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Introduction:
Many people would think that the beautiful Eclectus parrot would be one
bird kept in great numbers in Australian aviaries, but this is not the
case. Although the larger, Macgillivray species, flies wild in this
country up in the far north parts of Queensland, it is very rarely seen
in aviculture. The main reason for this is the expensive price tag it
carries, although I cannot speak for other bird keepers, I personally
have only seen around 6 birds myself in two different aviculturist set
ups around the state of N.S.W.To my knowledge in Australian aviculture
the sub species, Roratus, Vosmaeri, Polychloros, Solomonensis, and as
mentioned earlier, Macgillivray, are the only ones kept. Again to my
knowledge the Polychloros, or Red sided, is the most widely kept at
around 80%, with the other sub species coming in at around 5%
each.Although Eclectus parrots are a most beautiful bird, even the
Polychoros, are somewhat expensive to the average Australian bird
keeper, they are very noisy, with a high pitched screech for most back
yard collections, and in this country not as easy to breed as some
people make out, although some aviculturist do have good success with
them. I would say that less than 8% of Australian aviculturist would
either keep a single pair or a few pairs of Eclectus parrots in their
collection. Eclectus parrots give that extra bit of colour to a
collection of parrots, and of course the people who own them always
have people admire them for their character and beauty.Housing. Eclectus parrots are
housed in two types of forms in Australia, conventional aviaries and
suspended or noble cages. (Space being the main reason for which way
they are housed). Eclectus parrots are usually housed as single pairs,
but are known to be housed in a colony with other Eclectus parrots or
with other larger species of parrots or cockatoos.Diet. Eclectus parrots are fed
a stable diet of mixed seeds, such as sunflower, safflower, hulled
oats, canary seed, and milo, but do need a great amount of fruit and
vegetables in their diet.Supplement
diet. This consists of fruit such as apple, pair, orange,
Kiwi fruit, banana, and vegetables such as corn, mung beans, peas,
beans, carrot, spinach, and sprouted seeds, sprouted mung beans and
sprouted corn.Breeding.
Eclectus parrots are known to breed in large natural logs, but many
people use either the Z type, or the T type nest boxes. The Z type box
has one entry at the top with the inspection door at the side, with the
T type box having two entries at the top and the inspection door at the
side. All three types of ways mentioned have had reasonable success.
Most Eclectus chicks are taken away from the parents at an early age
for hand rearing purposes, this allows the parents to start preparing
earlier for the next clutch.
Problems.
In Australia we have some problems with worms, such as round, tape, and
hook worms. These are easily treated with medications, and keeping nice
and clean environments for the birds.
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