Ecky advice needed.

[Aimie]

Hi
I've had my male Ecky 'Jax' since August 2011, he was 8 weeks old when I got him and still on H/R mix.
I have recently noticed he seems to be moulting which I think fits with his age (so I have read anyway) but I have noticed one of his green chest feathers looks like it is turning red, is this just due to the moult or something else entirely.
He is fed on a mix of pellets and seeds but he seems to search through and eat the sunflower seeds first as that seems to be his favorite. So I'm not sure what he actually eats of the rest since a lot of it ends up on the floor surrounding his cage. The pellet seed mix stays in his cage all day and is changed daily. I have wondered whether I should take the seed out entirely and just give him the pellets or maybe just giving him a small amount of seeds in a separate food bowl when I give him his daily Fruit & Veg.
I'm not sure if this is relevant but I have noticed him shouting/screaming at times which is unusual because he is normally very quiet and laid back, happy to just whistle and chatter away to himself. He seems to only do this screaming if anyone in the room is eating. I thought he was maybe wanting us to share our food. LOL

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Aimie and Jax.

[vankarhi]

I would be giving him his fresh food first and not putting any seed in with him until the afternoon. I give my birds small parrot seed and I get mine from the local feed barn and there seems to be a little less sunflower seeds in this mix than the shop bought mixes. Plus they don't fortify their mix with vitamins either.

You could try sprouting things like mung beans, chick peas, dried peas, lentils and maybe some stripey sunflower seeds for him instead of seed?? Maybe just give him some seed a couple of times a week. Or even try to wean him off seed and onto pellets. All my birds except for my RTB2 will eat with great gusto their fresh stuff (the cockatiels love the sprouts and snow peas and bokchoy/silver beat). My RTB2 loves snowpeas and will eat sprouts.

As for a red feather..........I wouldn't worry too much about it. When Erik was younger he had a couple of red feathers in his neck/chest area and I got a little excited thinking he was a bit "special" lol but it moulted out now he is an adult.

His screaming when you are eating sounds like he wants some of what you are eating...........and how dare you eat in front of him lol

[Aimie]

Lol.. I don't know how I dare eat in front of him.
Thanks Vankarhi,
I'll give those things a try.

[vankarhi]

I had a pet alexandrine..........by far the best alex I have ever owned but i accidently let him out of my aviary 18 months ago and even though I advertised heavily for 5 months.......I never got him back ......... anyway .............. he LOVED to share my iceblocks with me..........and went beserk until he got a bite lol........darn birds having to share food with them lol.

[vankarhi]

oh and another thing.........I am not anti seed either...........but if he is eating too much seed ........... and it sounds like he might be??? Then that is what I would do ........ that is all. Eclectus do need to eat a lot of fresh stuff and a lot of orange/red/yellow coloured fresh stuff, like paw paw, carrot, rockmelon, pumpkin, sweet potato, chillies and dark green veges too like bok choy, a bit of silver beet, brocoli etc. Sprouts are very very good for them too and the mix I suggested is what I am doing for my birds at the moment. My cockatiels, alexandrines and my pet eclectus LOVE it.

[Aimie]

Glad I'm on the right track I gave him veg mix of pumpkin, carrot and green capsicum yesterday.
He loves Pomegranate and sweet corn.
I have tried to give him more pellets than seeds for the last few weeks but noticed him digging out the sunflower seeds, was thinking of finding a sunflower seed free mix but might just convert him to pellets and no seed, just give him sun flower as a treat and use the mixes of chick peas and lentils etc. you recommended above.

[lene1949]

I have read somewhere, that eckies shouldn't be giving pellets.

[vankarhi]

they can eat pellets..........you need to be sure they are suitable for eclectus parrots and not artificially coloured or any additives. Ekkies can be very sensitive to additives and can easily be overdosed on vitamins and other additives.

[Robyn]

Hi Aimie, so Jax is now 6 months old. It's best for him if you can balance out his diet. He will still benefit from a small amount of seed in his diet.

I feed my eckies a heaped tablespoon of a good quality small parrot seed with about the same amount of pellets added. I don't change it every day, only when it has all been eaten. I feed my 6 month old chicks twice a day with lots of vegies & fruit, raw nuts & sprouted seed mix.

If you chop his food up it small cubes about the size of frozen mixed veg. He will probably be able to manage it better & not waste so much. I also put my eckies feed bowls on the floor of their cage. I find they will stand on the side of the bowl & eat rather than drag it all out.

There is nothing wrong if he has the odd red feather this happens a lot in males & it's not unusual for a hen to have some green feathers either. It when the males start getting yellow feathers that there could be a health problem.

[Aimie]

Thanks for that advice ROBYN.. I will know to get to the vet if any yellow feathers start to arise.

That red feather has vanished now.