Hey all. A few weeks ago, my wife and I brought home a rescue Quaker. She is about 2.5, and came from a very loving home where it was just her and her owner. The owner was moving in with her BF, and he had a dog so she decided to give up the bird.
We were introduced to the bird through friends at a parrot shop. Everyone at the shop loved the bird and said she was the sweetest quaker.
When she came home she immediately was attached to both me and my wife, talking to us, giving kisses, and generally soaking up the attention. For the first two weeks, she was an angel aside from a few behaviors:
- She refused to step up off her cage 90% of the time, requiring her feet to be gently pried off.
- She would get defensive and fearful around our other birds, a GCC and another female Quaker.
- She won't take food of any kind from a hand. That's the only other time she has nipped, is when I tried to give her a treat.
We also suspect she has anxiety. She shivers, bobs her head, and seems to have nervous ticks. I'm not a quaker expert, but Ive never seen similar behaviors in a quaker.
Now, three days ago we had a few friends over (the first visitors since she came home) for a quiet dinner. She was great at first, and even let one pet her (they didn't ask first, if they did I would have told him no). Later in the night she was on my wife's shoulder, and suddenly attacked, biting her cheek when she moved to adjust her glasses. When she was told to step up, she again bit the finger and had to be toweled.
Since that interaction, things have gone way downhill. She was nice the next morning but did the same thing later in the day.
Now today, she has gotten meaner and meaner as the day went by. Now, when she is on or in her cage she will run around trying to bite us if we walk by. If she is on the ground, she will chase us trying to bite our feet.
Just two days ago she would sit on her cage and beg for kisses. I've never seen a change like this, and I'm really worried.
To answer some inevitable questions.
- Her cage is smaller than I would like, Its about a 24 inch cube. What I would consider to be a good travel cage size for a Quaker. But, she has been in this cage her whole life so we wanted her to adjust to us before getting a new one. We are also moving in 3 weeks and wanted to wait until after that.
- She doesn't have a nest, hut, or any other hormone inducing things in her cage. I've rotated toys and changed the layout of her cage several times since she came home.
- She doesn't seem hormonal in any other ways aside from the aggression. She probably has been getting less than ideal sleep, so I plan on covering her tonight.
- She eats a diet of 90% seeds. We are working to get her on pellets and fresh food, but she is picky and wasn't given the best food by her previous owner.
Any advice would be appreciated.
We were introduced to the bird through friends at a parrot shop. Everyone at the shop loved the bird and said she was the sweetest quaker.
When she came home she immediately was attached to both me and my wife, talking to us, giving kisses, and generally soaking up the attention. For the first two weeks, she was an angel aside from a few behaviors:
- She refused to step up off her cage 90% of the time, requiring her feet to be gently pried off.
- She would get defensive and fearful around our other birds, a GCC and another female Quaker.
- She won't take food of any kind from a hand. That's the only other time she has nipped, is when I tried to give her a treat.
We also suspect she has anxiety. She shivers, bobs her head, and seems to have nervous ticks. I'm not a quaker expert, but Ive never seen similar behaviors in a quaker.
Now, three days ago we had a few friends over (the first visitors since she came home) for a quiet dinner. She was great at first, and even let one pet her (they didn't ask first, if they did I would have told him no). Later in the night she was on my wife's shoulder, and suddenly attacked, biting her cheek when she moved to adjust her glasses. When she was told to step up, she again bit the finger and had to be toweled.
Since that interaction, things have gone way downhill. She was nice the next morning but did the same thing later in the day.
Now today, she has gotten meaner and meaner as the day went by. Now, when she is on or in her cage she will run around trying to bite us if we walk by. If she is on the ground, she will chase us trying to bite our feet.
Just two days ago she would sit on her cage and beg for kisses. I've never seen a change like this, and I'm really worried.
To answer some inevitable questions.
- Her cage is smaller than I would like, Its about a 24 inch cube. What I would consider to be a good travel cage size for a Quaker. But, she has been in this cage her whole life so we wanted her to adjust to us before getting a new one. We are also moving in 3 weeks and wanted to wait until after that.
- She doesn't have a nest, hut, or any other hormone inducing things in her cage. I've rotated toys and changed the layout of her cage several times since she came home.
- She doesn't seem hormonal in any other ways aside from the aggression. She probably has been getting less than ideal sleep, so I plan on covering her tonight.
- She eats a diet of 90% seeds. We are working to get her on pellets and fresh food, but she is picky and wasn't given the best food by her previous owner.
Any advice would be appreciated.