need advice from EXPERIANCED eclectus breeders/keepers

[pyrodarknessanny]

hello, im just woundering what the best way to go about intruducing a mate to my girl would be. she is about 2 years old now, hand raised red sided eclectus, she has been socilized with other birds before in the past, but no long term compainions (she was friends with an indian ring neck that she played with on a daily baises for last year.

i would be looking at getting another hand raised, and probably looking at a chick, a mature hand rised cock bird would be ideal but cost up to twice as much as a chick,
also i enjoy raising the birds my self.

so what i want to know is, whats the best way to introduce her to a new bird, and whats better, a bird of simalr age or a younger bird? i know cock birds take longer to mature than hens but i want to be sure she is compatible with the new bird.

any thourghts?

 

[Pythoninfinite]

I've been breeding Eclectus for about 25 years now, and would suggest that you get a male which is up to a year older than the hen. Eclectus hens are very dominant, and will make a timid male's life miserable. You will also have around 3 years to wait for fertile eggs if you get a youngster at this point in time, by which time your hen will be a 5yo. hens mature around the 2-2 1/2 year old range, cocks around 3 years.

Much better to match the pairs by age.

Jamie.

 

[pyrodarknessanny]

ok thanks for that, so you recomend a male of about 3 years to go with her then?,
should i just put him in, or introduce them to each other slowly?

 

[Jay84]

I would not recommend puttingt hem together straight away, this is fraught with danger. Your hen bird may become very dominant and aggressive

towards a new cage mate, also, handreared birds can suffer intense jealousy and will unleash their frustrations on the bird or person they are jealous of.

Alot of time and care needs to be taken when introducing birds. Good luck!

 

[pyrodarknessanny]

yeah, that was the main concern, about her beecoming jelous, i think i would plan to introduce them to one another over the frame of a few months little bits at a time.

 

[Sarah]

just keep in mind there is no guarantee that they will bond, my male and female really liked each other at the start but after a year they couldnt stand each other.