Hi Nate! I have a wonderful Eclectus boy. He is an SI and is about 6.5 years old but he was adopted by us just over a year ago. He is the light of my life. Guess there aren't many posts here, eh? The site is REALLY slow which is surprising to me cuz I have DSL.

Welcome! Does your eclectus chew on your house much? As you might have read, I recently took in a cockatoo, and it's a bit of a challenge to keep him from dismantling my house. My pionus on the other hand is no trouble at all. How are eclectus in that regard?

And yes, this site is pretty new but it gets a little busier as new people (like you!) sign up a take part. I'm surprised to hear that it's slow for you, I have DSL as well and it's not bad at all. The internet can be unpredictable though so hopefully it will clear up for you soon. If not, let me know, and I'll bug my ISP about it.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Hi I'm new and obviously having trouble posting, since I just posted 2 replies with nothing in them. Sorry about that. Anyway, I have a 4 month old Red Sided Eclectus boy named Finnigan. He is a joy! He is also my first parrot. I'm having so much fun with him, he is so funny! I've only had him a short time, 1 month and 9 days to be exact. We have a special bond already and I'm allowed to touch him anywhere that I want. They say red sided ekkies are pretty stubborn and bossy. He fits right into our household as we know all about being stubborn and bossy. I can't believe he has only been with us a short time, it feels like he has been here forever. He has chew toys in his cage and really chomps down on those a lot, hanging upside down and everything from them. He doesn't really chew anything outside of his cage as he is allowed to hang out on the couch with me frequently. He is a good good boy!

Hi,I'm new to this group, found you on another Ekkie site. I have two Ekkies, a SI red and a SI red sided green guy. My hen is siting on an egg right now not that it's fertile, but since she laid it, she seems to be more calm and not so stressed. She picks her chest, and this sitting seems to release some of the stress. My hens name is Lola. My males name is Solomon, and he is regal as a king and struts around like one too. He is only 2yrs old while my female is 8yrs. old. She has only been with me for 2 1/2 yrs.Of course Solomon is not old enough for breeding. Not that I want them to breed, we just want to be friends.karen k.

Welcome aboard, SusieQ!

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Nate:

How do I get all my blank posts off of everything? I'm so sorry. Everytime I go to post, there is my name with a blank post.

Angie C.

I'm not sure, I don't see any blank posts from you. Where are they?
Are they in the forums, or photos, or journals, or... ?

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

They are always right below everyone elses in everything I look at. Is this the way it is suppose to be?

Angie

I know some of you on here from another Eclectus Group, do any of your birds talk? How old were they when they started talking, or were they talking when you got them? I don't really care if Finnigan talks or not, but he sure tries awfully hard, let me tell you. Sometimes it does sound like he is saying hi or hello. He is so funny. Boy does he have an attitude too. Just the other day he bit my husband after my husband had placed him on his boing. My husband started to get real angry and yell, so I ran over and said calm down really soft and told him to have Finny step up for him and he did, Finny complied and everything was okay. Boy they sure are comical aren't they?

Angie C.

Angie, it sounds to me like you're looking at one of the forms where you can enter new comments. Don't worry about it. :-)

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Hi , this is my first time here. Just got a 4 month old female red sided ecelectus, but what a biter. really working hard with her but she tends to take to my husband more. Judy Kankakee Illinois

Judy, have you seen the article (at this web site) about biting? Let me know if you find it helpful, or if there's anything about it that isn't clear.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

My significant other and I have an eclectus at home, Xanth, who's about a year and a half old. I think he's a red-sided (I know he isn't Solomon Islands!). He loves me but he's very fidgety around my partner. When we got him, he'd jumped a lot as an infant and had developed a scar on his chest. We're going to be bringing him into surgery soon to get this removed because it's become increasingly worse (even though the pet store told us it would go away, it was just a scab). I feel so sorry for his injury sometimes. I say it's his "boo" (warped out of it initially being called the booboo). Sometimes I think he's trying to talk so hard, and I don't mind if he never does, because it's so cute just to hear him cooing. He loves to just sit and hang out. His best feathered friend is my painted conure, Bozo. It's hilarious watching a bird Xanth's size groom a little 10-inch long conure! They've grown up together.

I hope I am doing this right. I posted my first one of these in the journal and just realised it was not only about Eclectus. I don't have a problem with that having owned 2 Sulfer Crested Cockatoos in the past and many budgies and cockateils (still own a couple of them too), one Indian Ringneck female who my staffy puppy let out of the cage and she flew away about 1 year ago. I still own a 14 year old Galah named Bo and 4 days ago bought myself a female Eclectus (Red Sided) 4 month old baby named Skye. After biting me senseless for the first 2 days (even though she was hand reared) she has settled down and loves to come out of the cage and be with us. She already is trying to talk and I will swear she said Hello Bo and Hello as well as laughs already. I did a lot research before buying an Eclectus and actually narrowed it to Alexandrine or an Ekkie, but the later won (even though she is much more expensive). She went to a home before me for a week, but did not work out there so I took her with the understanding I could swap her if she did not work out, but I am going to keep her. Apparently she was too noisy, but she doesn't seem to be overly noisy here. We have lots of wild birds around our place, Galah's, Cockatoo's (Black and white), Corella's, Pale Headed Rosella's, King Parrots (ocassionally), Lorikeet's, Crow's, Magpies', Pee Wee's, Finche's and the trusty Sparrow's.

Hi Tracey......I'm guessing you would live in Australia then?! :)
Congratulations on your new baby. Any photos? We love photos around here!
If you click on my name that should take you to 'my profile', then click on 'my photos'. You should then be able to see photos of some of my birds.


Debbi
NZ

Yes I do live in Australia. Good guess, obviously you know your birds. I did not even realise it was obvious, I am used to these birds. I have put one photo of Bo and Skye (myself as well). I hope it can be seen. Just checked before and can't see it. You have some birds and dog. Are they mostly ringnecks or did I see and Alexandrine as well. My eldest son is getting an Alexandrine.

Tracey
Australia

Just posted 4 photo's of some of my "family". Got the hang of this now and will put more photo's up soon. This is pretty exciting

Tracey
Australia

I have had Skye for 5 days now (I am an expert now - ha ha) and she has quietened down very nicely now. She doesn't bite me any more. I dare say I will still get biten from time to time. She loves coming out of her cage and boy can she make some noise. She was making sounds of talking when we got her, but she is making even more now and definetly says Hello and Hello Bo now. I am very pleased with her. She is definetly staying in this household. I gave her her first shower today, but she was not too impressed. Guess she will get used to it. Bo is not too impressed with the new talent on the block. I make sure she still knows she is loved.

Tracey
Qld Aust

I bought my Red Sided female only 10 days ago and she seems to be settling in nicely. She was just playing with my youngest child through the bars of her cage (i stop him from doing it but he gets a laugh out of the way Skye acts). Anyway, are your birds affectionate? To you I mean. I have a galah and she loves to be loved but the ekkie likes comming out of her cage and being on my shoulder etc, but doesn't seem to like being touched. I touch her all over, but she really only tolerates it. I realise I am probably being impatient, but I just want to know whether they do become affectionate.

Tracey

Hoot my moustache parrot, hated being touched but I just persevered with it. Now it's just second nature. If I'm holding her my hands are never really still, petting and touching her all over, she grumbles and I just keep on going. I think the grumbling has just become a habit for her now though! :)

Debbi
NZ

I hope I am not doubling up here as I have just posted another article in my journal and now I am going to do it in this Eclectus section. Skye has really gone ahead in leaps and bounds. She has been with us for 2 and half weeks and I am falling in love with her. She is a red sided eclectus and only 5 months old. She is very gentle now and understands the commands I give her at the moment. Basically "step" up and "step down", "no" and now I am trying to teach her the word "stop". I do obedience training with my dogs and trial them and believe that all dogs should at least have basic training, but never really thought it pertained to birds. I read an article on ff about free flying your birds and it talked about basic training and training your birds. I wish I had known about this many years ago, but anyway I am still learning now it seems. My birds in the past have been trained in the very basic of step up and down and not to bite and to come when I called them. I have always owned cockatoo type birds (budgies and cockatiels as well) and they basically will do anything for a scratch. Skye on the other hand is not a willing participant in touchy feely affection. She tolerates me touching her all over but that is it - tolerates. I am realising she has her own way of showing me affection, and that is to preen me and just want to be with me. Guess I can live with that. I have a love sponge already in my Galah Bo. Skye has just learned to wolf whistle and rather loudly I might say, as well as say "hello", "hello Bo" and she is trying to say many many other things, but we can't quite make out what they are. Sometimes we a definite word, but she is not real clear in most stuff yet. Oh yeah, she also screams like my toddler. I came running upstairs today because I thought he was hurt, only to find the culprit was not my 2 year old son, but a beautiful female eclectus. She also laughs. Can't wait to be able to make out more stuff she says. Something I wanted to ask, how long does it take for a bird to realise toys outside of the cage can be played with and that we are trying to play with her with them. I have tried rolling balls around and other toys she has outside of her cage, but she has no idea what I am doing. I guess I just need to be more patient and just keep doing it until she gets it huh!! Also she seems to scratch and sneeze a lot when on my shoulder. I just sprayed her and Bo for lice/mites today just in case that is what it is. Maybe she is allergic to me or my hair.

Tracey
Qld Aust.

My SIE male is just 4 years old. It took a long time for him to become sociable and an out-of-the-cage player (2 years?). He's always been a quiet, shy sweetheart, and has never bitten anyone. Well, when he was a weaning baby and I'd visit him in the shop, he'd nail me then, but never once since the day he came home.

He's always been a talker, but closet. He talks when he thinks you don't hear him. He's an amazing mimic. The other day I was in the bathroom and he was still in his sleep cage in my room. My houseguest called out "hello?" a couple of times, and I answered that I'd be out in a minute. Turns out she was still in bed, and Widget was channeling her!

Chris, Dobby (YCM), and Pigwidgeon (SIE)

That's neat, I never realized Eclectus could mimic speech well at all. I know a guy who has one that's very musical (whistling and stuff) but I don't think I've ever heard one talk.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

My eclectus is starting to talk also and I have only had her 3 weeks today. She says "hello" "hello Bo" she wolf whistles (she learnt this after only hearing it a couple of times) and yesterday one of my daughters and I heard her say "good girl". We both looked at each other and said did you hear that? I tell her she is a good girl all the time. She says a lot of other things but at the moment they are only mumbo jumbo. She definetly tries to copy almost immediatly but it is not real clear, more like the tone then the word develops. It is hard to explain. But I have also read that Eclectus are very good talkers almost as good as African Greys. Some scientists or animal behaviouralists apparently are doing tests on these birds and say that they may even rival the African Greys in intelligence and talkability. It all depends again on what you read in books or on the internet or hear from other people. All I can say is that Skye is definetly one of the most intelligent birds I have ever owned and I am so glad I decided on an Ekkie. I would have loved a Grey, but they are too expensive for me. Skye was rather expensive too, but a lot cheaper than some other breeds. From all I know (and I probably don't know as much as I thought I did) the main difference between Greys and Ekkies are that Greys love affection, being scratched etc, and in general Ekkies don't, especially the females. I know that there are a lot of birds that don't fit the standard, I am only saying in general. Hope this made sense.

cya
Tracey
Qld Australia

while I am here I also wanted to ask if other people have Ekkies that are affectionate. Were they always affectionate or did you have to work on it. I have heard that males are more loving than females and that females like to dominate (apparently they are a matriachial society), I had read all of this before I bought Skye, just wondering what others with Eclectus thought. I am not going to get rid of her, just wondering about others out there.

cya
Tracey
Qld Australia

Hello there. I have a 10 month old Grand Eclectus called Rio. I have owned an African Grey and a Red-Lored Amazon in the past ( both of which sadly died ),and in comparison, he is a little subdued. Although he tries to say hello and clucks a bit, he doesn't or can't whistle. Is this a trait of the species?

Stewart

I know nothing about Eclectus, but if you go back and check out some of Vankari's post's, you'll hear her new bird talking heaps. :)

Debbi
NZ

I know a guy with an eclectus that whistles very musically, so there's hope. :-)

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

my poor sick Charlotte only pipes up when the rest of us are too loud and she scolds us
or if I'm up too late and she wants me turn down the TV so she can sleep :)

Hi everyone I'm new and have been searching websites for days looking for answers.I just got an 11 mo. SI male eclectus about a month ago. It's my first bird. I'm gentle, never scold or yell, take showers every other day with him (he does enjoy this), studied/adhere to a nurishing diet, checked him out with a vet, weigh him daily, bought him from a reputable breeder (he's had no other homes). Yet,...he shakes when I come near, which makes me feel kinda bad. He won't let me hold him for more than a minute without flying off (and bashing his head in the ground in the process). Occassionally before I put him in his night cage (he has his own room at night!) he will let me hug him and for the most part "tolerates" me touching him. He says hellow clear as day. Is this the eclectus? I'm kind of looking for a bird that wants to be held and to some extent wants affection. He's willing to sit on his perches next to me (he's here now), but not let me hold him or give affection. I'm a phone call away from calling the breeder and asking that she take him back; we've invested a ton of $ on cages and such...Would an Timneh African Grey be a sweeter, more loving bird? Or,...?

I don't know much about eclectus specifically, but from what I've heard, they tend not to be particularly cuddly birds. But he shouldn't be acting frightened of you. I would guess that he's associating you holding him with falling and hitting his head.
His wings may have been clipped too much so he can't control his fall.
All I can suggest is to try to handle him over carpeted areas so he can't hurt himself badly, and to take him back to his cage when he seems nervous, before he can try to fly. If he is trying to fly back to his cage, he might just feel safer there right now and it might be good to just leave the door open and not try to handle him much away from his cage for awhile until he seems more comfortable.

Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI

I agree with what Karen said above...

Both eclectus and greys generally avoid being touched, other than having their heads scratched. It may be a few weeks before he is comfortable with even that much. Give him some time to get used to you, and work on doing things with him that HE likes - for example, instead of hugging him, give him a treat (I use safflower seeds with my birds). He'll warm up to you much faster if he sees you as a source of good things, than if he sees you as someone who gets into his personal space. It's like kissing on the first date. :-)

Neither of my pionus likes to be touched much, especially during the day, but they show their affection in other ways - flying to me, preening my hair, and stuff like that. In the evenings they're both much more more interested in head scratches, but neither will tolerate being hugged.

Don't be too discouraged by this, eclectus and greys usually enjoying interacting with their owners! And they are fun to be with. They just don't like to be touched much (usually... there are exceptions).

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

My female Red sided ekkie is now 18 months old (I have been going through some of my posts when she was about 4-5 months old when I used to come to this forum and it is amazing how much different she is now). she still does not really like to be touched/patted like a cockatoo, but she definetly shows me affection. She loves to sit with me and just "be" with me. She loves to nibble my neck and ears and face and has even rubbed her head on my face on occassions. I can now stroke her under her wings and she lifts them slightly for me to do this. I am a member of an electus forum for about 10 months and have learned so much about ekkies since joining that group (I am a member of a few different groups, even a dog training group). Ekkies in general are not love sponges like the 'too type birds, but they definetly do show their affection. The males can be very cuddly but so can some females apparently. It probably is just individual birds and how well they are socialised also. As for talking my Skye is living proof they are excellent talkers and can talk in context as well - at times. From what I have read the majority of ekkies on the other board are very good talkers also and a lot of them start to talk before 12 months, but not necessarily that early, again it is an individual thing, but most seem to be good talkers. Skye is very well socialised, she goes to volleyball competitions and to dog obedience trials and can be in the car travelling with us for up to 7 hours to get to a destination (then we stay for a few days and drive home again). She loves to travel and sometimes she even gets excited when she knows we are going somewhere.............so of course I put her in her travel cage and she comes with us. Her diet is different from a lot of other birds because they need to have a lot of fresh fruit and veges in their diet daily. I do not find it a problem though and I have no problems with her health or feather plucking (so far). She eats with us at dinner time (either in her cage or on her stand - occassionally at the table in her own bowl) and she gets very upset if we eat and forget to give her whatever we are eating - she says "WHAT" very loudly until I realise that I have forgotten her. LOL. She loves cooked brown rice with a bit of whatever we are eating with it on top and she loves pizza too. Oh she also loves lasagne too (she is not very fussy). She was sick a few months back, but had a bacterial infection and with some anitbiotics, she is fine now.

cya
Tracey
Qld Australia

Thanks Karen, Nate n Tracy for your input. I do feed him often from my hand. He loves pomegranites the most (high in anti-oxidents too). Unfortunately, I can't take Karen's advise and keep the cage door open(I like it though :.). We have a cat/2 retrievers. When I hold him, or put him on one of his playstands,we move to a room with just him and I or I temporarily shut the door to the room the cat is sleeping, then open his cage door. Leaving the cage door open seems to make him more nervous than just moving him to another room. The dogs seem to be responding well to his presence, and Sam to them, but I'd never leave them alone with Sam's cage open or with him standing on a play perch(yikes)! The cat I'll never trust.

Can I ask a few more questions?
1)Prior to the time change. Sam was o.k. going to his night cage at 7pm. Now it dark by 6pm and he starts getting nervous, rocking himself HARD, and hanging upside down from the top of his cage. Thus, I've started putting him to bed at 6pm. Do you all put your birds to bed BEFORE the sun sets?

2)How often are you bathing your Eclectus? How often should they be bathed? Is it healthy to bathe them everyday?

3) How often should he have protien in his diet? Is everyone just providing rice/beans or are you giving tofu, chicken,etc.?

Thanks again everyone!
Kimberly from CA

Skye is an adult now and she goes to bed when we do, which is normally about 9.30 at night. Skye is in her cage and I let her out to be with me in the morning, then sometime during the day for a while, but every night she is out to be with us. She spends a bit of time in her cage and she does not mind. She gets showered quite a few times a week, not necessarily every day, but as long as the weather is warm then everyday would not be a problem. Skye loves to have a good soaking shower. I also give Skye half a boiled egg with the shell on it every few weeks, she gets the chicken leg bone (cooked) whenever we eat chicken (about every few weeks) plus plenty or rice and beans plus anything else I throw into her cage. I have never put any of my birds to bed before night fall - but that is just me.

cya
Tracey
Qld Australia

My ekki Ronin has been trying to talk for several months now. He's 10 months. Most ekkis dont really start talking good till 1 year. if yours is making noise that sounds like speach then he'll probably talk. My says hello pretty clear but he spells it with a w Hewwo. As for the biting, ekkis will test who is alpha, many will bite when you do or dont do something they want. Mine would bite when you put him down. The secret is to let him know who's in control. The step up command is a good control technique, as long as it's forcefully done. If he does want to step up, scoop your hand under him which will force him to regain his balance by stepping into your hand. Most different activity will make them dependent on who there with. Let your husband take him to another room and practice step up.