This is a LONG post so brace yourself. This LONG post is also jam packed with informative useful information especially in the way of DIET! Grab a coffee or tea, paper and a pen and take notes or not but enjoy the knowledgeable information you are about to gain. Your Ekkie might thank you. Mine sure does.
The New Year always brings about starting off on a fresh foot for myself with organizing the home and life in general. In doing so I came across some emails that I have been saving for good reason. These emails are packed with treasured information on the care of Eclectus from two people I hold in high regard. So having come across them and having this blog aimed at helping others but also a place that I can resort back to for information for myself I figured I would share. I hope that others find it just as helpful and useful as I have.
One I thought was important was from Laurella Desborough:
Eclectus Center
"Sometimes it is not clear why a young healthy active young parrot suddenly becomes ill, then very very sick, and even with medical intervention, the bird dies.
What can we do about this? How can we protect our birds from illness and death?
1. Provide a sufficient amount of an appropriate diet.
2. Hopefully keep your bird fully flighted and let it fly every day indoors to exercise.
3. Provide a safe cage and safe toys...look the cage over carefully.
4. Monitor your bird when out of the cage so it does not get into trouble.
5. Take your bird to the vet WHEN it shows serious signs of illness.
6. Be present with your bird at the vet's office to know what is happening and so your bird feels safe.
7. Write down the meds and the weight and the diagnosis...don't trust memory.
8. Follow medical instructions but if you are unsure, check with experienced breeders and other vets.
In the final analysis, you can do everything right, and still something could happen to a bird.
If your bird is now healthy, just focus on diet and exercise and the bird's environment.Some might consider going to the vet for a check up. IMO this is not a good idea.
Taking a healthy bird to the vet may simply expose it needlessly to a viral disease.
Speaking from experience...I lost a Solomon boy which contracted polyoma in the vet's exam room
because the previous client brought in a sick baby macaw. The macaw was tested but diagnosis was
incomplete by the time I arrived. Before I left, the macaw died...and then they knew it was polyoma.
By then, even though the exam room had been cleaned before I entered, because the polyoma virus is
extremely virulent and I considered my bird as exposed. I left the bird as I dare not bring it home.
It died in two weeks from polyoma even though all precautions were followed at the vet hospital.
That is why I recommend that you ONLY take your bird to the vet any time of day if you have an emergency.
Otherwise, take the FIRST appointment of the day, because you have less exposure to disease.
BUT, if your bird is healthy...no need to go to the vet at all".
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Additionally I found an email on diet that I have found incredibly useful!
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LAURELLA’S FOOD FOR ECLECTUS
MORNING feeding for all our birds:
1/4 fresh fruits&celery chopped (generally two fruits)
1/4 vegetables (defrosted veggies: corn, peas, green beans, carrots)
2/4 soak and cooked legume mix (variety of legumes, peas, beans, rice)
The soft food bowl stays in the cage all day.
The EVENING feeding is:
1/4 cup Volkman's eclectus dry seed mix, which has a nice variety of dry seeds and other items, including shelled almonds and peppers and coconut pieces. We measure the dry foods so we don't over feed.
For young birds up to 18 months of age, we often provide treats at mid day...sliced cucumber, corn on the cob on a skewer, leafy greens such as endive, sprays of millet, baby carrots, or a few pellets such as Harrisons.
Laurella
STEFANJA'S FOOD FOR ECLECTUS
MORNING feeding for all non breeding birds:
1 level tablespoon of a mixture of sprouts which also contains legumes such as lentils, mung beans, fenugreek with the rootlets barely showing
1 heaping tablespoon of a mixture of raw veggies (excluding peas and corn) chopped in a food processor (chunks are recognizable)
1 tablespoon of fruit (at least two, one being a berry or very seedy fruit)
Ground flax and/or chia seed sprinkled on top, about 1/4 teaspoon
*The soft food bowl stays in the cage all day
The LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING feeding is:
1 heaping teaspoon of a cooked grain mix (usually either Quinoa with lentils OR Brown Rice and Split yellow Peas)
1/2 teaspoon of peas OR corn kernels
1 heaping teaspoon of the raw veggie mix (which is predominantly green, but does contain something orange like carrot or winter squash)
BEDTIME SNACK:
1/2 teaspoon of bulk premium budgie mix (primarily millets) with 1/4 teaspoon of milk thistle seed OR a short piece of millet spray.
A small portion of fruit, usually a slice of granny smith apple and one soaked almond
For all birds here, I offer a treat bag with either 1/4 walnut OR 1 almond which they have to tear apart and forage for sometime during the day. For babies such as Kira, who is only 3.5 months old, I offer the same food but more of it and more often as she is still experimenting with a variety of foods. She also has access to 6 - 9 Harrison's High Potency pellets per day. What she doesn't eat of the pellets is discarded at the end of the day. I will offer her larger portions until she is well over a year old.
OUT OF THE BLUE Diet
FEED EVERY DAY FROM THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES, EXCLUDING 'EXTRAS' ...
***VEGETABLES:
I feed only raw vegetables, organic as much as possible. Every third day I make up a raw veggie mix in batches (so the more delicate stuff doesn't get mushed) in the food processor, mix it together and keep in the fridge in a sealed glass container. It consists of the following categories of veggies:
LEAFY GREENS are critical and include whatever I can get in season ... usually two or three different ones in rotation about every three days. Just made up a chopped mix which included,
BOK CHOY, DANDELION GREENS, ENDIVE, ROMAINE LETTUCE, GREEN KALE
others to use SWISS CHARD, BABY SPINACH, MUSTARD GREENS, COLLARDS, BLACK KALE, DARK GREEN LETTUCES, MESCLUN MIX, etc These greens may also be tied in a bunch or put into a foraging toy, or skewered to be eaten whole. It is always interesting to see which part of the green the eclectus prefers! Swiss chard is a particular favourite here, as is endive.
CELERY is a constant. I put it in the general chopped veggie mix but it is particularly enjoyed by the stick. Feed freely.
OTHER would include summer squash like zucchini, peeled broccoli stems (florets are fine but not every time), raw green beans, raw edible shell peas,
ORANGE VEGGIES include alternating carrots and deep orange winter squash not cooked and finely chopped. I often give a chunk of pumpkin or butternut squash with seeds attached ... or scoop out the seeds by the spoon and place them in feed dishes. Rarely I will use some sweet potato ... but seldom for adults unless they are feeding babies.
***FRUIT:
Fruit is a source of energy and calories and in my experience a very important part of the eclectus diet. I only feed organic berries and those I grow and pick myself. It is not always possible for me to get organic mangos and papaya so I make sure they are well washed and peeled before feeding.
BERRIES are fed nearly every day. I freeze large quantities throughout the summer including BLUEBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, SASKATOON BERRIES, BLACKBERRIES, BLACK AND RED CURRANTS. Fresh and in season I feed STRAWBERRIES, POMEGRANITES (lots and lots), and the fresh versions of the ones I freeze. KIWI is also a favourite (if organic leave the skin on).
GRANNY SMITH APPLES are sliced and fed nearly every day
PAPAYA WITH SEEDS or MANGO
other fruit choices mostly in season are fresh FIGS, PEARS, WATERMELON WITH SEEDS, fresh CANTALOUPE AND HONEYDEW MELON SEEDS (the fruit is rejected by my lot), KIWI (if organic leave the skin on). I feed BANANA rarely as it is higher calorie. It is choice for my pair feeding babies and the weaning babies love it so I reserve it more as a treat for adult pets.
***FATS:
I have found 'good fats' to be essential in the diet I feed my eclectus. Both vitamin A and vitamin D are fat soluble vitamins and both are vital for calcium metabolism. Sources of omega 3 fatty acids should be balanced with omega 6 fatty acids. Our human diet tends to predominate in omega 6 which has an inflammatory effect on our bodies. Since we generally choose our birds' food from those we have available to us humans it it good to be aware of what kind of fats we are feeding.
Generally speaking, here at Out of the Blue, the omega 6 fatty acids seeds are in my sprout mix. These include raw sunflower seeds, sometimes pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds. These could also be part of a dry seed mix if preferred.
In addition, each day I alternate CHIA seed (sometimes called Salba) and ground FLAX seed about 1/4 teaspoon per bird. Sometimes I give both to that amount. But I do this every single day.
WALNUT is also an excellent source of omega 3 fatty acids which is the preferred treat food here. Each bird gets perhaps 1/4 walnut per day. Also nearly every day my adults get a soaked ALMOND at bedtime.
PLEASE NOTE: At this point, I just want to say that in the context of the FAT sources that I feed my eclectus here, I FEED A SCANT MINIMUM, IF ANY, COOKED CARBOHYDRATE FOODS. CARBOHYDRATE TYPE FOODS SUCH AS BIRDIE BREADS, MASH TYPE FOODS, (RICE, BEANS, GRAINS, etc) whether home made or purchased, are reserved for breeding and baby rearing where these types of food are a source of high energy and calories. Once my babies are six months old they are eating an adult diet as I gradually phase out the more calorie dense foods. I just give them about double the amount of food that I would give the adults, but the actual food is similar.
***SPROUTS AND SEEDS:
For years now I have fed my eclectus a varied SPROUT MIX that is completely free of gluten grains. I can talk more about sprouts and sprouting in another message but for purposes of this one want to emphasize that sprouting puts the 'seed' at its most vulnerable (free of digestive inhibitors) and nutritionally superior to its dry component. And of course it is a living food and supremely fresh. I have NEVER had a problem with sprouting or with contaminated sprouts that I have prepared myself. And I do recommend doing it yourself and never trusting the packaged sprouts that you can buy. The sprout mix is my main stay for PROTEIN. I would say generally that each one of my adults eats a level to heaping tablespoon of sprouts each day ... more if a couple of my boys manages a sprout raid on the counter!
IF for some reason you wouldn't feed sprouts, then if you asked me for my advice I would suggest that any cooked mix containing seeds, legumes, rice etc. be gluten free and not exceed a tablespoon a day for an ADULT eclectus. Or you could combine some cooked mixes with sprouts for a total of the heaping tablespoon. Please keep in mind that cooking changes the chemistry of the food and and I believe the COOKED MASHES are where the adult eclectus start running into problems with excess weight gain, over stimulated hormones, and possibly nutritional deficiencies generally.
For that tablespoon of sprouts and/or mash I strongly recommend it be mixed with an equal amount of chopped veggies or more eventually. Vegetables are full of fibre and minerals and they are low in calories.
MILLET SPRAY, OR A PLAIN UNFORTIFIED BUDGIE MIX (no sunflower or safflower) are treats here. At bedtime I give either 1/2 teaspoon budgie mix OR a 3" length of millet spray.
***EXTRAS: If you generally follow the guidelines above, you would be feeding your adult eclectus an excellent diet. Here are some foods that I have heard referred to lately that I will just comment on from my point of view:
CORN ... I feed daily to parents and weaning babies and then gradually taper to every second or third day. Adults get about half a wheel of the raw corn on the cob when in season. Other times during the year, frozen up to a 1/2 teaspoon about every two to three days.
BEE POLLEN ... a protein source and extremely concentrated food. Also rich in B vitamins and unless your eclectus is very active can be too rich. Once a week 1/8 teaspoon is fine but no other dedicated protein sources on that day.
EDAMAME AND COOKED BEANS ... Count those beans and not every day! They are a protein source but also high in calories and carbohydrates. I seldom offer cooked beans but do give the Edamame beans (immature soya beans) once or twice a week. Adults get 9 each. I buy organic, GMO free, frozen and then bring them to the boil, rinse and drain.
EGG ... about once every week or two each one of my adults get ONE HALF A TEASPOON of SCRAMBLED EGG on their supper. PLEASE NOTE THE AMOUNT AND FREQUENCY! This is in the absence of other animal protein sources. I buy organic, free range eggs. IF YOU CAN'T GET EGGS THAT ARE ORGANIC AND FREE RANGE ... DO NOT FEED EGGS EVER to the eclectus adult.
PELLETS ... consider them a supplement! They are a processed food. I do use them for parents and babies, BUT none of my pet adults get them.
HEMP HEARTS ... an excellent protein source and source of balanced essential fatty acids. However it should only be offered in measured amounts ... 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon and not on a daily basis as it is high in protein. I use it daily for breeding and baby raising ... but pet adults should have it no more than a couple of times a week and I would suggest it is reserved for times of stress such as moulting.
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I have used these diet plans as a base to how I feed Viggo. Stefanja's is closer to how Viggo eats. Many new Eclectus owners or parrot owners in general are not aware that Parrots eat fresh! I get so upset at pet stores and have to bite my tongue when I hear sales associates pushing the sale of a bird/parrot and then all these crappy pet store brands along with the bird. There's been times when I have wanted so badly to interject but decide to just walk away. I don't want to be the person to preach and I realize well how bird groups, email lists and chat groups in general can be very preachy and in your face. I don't want to be that person. Like Stefanja and other's I have learned from I want to be someone with a parrot that is here willing, able and wanting to help others and their parrots get the best diet and enjoy the best companionship possible. Not too much to ask? Thus the blog! If you ever have the opportunity to share a conversation with either of these wonderful women or an email make sure to thank them for sharing as it's people like them who help parrot owners like us wanting to learn and give the absolute best to our fids.
To both, I Thank You!
