To Quaker or not to Quaker, that is the question.

[Sylvester]

Not a photo of one of my Quakers, let me find one to post for you. You have to watch Google because what you ask to see is not always what you really get. When you click on a photo check the info to the right to make sure that it really IS what you were asking for.

I have 4 Quakers but my heart Quaker, Kiwi, died of pneumonia when she was about 2 in spite of being taken straight to the vet as soon as I realized something was wrong. Kiwi is my avatar and while she was my heart/soul bird she would (literally) chase anyone else who walked past her cage from kitchen to laundry room literally (again) jumping cage to cage (at that time there were 3 lined up). Once off her cage she was sweet as pie to everyone.

Of my 4 now, 3 are cage aggressive, the girls who share a cage don't really fly, JJ & Baby Blue do but JJ has a mind of his own. Baby on the other hand will let me hold, handle and cuddle. He's definitely a momma's boy. As @melissasparrots said, it's a hit or miss.

What a pretty little girl, I am so sorry that you lost her.

I am rethinking my plans to get one, their beaks are big and sharp and they don't seem to mind using them. I don't know if I can have a pet that I can't completely trust.

 

[cassiesdad]

Of my 4 now, 3 are cage aggressive, the girls who share a cage don't really fly, JJ & Baby Blue do but JJ has a mind of his own. Baby on the other hand will let me hold, handle and cuddle. He's definitely a momma's boy.

...and if Quakers were legal here, I'd be birdnapping all of them...

 

[ItsMyLife]

What a pretty little girl, I am so sorry that you lost her.

I am rethinking my plans to get one, their beaks are big and sharp and they don't seem to mind using them. I don't know if I can have a pet that I can't completely trust.

On the Facebook pages, everyone talks about how loving theirs are and they’re so surprised that mine is a little green ball of anger.

I want another bird so badly, but I want a total opposite in personality, and I can’t narrow down which one yet.
For a few days, I considered a second Quaker, but then I had the thought that the second could be just like him and nooooope

 

[Sylvester]

On the Facebook pages, everyone talks about how loving theirs are and they’re so surprised that mine is a little green ball of anger.

I want another bird so badly, but I want a total opposite in personality, and I can’t narrow down which one yet.
For a few days, I considered a second Quaker, but then I had the thought that the second could be just like him and nooooope

I still think that tiels are the sweetest of birds.

 

[SandraK]

I still think that tiels are the sweetest of birds.

Green cheeks can be very loving - I have a bonded gcc Beni.

On the Quaker front, the girls Miss Daisy (formerly Edie) and Loofa were adopted. Daisy was a feral chick found with a broken wing and injured leg which were never treated; she can walk fine but cannot fly and nothing could be done to fix it w/o extreme measure which did not guarantee success. Loofa, Daisy's cage mate has gout and severe arthritis even though she's young and does not fly either.

I purchased JJ from a very nice reputable breeder when he was young and I got Baby Blue from the lady who was caring for the original breeder's birds when he was in hospital about 2 months later. I think the difference is that I picked up JJ @ the fair the breeder went to. I picked up Baby Blue at the lady's house and since we weren't sure we were getting another bird we didn't have a carrier. So I put Baby inside my winter jacket for the 1-1 1/2 drive home. Maybe it's silly to think this way, but he was kept warm inside my jacket which smellled of me completely and he was younger than JJ. Both weaned just an age difference.

Tiels are the sweetest though some of them do have their "diva" moments. The only time I've been bitten by any of my tiels is when I have to take someone to the vet and have to corral them into a bird carrier. They ALL know what that means.

 

[ItsMyLife]

I’ve had cockatiels, budgies, sun conure, GCC, and for a short time, we kept a friends gallah (and now I know my asthma does not handle dusty birds!) Now my little Quaker.

When I started looking for a new bird, I had the thought in my head that I would help my boyfriend get over his fear of parrots, have a pet that would grow up with my toddler and in many years (when he’s much older) would be a good central family pet for everyone to pitch in with and interact with. My dog is my service dog, so he’s pretty off limits to everyone.

I was going to get another sun conure because my last one was so great and died at only 3 from diabetes, but when my family member posted in Facebook this little “bird from he**” as it was put to me, I was worried where he’d end up, so I took him in with zero Quaker knowledge and 2 weeks to prepare.

My prep did me very little good because now I have a bird who basically terrorizes everyone and wants to spend all of his time sitting on one perch in one spot. Hopefully that will change some, but from what I know, he’s always been a perch potato.

I’ve got my toddler repeating words to him in hopes that Milo may learn to speak - that’s been the best part. It’s helped my toddler branch out with his words. None of my previous birds have mimicked a single sound, so it would be pretty neat if this little dude eventually did (but at a year old already, that may be wishful thinking!).

I’m heavily considering a bird in the Poi family, but not sure yet.

 

[ItsMyLife]

Tiels are the sweetest though some of them do have their "diva" moments. The only time I've been bitten by any of my tiels is when I have to take someone to the vet and have to corral them into a bird carrier. They ALL know what that means.

My last tiel was very much a single person bird. She picked my stepdad, even though he wanted nothing to do with her. She adored him and defended him for life. She never did warm up us - we did her food, her out of cage time, hung out near her, etc. But she had it in her mind that he was her person

 

[Sylvester]

My last tiel was very much a single person bird. She picked my stepdad, even though he wanted nothing to do with her. She adored him and defended him for life. She never did warm up us - we did her food, her out of cage time, hung out near her, etc. But she had it in her mind that he was her person

Don't you just hate that? LOL! And you are the one who is being so good to the bird.

 

[SandraK]

Most of my tiels come to me (those that do) mainly because my hubby doesn't interact with them.

 

[melissasparrots]

Lovely. You would think that vets by now could do something about the hormones.

Quakers seem to be more affected by hormones than most other species. Even more so than my male amazon and they are known for their hormone changes. My quakers have tended to pluck, scream, bite, masturbate almost pathologically and in one case self mutilate because of hormones. I've never had a group of birds, where the whole group of them were just genuinely unpleasant to be around for large chunks of time. Even my male amazon is decent, I just don't hold him much during the hormone season, but he's okay to live with for the most part. The quakers turn into a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde situation after the age of about 1.5 to 2 years old. My other species, they might have one or two challenging behaviors during hormones, with the quakers, its the whole lot of negative hormone behaviors in most of the birds. I think they are more problematic than cockatoos personally. Although, if you are put off by big quaker beaks and attitudes, I'm surprised you have an umbrella.

 

[Sylvester]

Quakers seem to be more affected by hormones than most other species. Even more so than my male amazon and they are known for their hormone changes. My quakers have tended to pluck, scream, bite, masturbate almost pathologically and in one case self mutilate because of hormones. I've never had a group of birds, where the whole group of them were just genuinely unpleasant to be around for large chunks of time. Even my male amazon is decent, I just don't hold him much during the hormone season, but he's okay to live with for the most part. The quakers turn into a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde situation after the age of about 1.5 to 2 years old. My other species, they might have one or two challenging behaviors during hormones, with the quakers, its the whole lot of negative hormone behaviors in most of the birds. I think they are more problematic than cockatoos personally. Although, if you are put off by big quaker beaks and attitudes, I'm surprised you have an umbrella.

Thanks for your honest input. My umbrella does not bite. He has a very laid back personality. If he was a biter who bit to maim, he would have been gone. Now one woman told me at the bird store that she never had any problems with her female Quaker that she had for 25 years. I guess it all depends on the bird.

 

[ItsMyLife]

The quakers turn into a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde situation after the age of about 1.5 to 2 years old.

Oh man, does this mean that next year may be even worse? He’s hardly a year old and really hormonal. If he were to get any worse than he has been, I’m not sure how I would be able to handle that.

 

[Mizzely]

Oh man, does this mean that next year may be even worse? He’s hardly a year old and really hormonal. If he were to get any worse than he has been, I’m not sure how I would be able to handle that.

The worst for me was about 18 months old.

Honestly, the quaker puberty phase is the reason I won't take baby birds anymore. I will only adopt adults now because I can't go through it again.

 

[ItsMyLife]

Also, when the heck will the hormone season end??? He started in January and it’s March. Are we at the peak of it? Is this like a “half the year” type thing?
I don’t recall hormonal changes in any of my other birds, so I’m a bit lost in it

 

[Mizzely]

Now one woman told me at the bird store that she never had any problems with her female Quaker that she had for 25 years. I guess it all depends on the bird.

Yes for sure. And a lot of birds in general are not bred with any goal in mind save for maybe talking ability or color, not for temperament.

 

[Mizzely]

Also, when the heck will the hormone season end??? He started in January and it’s March. Are we at the peak of it? Is this like a “half the year” type thing?
I don’t recall hormonal changes in any of my other birds, so I’m a bit lost in it

If I can recall correctly, the first couple of years after 18 months, I had usually two periods of 2-3 months each (spring and fall) of hormones. Now at almost 7 years old spring is the biggest one.

The one that started at puberty lasted about 6 to 8 months. It's not just hormones, it's basically a wild animal struggling with it's own instincts within the confines of an unnatural situation.

 

[ItsMyLife]

Yes for sure. And a lot of birds in general are not bred with any goal in mind save for maybe talking ability or color, not for temperament.

I actually found this super surprising. I do dogs, and it’s a well known thing that aggression, confidence, etc are all genetic and any good breeder goes for a stable temperament.

I called a bird breeder not long ago and wanted to ask her questions about the personalities of the parents and any former offspring of a couple of species she had. All I got was “they’re birds. You get what you get, call me when you know which one you want and we will set up payment and pick up”.

I then called a few others and got many of the same responses.

It seems that if breeders produced more sound temperaments, you may have less rehoming.

 

[Mizzely]

I actually found this super surprising. I do dogs, and it’s a well known thing that aggression, confidence, etc are all genetic and any good breeder goes for a stable temperament.

I called a bird breeder not long ago and wanted to ask her questions about the personalities of the parents and any former offspring of a couple of species she had. All I got was “they’re birds. You get what you get, call me when you know which one you want and we will set up payment and pick up”.

I then called a few others and got many of the same responses.

It seems that if breeders produced more sound temperaments, you may have less rehoming.

To some degree it's quite true. Birds are quite individualistic. The problem is, the majority of our birds can be traced back just a few generations to a wild caught ancestor. We have a lot of hobby breeders, no real organization like the AKC or similar, and people that are just breeding to meet the ever growing demand of birds. The things that are "wrong" with parrots - are they genetic or are they a product of diet, housing, treatment? We simply don't have the long history of breeding nor even an understanding of many basic things about parrots yet.

 

[cassiesdad]

Tiels are the sweetest though some of them do have their "diva" moments. The only time I've been bitten by any of my tiels is when I have to take someone to the vet and have to corral them into a bird carrier. They ALL know what that means.

Tiels have those sharp "little" beaks...they do hurt when they want to chomp on you. I find the boys a lot more rowdy than the girls. I never really got nailed hard by any of the girls we've had...Mocha just loves to chomp you...and Igor is getting a bit more bitey lately...I chalk that up to getting older...

 

[ItsMyLife]

To some degree it's quite true. Birds are quite individualistic. The problem is, the majority of our birds can be traced back just a few generations to a wild caught ancestor. We have a lot of hobby breeders, no real organization like the AKC or similar, and people that are just breeding to meet the ever growing demand of birds. The things that are "wrong" with parrots - are they genetic or are they a product of diet, housing, treatment? We simply don't have the long history of breeding nor even an understanding of many basic things about parrots yet.

Yes very true. And it is likely, it seems, that in trying to breed for specific temperament, you’re likely to alter the birds all together - much like the Silver Fox Experiment.

Some of the more “common” birds like budgies would be an interesting experiment.

It blew my mind that when I was talking to breeders, there was no meeting the baby birds and picking the one you clicked with or perceived certain desired attributes. It’s all pick a gender, meet your bird when you get it.

I almost wonder if my crazy Quaker friend may be a product of some poor breeding ethics - whatever those may be in the bird world. He just seems off. He has spent the last two hours attacking his shadow and getting so worked up about it that he was shaking all over and refusing to move because when he moved, the shadow moved. His shadow chasing is increasing each day, and I can’t find a way to set his cage up where he sees no shadows unless I spend the day moving his cage around the house based on the sunlight and room lights