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Ive recently purchased a 6 year old female and a 13 month old male S.I. ecluctus from two different sources. Ive followed Voren's advice and put them in a nice big new cage at the same time so one would not think the other is steping in on it's territory.

Both birds are not tame, though the female will take food from my hands. The male is just terrified of me

Its been about three days now and the female will move around the cage, eat plenty, and seemed relaxed but the male spends alot of the time on the floor of the cage and ive only seen him eat a little.

I have not seen them be hostile to each other at all. Ive seen them on the same perch and ive seen the female come down to the floor of the cage and hang out a bit near the male.

Does this all sound normal? Will the young male get more comfortalbe and start acting more relaxed like the female curently is? I take it since the female has not attacked or harrassed the male that there is a good change they will bond in the near future?

I know the male is only 13 months, but I figured by the time they bond and get use to their new enviornment a few months will have passed and he will be able to mate with the female. I have not put a nest box in yet and dont plan to untill I see signs of them bonding (I have two sun conure pets and see them preen each other, "try" to feed each other, etc. so I assume they are bonded and will look for similar behavior in the Eclectus pair I have).


I'm new to all this, so your thoughts are appreciated.

Has each bird had an avian vet well-bird work-up yet? The baby might be sick. VERY bad strategy to put birds from different places together without vet exams, full bloodwork and disease testing, and quarantine for 30-90 days, depending on what the exam shows and your avian vet recommends, considering the sources each came from. I would separate them immediately, keeping them as far apart as your home allows, get them to the vet (separately so they aren't unnecessarily exposed any longer), and work with the male to get him socialized.

Sorry for your bad start.

Paca

I don't believe that Eclectus (both males and females) become sexually mature until 7 or 8 years old?

I am concerned that the male doesn't seem to be eating and is spending a lot of time on the bottom of the cage.

Paca brought up very good points about quarantine.

Were the birds kept in cages beside each other for a while before moving them to the cage together? I believe most people let their birds get to know each other from separate cages before putting them together. It is a big adjustment for a bird to go to a new home AND get put in a cage with a strange bird at the same time.

With ekkies, females are dominent and having a much older hen in with a baby male will cause him much distress & insecurity. He is in no way ready to be a daddy as he is not even close to maturity. While I don't raise ekkies, I have a friend who does and he said they don't mature until at least 4.

I would follow the excellent advice given and separate them immediately. Take both to the vet for testing, cultures, etc. It's a little too late for quarantine from each other obviously, but you could place them in cages side by side. I wouldn't keep the male in with the hen at this point in time.

Also - what diet are you feeding? Ekkies need lots of fruits, veggies, grains, legumes every day. There are also special ekkie pellets one can buy.

Good luck!

Sally
Idaho

lilla wrote:... It's a little too late for quarantine from each other obviously...

They've been together only 3 days, Sally. Of course there's been exposure if one is sick, but there's no excuse to increase the exposure by leaving them close enough to be breathing the same air. Quarantine from each other and thorough vet exams are the best way to protect them IMO.

Paca

Guess I didn't read well enough to discern they had been together only 3 days, Paca. Forgive me. In that case, I would definitely separate them into separate cages & rooms. I am a huge fan of quarantine! It is something I always talk to any new clients about, probably to the point of beating a dead horse. I am still surprised to find so many people don't do this at all. But that is another topic I suppose....

Cheers,
Sally
Idaho

Thanks for the responses everyone.