Update

[Joshuwaaa]

Peeker you honestly didn't say anything but what I needed to hear. You were wonderfully informative and its only my own insecurities about silly i must have looked.

I'm going to increase his food slightly because he really desperately goes for his food, an I feel awful. Is this a good idea? What do you normally feed in amounts? I did around 10 grapes and half a banana for breakfast, what the vet said and half a cup of warm veggies at night? I don't now think this is nearly enough.

Just went in an got myself all upset because he usually quietens when i go in, after a while, an he kept screaming. Then Jack was doing his food and now he's silent and dived for his food.

its normal isn't it, loud super calls for food?

I'm going to look at recipes now for beans, rice etc. Proper mushy nice meals xx

 

[SandyBee]

Josh,

It's wonderful that your asking questions and learning,no one knows everything.
Don't worry about looking silly, we all are new at this at one time or another and it's very normal to be worried about every little thing at first.

I can't speak of ekkies so much, but it is universal for birds to call loudly for food.

It does sound like he wants more and you need to do some diet tweaks, I'm sure the other ekkie owners will be here with advice soon.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

Thank you, to be honest this ua the best place for me. Id rather be honest and know so i can give him the best home possible.

This is a cage I've been looking at, and for £200.00 I'm quite happy.

would it be okay?

Arizona Parrot Cage ? Next Day Delivery Arizona Parrot Cage

 

[SandyBee]

I like it
The dimensions are good and I like the style of it.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

There is another one, its only £30.00 more but has much more space. I thought maybe the bigger the better.

I like the box style and bigger cage

 

[Chikoo]

Peeker you honestly didn't say anything but what I needed to hear. You were wonderfully informative and its only my own insecurities about silly i must have looked.

I'm going to increase his food slightly because he really desperately goes for his food, an I feel awful. Is this a good idea? What do you normally feed in amounts? I did around 10 grapes and half a banana for breakfast, what the vet said and half a cup of warm veggies at night? I don't now think this is nearly enough.

Just went in an got myself all upset because he usually quietens when i go in, after a while, an he kept screaming. Then Jack was doing his food and now he's silent and dived for his food.

its normal isn't it, loud super calls for food?

I'm going to look at recipes now for beans, rice etc. Proper mushy nice meals xx

This doesn't sound right. 10 grapes and half a banana won't be enough, especially for breakfast. They are their hungriest in the morning. For dinner, they don't eat as much. But I also give my birds the opportunity to eat one more time in between, around 2pm.

Here is what I feed my birds in the morning:

1 passionfruit
piece of banana
half a baby carrot
quarter of celery
one leafy green
small handful of bean sprouts
small handful of mung sprouts
thin slice of kiwi
thin slice of papaya (with seeds)
little bit of apple (sometimes)
4-5 blueberries
small quarter slice of strawberry

I chop and mix this all together for them (except the passionfruit and banana). I let them play around with that separately.

For dinner:
1tbsp organic seed mix from Totally Organics
1 red chili pepper
1 slice papaya
small piece of banana
1 passionfruit
small slice of kiwi

Occasionally, I will feed them some quinoa or brown rice for dinner.

They like grapes, but grapes are not very nutritious for them. I would not consider it one of the major fruits for them.

If you feed fruits, please feed organic, or otherwise use a fruit and vegetable wash to clean pesticides. For grains, please wash thoroughly, organic is best.

I also feed bell peppers and cucumbers for veggies. And pomegranate when I have it.

I try to keep their food as raw as possible, and don't cook them anything, except the occasional quinoa and brown rice.

All you need to remember in terms of feeding an ekkie: FRESH FRUITS AND VEGGIES.

ALso, your bird might be desperate because you aren't feeding him enough. But my birds live to eat, they always look so excited and "desperate" when I give them food, as if they've been starving. They are just excited, and love to eat! So don't take it TOO seriously. But feed him more than enough. You will be surprised how much these little birds can eat.

I should also add that relative to your morning disturbance, I leave my birds covered until 9am usually. This is for a few reasons. If I don't cover them at night, they will not sleep as well, and will start making tremendous calls at the crack of dawn. Though I am up, many of my neighbors are not. I hope you can discover if you have not already, the joys of covering your bird! I don't hear a peep from them until I uncover them. But here's the trick. I never uncover them and then make breakfast. I walk in with breakfast prepared, uncover them, let them poop and whatnot, and then I feed them. They immediately start eating, and I continue with my peaceful morning. This is such an established routine now, I never hear my birds scream anymore, especially for food. As for ekkie noise, my female is essentially mute, except when she gets broody and starts calling and screaming. Otherwise, not a single peep. My male is an exceptional talker, but he doesn't talk all day, and even goes through long stretches of remaining quiet. Sometimes he will screech though, similar to your vid, but nothing blood curdling.

 

[sodakat]

Excellent advice Chikoo. Also remember Josh, you CANNOT overfeed a young bird when you are providing healthy food. So give him a cup full of food at each feeding and see how much is left in a few hours. Remember he won't eat the skins on things like peas, corn, beans and even rice. I would never feed a 7 month old bird less than 3/4 cup twice a day. I don't know the conversion to metric. PLUS 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup of an unfortified small seed mixture like Chikoo mentioned. It is okay for them to have a bit of seed and they like to sit and eat it slowly. Eclectus need the small, grasslike seeds, NOT the big seeds like you see in a Macaw or Amazon mix. There is a vet in Australia who has spent lots of time studying the types of seeds Eclectus eat. Dr Rob Marshall. You can see on his website that he encourages a bit of small seeds daily.

Regarding the cage, I'd wait until you can afford something in the range of 101cm x 76cm. That is the size cage that will give him room for toys, lots of perches, flapping around and even hanging buckets and baskets of foot toys.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

Literal 180' turn around today. I cant thank you all enough.

Had much more breakfast, some almonds, banana, grapes, slice of kiwi and blueberry.

He sat and ate that and was silent all morning up until I went back in to praise him and take him out.

Been sitting with me content as anything, on his java preening and has only made small conversational noises.

Ran around the apartment with me playing, step up and then sat with me on xbox.

Now we are just both taking some sleepy quiet time together yawning in sync and just generally spending one on one time.

He has barely made a peep today because when I went in I merely fed him straight away which stopped him calling before he started.

After that, the excited noise when I went in was accepted as a hello and not a scream, an we sat and chatted until he finally came out on his own accord straight to my arm.

I cant thank you all enough, its been such a completely different day.

I take full responsibility, I wasn't allowing him the social time because I feared it was encouraging bad behaviour which in turn only made him frustrated he wasn't being seen and socialised.

Lesson learnt, Thank you for giving me.my relationship with Loki back!!

Never make that silly mistake again



x

 

[Crackseed]

Awesome to hear man - way to go

I think we can cue the happy dance now \o/

 

[Joshuwaaa]

Playing with my pen and generally being a cutie. For real Crackseed, I'm jigging an dancing lol

 

[drlisaort]

Wonderful news Josh!!! Yes, I feed my Oliver much more than what you were giving Loki. Oliver is not a squawker but rather a talker (can't make out words clearly yet!) but when I'm late getting home from work (and late with his dinner) he's not his usual cheery self. So, you are on to something big here...a break through. Yay!!

 

[sodakat]

I'm sooo happy.

You know birds have only one way to tell us they are hungry. Noise. Unlike puppies and kitties who can crawl to a teat even when they are defenseless and cannot yet see, baby parrots must call out to their parents so the mouth can be found in the dark nests and parents can regurgitate food.

Don't forget that he needs protein on a regular basis. Leafy greens like collard, mustard, dandelion and endive as well as sprouted pulses and quinoa will provide that. I like Tofu so buy that quite often and do share it with my Eclectus flock. Theirs is not heated or cooked like when I use it making our meals. Instead I just cut a bit into tiny cubes and add it to their soft mix. Edamame is usually a hit too if you have it in your grocery stores. I live in a rural part of the country so cannot get it easily.

Have you tried pomegranate or cranberries? Mine like both. Oh, and a nice thing to put in his dish if you need to be out for a while is a small wheel (slice) of fresh uncooked corn on the cob. Cut it in half if he has trouble with the entire slice. I usually slice the wheels about 1/2 to 1" thick.

 

[Peeker]

Whoo! Great update! I'm so happy to hear all is going well today!

 

[Joshuwaaa]

Ooh I love those suggestions. We did a much healthier portion of:
Carrot,
Peas,
Broccoli,
Red pepper and,
Sweet corn for his evening meal. An he hasn't made a peep. Gulfed it down. He has only just gone back in his cage from around 11 this morning. That's how easy today has been, it's now 17.30 where I am as I write this.

I'm in the Britain and I'm not sure if we have much of that? Jack works in a supermarket called Sainsburys here and he can't find much of anything. We do have access to Bok Choy if that's any good? Or pak choy? We also can try cabbage? Sprouts?

I can get corn on the cob, and maybe do have some of what you suggested but named differently in Britain. Il take a look into it.

Would mango be a good fruit? Melon? And pineapple?

He doesn't like
Blackberries,
Orange,
Apple,
Strawberries (although I don't like them because of pesticides).

Thank you so much!

x

 

[Soyajam]

Oh wow I'm so relieved for you and Loki!

Looks like he's finally getting his message heard, huh?

Sounds like a fairytale ending...

you must tell us if it stays this way - then we know that was really the root cause!

 

[Chikoo]

Melons are good, pineapple is also good. Just remember these birds love mushy textures more than anything else.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

We are going to grab some pineapple, mango and melon to try maybe branch out to lime, lemon? Some citrus?

I'm going to keep updating just so we can see if the feeding and socialisation has been able to curb his louder calls.

Really weird question, but does any have any pictures of their eclectus' stool? I hate to ask, but when we went to the vet she said it would solidify more, but that the grapes he loves were making it watery, especially because his breeder only fed seed.

Just wanted to make sure everything looked right. Hopefully, his better diet will sort out stool and his plumage. His head green is slowly coming through and his one wing is doing great. All black on his belly has nearly gone now too

Hope your all well,

x

 

[sodakat]

I feed a bit of citrus mixed in with the chop I make daily. But mine are not overly fond of it. I feed it because it coats the other fruits and vegetables and (I hope) keeps them fresher longer.

Don't worry about his stool. Lots of foods make a difference in how it looks, depending on their water content and color. I mean, as long as you got a good bill of health from his vet, don't worry about his stool. Obviously there are things that you should worry about, but mostly that would be undigested foods, especially seeds, passing through and appearing in his stool.

Even getting a lot of water in his mouth during a shower can affect his stool. Trying new fruits may well affect it, so be prepared to be shocked. I big splat instead of formed stools is common when they eat a large amount of a certain food, especially fruit.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

Its been a few days an I can happily say Loki is a dream.

This morning he had a mix of banana, mango, lime and lemon with a table spoon of deshelled seeds.

Bigger portions are definetely helping with his hunger, shocked I didn't see it before.

More time out and social talking has made him ridiculously quiet. Even his natural calls and chatter is cute and quiet.

More playful now too and this morning he was playing with a foraging game I made.

Got him some new stuff to change up his cage before I go away.

Been awesome. x

 

[Jtbirds]

Sounds like he is doing great. You like the eclectus wild call:x, My two do it every time we walk in and out of the door it gets tiresome some days lol.