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Adding a Quaker to my mix?

gritsinct

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Hello. I'll try to make this long story as short as possible: My distant ex-relative-by-marriage (I'm long divorced) committed suicide over Thanksgiving and wasn't found until almost two weeks later. Amazingly, her dogs and Quaker parrot were OK. The Quaker was sent to a wildlife rescue for a few days until a family member was notified and picked him/her up. So he's had a rough few weeks I think. Now they are asking me to take the bird, because I am the only person they know that has birds.

I have never met this person or her bird, so I know nothing about the bird. I am tempted to take him because I know he will have a forever home with me, but I already have a flock and I'm worried about adding another bird to the mix. I currently have budgies, cockatiels, and GCCs. I know there is no way to know how a group of birds will interact, but can you Quaker owners give me your experiences with Quakers and other birds?

I have no idea how old the bird is but he has been a single bird in her household at least (also no idea if she got him as a baby or if he was rehomed) and I know he knows how to step up and was out of the cage at least occasionally. He eats an all seed diet and is in a very small cage.

My heart wants me to take this bird as I know I can give him a safe, healthy place to live - but I want to use my head and do what's best for my birds as well as for him.

To add further complication, he is in SC and I live in CT. I have found different statements regarding whether it is legal in CT for me to own a Quaker but it seems like there are more websites saying they are legal to own but not to breed or sell than one's saying they are illegal. I'm currently trying to find an official place to ask.

My daughter is coming to visit for Xmas and she is flying Delta and they do allow birds on flights (if not too many animals already on her flight) so I think I know how to get him to me if I do decide to do this.

Any advice or thoughts would be most welcome! Sorry for the novel. :)
 

Daisy's Mom

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Hey Cathy!!! :) Nice seeing you on here.. :hug8: Thats wonderful that you are thinking about taking in this little guy and that he can travel with your daughter.. :highfive: Its almost like its meant to be.. :D I don't have any experience with Quakers but hopefully someone with Quaker experience with weigh in.. Keep us posted.. :)
 

Vegemite

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I have two quakers - Kai is a rehome and hands off and Murphy is a handreared baby and is very much a hands on bird.
Kai was bonded to my cinn gcc till the gcc got out the door. They shared a cage eventually as I was constantly attacked by Kai trying to get gcc out. The gcc also hid behing Kai so I had to get past Kai to get him. Kai is now bonded to my ringneck but they dont share a cage.
Murphy is best buds with my cockatiel who is also hands off. The tiel (male) has also decided that Murphy (also a male) is his mate so I constantly get attacked by tiel for being a third wheel, which is complicated as Murphy loves me and likes to be on me. These two do not share a cage either.
Good luck with your decision
 

gritsinct

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Thank you both very much for the reply! Tiffany, nice hearing from you! I had to stop coming on here for a while - for some reason I kept reading the Highway to Heaven and Rehome boards... I couldn't stay away from them and it just really depressed me. But I know this forum is the best place to come for advice and input! :)

Lynne, I really appreciate you sharing your experiences with your Quakers!

Forrest made a friend for life with my daughter in SC when he asked her to scratch his head yesterday (she is not used to birds and was very nervous about opening his cage to feed him) so it seems like he is a sweetheart. (I know it could be just because he's in an unfamiliar place and his true colors will come out later once he's settled and comfortable in my house.) Regardless, I think it's meant to be also! I have a large flight cage available and I'm willing to make this happen. I'm doing lots of research on Quakers and I'll definitely be on these boards for information.
 

melissasparrots

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Call your local game and fish or DNR and ask if quakers are legal in your state first.
I've had my pair of quakers and their son for over 10 years now. IMO, they are one of those easy to frustrate species. I've found them to be prone to plucking and getting all wound up with hormones and territorialism. That said, in between hormone bursts they can be adorable, great talkers and snugglers for the size of the bird. Mine are usually the first birds to start screaming in the morning and they get my macaw going. During times of hormones, mine will scream at me any time I enter the room or get too close to their cage and try to attack through the cage bars. My pet male didn't start doing that until he was a few years old.
They are prone to fatty liver disease, so considering the diet, I would get that bird a blood chemistry done asap.
I've found mine to be a danger to my other birds. My pet male has gotten more than one parrotlet toe and badly bit the toe of one of his siblings. Watch him when he's out with your other birds. I know some quakers that make great friends with cockatiels or conures. I've heard of others that were a danger to other little guys. Good for you for taking in a bird in need. Just realize, you might have to play musical birds in terms of rotating out of cage time and possibly keeping him in a different room. My biggest struggle was that any bird that landed on my boy's cage was instantly attacked even if he was in the cage. If he landed on another bird's cage and the occupant was inside and climbed up to investigate, then we got a toe bit with bleeding and loss of a toe or toenail.
Quakers are great birds, but they can have their difficulties.
 

Ming-Ming

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Hi Cathy,
sounds like you have already made your decision, and i'm sure you're going to LOVE life with a Quaker. They are one of my favourite species of birds. I've had Kyoko for about five years and she's been a dream. She's hilarious, full of energy, mischief, but also a great cuddler! She's just a great bird, and I've had this experience with my Quaker before her also.
I agree with a lot of what Melissa said.
Quakers are known pluckers, and can get very hormonal. I've been pretty lucky with Kyoko in that she just gets mean to my boyfriend when she's in her cage during this period, LOL. But they are prone to fatty liver, so getting the bird on a new diet is very important, as well as a thorough blood check.
My birds do not get along (but I also have two species of birds that are known to not get along with other species, so I'm not a great help that way!) that being said, she doesn't attack him and just rather stay away. That being said, she isn't afraid to defend her cage, which I find is pretty typical of Quakers, they are very cage aggressive. So be wary of that. But i think if you were careful, watched to see who interacted with who, and are willing to do musical cages, than i think you will be fine :)
Good luck! Can't wait to see some photos :D
 

fidsmom

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Hi Cathy,
I have 6 Quakers, plus 2 other birds ( 1 lovie & a Senegal) Most of my Quakers get along with each other except 2. I LOVE Quakers a lot , they are my favorites. I am lucky, I guess, as my Quakers, are not cage aggressive, matter of fact, when they are out for playtimes, they go in each others cages, lol. Some of my Quakers talk, sing, some of mine don't, But I love them all the same, 2 of my 6 are " velcro birds' they stick to me like glue, lol. They all have different, personalities, they are comical, sweet loving birds. My oldest is Precious shes almost 14 yrs in Feb 14 th, my youngest is Sweetpea at 7 months old.At times, they ' flock call' usually when they hear me wake up, and usually mid day, they seem to know, when its their playtimes, as they let me know by calling out " wanna come out", which they say, over and over, till I come.. I look forward to seeing pictures and reading of your Quaker.
 

gritsinct

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Thank you all for the helpful responses!! I am concerned about aggression if another bird lands on his cage but I have some ideas I'm playing with if that is the case. He has not been around other birds for four years so there is no telling what he is going to think. I already have to have two shifts of birdy play time because I have two GCCs that HATE each other and if they are out at the same time there is serious, violent war. So I'm hoping this guy will get along with one of the groups but if not, I can manage three shifts without cutting back on out of cage time for anyone (just cutting back on my gym time and life outside of birds :lol:)

My biggest concern is the safety of the birds I already have, so if there is a serious issue after several months I will find him a good, single bird home (or maybe a different group of birds than my mix) but for now I want to get him into a safe, stable situation and have the time to figure things out (and honestly it is my intention to keep him forever unless it is a case of my current birds' lives being in danger after giving him plenty of time to acclimate). Hopefully I will be lucky and he will be one of the laid-back types that will at least not be too aggressive with the other guys, even if he doesn't love them!

He is going to the vet in SC on Tuesday to get checked, get a health certificate and get micro-chipped since he isn't banded, and I will definitely take him to my avian vet soon after his arrival. I also am planning on changing his diet of course, I just hope the first four years of poor diet haven't caused too much damage.

If all goes well with the airport/flight, I will have him home late this coming Saturday. My vet recommended getting his wings clipped in case they want to open his cage at the airport... I hate to do it, but I would hate even more to have him get loose in the airport.

I will definitely post pictures and an update! :)
 

gritsinct

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Hello again... I'm sorry I've been so slow to update but life has been very hectic the past few weeks! So I've had Forrest with me since 12/20 and s/he seems to be settling in well! He still only stays in about half his cage but has finally decided it's safe to step onto the rope perches and will occasionally sit somewhere besides on his food bowl. If anyone has suggestions on how to get him to sit on a perch and not a food bowl (therefore getting lots of poop in said bowl), I would love to hear them! I've tried rearranging the bowls, putting wood perches close but higher than the bowls, etc. with no luck. I am hoping that with time he will get more comfortable with his surroundings and choose more comfortable perches!

He is a fantastic eater and will try anything I give him (he's gained about 13 grams since I got him so I'm keeping an eye on that). He still won't eat pellets unless I hand them to him, but we are working on it...

So far there is zero sign of cage aggression but I'm aware that could be the honeymoon phase and things could change. I'm reading as much as I can find about Quakers so that I'm hopefully prepared for whatever comes next.

Letting him out with the other birds has been OK, but he seemed to decide that he didn't like my hand-raised tiel and kind-of went after him a couple of times (the tiel thinks he is human and that everyone loves him, so he doesn't pay attention to what birds he is around or whether they are making threatening motions *sigh*). At the same time, one of my GCCs (the one who loves every other bird strangely enough) has decided he doesn't like Forrest and keeps trying to jump him! Because of those two reasons, I've decided to let him out separately for safety's sake. It would only take a few seconds of distraction for a bird to get seriously hurt and I would never forgive myself. Maybe in the future I will try again because I would love for him to be able to have a bird friend and one of the other GCCs seemed inclined to be friendly. But for now we are playing it slow and safe.

He is still pretty rough looking but is molting a lot of feathers so is slowly improving... (I tried to attach a photo but I keep getting an error and I don't have time to fight with it right now)

I have some general Quaker behavior questions and the main one is his behavior with a hand towel I keep nearby when I have birds out in case I need to break up a fight, etc: he loves to chew on and fight with the towel. He will go underneath it and get really excited and bark at it (his last home was full of chihauhaus lol) and get kind-of violent with it. Is that normal behavior? It seems like he is having fun, but am I encouraging something I shouldn't be?

Thanks!!
 
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sunnysmom

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What a pretty bird! It sounds like he's settling in well. So nice of you to take him in. :)
 

cnyguy

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It's perfectly normal for a parrot to play with or fight with a towel. My QP Ralph likes to chew on towels and will sometimes playfully attack them too. :)

It sounds like you're doing all the right things with the perches. I can't think of anything different to suggest.
 

gritsinct

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Thanks for the input. I play with my other birds with the towel so they are comfortable with it if I need to towel them for any reason (and because it's fun)... but I read somewhere before I got Forrest that Quakers have a natural instinct to chase and attack (I wish I could find the site I read that on again!)... so I wanted to make sure I wasn't inadvertently doing something that encouraged aggression. I'm still trying to figure out how Quakers are different from my others and what, if anything, I need to do differently with him to account for that. :)
 

Menagerie Mama

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What a cutie! Can't wait to see his plumage change with improved diet and care :hug8:
 

gritsinct

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Thank you. I think he is just thrilled to be able to take a bath and that is also helping (or at least he sure is in his water bowl a heck of a lot :hehe:)
 

gritsinct

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He is definitely adorable, even if a little raggedy! :D
 
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