A male Eclectus Parrot is usually green with red feathers under the wings

Training an Eclectus parrot is the same as training any other type of parrots. The Eclectus parrot is a highly intelligent bird, are very animated and love to participate in daily activities. The ability of the Eclectus to communicate with humans is a result of their extremely inquisitive nature.

Eclectus parrot training should be started as soon as possible once you have bought it home from the pet shop or breeder. To enjoy your Eclectus Parrot, its best to have a room set aside just for it, plus know that bringing friends into the house will have to be done on appointment basis only so the bird can get the care and rest in the home that it needs. The Eclectus bird just like any other parrot needs 12 hours of sleep to be in the best mood possible and having its own room greatly helps with this.

My favourite training method recommended for Eclectus parrot training is the Clicker Training, which I’ve learnt from the Bird Tricks Training System (you can see the ad on the right for easy clicking). Clicker training is a method where you have a clicker in your hand (hence the name clicker training) and you click it to make a distinct sound the moment your Eclectus parrot does the right thing and you then follow it with a treat your Eclectus parrot loves.

First find out what your Eclectus parrot loves to eat for a treat and use this treat only during your Eclectus training sessions. This will encourage your Eclectus to try and learn faster.

So the training pattern is:

1. You encourage your Eclectus parrot to do something. Eg: step onto your finger
2. Your Eclectus parrot does that something right
3. You immediately click the clicker
4. You immediately reward it with its favourite treat

Your Eclectus parrot will quickly learn that the clicking sound will be follow by a treat and will it will what is necessary to get the clicking sound.

So what is a clicker? A clicker is a small boxed device that has a metal strip, which when clicked on, will bend and make a distinct clicking sound. You can buy the click from a good pet shop or online for about $5 – $10. If you don’t want to buy or use a clicker, you can substitute the clicker with saying “Good Bird” or “Good Boy” something specific every time the correct training action is achieved. However I find the clicker to be more precise and therefore the training session to be better.

A female Eclectus parrot is red headed and blue-breasted, with black beaks

Alternatively, you can use the clicker and say “Good Bird” together and then eventually stop using the clicker. This is what I usually do with my parrot because the action of speaking to your Eclectus help you bond with your bird.
Your Eclectus parrot training session should be kept short so it doesn’t bore your bird or yourself. Keep the training short to about 10 to 30 minutes at most, however I generally let my parrot guide me. If his attention starts to wander after 10 minutes of parrot training, I will stop.

For your best Eclectus training session, you should consistently perform it two to three times a day at the same time each day. The Bird Tricks Training System goes into details about clicker training and how often to for your Eclectus parrot training session. It also cover other advance training such as:

• How to stop your parrot biting you
• How to get your parrot to fly back to its cage
• How to get your parrot to say Yes or No
• How to do tricks such as plays fetch and bring objects to you (keys, toys…)

I hope you find this article and the Bird Tricks Training System useful for your Eclectus parrot training.