeding more than I haha, It's something I would find fun to do in the future but would definitely only do it in assistance to an already accomplished breeder

Ultimately for future clutches you will have a better grasp of what you think is best for your pair than others here. just keep an eye on weight and if the weight drops for one it may be best to pull them from the nest

 

[itzjbean]

Personally I think you should pull the 2nd baby and let the parents raise the 1st one, they seem to be doing an excellent job. It will be interesting to see their personality differences once they are weaned.

You seem to have experience so the next thing I must ask for is.... pictures!!

 

[madbradjohnson]

Personally I think you should pull the 2nd baby and let the parents raise the 1st one, they seem to be doing an excellent job. It will be interesting to see their personality differences once they are weaned.

You seem to have experience so the next thing I must ask for is.... pictures!!

great!, 2 picture requests already! I might pop into the nest box and take one quick!

I tend to agree with you wrt pulling the 2nd baby.

Then you guys can actually see the size difference!

 

[madbradjohnson]

Or you can skip the eggs and keep the birds in a separate cage so they can’t breed at all. Nothing says reproductive barrier like the oldest condom in the book I’m flashing back to old stories of men and women lying together in bed at their parents house with a wood partition separating them while they sleep.

Look, myself and and lordtriggs have never handraiaed a bird in our lives, so take our advise with a giant boulder of salt. You’ve got more experience than we do, it sounds like.if you’ve handraised your two...we’ve really got no business advising you at all in this. we can just provide small sign posts we pick up along our journey.

But ekkies are a bit different, this we do know for fact. For example, I just read a piece that said pulling an ekkie chick before 28 days can result in stunted growth illness and death. So pulling an ekkie chick shouldn’t be taken lightly.

You’d be best served reaching out to an actual eclectus breeder, which on this forum we unfortunately lack. We have a number of breeders who might be able to help you in this, and hopefully they’re ill speak up soon! You might reach out to laurella desborough at eclectusparrotcentre.net. She’s a standard bearer for necktie breeding, if somewhat lacking basic biological knowledge (my last interaction with her, she was firmly of the belief that vitamin a was a man made nutrient...). She’s be a fountain of knowledge for you to get you over this first months hump.

Love your olden day condem idea. My 2 Eclectus are very close to each other. I think they would go crazy being seperated... LOL...

Thanks for the referall.... Although I cannot believe she thinks Vit A is man made... My parrots get tonnes of vitamin A (from beta-carotene), biotin, vitamin K (phylloquinone), potassium and vitamin B6.

I know this because they love eating carrots!!! And google told me thats whats in a carrot!

 

[madbradjohnson]

This was a few years back. My beautiful woman and my just as beautiful Parrot. (He was just a couple of months - You can see by his beak).

Photo was for a fashion shoot.

 

[madbradjohnson]

Here are some more pics!

 

[madbradjohnson]

This was the last phase of hand rearing... at least from what I remember!

 

[madbradjohnson]

Re: My Ecelectus - Loki & Rubi (Problem with 2 chicks )

OKay.... Here are the hatchlings.....

What I forgot to mention, was that I remember seeing the 1 hatchling. I don't remember the size. Then only a couple of days later, came the 2nd one.





What do you think?

 

[Dopey]

I have no experience in this...just what I have read.
If I was in this situation I would pull the 2nd chick and start feeding it.
That is a big difference in size.

They are cute/ugly little things.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Kiwibird]

I have no experience in these matters. Commons sense seems the small chick should be pulled and hand fed. I would personally be calling my avian vet ASAP for *expert* advice on how to proceed/help.

 

[madbradjohnson]

@kiwibird & @Dopey

I agree... One small problem, I have no feeding formula. Its too late to go and buy some right now. All the shops are closing.

Any ideas on a home made feeding formula? (I am going to google it too).

I have another crazy idea..... Which I often have....

I was thinking of keeping the baby in the box and feeding it while it's in there... That way if mom tries to feed it, it will still get food, plus it keeps the temperature of the box.

If I am not successful, then I will have no choice but to pull the little thing out.

 

[Kiwibird]

Can you call your avian vet? I've never heard of a AV who doesn't take after hours calls in urgent/emergency situations. They may have some hand feeding formula in the office or a suggestion of some kind of human food you can offer to tie the baby over until you can buy proper formula in the morning. They may also recommend leaving the baby alone. I'm not sure as I'm not a vet, but it's worth a shot to contact yours which may well save this sweet little babies life.

 

[itzjbean]

@kiwibird & @Dopey

I agree... One small problem, I have no feeding formula. Its too late to go and buy some right now. All the shops are closing.

Any ideas on a home made feeding formula? (I am going to google it too).

I have another crazy idea..... Which I often have....

I was thinking of keeping the baby in the box and feeding it while it's in there... That way if mom tries to feed it, it will still get food, plus it keeps the temperature of the box.

If I am not successful, then I will have no choice but to pull the little thing out.

Co-feeding may work well, assuming the pair will let you in the nest box. However I would either order more formula or find a way to get some rather than feed homemade. It's something I would not attempt. Where are you located and can you go when stores open in the morning?