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Determining Eclectus Gender

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This little Eclectus Parrot is only a few hours old! Eclectus are hatched without any down. They are quite vigorous at birth and are very anxious to eat. We feed our own freshly made formula and do not feed a watered down version to our day-one chicks. Many commercially-made formulas are fed quite diluted the first few days.

This Eclectus chick looks at lot like the character ET, the Extra Terrestrial! At about ten days of age, Eclectus start to sprout a thick coat of dark grey down feathers.

These Eclectus chicks are about three weeks of age and are nearly completely covered with thick dark grey down. The down tends to be a darker shade of grey in female chicks but this is not always a reliable indication. Using this theory, the chick on the left is male and the one on the right is female.

At about a month of age, the chicks begin to pinfeather and this is the age when Eclectus gender can be reliably determined. The female chick in the upper image is two days younger than the male in the lower image.   It is at this age that Eclectus start to be a bit difficult to hand-feed. They will often refuse formula and lunge at the hand-feeder! This is their natural instinct that protects them from potential predators approaching from above. In the wild, anything coming into the nest hole above that is not mom or dad is usually looking for dinner, rather than bringing dinner!

Can you tell the gender of these four to five week old Eclectus chicks?

These gorgeous female Vosmaeri Eclectus is about eight weeks of age and is ready for a weaning cage.

These Solomon Island Eclectus male are about seven weeks of age

books on Eclectus Parrots from Amazon.com

Paperback - 96 pages Buy the Book Today!

Eclectus Parrots by Katy McElroy & Michele Earle-Bridges highly recommended! Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours from Amazon.com

Hardcover - 200 pages 1 edition (1993) Silvio Mattacchione Buy the Book Today! Please note that titles occasionally go out of print or publishers run out of stock. Amazon.com will notify you within 2-3 weeks if they have trouble obtaining this title.

The Eclectus: A Complete Guide by Roger Sweeney Availability: special order.

Paperback - 78 pages 1st edition (October 1991) Buy the Book Today!

A Guide To Eclectus Parrots by Rob Marshall Availability: Usually ships within 1-2 business days.

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