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Tell us what gum nuts are? Is that something native to where you are? What are they similar to... macadamias, pine nuts?

I don't believe I've ever heard of them and I'm curious. I'm glad you found the Feeding Feathers site. You'll get lots of help there. I've known Shauna, one of the moderators there, for a few years and she's one of the most knowledgeable birdie food people I've ever known.

I was looking at the pics of Eddie again. I may just be me, but it does seem like his beak is a little overgrown Only an avian vet should manage working on that for you. It may or may not have something to do with his feathering. Probably not, but it just never hurts to look down all avenues, especially with eclectus, when it comes to their issues, diet and overall health.

These are gumnuts. They're from gum trees & open up & flower. Parrots love to chew them.

I found the site interesting. I also found out Eddie IS quite normal with everything he does for his age. His diet is exactly the same as what they recomend. The only problem I really have about their diet recomendations is they feed suppliments as well as the fresh stuff. I don't think that's necessary & have seen too many people give their ekkies the proper diet they should have plus suppliments & end up with complications. I don't believe suppliments should be a part of their diet unless they're not being fed the correct foods. Apart from that Eddie gets all the same stuff, over preening IS normal in some.

His beak is also normal length, it doesn't need trimming.

I think the only supplements Shauna mentioned were actual 'food' supplements, not synthetic ones. Anyone who feeds additional 'enrichment' is looking for trouble with their clec. Since we cannot possibly duplicate exactly what birds eat in the wild, we cannot expect to meet their nutritional needs with food alone, but we do the best we can with the many wonderful additions to their diet that are healthy and help 'round out' their daily intake.

"The supplements I mentioned were green supplements which are
food...VERY different than what you might be thinking...synthetic
supplements. Green supplements can be important even if the diet is
great...and very little is suggested. Suggested amounts are listed in
the files."

Yes thank you I did recieve that a couple of days ago

Hi Kim
Please tell me more about those gum nuts. Are they human grade food as well? They seem to have a wax like substance inside - is that the edible part for the birds or is the entire 'nut' edible?
They are the most interesting looking thing I've ever seen and as you can tell, I'm quite fascinated with them. Can you tell me how large the are?
Thanks
A

Those gumnuts above have flowers that haven't opened yet. This is what they look like in full flower: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissie20 ... set-31046/
& come in all sorts of colours. The the first pic are red flowers. They also come in different shapes & sizes from, round, oval, star shaped & pear shaped depending on the variety of eucalyptus. The sizes vary too. The top ones look like they might be about the size of an adult thumb. They can be as small as a babies thumb nail to bigger than walnuts again depending on the variety. And then you get honky nuts (another gumnut) that are extremely painful to walk on because they're so rubbery.
http://www.leighsmith.com/PhotoAlbum/Tr ... G_0171.JPG
I have a chain of honky nuts in Eddies cage. They make an excellent interactive toy because you can stuff treats into them 7 it keeps them occupied for ages. This is Eddies chain.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/ki ... /nov06.jpg

All gumnuts & flowers are edible to birds but I don't think they are edible to humans. They're not waxy but they are very rubbery shiny & tough. The birds eat them before the flowers die. Once the flowers die the nuts saty still rubbery but are alot harder & dry, so unable to break through them unless they're cockatoos. That's when they become toys.
These are dry gumnuts
http://danny.oz.au/travel/2004-central- ... umnuts.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/23/31147144_2bf6d9cb8d_m.jpg
http://www.techies.com.au/thedepartment/pod/041217.jpg
These ones are on Crickets perch. They're dried out now but he's still enjoying shredding them to pieces & making a mess. These are a perfect cockatiel size gumnut. Cricket can roll it around in his beak.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/ki ... v06010.jpg

Well those are most amazing things I've seen in a long time. I'm envious you have something like this to not only look at, but be able to use for toys later. LOL I see where the flower comes out of the pod now. What great pics and I see where these would make fabulous bird toys! I should send you some money and have you send me a box of the dried ones. I belong to a group called Parrot Toy Angels and we make and donate toys to need birds that are either owned by an individual facing hard times, or rescue organizations that need help keeping their birds' lives enriched.

Do they smell good, (or stink)? My mom used to have her own floral business, so we kind of grew up with flowers. I love them all. Our state flower is the Columbine and I think they are a most unusual flower as well.
What is the honky nut? Is it from the same family?

Those pics are amazing. I'm sure Bob would love to destroy that chain. lol

Judy

I know Judy. We need to see if we can get her to send us a ton of them! lol

Yes, I would love that. Our birds would be in birdie heaven.

Judy

LOL Bob won't have any luck shredding the chain unless he's a large cockatoo. No parrot can get through these honky nuts, they're tough.

This is the size difference in the nuts I have in my back yard.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/ ... v06011.jpg
The biggest is the honky nut. All gumnuts are eucalyptus & from the same family. The honky nut is just what we call these ones.

Cricket is near the smallest one here. They're the ones he likes chewing on
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/ ... v06021.jpg

These are the middle size ones Eddie is eating before they open.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/ ... 5_1522.jpg
There are honky nuts there in the back ground but I'll have to get a pick of Eddie next to them to show the size. There are also much much bigger nuts than the honky nut too.

They do smell nice if you like the smell of eucalyptus. I love the smell so I like having them in our house. It also makes the birds smell nice & fresh too

You state flower is beautiful! I haven't seen anything like that before. Ours is the kangaroo paw, also an unusual flower.