boy for 2yr old female

[mnmcheepies]

Hello,
We have a hand-raised, 2yr old female eccy, and we are thinking it would be a good idea to get her a male companion.....

Questions:
- would it be OK for us to get a baby male and hand raise him to be her companion?
- If we do this, is it likely that she will be interested in him as a breeding mate in years to come?

Thankyou,
from MnM (and Zephy)

[b4u1994]

There are no guarantees that they will bond or even like one another. If you want to get a boy, get him because you want a green family member!

Our pair of SI are bonded, hang out, play and fly together, but are caged separately. Our pair of VOS tolerate one another but do not hang out or play together, and are caged separately as well.

The SI's we raised from babies from different breeders. The Vos's were both adopted from different homes.

Good luck with your decision.

[agentbunny]

My breeder told me that it was easier to introduce a new female to a male than the other way around because the females tend to be bossier and can bully the new male. If you do it, definitely put him in his own cage in the same room as the female. If you put him in her cage she may get territorial and beat him up. You may consider getting an older male if your female is breeding age.

[sodakat]

My feelings, as the owner of a breeding pair, are if you WANT them to mate, get a juvenile male that has been raised with other birds rather than a baby, since your girl is already 2. If you just want company for her and don't give a hoot if they have chicks then get any age male. Like everyone else said: it's a crap shoot if they'll get along. My two were raised together from 9 months (her) and 4 months (him) but were housed separately for 2 years. We tried putting him in her cage and her in his cage at about this time, but it didn't work. We then put them both in a completely different cage and that went well. They started breeding some time during their second year. So, if your girl is SI, she is reaching sexual maturity.

Why do you think she needs a companion?

[mnmcheepies]

Thankyou
Of course (!) we would love having a new fella in our family, and are very much anticipating a wonderful new character to get to know and enjoy life with.

We are thinking it would be good to get Zephy a companion because my partner and I both work, and though I do put in effort to provide as much stimulation as I can each day (toys, hidden food, fresh braches, bunch of bark, etc etc) we think that having another eccy to chat/play/etc with would be infinitely better! Especially as it is most obvious at the end of each holiday (I am a school teacher) that Z is unhappy about the routine of daily departures starting up again.
I was taking her into school with me once a fortnight but this became unwise after a few of the students secretly started to plan mischievous-ness (they thought they were being secret anyway!!! smilz). So unless I am able to suss-out that it will DEFINATELY be cool/calm/safe for Z to rejoin me fortnightly, it will be a full year ahead of unending school days alone at home......

So if we did decide to get a juvenile male - is it acceptable to request a trial run - to see if they like each other - before committing to taking him into our home??
How long would it usually take for it to be seen whether they'll like/love each other?? >> minutes/hours/days/weeks/months??

[sodakat]

So if we did decide to get a juvenile male - is it acceptable to request a trial run - to see if they like each other - before committing to taking him into our home??
How long would it usually take for it to be seen whether they'll like/love each other?? >> minutes/hours/days/weeks/months??

I don't think you should try a trial run. You need to commit to getting a new bird and making it work if you are going to do this. Pet birds don't get to fly around and choose their mates like wild birds do. They are pretty much stuck with arranged marriages. Bringing him in for a test period, especially when you take into consideration quarantine time, would be unreasonable. But, the good thing about a quarantine is they will both know there is another bird in the house and will probably start calling to each other long before they meet, so when they finally do get together they won't be complete strangers.

You do need to consider that you will now have two birds waiting all day for you to come home. I am not trying to talk you out of this because I think Eclectus like having companions, but I don't think you HAVE to do this to keep her happy. I've heard some great things about the Bird Sitter DVDs and have watched some clips online. Very cool. They even loop.

It's a LOT of work living with a pair that breeds.

Kathy

[Simon's Mom]

Kathy,
Glad you brought up the quarantine period.

As far as how long to tell if they would like eachother... it could be years... it could be never. Of my 3, only 2 get along. Simon doesn't care for the other 2 and it's mutual all around. If you want another ekkie get him or her for you and not your bird. I got my 2 additions (Gersh and Layla) for me but had hoped to have a flock that loved eachother... it didn't work out that way though. Heck, my female doesn't even like ME!

A second bird (or third in my case) is a lot of extra work and expense when vet bills are factored in.

Have you thought about a parakeet or small cockatiel? (Not cockatoo) We have a cockatiel that fly into our lives before Simon was even with us. Simon and Kazi don't play but they talk to each other. Much less work then having 2 big birds and you get the same effect.

[Lejah]

I also have always been thougt that you better can have an older male and a younger female, becaus the female is broody/adult much sooner/earlier than a male. And a female is much more dominant/bossier than a male.

Our 2 ekkies don't go along very well!
I had hoped that Mr Darcy would have nice company from a female ekkie, when we took Lizzy. Mr Darcy liked our lovebird very much and I thought and hoped another ekkie for him would be great. The mean reason ofcourse that we took Lizzy was that I myself longed for a pretty red girl.
But now Lizzy is 1,5 years old (we get her at 8 weeks for special reason, Darcy was then almost 3 years) and Mr Darcy and Lizzy still are not friends. So we still have 2 cages and we always need to be careful when the 2 of them are out of the cages at the same time!
Mr Darcy still goes better with the lovebird than with Lizzy.

[b4u1994]

Is there a local rescue in your area that you could help out by fostering an eckie?

[mnmcheepies]

Thankyou thankyou! this is all so fabulous, helpful advice! smilz

hmmmm....

so a quaratine period, hey! >>????? How long should that be for? Do they have to be completely seperated - like different rooms?

I spoke to a man yesterday about a 3month old eccy he has, he reckons (in his experience) it is easier to introduce an older female to younger male, because the male is top cock n can be intimidating for younger females....?????

My feelings, as the owner of a breeding pair, are if you WANT them to mate, get a juvenile male that has been raised with other birds rather than a baby, since your girl is already 2. If you just want company for her and don't give a hoot if they have chicks then get any age male.

Seeing as our main objective is to improve Zephy's lifestyle with a companion, and breeding is very much not needed (nor particularly wanted atm!) I am thinking to take this advice.....

Have you thought about a parakeet or small cockatiel? (Not cockatoo)

We do already have a cockatiel, called Bob, but he is most antisocial! We rescued him (he was obviously an escaped aviary bird, with very little experience of being social with humans) and therefore prefers to be by himself infront of a mirror! We've had him now for 4 years and is trained enough to not freak out if we approach him, will step up (eventually) if need be.
Zephy just likes sitting up ontop of his cage, there is no interaction between them at all (apart from Z getting jealous if we give him attention!)

A second bird (or third in my case) is a lot of extra work and expense when vet bills are factored in

what is the extra work? So far Zephy has had a check-up at a vet and got a clean bill of health. Thats it! The cleaning is part of our ritual and therefore is OK....

Thankyou again everyone - this is great!

[sodakat]

The purpose of quarantine is to prevent either bird exposing the other to airborn disease while you are awaiting the results of bloodwork from the vet. You should ask your vet for recommendations on how long this should be but 6 weeks is common. Separate rooms are good, but if you have central air/heat you may not achieve true quarantine. Also handling one bird then the other allows you to potentially transmit disease on your hands, clothes or shoes.

It sounds to me like you are leaning towards getting a baby. If that's the case you might be able to shorten the quarantine time as long as you are buying from a closed aviary and have the baby tested as soon as you pick him up.

I want to clarify that when I mentioned a juvenile bird I did not mean a baby. I meant a bird that was not yet at sexual maturity, depending on subspecies. A juvenile bird that was not sold just after weaning, for whatever reason, who has lived with other birds at his breeder's, will know how to behave with and be at least interested in other Eclectus. You do not know if your girl will accept the companionship of another Eclectus or if she will prefer her humans. I was just trying to help you take care of one side of the equation.

I think the idea of fostering a male is fantastic! It could be the quarantine has already been done by the rescue, btw. This would give you an idea if your girl would be receptive to another Eclectus.

[Heather&Iggy]

My Alexandrine is a great friend for my eclectus Iggy and vice versa
We have their cages side by side with a play area on top, so during the day when people are out or at breakfast time they are locked up and then the rest of the day they hang out on top of the cage or in their playroom (previously known as my bedroom! hehe). Before i got Iggy, Archie use to spend a lot of time screaming, even though he had all sort of foraging toys but now with Iggy around they spend most the day chatting away and playing. I also believe that Archie has been the reason for Iggys vocab so young and that he's taught him how to play.
And although they do have their scwabbles, especially a round food and then there was the jealousy when Iggy first came home, all up the plus's have far out weighed the negatives

So yeah, thats my bit on inter bird species love!

[mnmcheepies]

Quarantine >
hmmm...Ok... BUT the last time I was at the vet I queried about getting a blood test for Zephy to make sure she didn't have the beak n feather disease, and it was gonna cost $350 (!!) and take up to 3 months to do, as it is sent to Scotland......so is that what you are referring to when you say:

bloodwork from the vet.

The vet did to a poo test and general physical.....he's one of the highly recommended vets in Perth.....
I asked the fella with the 2months old eccy (who says he has LOTS of other birds, several of them at various stages of breeding/rearing-age) if he had taken the male eccy to the vet and he said there had been "no call to do so" as he was so healthy, and he had already sold the sister and she was doing great. He also offered to give me the phone number of the people who had bought the sister to get their opinion.......

I am leaning towards getting the male lol