Possible Electus Pair Rescues

[PufF]

As mentioned before I'm moving house. Which means I have more space. My local bird store has a lot of rescues over the years as people just dump their birds outside the store. Two of those rescues happen to be a pair of Electus. These two live in adjacent cages separated by a divider as the female will pluck the male's feathers (which has not grown out since for some reason).

I'm not sure how long they have been there or how old they are but I will be paying a visit this Friday to decide if I would actually be adopting them. Honestly I don't know if I really want to because the spare cage I have right now does not come with a divider and I'm unsure if I really want to be putting the pair together given I have no clue on how their current interactions would be.

Additionally the main reason why I wanted to take them in is also due to their diet, they're currently on all pellets and I do like to provide fresh food to Puff but always end up overmaking due to the minimum portion itself being too much so having Ekkies would be a great way to use up the food without wasting. But at the same time it has dawned on me after doing more research (since I didn't exactly plan to get into Ekkies initially given their special diet) that wow is their diet complex.

And I'm also not sure how they would react to a diet change even if I offered fresh foods. Basically I'm scared that they won't make the switch, or that their health gets worse after the switch, that the two won't get along in one cage (like yes I can get 2 cages but then it'd be so much smaller so not as preferable) (and if I get only 1 of them I'm scared that the other will become depressed) (or I can get one first and see how?????)

And I'm also scared if Puff won't get along with them, honestly I kind of want Puff to make friends with them cause the recent vet visit also gave new info namely that she is getting more or less hormonal (in the sense that her pelvis bone or whatever bone near her vent is more open due to hormones which can be the start of egg laying which I do not want to encourage at all) and I suspect it's because she only wants to interact with me. So maybe some bird friends will help???

Basically I think that I am assuming too many things and know too little so I'd like to ask exactly how should I approach this and if I should even take them in. Also, any lists of an updated Ekkie diet for reference? Since the ones in the Good, Bad, and Ugly thread is quite long ago so I'm not sure if any new info has been disseminated throughout the years.

Thanks all.

 

[flwindsurf]

I find it humorous when folks talk about the "special" Ekkie diet. Humans are supposed to consume 3 cups of fruit, 4 cups of vegetables, 8-10 ounces of grains daily. This is an Ekkie's "special" diet in Ekkie appropriate serving sizes. No added fat, sugar, or salt. Mostly fruits/vegetables/grains, a little seed, a little no-color-added pellets. They also appreciate fresh sprouts and parrot safe, edible flowers. Ekkie's are the easiest pet to determine if they're on a proper diet. If they're consuming too many pellets, they'll have a musky body odor. Consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables, they'll have a sweet body odor.

As for adding more birds, I can't help. I've always been a one bird owner. I spend up to 15 hours a day with Charlie so until they invent a 30 or 45 hour day I can't manage more birds.

 

[PufF]

I find it humorous when folks talk about the "special" Ekkie diet. Humans are supposed to consume 3 cups of fruit, 4 cups of vegetables, 8-10 ounces of grains daily. This is an Ekkie's "special" diet in Ekkie appropriate serving sizes. No added fat, sugar, or salt. Mostly fruits/vegetables/grains, a little seed, a little no-color-added pellets. They also appreciate fresh sprouts and parrot safe, edible flowers. Ekkie's are the easiest pet to determine if they're on a proper diet. If they're consuming too many pellets, they'll have a musky body odor. Consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables, they'll have a sweet body odor.

As for adding more birds, I can't help. I've always been a one bird owner. I spend up to 15 hours a day with Charlie so until they invent a 30 or 45 hour day I can't manage more birds.

HAHAH if it's just that simple then I should be able to manage, I'm scared that the combination of a reacue situation + sensitive stomach leads to specific issues where certain foods will worsen their condition instead

In fact I don't even know if i should do a cold turkey switch even if I get them cause on one hand the pellets are not that good for them but on the other hand I don't want them to starve. I'll probably see if they eat TOPs and go from there if they don't eat the fresh chop cause right now I do think they're on Zupreem.

ps. I think I get away with calling their diet special because I do not practice healthy living , if I did I probably don't need any new birds cause I can just eat the residual food myself; people I know say that Puff eats way healthier than me (which os true )

 

[Finchbreed]

Everyone who gets new birds should find out what the existing diet is and maintain that - gradually adjusting to a healthy diet.
Why?
For the same reason you would not change a child you adopteds diet completely with no adjustment.
You will risk severe upset and a poopy situation at best or non recognition of this new stuff as food and starvation at worst.

 

[PufF]

Everyone who gets new birds should find out what the existing diet is and maintain that - gradually adjusting to a healthy diet.
Why?
For the same reason you would not change a child you adopteds diet completely with no adjustment.
You will risk severe upset and a poopy situation at best or non recognition of this new stuff as food and starvation at worst.

Ok right now my plan is to see if I can get some of their current mix (cause I don't wanna get a big bag of zupreem I won't be finishing it) (though I will get it if I have to lol) and offer it alongside the fresh food but offer the fresh food first, and then slowly decrease the pellet quantity.

I'm also not sure if I should go for a 100% fresh diey or still mix some pellets inside, but for the case of an Ekkie would TOPS or harrison HOPP work best? Since it's all organic and no added things.

As for the fresh food I'm working right now so I will likely be making batches weekly and freeze them. I'm thinking of MAYBE trying sprouting again with buckwheat, broccoli, and alfafa. Then those sprouts will be added to this wholegrain mix I found online and this organic bean mix and all boiled together to get a mash/chop like consistency.

To that I'll add sweet potato, bell pepper, frozen corn (cause fresh corn is too hard for me to get the kernels out lol), carrots, strawberries, blueberries, figs, dragonfruit, green banana and maybe whatever else that is in season (honestly I don't really wanna get berries for the same reason cause I heard that most aren't naturally grown but should still be ok so like benefits outweigh cons i guess)

Also Ekkies can eat bird bread right? I plan on making some for them, and for Puff also but she gets added spirulina which the Ekkies don't get (cuz it's too much for them apparently?) but otherwise should be fine right?

 

[Finchbreed]

I have not had Eckies - but my sister has - she found they like most fruits, nuts, more fruits, seed, more fruits, vegetables.
Hmm - maybe that was just Rona - her precious boy.