Feeding new ekkie difficult

[philae21]

Hello,
Well I'm back again with worries about Jacks. I've had him for almost a month (the 9th) and he isn't eating very well. He ate mostly seeds before I got him. So I started by giving him seeds and TOPS pellets, and some fresh fruit and veggies, then mixed seeds in the fresh food; then started with cooked food in the evening (sweet potatoes, split peas, squash, 1 minute carrots) and mixed seeds in...so mornings fresh veggies and fruit or frozen (by me). But he doesn't like the fresh food, prefers the cooked....and eats earlier and earlier. He used to have dinner at 7pm, now its about 5:30. What should I do?

Hope someone can help me.

philae21
Picture of Jacks 2 weeks ago

 

[Mizzely]

Have you been tracking his weight?

 

[philae21]

Well, it's rather difficult since he doesn't want to come to me, and he bites whenever I take him and gets stressed so I try not to take him too much. I do take him out to let him walk around when the dogs are outside...

 

[janicedyh]

I give no pellets to Doby. I make a mixture myself of all fresh ingredients...dandelion greens, kale, bok choy and sprouts. He was on a diet low in greens and high in things like bananas. I have learned now that if I put his fruit out at the same time as the greens he will fill up on the fruit. In the morning I put his greens mixed with red and yellow pepper, sprouts and some chia seed and yams (for example)and then when I see he is eating good I put his fruit in. He loves melon and star fruit and pomegranate. But I give him a varied assortment daily. He eats in the morning at 8:30 and then around 4:30. In the middle of the day he can snack a little on greens or a tiny bit of apple (not much cause its sugary). It took a little bit of time to get him used to a healthier diet but I mashed a little banana into his food and he ate it and then I slowly reduced that. Its very important that your eclectus not have anything artificial ...coloring or preservatives.

 

[Mizzely]

TOPS pellets contains no artificial vitamins, coloring, or preservatives. So I wouldn't worry about that.

I don't know what the vet situation is over in France, is there someone he has seen or could see to make sure he is okay?

Is he still eating the same amount just earlier? Or does he not seem to be eating a lot less? If he's not eating the fresh but eating cooked, I would focus on the cooked for now. The best diet in the world means nothing if the bird won't eat it.

 

[philae21]

Thanks Janicedyh,

Jacks has nothing artificial. Before I got him I prepared chopped fruit and vegetables from the garden (organic) and froze them. Now I give him fresh fruit and veggies....mainly veggies....raw carrots (cooked for a min), peppers from the garden, pulses, broccoli, squash, split peas, a little kale (don't have much in the garden), spinach, ginger, ...He doesn't really like the fruit either, except for passion fruit! Seeds again. Started giving him a fresh dried almond a day.

 

[philae21]

Thanks Mizzely,
He doesn't like the fresh stuff as I said. So I will follow your suggestion and focus on home cooked veggies and add in a little fresh fruit from time to time.

I don't think he eats less...I started weighing his food then stopped. Maybe I'll start doing that again. He looks bigger than he was.
The breeders are coming for lunch Friday the 11th. I'll talk to them about him then.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

Back information

Post: 8/29/16 hello all
Post: 8/29/16 sprouts for ekkies

So Jacks cam from a breeder/store and calculating form your post I am getting a hatch day around around the second week of June. that makes him a week or two shy of 5 months old. Do you get an hatch date from the breeder/store? When they weened him, what sort of diet they ween onto? Did you get any instructions from the store/breeder?

 

[philae21]

So, Jacks hatched June 18th. He was weaned just before I got him Oct. 9th. I just emailed the breeder to find out exactly what he gave him when weaning. No, he didn't give me any instructions, maybe because I had an ekkie before.
I'm afraid he was weaned onto seeds. He liked grapes apparently, but he won't eat them here.

As soon as I hear from his breeder I'll post the info.
Thanks,

 

[philae21]

He was weaned on seeds, apples, kiwi and endives. He didn't eat apple here when I gave some to him, nor kiwi. I'll try those again.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

Four months (oct 9th) seams a bit early to stop hand feeding completely. But then again I
have no experience with ekkies maybe someone with more experience can weigh-in.

 

[camelotshadow]

Well, it's rather difficult since he doesn't want to come to me, and he bites whenever I take him and gets stressed so I try not to take him too much. I do take him out to let him walk around when the dogs are outside...

1 mo is not that long. If he likes cooked food give him that.

He;s stressed as he's in a new place with new people & dogs running around!

You don;t want him losing weight. Friday the 11th is a week away.

You need a scale. If you can't get him on it willingly
you might try putting him in a box & weigh him in the box. If you have a scale with a tare you can weigh the box first then tare it. Then when you put the bird & the box on the scale it will read the difference which will be the birds weight only. If he won;t stay in it use a box with a cover but you need to make sure he is not losing weight.

If the scale does not have a tare function just subtract the weight of the box from the total weight of the box plus the bird.

I never heard of a good breeder who lets a bird go without instructions & does not give a care sheet of the foods they are on.

Just had a breeder sell a underfed unweaned macaw with the wrong feeding instructions & the bird died!

You have to do whatever you have to do to feed the bird & keep the weight.

You can ammend the diet when you are sure his weight is stable.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

you might try putting him in a box that's tared.

Is that a mis-type. Did you mean to say put him in a box and tape the lid?

 

[camelotshadow]

Is that a mis-type. Did you mean to say put him in a box and tape the lid?

Sorry, I fixed it.
No I meant put the box on the scale first to weigh it. If the scale has a tare it will deduct the weight of the box so next time when you place the bird in the box on the scale you will measure just the weight of the bird.

You could also just weigh the box & subtract it from the weight of the bird plus the box... it will work either way.

I hate to see a bird in a box to weigh it but its better than having the bird become ill or die because it is starving.

So you don't need a special scale at all.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

OK, that makes sense. I just was not thinking of the tare setting on a scale. It's good to spell it out. Remember we have to move English to French. Sometimes obscure terminology can make it tricky. When I read your post the the first time I was thinking of tar/pitch/bitumen.

 

[camelotshadow]

OK, that makes sense. I just was not thinking of the tare setting on a scale. It's good to spell it out. Remember we have to move English to French. Sometimes obscure terminology can make it tricky. When I read your post the the first time I was thinking of tar/pitch/bitumen.

tar & feathers don;t mix well...

 

[philae21]

OMG THEY SURE DON'T;

Good news Jacks did fairly well on his cooked veggies this morning, and tasted the kiwi on a skewer but not the yellow mini pepper yet.

He just stopped chirping away so I think he's happy (fingers crossed).
Took him out of the cage this morning and after about 10 minutes he made his way back in, half flying like the fledgling he is!

I don't let him out when the dogs are in the house. My rottie wouldn't hurt him at all, but the GSD would probably think he's a piece of raw game.

When I got my first ekkie here in France, the breeder didn't give me any instructions either. I had ready a lot about the breed and so I knew quite a lot and she had fed him lots of fruit. He was very woman-tamedor woman-handled! This time the breeder is a man.

Oh well. Will try weighing him this afternoon on a kitchen scale and a box about his size.

Again thanks,

 

[Lady Jane]

@Laura729

 

[Laura729]

Good suggestions above, and my ekkie boy Charlie prefers cooked vs raw/fresh as well. I have had some success in cutting up fresh veggies like carrots and peppers into TEENY pieces and sneaking them in with his cooked foods. I've also made sweet potato mash balls with chia and flaxseed (enough so they can be shaped into balls and stick together somewhat), with small pieces of fresh vegggies snuck in the middle. (I think the recipe for those was posted by someone in the food section a while ago. I'll double check.)

Another way that I "trick" Charlie into getting his fresh veggies is to sneak them into an occasional fruit smoothie. I just use frozen berries + spinach and/or other leafy greens, shredded carrot, etc. and blend it all together. The first time I did this, I acted like it wasn't for him, and I was drinking it and enjoying it, so of course he wanted to try! Now he really enjoys them.

It was quite the struggle to get Charlie converted to a healthier diet (he was on a terrible, junk seed mix for 8+ years in his previous home), so the fact that you've already got Jacks converted to his healthy cooked food is great! I think you're doing really well. Hopefully Jacks will discover some fresh foods he likes, but in the meantime you can always try some of the sneaky methods.

 

[janicedyh]

Another trick I have learned is to grate raw things he doesn't care that much for and mix them in. Hang things around to forage on....you can even stick a kabob stick into a broccoli stalk ... Doby loved that one.