- Hey, all Jamie Leigh here from BirdTricks.com
and today's video is about Eclectus parrot care.
Everything you need to know about owning or having,
or being owned by an Eclectus parrot.
Today, I have with me a six month old female Eclectus
named Fennel and an 18 year old male Eclectus named Rusty.
As you can see, Rusty has some self-mutilation problems,
maybe some body image issues,
but he's so much older now
and has been through so many homes
that this is probably something that won't necessarily
be rectified, but you're still handsome.
(upbeat music)
All right, so on with the video,
let's start with housing your Eclectus parrot.
Now Eclectus parrots, to me,
are considered medium sized parrots,
kind of with African grays, Amazons, some cockatoos,
whereas the large birds are getting up to the larger
cockatoos, like the umbrellas, the Moluccans,
and the macaws.
That's really the large category for me.
So Eclectus, still a medium parrot.
However, I'm all about the more space
that you can give your bird, the better.
So bigger is better when it comes to an aviary or cage.
Now I prefer aviaries.
I use all indoor/outdoor aviaries.
Ideally they can be one that can be both.
So you can have it indoors,
but you can also move it outdoors.
I also prefer walk-in aviaries
and the reason for this is I've always hated the idea
of reaching into your bird's cage.
It just seems really invasive.
It's awkward.
It's hard to do without ticking them off
and being really weird
and coming off a little bit threatening.
So walking into their environment or walking up
to them is a lot less threatening and a lot more friendly
in my eyes and I think in your birds eyes as well.
So I prefer bird rooms, walk-in aviaries that's about it.
That's all I got.
So I'm gonna show you some of the setups
that I have for some of my birds,
including Fennel and Rusty,
while they're here with me in training.
(upbeat music)
Rusty, your head's gettin' cut off, Bud.
I'm gonna back this up.
Okay, now we can see more of ya.
Don't fall.
All right.
Second is gonna be diet.
Now there's a lot of misinformation
on the internet about the Eclectus diet.
Now, the only thing different about an Eckie is
that they have a longer digestive tract,
which means the food has longer to go,
takes more time to digest and gets absorbed
into the body for longer periods of time.
So it means that if you give an Eclectus sugar or fat,
it gets to be in the body moreso and longer,
and they absorb more of it than you would
in another parrot species.
So you have to be really, really careful about overdoing it
on fruit, which is just sugar.
If you're gonna feed them fruit, please keep it to berries
that actually have some nutritional substance,
but ideally you want to get them on a fresh food diet.
The one I recommend is actually my seasonal feeding system.
Now this changes, this is just my summer blend,
but I have three different blends based on what is in season
and your natural produce.
So this is my freeze dried version.
You just rehydrate it.
And the cool thing about freeze dried is it loses very
minimal nutritional value compared to like dehydration
or heating food up.
Anytime you add heat, you're really losing nutrients.
So the cool thing about freeze dried is you don't do that.
It's pretty much the same texture, same flavor,
all of that as fresh, which is really, really cool.
The other option is making this fresh for your bird
and then freezing it and thawing it as needed,
which I also do when I can't get freeze dried.
So that's the main thing.
That is my more, my birds morning meals
every single day is a fresh food diet.
It's mostly comprised of vegetables.
It also has some grains in it and different things.
So if you're interested in that, check it out,
I will leave a link in the video description.
It's called my natural feeding system,
and I give you the recipe in my cookbook series.
So you can make it at home yourself
and then thaw it and freeze it.
Or you can pick up some of my freeze dried,
if it is currently in stock,
which I'm really excited to share with you guys.
I release all new products over
on patreon.com/BirdTricks first.
So they've had access to my summer freeze dried,
which nobody else got access to except for my patreons,
but I will be launching my fall to winter mix in the fall.
So excited to launch that to you guys,
please keep posted on the website,
birdtricks.com and be looking out for those products.
'Cause it makes it a lot easier.
Are you saying hi to Fennel?
I see you creepin' up.
She sees you too.
As long as you guys are good.
Do I need to move you to your other perch
so that you have a little longer to go.
I don't want you to creeping up on her.
Good job, Bud.
Let's give Fennel space,
even though she didn't really seem to care.
All right, we'll see how long it takes him
to make his way back to the cute girl
on the other side of the tree.
The other part of the Eclectus diet is a pellet.
Now this is very controversial as well online.
A lot of people saying do not give Eclectus parrots pellets.
But it was because a lot of that information,
when it came out, there was no good pellet to choose from.
Now, there is.
Our cold pressed pellet, again,
not adding any heat to the process of making our pellets
makes it so that you don't lose any nutritional value
when creating the pellet.
So a lot of pellets on the market are really hard
and that's because heat was added.
They're baked together.
Ours are just literally pressed together cold.
So they just stay together because they were pressed
together really, really hard.
So they break apart fairly easily,
which makes them ideal for baby birds that are just weaning
onto hard foods.
It makes them ideal for any bird that needs a low fat diet,
which is all parrot species,
except for the Lory and Lorikeet,
and it especially makes it good for Eckies
because of all the nutritional value and the ingredients
in this that is a very, very low fat.
So you are making very good headway, Rusty.
I highly recommend our pellets.
They are all organic ingredients.
Again, cold pressed.
They don't have any soy, no peanuts, no GMOs,
all that good stuff, no corn.
So check them out also at birdtricks.com.
That is my birds evening meal, including these guys.
That's their evening, you're already up there.
That was so fast.
I don't think she wants to hang out with you.
She doesn't.
She really doesn't.
Here, you can hang out with me.
You come here.
You come on my leg?
Oh, good job, good job, Bud.
You can hang with me while we talk about this stuff.
So, diet and then treats.
Some really great treats for Eckies
is when you can give the fruit for really awesome behaviors,
like the berries I was talking about earlier,
you could use that as a high value reward.
You can also use some nuts and seeds.
Safflower seeds are a great choice because again,
they are also low fat.
So you can use their treats
because it's not part of the daily diet,
which is really, really awesome for these guys.
So don't be fooled.
Don't overdo it on the fruit.
Like a lot of websites say to do.
They don't need it.
Other than diet, I think I want to talk about vet visits.
Now, vet visits for all parrots, but including Eclectus
should be an annual well bird exam.
I have other videos on this and what they should look like
and what they should consist of.
But you want to be taking your bird to the vet once a year,
every single year, just to get a baseline,
see how blood work is looking.
See if there's any beak overgrowth that needs
to be talked about.
Maybe there's a liver condition going on.
Maybe there's underlying diet condition
and you haven't properly gotten your bird on the right diet.
There's just a lot of things that you can be looking at
and get ahead of if you have an annual well bird exam.
So make sure that your bird is going into the vet
once a year and getting full CBC and blood work
and everything done so that you know exactly
what's going on.
You looking for the treats.
The other cool thing about the vet visit is it will teach
you signs of a sick bird.
Now your vet should educate you on this,
but if you don't already know,
I have a video on this exact topic.
Do you need to go somewhere?
You look a little discontent, you gonna stay with me.
So some signs of a sick bird is just a bird acting really
lethargic, staying still for long periods of time.
Just kidding.
Fennel is really good at that kind of stuff,
but just a, almost like you can see the pain in their eyes
is something that I've really experienced with birds,
where you just see that it almost hurts.
Wings will be quite droopy.
There's other signs of it too,
regarding their feces or just different things
as far as what will come up.
And hopefully it doesn't come up in your well bird exam.
Hopefully you are educated on this sort of stuff
before it becomes an issue.
What are you looking for, sir?
How many times do I have to put Rusty somewhere else where
he's not gonna annoy us Fennel?
He's coming back.
The other thing your well bird exam will teach you
is signs of a sick bird.
So your vet should wanna educate you on this topic.
But also I have some other videos that go over
all the signs of a sick bird,
including checking out their feces,
making sure their eyes look bright.
You are such a creeper.
She doesn't wanna hang out with you.
You got the memo.
Okay.
Just making sure he got it on his own.
All right now onto the personality of Eckies.
As you've seen in this video, Fennel has showed you that
they're pretty calm and chill.
Rusty has shown you that they can't stay still
and they got stuff to do today.
So honestly it can vary bird to bird.
Typically as a species, Eclectus parrots are known
to be fairly chill and calm in personality and temperament.
And I would agree with that
because I have a lot of experience
with other species of birds that are a lot more active
than this guy.
So they would totally give him a run for his money.
So I will say my experience with Eclectus overall,
Rusty is probably the most active Eclectus
I've ever experienced in my life.
And that isn't even crazy active.
Those of you that know caiques or military macaws
or blue throated macaws know what high energy is
and truly is.
An Eclectus is not a high energy parrot.
So with that said, you are getting a little bit more
of an even temperament with an Eclectus parrot.
I do have a video talking about the differences
between males and females,
because I do feel like there's quite a lot of versatility
between the two.
And I would say males and females are quite different.
So depending on what you're looking
to get out of the species as a pet,
watch that video because it really pertains
to the differences and nuances of these two.
And I especially show it in my entire Eclectus series.
You'll see the big differences
between especially Fennel and Rusty,
but I also have more Eclectus videos on the channel
if you wanna check them out so you can see the differences
for yourself between when we are working
with females versus male Eckies.
There's quite the difference.
So go check those videos out, if you haven't already.
The last thing I want to talk about
in this Eclectus parrot care video is their feathers.
A lot of you who have experience with Eclectus may notice
that their feathers look a little different.
A lot of people say they look more like fur
or more like hair than they do like feathers.
Now this is especially true that their feathers
are a little bit more sensitive in the respect that
if you are constantly petting
and putting your hands all over your birds feathers,
you're going to see the oils affect their feathers moreso
than I would say you would see it in other species.
Now oils on our hands affect all species of parrots.
So that should just be said outright.
You shouldn't be overdoing it.
Your birds should be getting frequent bathing.
However, I think you're more prone
to notice it more quickly in the Eclectus parrots,
just because their feathers seem
to be a little bit more sensitive and show that wear
and tear just like their diet, actually,
and their digestive system, you're more likely
to see the result of bad diet on externally
from an Eclectus than you would be
to see it on a macaw as early.
So I feel like they're just almost the canary
in the coal mine, where they show the symptoms
and those things a lot more quickly
than other species would.
So one of the ways that you can take care of their feathers
is to make sure that you wash your hands
and wash off any lotions or different things
that you might have on your hands before touching your bird.
And especially before petting your bird.
One of the other things is frequent bathing.
So as often as your bird wants to bathe, please offer it.
We here at Bird Tricks offer a spray bottle
that is unlike other, your typical,
like other spray bottles.
So it doesn't look like it,
which is most likely to be that your bird
won't be scared of it.
Cause a lot of birds, unfortunately, have been punished
with spray bottles.
It also gives off a really, really light mist
so that you're not just super soaking your bird.
So I highly recommend picking this up on my website,
if you haven't already.
And I sell it with my aloe.
Now, aloe mixed with water
is kind of nature's conditioner hydration, if you will.
It puts a lot of hydration back into the feathers.
Really makes them shine.
Really, really keeps them healthy.
And especially for birds like Rusty
who have feather mutilation issues and dry skin
where their skin is just really, really exposed out there.
Aloe is incredibly soothing.
It can be used on open wounds.
I mean, you can eat this stuff.
It's completely safe.
So it's one of my biggest recommendations for feather care
and keeping your birds feathers awesome.
Now you don't have to bathe your bird
in aloe every single time.
It's kind of just, whenever.
So anytime I bathed my birds with the spray bottle,
it has aloe in it.
But if I'm, you know, letting my budgie run through the sink
or taking them in the shower with me,
or I might be setting up a sprinkler or a hose outside
for them 'cause I house my birds outside a lot.
Obviously I'm not going to the trouble of making sure
that those baths have aloe.
So it's not essential for every single bath,
especially if your bird doesn't like to bathe,
then aloe can go a much longer way
for keeping your bird's feather condition
really, really good.
So that would be my number one feather care tip,
alongside the proper diet
because the proper diet will definitely
keep your birds feathers awesome and healthy.
All right, other than those tips on Eclectus parrot care,
I would say the only other things is just making sure
that you're interacting with your Eclectus
and making sure that everybody in your family is playing
an active role in their care.
So it's not just one person because although Eclectus
tend to not be loyal to one specific person
in the household, they can learn to be
if there's only one person playing a large enough role
in their lives.
So keep in mind, you should always want
to keep them well socialized, interact with them,
do positive interactions that include them
in your family's lives and just enjoy the heck out of them.
There are amazing social, beautiful birds,
and they deserve the best life
that you can provide for them.
(mellow music)