The World Of Eclectus Parrots
BY LAURELLA DESBOROUGH
Copyright Laurella Desbrough (eclectusbreeder.com).
All rights reserved by the author.
Background
In writing about the four
Eclectus subspecies commonly
available in the United
States, I am writing from
personal experience with
many breeding pairs,
hand-rearing hundreds of
babies from Day 1,
hand-rearing many from 3 to
4 weeks old and having
parent birds rear and fledge
young. In addition, I have
held back youngsters from
these different upbringings
and observed their
development into adults. I
have taken every opportunity
to discuss experiences with
other Eclectus owners and
breeders.
Over the past 10 years, I
have consulted with many
Eclectus owners who had
various questions or
problems with their birds.
After being introduced to
Eclectus parrots in the
early 1980s, I made the
decision to specialize in
working with these birds and
soon discovered a serious
lack of readily available
information of the
distinguishing
characteristics of the
various subspecies. In order
to be as accurate as
possible regarding the
physical characteristics of
subspecies, I studied many
skins of Eclectus in the
collections of the
Smithsonian in Washington,
D.C. and the Museum of
Natural History in New York,
which were collected from
their native habitats. All
of my comments on Eclectus
subspecies characteristics
are based on studies of
these skins because they
form the only accurate data
on which to base judgments
about the various Eclectus
subspecies.
Eclectus Parrots are
Unique
Eclectus parrots are unique
in two special ways. The
first is their dimorphic
coloration: Males are
basically green with red
feathers under the wings,
and females are basically a
rich red with different
colored bands on their tail
tips, according to the
subspecies. This article
will not discuss subspecies
differences since those
details have been
sufficiently addressed in
previous publications,
including Bird Talk
magazine and the AFA
Watchbird journal.
The second way they are
different is in the
hair-like quality of their
feathers on their heads,
necks, breasts and bellies.
Each feather is composed of
single strands that are not
locked together as contour
feathers normally are. Each
contour feather on the back,
and the wing and tail
feathers are formed the way
such feathers are on most
other parrots, as
interlocked feather vanes.
Another pleasing
characteristic in the
Eclectus parrot’s dramatic
appearance is the smooth
beak surface. In the males,
the upper mandible is corn
yellow on the lower half and
tip, and orange on the upper
half near the face. As young
male birds mature, they
sometimes will have one line
of peeling beak material
near the meeting of the
yellow and orange areas. The
adult females have
solid-black smooth beaks.
Beaks with ridges and
grooves indicate some kind
of problem, most often poor
nutrition in young hand-fed
birds or inadequate diets in
adult birds. Incorrectly
colored beaks in adults
indicate dietary problems.
Sometimes, adult males are
observed with beaks with
extensive yellow and very
little orange, which is an
indication of serious
inadequacy in the diet.
Eclectus Parrots Behave
Differently
Eclectus parrots signaling
communication is different
from that of Amazons,
cockatoos or macaws, which
commonly display or send
signals of excitement or
threat by raising head
feathers or crests and
fanning their tails while
flashing their eyes. To
express threat, Eclectus
parrots usually raise the
feathers on the napes of
their necks and upper backs.
If the threat is extreme,
they will raise all body
feathers to make themselves
look larger. Sometimes when
the adult females are
excited or angry, they will
expand the retinas of their
eyes, which provides a
larger looking eye and sends
a clearly visible message of
"I am very excited" or "Look
out, I am going to attack!"
Eclectus males and females
also signal by standing tall
and opening their wings,
either holding them open,
fanning them back and forth
or flapping them rapidly.
This is also a combination
signaling device. It can
mean "Back off, or you will
have a fight on your hands"
if there is a threat. If
performed by a male before a
female it can mean “See what
a beautiful and desirable
bird I am!" When courting,
both males and females pull
their feathers tight to the
body, stand tall, flash
their eyes and open their
wings slightly to display
the underwing colors. A pair
of courting Eclectus
presents a beautiful sight
as each bird displays to the
other, holding wings
partially open or flying
from perch to perch with
flashing reds and greens.
Another behavior common to
Eclectus parrots is their
apparent calmness or quiet
demeanor, which leads people
to believe that they are not
stressed or worried in a
situation where one would
see an African grey hiding
in the corner or an Amazon
wildly flapping wings to
escape. Eclectus parrots
generally mask their worries
or stress by standing
quietly. If the stressing
condition continues for a
week or more, such as
ongoing pain or if a single
stressful incident is great,
reactions can vary from
feather chewing or picking
to bacterial infection
arising from a change in the
body chemistry due to
continued stress. Therefore,
it is wise to avoid
stressful situations if you
can and to plan on ways to
reduce stress when the
situation cannot be avoided,
such as moving the bird to a
new location.
Stress in Eclectus parrots
can be reduced by
maintaining some continuity
for the bird, such as
familiar (or very similar)
food dishes, diet and toys,
as well as familiar words.
For breeding birds, a
familiar cage setup, nest
box arrangement and diet are
helpful in a move. If the
birds have been indoors and
are moved outdoors into open
lights under open skies,
they will be fearful of open
areas and ever watchful for
hawks. Proven breeders may
often stop breeding if
changes in location are too
upsetting. This is unusual
though, since most happily
paired Eclectus are highly
motivated to mate, nest and
rear their young.
Eclectus Parrots Are
Generally Healthy
Eclectus parrots, whether
pets or breeding birds, live
long and healthy lives if
they are provided the major
elements of proper care,
such a following management
practices that take into
consideration the special
needs of Eclectus, providing
a healthy, well-balanced
diet, providing the birds
with proper housing,
following the basic rules of
disease prevention and
avoiding the creation of
stress.
Eclectus have special needs
that include avoiding the
caging or crating of two
Eclectus in a small
enclosure under any
circumstance. All Eclectus
parrots, once they are fully
feathered, should be crated
separately for shipping,
each bird in its own
compartment. Placing two
Eclectus together in a
crate, whether they are
young siblings, clutch mates
or a bonded breeding pair,
is an invitation to
disaster. The combination of
unfamiliar confinement,
strange noises and events,
coupled with a fear response
will generally lead to
aggression and attack by one
or both of the crated bids,
resulting in major injuries
or death.
For instance, the old-timer
advice to people with an
unbonded and uncooperative
pair was to lock them in the
nest together, and they will
settle their differences.
This is a dangerous piece of
advice that betrays a great
deal of ignorance about the
characteristic behaviors of
adult Eclectus parrots.
A normal, healthy adult
female Eclectus owns her
nest and in a crate creates
an environment similar to a
nest. When a pair of
Eclectus are crated
together, the hen wants the
male to leave the crate
because she knows he does
not belong there. He also
knows he does not belong and
is anxious to leave, but
cannot. In even the happiest
of Eclectus parrot pairs,
fighting then occurs, which
can result in injury or
death. Therefore, avoid the
stress and danger of this
situation by always crating
each bird in its own
individual compartment for
shipping or even for driving
a short distance across town
to the veterinarian’s
office.
Companion Birds
Eclectus parrots are
charming companions as pets,
demanding little and giving
much. Eclectus do not make
the incessant daily demands
for handling and love that
cockatoos do, nor do they
hang on the cage and expect
to be let out of the cage as
soon as you walk in the
door, unless that is what
you have trained them to do!
Eclectus parrots are
typically not noisy,
screaming birds unless the
environment and your
management practices develop
those behaviors. Eclectus do
best in good-sized cages, at
least 3 feet wide by 2 feet
deep for one bird. Pet birds
need a basic diet of
good-quality fed on a
routine basis. You cannot
expect an Eclectus to be fed
one day at 7 in the morning
and the next day at noon,
varying the diet from pasta
and grapes one day to
apples, corn and birdie
treats on the next day.
Eclectus Parrot Diet
It is wise to provide fresh
foods at a routine time and
to use the same basic
ingredients daily: a variety
of soaked sprouted legumes
and brown rice, defrosted
mixed vegetables (carrots,
peas, green beans), and one
or two fresh chopped fruits
such as green apples and
pears. To this base diet,
you may add a variety of
seasonal fruits and
vegetables, such as cherries
and blueberries in the late
spring, various melons with
their seeds and corn on the
cob in the summer, and
cranberries, pomegranates
and squashes in the fall and
winter.
Eclectus parrots will eat
peanuts and other nuts that
have been removed from their
shells. However, their nut
consumption should be truly
limited to one nut per day,
since the adult females have
a tendency to become fat.
Eclectus parrots were not
designed to consume large
amounts of nuts--most
Eclectus cannot even open an
almond shell, much less a
walnut. This tells us that
their beaks were designed to
cut through the skin of
green nuts in the early
process of forming, or to
cut off flower and leaf
buds, and to gather various
fruits and berries, but not
hard-shelled nuts. Eclectus
parrots, like most other
parrots, will choose to eat
sunflower seeds first if
they are provided in a seed
mix or sprouting mix.
Eclectus seem to do best
when provided with sprouted
seed mixes, rather than dry
seed mixes. In order to
acquire the needed vitamins
and minerals to maintain
good health and beautiful
condition in the beak and
feathers, Eclectus need a
variety of fresh vegetables
and fruits on a daily basis,
not a weekly basis.
One problem faced by
Eclectus owners is the myth
of the great need for
vitamin A. This myth has
encouraged many Eclectus
owners to provide additional
vitamins to an otherwise
excellent diet, resulting in
a condition known as vitamin
toxicity or vitaminosis.
Journal articles on this
condition have been written
by respected avian
veterinarian Dr. Gregory
Harrison. Therefore, it is
wise to provide the birds
with vitamins in their
natural form which can be
shed if overconsumed. Beta
carotene (the precursor to
vitamin A) is found in many
vegetables, such as peppers,
sweet potatoes and dark,
leafy greens such as chard
or commercially grown
dandelion greens (available
in many grocery stores).
Pomegranates provide
potassium and vitamin C.
Placing man-made vitamins on
top of a good diet of fresh
soft foods can result in an
imbalance in the bird which
is demonstrated by muscle
spasms, most notably
toe-tapping or
wing-flapping, or by skin
irritation leading to
uncontrollable chewing of
feathers, and also
behavioral problems such as
irritability and unusual
“touchiness” when companion
birds are handled. It is
important that Eclectus
owners be very conscious and
careful about adding
vitamins to their Eclectus
parrots’ diets. Even
breeding birds can become
overly irritable and
aggressive toward their
mates when fed excessive
vitamins. Present studies of
the nutritional needs of
parrots have not completely
addressed the special needs
of Eclectus parrots. Until
this is done, it is wise to
be extremely cautious about
adding any man-made vitamins
to Eclectus parrots’ diets.
Pellets
Many pet owners and bird
breeders now feed
commercially prepared
pellets to their birds, most
often as the dry food
component of the diet. I use
a commercial pellet,
Roudybush Maintenance, as a
part of the Eclectus parrot
diet. This generally
comprises less than a
quarter of the total food
provided, the major portion
being a variety of soft
foods, some fresh fruits and
vegetables, some soaked and
cooked or sprouted or a
mixture of these. When birds
have been on a seed diet and
changed to pellets, the
owner needs to know that the
birds recognize the pellets
as food. Otherwise, the
birds may not eat them and
may eventually starve to
death. Bird breeders have
had this happen, especially
to birds unfamiliar with
pellets.
A different concern has
developed with the
widespread use of pellets
for parrots. It seems that
colored pellets consumed by
Eclectus parrots, both
companion birds and breeding
birds, may dramatically
affect the ability of the
Eclectus to grow normally
colored feathers after they
molt. This does not seem to
occur with all Eclectus all
the time; it seems to occur
most often with vosmaeri
females and to affect their
red feathers. The
vosmaeri females will
consume the colored pellets,
and when they molt, the new
feathers (which should be
red) are yellow or red with
yellow stripes. If the bird
eats a lot of colored
pellets, even the beak may
turn yellow. This condition
has appeared in aviaries
across the U.S. When the
colored pellets are removed
from the diet, the bird's
new feathers (when they molt
again) generally come in
colored correctly.
How this change in feather
color occurs is not known.
However, based on anecdotal
observations, it can be
postulated that the chemical
components in the colored
pellets, once absorbed by
the bird's system, prevent
the feather follicle from
utilizing the available and
necessary nutrients that
produce the normal red
feather color. Some of the
companies that produce
colored pellets in the U.S
are aware of this situation
and are seeking answers to
it. To my knowledge, studies
have not been conducted on
what happens to the coloring
agents once they are in the
bird's system. When solid
data becomes available, it
will be publicized. Until
that time, it is wise to
avoid feeding colored
pellets to Eclectus.
Minerals
It is important to provide
the proper balance of
minerals, such as calcium
and phosphorous. In order
for the adult breeding
females to maintain adequate
calcium in their bones when
they are producing eggs,
properly balanced calcium
supplements must be
provided. Eclectus parrots
will lay clutch after clutch
if they are allowed to do
so. The results can be
disastrous and even deadly
for the female Eclectus when
she is not provided with an
adequate supply of calcium.
Caring, competent bird
breeders do not allow or
encourage Eclectus hens to
produce clutches year round.
They know that doing so will
make the breeding hen's
bones brittle from lack of
adequate calcium and her
upper beak deformed by
ridges.
Breeding Pet Eclectus
Sometimes owners of
companion Eclectus parrots
will be concerned because
their male Eclectus is
regurgitating to their ear,
finger or cage toys and
"copulating" with their arm
or the perch. Owners
sometimes believe that this
behavior means the bird
wants an Eclectus mate. This
behavior does not
necessarily indicate the
desire for a mate. It is
simply the acting out of a
normal developmental aspect
in the mature Eclectus male.
He is behaving naturally,
but there is no female
Eclectus present to receive
his attention.
However, it does not mean he
wants one. In my experience,
most of these males will
either completely ignore a
female Eclectus or attack
her with the intent to chase
her away or kill her. It is
important to understand that
a natural programmed
behavior is being expressed.
It is also important to
understand that in most
cases, these males have had
no experience or interaction
with female Eclectus and
also have no desire to do
so. They are acting out an
instinctive behavior, but
they have not had the
opportunity to learn how to
apply it to a female
Eclectus. They are most
often past the developmental
timeline where they could
learn how to interact
normally with a female bird.
That is why many bird
breeders not only hand-rear
and handle young birds so
they are good human
companions, but during their
early development place them
in brooders and cages with
other birds of the same
species, hopefully of both
sexes. This provides
opportunities for normal
intra-species socialization,
which makes it possible for
companion birds to later
become breeding birds if the
situation warrants.
Beware of the phrase, "The
bird is plucking because it
wants to breed." Plucking
around the legs and in the
center of the belly area in
females may indicate nesting
urges. Plucking on
shoulders, around the neck
and upper breast is more
likely an indication of
severe frustration or
irritation or a bacterial
infection of the skin. Most
behavioral plucking by males
is an indication of anxiety,
anger or frustration.
Frustrated and/or anxious
birds are generally in
situations where something
is or was bothering them
greatly from which they
could not escape.
Breeding Eclectus Parrots
Once you have a pair of
birds that like each other
and are interested in
breeding, they will do well
in 6- or 8-foot-long
suspended wire cages of 3 or
4 feet wide by 3 or 4 feet
high. Placing two high
perches, one on either end,
and a low perch near the
cage floor in the middle is
desirable. Pine or fir make
good perches, as do
eucalyptus branches. Adding
safe wood toys and fresh
"chew" branches make for an
enriched environment for the
pair.
Eclectus will use nest boxes
of many types. I use
rectangular boxes and
Z-boxes. Rectangular nest
boxes can be hung at an
angle, which provides some
depth for the nest at the
bottom end of the box. Pine
or fir shavings make
excellent nesting material.
It helps to provide a length
of 2 by 4 pine fixed firmly
to one wall of the nest box
so the hen has something to
work on inside the box so
her urge to make nest
shavings can then be
satisfied. When metal nest
boxes are used, the floor
should be lined with
plywood.
Many Eclectus parrots are
unconcerned about human
presence when they are
mating. However, they can be
extremely distracted by
other noisy or displaying
species of most birds, such
as Amazons or macaws.
Eclectus pairs may forego
the mating process, and the
hen will lay infertile eggs
when the pair is located in
an aviary full of noisy
conures or next to
displaying cockatoos.
Sometimes copulation takes
place inside the box, on the
perch or on the floor of the
cage. Eclectus produce
better in the company of
less noisy birds, such as
African greys and other
quieter species. The best
situation is to have only
Eclectus parrots in the same
area.
Once the eggs have been
laid, the hens generally
keep the males out of the
box. The hen may start
sitting the day after the
first egg is laid.
Incubation is 28 days.
Chicks hatch without
significant down and must be
brooded closely by the hen
until they grow their first
down of grayish black, which
is thick and keeps them
warm. Domestic-raised
Eclectus that have
experienced being fed by
their parents generally make
good parents themselves. If
the hen was hand-reared from
Day 1, she may have to learn
how to feed her own babies.
Some hens never learn this
very well. Stunted adult
males used as breeding birds
do not prove to be adequate
parents in that they are not
able to feed the hen as
often as she requires food
for the babies. That is one
reason it is important that
breeding birds be selected
for good conformation as
well as good health. It is
also important that breeding
birds be maintained in top
physical condition and
excellent health in order to
produce and raise healthy
chicks.
Hand-Rearing Eclectus
Chicks can be pulled for
hand-rearing at 2, 3 or 4
weeks. When the chicks are
pulled from the nest, the
hand-feeder should wait
until the crop empties
completely before starting
hand-feeding. I use a
commercially produced
formula, Roudybush 3, to
which Gerber dry cereal is
added (one part dry cereal
to seven parts commercial
formula to provide texture
and prevent clumping when
the formula is mixed with
water). Jar vegetables and
fruits for human babies are
also added to the formula at
about 1 part vegetable to 4
parts liquid formula. Only
distilled water is used in
preparing formula since too
many public water supply
systems are contaminated
with bacteria and unknown
chemicals that are dangerous
to the parrot chicks.
Formula is fed at the
consistency of thick yogurt
or cereal when chicks are 2
or 3 weeks old.
Temperature of the formula
is measured by a calibrated
thermometer and fed at 105
degrees Fahrenheit. Feeding
cold formula to chicks
chills them. Feeding overly
hot formula burns them.
Correct temperature can be
determined only by an
accurate thermometer.
Formula should never be
heated in the microwave
since when the formula is
removed from the microwave,
it continues to rise in
temperature and is prone to
developing hot spots. Water
heated in a container into
which a container of formula
is placed is a safer way to
control formula temperature.
Continuously monitoring
formula temperature is
advisable if the feeding
session is long.
Day 1 Chicks
Day 1 chicks are fed a thin,
runny mixture of Pedialyte
and Roudybush formula. At
each feeding, the formula is
mixed slightly thicker. By
the second and third day,
dry cereal is added to the
mix, which is slowly
thickened over the next two
weeks. Chicks are fed
approximately 9 percent of
total body weight after the
first couple of days. Chicks
are fed every two hours or
whenever they are empty. The
critical element for Day 1
Eclectus chicks is that they
be kept in a brooder that is
heated to 99 degrees
Fahrenheit for the first
couple days. By Day 3 the
temperature is reduced to 98
degrees and slowly reduced
so that by the second week
the temperature is about 94
degrees.
However, brooder temperature
is always adjusted according
to the needs of each clutch,
based on their reactions to
the temperature. Moving air
in the brooder is not
allowed to blow on the bare
chicks, since it will
dehydrate them. Chicks are
housed in small tubs lined
with clean, disinfected wash
cloths with one edge of the
cloth folded over the top so
the chicks do not get a
draft. Paper towel is too
harsh and does not provide a
comfortable nest for these
bare chicks. Small pieces of
paper towel can be placed on
the bottom of the small tub
as a liner to collect feces
so that the wash cloth does
not have to be changed at
each feeding.
Temperature is measured with
thermometers that have been
calibrated for accuracy
against a laboratory-grade
thermometer. Otherwise, you
cannot be sure about the
true temperature of the
brooder. Also, temperature
must be measured in a
cloth-lined tub at the
location where chicks are
placed, not on the side of
the brooder (and not in the
same tub with the chicks
since it will read their
temperature).
Inexpensive, Reliable
Brooders
Inexpensive and
easy-to-disinfect brooders
can be made by using two
plastic "small animal
environments," which are
rectangular plastic
containers with lids used
for frogs, snakes, mice and
other small creatures, and a
fish tank heater. These
containers and the fish tank
heater are available at most
pet stores. Place the fish
tank heater in one
container, add water to
cover the heater about 1 to
2 inches, and place the
second container into the
first; it will rest on the
water bath. Depending on the
size of the brooder, 25-watt
or 50-watt fish tank heaters
are selected. These heaters
can be turned up or down,
increasing or decreasing
heat.
Another way to control heat
in the brooder is with
toweling. For tiny babies,
all sides and the bottom
must be lined with toweling
to keep in heat. The tubs
with babies are then placed
onto the toweling on the
brooder floor. A thick towel
is also placed over the top.
If the temperature of the
room is very cold, toweling
can also be placed around
the brooder. In warm
climates or environments,
less toweling is needed. As
chicks grow, they are moved
to larger brooders.
Eventually all toweling is
removed and chicks are
placed in the brooder on a
1/2-inch wire grid which
feces fall through.
Throughout their
hand-rearing development,
Day 1 chicks require more
careful temperature
management than chicks
pulled from the nest.
Weaning Eclectus Parrots
Eclectus subspecies vary in
the time it takes for them
to wean. Solomon Islands
Eclectus wean the earliest,
slightly before 3 months.
Red-sided Eclectus often
wean at approximately 3
months, but vosmaeri
have been known to take as
much as 4 months and wean
with greater difficulty.
Problems can be created for
the young birds by
force-weaning them. It is
best to let them wean at
their own pace. Providing a
good variety of soft food
helps. Although the young
birds often hull sprouted
sunflower and other seeds,
they seem to have difficulty
manipulating the seeds after
hulling in order to eat
them. Upon inspection of the
food dish, one often finds a
lot of hulled sunflower
seeds among the debris. It
is helpful to provide
pellets and a wide variety
of foods, including spray
millet, which these young
birds love.
Selling Unweaned Babies
It is never wise to sell
unweaned babies of any
species to members of the
general public. It is not
advisable to sell unweaned
Eclectus parrots, since
these birds are very aware
of their regular hand-feeder
and are very stressed by a
change in hand-feeders.
Since Eclectus are quiet and
fail to provide strong
indicators that they are
stressed, most people do not
recognize that the birds are
having problems until the
problems are quite severe.
Unweaned babies sold to
inexperienced hand-feeders
often suffer from a lack of
adequate daily provision of
formula because they are so
anxious they do not eat
sufficient amounts. Some of
these birds never reach
their normal size, many
develop stress marks on
their feathers, some develop
bone deformities based on
nutritiona1 deficiencies,
and those that do eat can
become fearful and bitey
with unfamiliar handling.
Eclectus seem to develop
best when they are
completely weaned and
well-stabilized in their
original environment before
going to their new home.
In summation, Eclectus
parrots, like other parrots,
have their own unique set of
basic needs and behaviors,
both instinctive and
learned. When owners
understand and respect the
birds' needs and work with
their natural behaviors,
they are rewarded with
outstanding companion birds
and productive breeding
birds of unsurpassed beauty.
