Breeding Eclectus Parrots : BASIC CRITICAL INFORMATION
Breeding Eclectus parrots requires knowledge, patience, and a deep understanding of their unique needs.
In this article, Laurella Desborough — with years of hands-on experience and dedicated research — shares critical information every breeder must know to ensure healthy birds and successful breeding results. From recognizing natural behaviors to understanding the special dietary and environmental requirements of Eclectus parrots, this information provides a trusted resource for aviculturists, pet owners, and bird lovers worldwide.
By: Laurella Desborough
- The best method for pairing eclectus parrots is to allow each bird to select their mate.
- Prepare a very large flight, (ex. 10×20), with lots of single perches and one nestbox.
- Place one adult female in the flight with several adult males of the same subspecies.
- Prepare several feeding and water stations so there is less competition among males.
- Observe birds over several days. Note if and when the female claims the nestbox.
- If female doesn’t claim nestbox within a week to ten days, replace her with another.
- When female claims nestbox, males will court her. Observe which male she selects.
- Remove the pair and place into their own breeding flight with nestbox in place.
- Breeding flight with two high perches, one in front of flight and one in back by nest.
- Place visual partitions between breeding flights so pairs cannot observe mating.
Providing the right environmental enrichment and separate visual blocks ensures your breeding pairs stay calm and focused during this phase.
- When males observe other pairs mating, they distract the couple with screams.
- Provide wide variety of fresh foods in am, quality seed mix and pellets in pm.
- AM feeding: commercial dandelion greens, red bell peppers, lightly cooked or steamed sweet potato, green peas, fresh yellow non gmo corn, granny smith apple, many types of fresh produce, berries, cherries. PM feeding: quality seed mix, (without added vitamins), natural colored pellets, several shelled pine nuts and couple almonds and a walnut.
- Large wide water bowl, but not very deep, so the pair can bathe daily.
- Nestbox with 3 ½ to 4 inch wide entry hole, 2 to3 feet deep with 3 or 4 inches of pine or aspen shavings, well attached inner ladder, perhaps an inner small shelf for the male.
- Soft wood perch placed near nestbox so entry to nestbox is easy for female and mate.
- Enrichment such as willow branches with buds and leaves or safe tree branches.
- If flights are outdoors, then double wiring is recommended to prevent predators from
reaching the birds. A second layer of wire 3 to 4 inches apart is recommended and wire or metal panels 15 to 24 inches wide inserted in ground around a flight sitting on the ground. If the flight is on a cement pad, that will prevent ground predators. If the flight is suspended and outdoors, then wiring around the flight is recommended as above due to ground predators being able to access the birds from under a suspended flight. Hawks, weasels, raccoons, cats, some reptiles, and even domestic dogs can be dangerous predators to birds in outdoor cages or flights, depending on the region and the country. - Hens on the nest need to become familiar with nest inspection. So, once a day, perhaps during the morning feeding, go by and quickly open the nestbox door, look and close it.
- Generally eclectus lay two eggs, with a day in between each egg. Then the female starts incubation. Sometimes she starts incubation with the first egg. Eggs hatch in 28 days.
- Females will call to their mate to feed them during incubation. However, they do come out and eat from their food bowl and drink water but do not stay out very long.
- Eggs tend to pip two to three days before hatching. Nestbox checking should show pips.
- Sometimes new mothers do not know how to feed chicks. That is why it is important to check the crops of one day old chicks, not new hatches. IF there is no food in the crop by midday on the day old chick, it will have to be removed for hand rearing.
- Note that most females do not allow males to go deep into their nests during incubation or raising chicks. Rarely, some new fathers will kill or toss chicks from the nest.
- However, some fathers will be allowed in the nest and will feed tiny chicks.
- Parental diet during raising chicks should include quality greens like Commercial dandelion. Parents remove the germ from fresh corn to feed tiny chicks. When chicks are older, they feed the entire corn grain with shell removed. Parents feeding chicks may need three bowls of food a day instead of two bowls. Do include a spray of quality millet.
- Parent raised eclectus chicks tend to leave the nest at around 116 days. Parents keep them in the nest even though the young often attempt to leave before that time.
- Once out of the nest and into the flight, the male tends to feed the chicks. Breeder needs to observe the situation as in some cases parent females may attack the young females when in the flight. If so, the male and youngsters can be temporarily housed separately until the youngster is feeding on its own. Perhaps in a nearby cage.
- Leaving parent raised youngsters in the flight with their parents enables these youngsters to learn about processing their different foods, chewing on wood, and the adults mating, and socializing. This is very important learning for future breeding birds.
- Placing breeding pairs where they are exposed to natural sunlight is important for their health. Please note that eclectus parrots do not have as many layers of feathers as other parrot species, for example amazons. Fully feathered adult eclectus parrots do not tolerate continued exposure to cold weather below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
🙏 A big thank you to Laurella for making this article possible and for her commitment to advancing the care and knowledge of Eclectus parrots.
