Eclectus diet??

[rainbowfeathers77]

Hi
Just been reading an article on Eclectuses in one of the birdie magazines...can't remember which one now, either BK or UK's Parrots. Anyway, in there, they mentioned ekkies diet??
I'm just very interested in what other ekkie owners feed their ekkies??
I don't haver any but would love to own a pair....maybe one day, just gotta get that money tree to bloom... ...(so I guess i'm just researching for the future )

Thanks for any info you want to share!!

[just4birds]

My companion eckies .... 2 males , 1 female *lisa looks around and hops no one notices*

Mine all get a cooked meal twice a day .... fresh organic fruit and vegetables .... and any kinda "living world" tropcial mix every couple of days as a treat ...

Mine never have seed unless we are doing some kind of training

The cooked meal is a "veggie mush" i make myself which includes as many veggies as i can buy ... main one is sweet potato and pumpkin ... i mix all the veggies up together and add a cooked soup mix , brown rice and veggie pasta in with it all ... then i freeze it in meal size and just defrost it in the fridge and microwave it warm for eating

[pinkdevil]

Yummo.....I am having dinner at your place

Ours eat a seed mix and fresh fruit & veg, plus sprouted seed. Ocassionally grain bread for treats.

[just4birds]

I must also add that the veggies are steamed ... it all takes time ... but i think whatever is good for the birds health is whats important over time

Also i did some googling on eclectus and seed diets ... and found this site www.eclectus-parrots.com/page06_diet.htm

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Diet for Eclectus Parrots:

Diet; in my opinion, is by far the most important point I can make about keeping and breeding Eclectus parrots. Many pet owners and even breeders for that matter make the mistake of feeding Eclectus parrots in the same way they feed their African Grey parrot or Macaw or Cockatoo. They treat them as seedeaters. Eclectus parrots will eat seed, but they are not seed eaters, their diet in the wild consist of native fruits such as figs, native berries and native nuts. The main thing most people forget or do not know is that Eclectus Parrots are arboreal in habit. Tree top dwellers, they forage for food in the canopy of the tropical rainforest. The three species I mention above the African Grey parrot, Macaw and Cockatoo all feed on the ground, and this is why they are regarded as seedeaters. In all my years of collecting and bird watching I have only seen Eclectus come to ground in the wild once, and this was during severe drought.

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[rainbowfeathers77]

Thanks for that info!!!! Much appreciated!

[pinkdevil]

Interesting and informative site, thanks just4birds.

[vankarhi]

I have a 3 year old male (owned him a couple of months now) and a 4 year old female (owned her since she was 5 months old). Mine do get seed plus they get fruit and veges daily.......twice daily most times. They tend to not eat much of their seed but hook into their fresh/soft stuff.

Mine eat whatever I have or can buy. Yesterday they had paw paws with the seeds (they love the seeds) with dew melon (seeds also) with cucumber and sprouts. They also get a cooked thing that I make up out of soup mix and mix it with cooked brown rice and their sprouted seeds and other sprouts.

Today they got left over mashed potato with mashed sweet potato mixed with other veges and their sprouts.

They also got some silver beat.......if I haven't grown it I try to buy some every couple of weeks.

I am about to go out and give them more paw paw with some carrots and apples. Mine also love passionfruit.........I grow them and so does my in laws. Mine also love chillies (which I also grow). Basically they eat just about anything but it is very important they eat a lot of the yellow/orange and redish coloured fruit and veges (not much citrus though). This is high in the vitamin A and ekkies tend to need a lot ofl this as well as calcium too they need. I give mine boiled egges in the shell weekly and cuttlefish bone plus I have just started to suppliment with calcium poweder........but I tend not to do this every day.

I am sure others will get on and give you more advise ;D

[rainbowfeathers77]

Thanks for that...especially the extra vits they need in particular.
When I find that stash of cash and get me ekkies, I want to make sure they'll be healthy.....too expensive to cark on me

[ekkifun]

I feed my two ekkies fresh fruits and veg twice a day remembering to remove any old waste daily. They also love passionfruit, grapes, watermelon, pears, nearly all soft fruits. In the way of veg red capsicum and celery are two favourites and i cheat by having a mixed veg packet in the freezer which has peas, capsicum, corn and beans. This I just defrost for a minute and they love to crunch and chew all the frozen bits, ( I came across this fact by having them on the bench when getting their food ready one day and they went bezerk eating the mix) They make a laughing sound when they are happy eating and yell at me when they don't like something I try to give them. I spose I am lucky that they actually tell me what they like.
I give them a small amount of large parrot mix weekly that contains nuts and dried friut but this is sort of a treat for them.
Hope this helps, you will know what to feed them when you get them. they will toss out anything they don't like and probably just squark until they get something they are happy with. Very smart, sometimes too smart bird.