Six weeks later!

Iggy is 19 weeks old this week and he has been with us for 6 weeks. 

He has progressed in so many ways here are some things he does now that he did not do 6 weeks ago:

• He has gotten very good at perching and stepping up which he did not do at all when we brought him home.
• He has started to chatter to himself when he thinks we are not looking, saying Hello, Hi, Whoa, Wow and OOOH plus lots of random mumbles. 
• He eats his fruits, vegetables and bird muffins every day.  His favorite is definitely pomegranates he will go for those first no matter what is in the bowl but he also loves mung bean sprouts. 
• He lets me put on his leash every day and goes for walks through the neighborhood with us almost every night. 
• His flying is much better, even though the breeder clipped his wings, he can glide and land pretty good considering. 
• He has started to use his foraging toys and playing with his bigger brighter toys more without being afraid of them. 

Mung bean sprouts YUMMY

Trying out a fresh gardenia flower

Things we still need to work on:

• Won't take a bath on his own, we have to discreetly spray him with the misting nozzle of the hose when he is outside on his perch.
• About 50% of the time he does not want to come out of his cage, sometimes he would rather play with his toys or just take a nap. I guess this is not a problem but we would certainly allow him out more if he would. 
• Riding in the car for trips. 
• Most of all though, is the constant squawking anytime you look at or talk to him. It's really annoying and I am starting to wonder if he will EVER stop doing it. I thought I chose a quiet breed!

Here he is doing what he does ALL the time no matter what we are doing

Overall I have high hopes that the crying will go away and he will be more pleasant to be around which will mean more activities and fun time for everyone! 

Here are some fun photos shots from our neighborhood walks. 

Feeding the baby eclectus

Iggy is 13 weeks old this week. 

The first 2 weeks have been tough. We are trying to understand the difference in his cries and noises, what kind of toys he likes, when he wants to come out and visit and of course what foods he likes.

The breeder fed him the fruity eclectus blend pellets and seeds but since doing tons of research I knew we did not want to go that route. I tried several kinds of birdie bread with chunks of vegetables and fruits, he was not interested all, he did was cry. 

Here is a video of the hungry cry...

After the second day with his constant crying and not really eating well we went to the store and got him some organic baby food, sweet potato, apple, corn and squash and gave it to him slightly warm and very slowly with a medicine syringe from the pharmacy. 

I would just barely squirt it into his lower beak and let him eat it I wanted to avoid possibly getting it in his lungs. This worked really well to ensure he was eating healthy fruits and vegetables and I believe it made him feel full and comfortable and helped him learn to trust us to take care of his needs. 

For a few days we gave him baby food from a syringe and after the third day we reduced the amount to half and then gave him a bowl of "birdie salsa" including finely diced and chopped kale, sweet potato, corn, grapes, apple, strawberry, blueberries and corn which he ate really well when warmed just a little. 

After a couple more days we would attempt to give him the mash before the baby food until he no longer cried for it and was happy and full eating his fresh foods.

The bad thing about the birdie salsa was that it is very sticky and messy and would get caked all over his beak, but he was eating good food and that's all that mattered. 

So every few days I cut the pieces just a little bit bigger and add in a couple of new items such as pomegranate, quinoa, lentils, figs, steamed pumpkin and squash and spinach. This is working really well for us. It is a little less sticky and messy and much easier to see exactly what he is picking out as favorites.

We now just give corn on the cob and strawberries as treats on a skewer. But he really enjoyed the pomegranate seeds. 

He takes about 2 hours to eat, during this time he does not like to be disturbed and makes it clear with a nice big BWAAAAK!

Here he is unhappy when I talk to him while eating

At first I would sit with him while he eats to see what he picks up and eats the most of, I try to name the items so he can learn what they are and hopefully one day ask for them by name but he would just squawk at me like it annoys him so I have stopped for now. 

We try to give him some time after eating and then ask him if he wants to come out for a while and he usually steps right up and chatters while we take him outside to the screen room or into the living room.

We weigh him every day before he eats and he has remained a constant 338g. Once he gets used to it and more comfortable we will try before and after but its just to overwhelming right now. 

After two weeks I feel we are making progress and he is really enjoying the abundance of new tasty foods to try every day. 

Bird Show to Home

Once deciding we wanted a parrot we started doing our research. All of my reading led us to the Eclectus breed and from there our bird adventure started.

We chose the Eclectus because it is known to be quieter that other parrots, are pretty chill overall, they do not have a dust gland (instead they have an oil gland) and because they are known to be good talkers.

Our local bird store told us about a big bird show out at the Central Florida fairgrounds, so on August 11, we attended the show and found our new baby from Sue at the Baby Bird Shoppe.

Here is Iggy at 7 weeks old 

Since he was not weaned Sue kept him for us until he was 12 weeks old. And on September 13 we drove the 6 hour drive to pick him up. 

The drive home was pretty easy with only a bit of whining when I would talk to him.  We used a standard crate with a perched drilled into the side to bring him home and for vet visits. Just add newspaper to the bottom for easy cleaning.

We got him home and let him check out the surroundings in the living room right away. 

Here he is right after getting out of the crate 

After a little bit of together time we put him in his new home and let him relax and get used to his surroundings!