JodieFrost
Checking out the neighborhood
- Joined
- 1/8/21
- Messages
- 1
- Real Name
- Jodie field-smith
Hi everyone!
I have recently adopted a one year old Quaker parrot called Nova (4 days ago) she is apparently a girl. Me and my partner are totally in love but we are wanting to learn more about the best ways to bond with her and I'm hoping people with more experience with Quakers can advise on what some of her behavior means.
Ive been watching a lot of birdtalks videos, marlene mc'cohen and various others...
First night we got her home we let her out of her cage which she came with - she came straight out and flew onto our ceiling fan (which is always turned off) she was very quiet baring little 'quack' noises. She seems scared of hands but willing to take some little treats like millet. Getting her back into her cage was really hard.
She is brilliant at night time - if you dim the lights she will go back into the cage and straight to sleep (wish I knew this on the first night)
second day we let her out again when we got home from work - straight onto the ceiling fan again but willing to take a bit more food. Seems to prefer my partner Ryan to me as she will take more food from him and is less flighty around him. She will take more of her favorite treats from me but seems wary. She watches us constantly from the ceiling fan and chirps to us. If it goes too quiet, i.e: we aren't talking much, then she will scream so I tend to wait until she goes quiet then talk to her.
We let her out for at least 2 hours a day, normally 6-8 hours. Her cage is in the room and always open for her to go back in. She has a play stand on top of her cage which my partner tries to lure her down to with food when its time for her to go to bed.
When I was on my own with her one morning she seemed to growl at me so I came away and tried again with a treat to be able to fill her food and water. She doesn't growl at Ryan. She doesn't seem very cage territorial unless the cage door is closed.
She will scream if we leave the room for a short while.
She doesn't seem to play with her toys at all - I've kept all the ones she came with for now so I don't change too much and frighten her.
I've added a water bowl to her cage as she only had a bottle but I haven't seen or heard her drink yet. Her previous owner said she loves showers and baths but she seems too scared at the moment for us to try those.
Today she took some millet off me and actually came down from the ceiling fan to her cage (which I was stood right next to) to go inside and get some food. I'm really hoping that means she is more comfortable around me?
- A bit of background -
I rehomed her from a lady who owns a few other birds, she seemed well loved but the Nova didn't like the ladies other bird (one of them, a conure) she apparently got on really well with her Indian ring neck. The lady gave me her cage, toys and food. She managed to get Nova into a travel cage for me as Nova would 'step up' for her. She told me she loves water and is good at bedtime. The lady apparently got her from a breeder who hand-raised her but she doesn't believe that she was hand-raised due to her nervousness. Nova is a yellow Quaker parrot.
So advice wise, could anyone tell me if I am doing anything wrong? or any tips with quakers?
-I ignore bed behavior like screaming - Never punish her but I reward her with attention when she is quiet or making less noise like normal chirps.
-I'm going to change her diet to pellets, since she is on a seed mix right now but I know I have to do that gradually so for now I have been introducing her to bits of fruit and veg.
-I am going to get her a new cage but after I move house as we are about to complete our purchase of a bigger home. I was going to get her one small cage for sleeping in and one large flight cage for during the day when we are at work.
-Toy wise I'm buying her some new ones, does anyone have any suggestions?
-I'm going to be setting her with a bedtime after this week, it is normally around 10pm is this too late as she doesn't seem tired on a morning? I let her have 12 hours sleep but she normally wakes up after around 11 hours and lightly chirps anyway.
-She has her flight-feathers and I wont be clipping them as she is a very good flyer and I prefer her to live more freely
-The only thing I added to her cage was some natural wood perches but she seems to like them as she is on them alot.
Do I just slowly continue with what I am doing or should I change anything?
What are your Quaker parrots like?
thanks in advance
Jodie
I have recently adopted a one year old Quaker parrot called Nova (4 days ago) she is apparently a girl. Me and my partner are totally in love but we are wanting to learn more about the best ways to bond with her and I'm hoping people with more experience with Quakers can advise on what some of her behavior means.
Ive been watching a lot of birdtalks videos, marlene mc'cohen and various others...
First night we got her home we let her out of her cage which she came with - she came straight out and flew onto our ceiling fan (which is always turned off) she was very quiet baring little 'quack' noises. She seems scared of hands but willing to take some little treats like millet. Getting her back into her cage was really hard.
She is brilliant at night time - if you dim the lights she will go back into the cage and straight to sleep (wish I knew this on the first night)
second day we let her out again when we got home from work - straight onto the ceiling fan again but willing to take a bit more food. Seems to prefer my partner Ryan to me as she will take more food from him and is less flighty around him. She will take more of her favorite treats from me but seems wary. She watches us constantly from the ceiling fan and chirps to us. If it goes too quiet, i.e: we aren't talking much, then she will scream so I tend to wait until she goes quiet then talk to her.
We let her out for at least 2 hours a day, normally 6-8 hours. Her cage is in the room and always open for her to go back in. She has a play stand on top of her cage which my partner tries to lure her down to with food when its time for her to go to bed.
When I was on my own with her one morning she seemed to growl at me so I came away and tried again with a treat to be able to fill her food and water. She doesn't growl at Ryan. She doesn't seem very cage territorial unless the cage door is closed.
She will scream if we leave the room for a short while.
She doesn't seem to play with her toys at all - I've kept all the ones she came with for now so I don't change too much and frighten her.
I've added a water bowl to her cage as she only had a bottle but I haven't seen or heard her drink yet. Her previous owner said she loves showers and baths but she seems too scared at the moment for us to try those.
Today she took some millet off me and actually came down from the ceiling fan to her cage (which I was stood right next to) to go inside and get some food. I'm really hoping that means she is more comfortable around me?
- A bit of background -
I rehomed her from a lady who owns a few other birds, she seemed well loved but the Nova didn't like the ladies other bird (one of them, a conure) she apparently got on really well with her Indian ring neck. The lady gave me her cage, toys and food. She managed to get Nova into a travel cage for me as Nova would 'step up' for her. She told me she loves water and is good at bedtime. The lady apparently got her from a breeder who hand-raised her but she doesn't believe that she was hand-raised due to her nervousness. Nova is a yellow Quaker parrot.
So advice wise, could anyone tell me if I am doing anything wrong? or any tips with quakers?
-I ignore bed behavior like screaming - Never punish her but I reward her with attention when she is quiet or making less noise like normal chirps.
-I'm going to change her diet to pellets, since she is on a seed mix right now but I know I have to do that gradually so for now I have been introducing her to bits of fruit and veg.
-I am going to get her a new cage but after I move house as we are about to complete our purchase of a bigger home. I was going to get her one small cage for sleeping in and one large flight cage for during the day when we are at work.
-Toy wise I'm buying her some new ones, does anyone have any suggestions?
-I'm going to be setting her with a bedtime after this week, it is normally around 10pm is this too late as she doesn't seem tired on a morning? I let her have 12 hours sleep but she normally wakes up after around 11 hours and lightly chirps anyway.
-She has her flight-feathers and I wont be clipping them as she is a very good flyer and I prefer her to live more freely
-The only thing I added to her cage was some natural wood perches but she seems to like them as she is on them alot.
Do I just slowly continue with what I am doing or should I change anything?
What are your Quaker parrots like?
thanks in advance
Jodie
and welcome to the Avenue! I don't have any experience with Quaker's, but it sounds like you are giving Nova a great home! We love to see pictures here, so if you have any pictures of Nova we would love to see her!
