Conflicted

[bicmeister]

So I talked to my breeder and he told me only 2 out of 5 eggs hatched. The babes are only 2 weeks old and show no color yet. Someone else reserved a male before me. Now, I'm starting to think about the possibility that there will only be 1 male available, which leaves a female ekkie.

I don't have a huge problem with getting a female ekkie even though there are stories about their hormonal and nippy nature sometimes. However, I do prefer green males with their cute beaks over the red/purple females. What should I do?

 

[copswife30]

Have you thought about checking for ones that need to be rehomed? If you prefer a male and want a baby check with other breeders

 

[stephwin]

If you are set on a male then stick with getting a male. I know it means you might have to wait longer, but if that is truly want you want it will be worth it. As Kathy mentioned, are you only looking for babies or are you open to adopting? There are many pros and cons to each.

My husband and I adopted Slimer a couple of months ago, and I’m always willing to share my opinions and experiences with the process.

 

[bicmeister]

I suppose I'm somewhat open to adoption. I never really considered it because the rescue place here in St Louis did not have an eclectus male for adoption when I checked them out. I haven't looked again since I put a deposit down. Can you only adopt locally?

I guess I will wait to see what my breeder says. Fingers crossed that there are two!

 

[stephwin]

Well since you put a deposit down already, you might not want to lose that. Some rescues do adopt out to areas outside of their local area, it just depends. The rescue I got Slimer from adopts out to all of Texas and even some parts of southern Oklahoma in rare cases.

The only thing with adoption is that just because they might have a male doesn't mean you two will get along or be the best fit for each other. We were interested in an Eclectus but we weren't dead set on one. The rescue had 3 male Eclectus and we knew we wanted a male bird in general and one that was very easy for both of us to handle. Slimer fit that description and also happened to be the species we were most interested in. The major perk with adopting is that for the most part you know what you are getting. After birds hit maturity their personalities don't change a whole lot. Slimer had been at the rescue for about 6 months and the director had handled him a lot and knew he was a sweetie and more than likely would stay that way due to this age (about 10 years old). With getting a baby, they are really sweet and easy to handle, but sometimes when they hit maturity they can become completely different birds.

So again, it's really what you feel is best for both you and the bird.

 

[BayuCah'ya]

Did you adopt Slimer from Wings of Love, by any chance?

 

[stephwin]

Yes we did. He was known as Little Man back then.

 

[BayuCah'ya]

Ah, cool! De is a friend of mine and I was actually on the board there for a couple of years. So glad to know a WOL bird ended up in an AA home!

 

[cosmolove]

crossing my fingers for two males

 

[BraveheartDogs]

I think since you want a male, you should wait for a male

 

[bicmeister]

I've decided that if there aren't 2 males, I will wait until another male baby is available.

(After all, I've already come up with a male name....which is Chaucer. What do you think?)

I think the extra time anyway would give me more time to prepare for my bird since the cost would be spread out more. Maybe I'll get a ss cage during the wait time. (also its disappointing that King's doesn't make any larger aluminium cages!!!!!!)