Quaker Parrot suddenly aggressive?

[Juliajan]

Alright, so I purchased a quaker parrot from a website called “fly babies aviary” about a month ago. I can tell he hasn’t fully trusted me yet as even before the aggressiveness I would stick my hand in and he sometimes would move away. I would leave the cage door open and he would sometimes come close to the door and squawk loudly and move away as if he wanted to come out but was scared. I couldn’t figure out if maybe this was because of my dogs or cats, which my cats don’t come near the cage because they are upstairs 99% of the time, and the only dog who is interested is my bulldog. I think he wants to play and will every now and then sit look at my Quaker’s cage for a bit whining. I make sure to move him away when he does this because I don’t want him to spook the bird. I decided maybe he needed help getting outside his cage and to the top, where there is a built in perch connected on the top (as it’s a flat top). So I started to take him out of his cage myself, which I’m not sure is the greatest idea looking back on it because of the fact that he would bite the bars while I had him on my hands (I would pick him up because although I’ve been trying to teach him to step up, he hasn’t caught on at all). However I would take him out gently after he let go of the bars and place him on the top of the cage. I would sometimes take him and put him on my shoulder would he would seem to be fine with. Sometimes he would fly off and I wouldn’t force him back on. I just tried to take him out because I found it weird that he wouldn’t actually be really wanting to hang out outside his cage like I find most other birds do. Which his cage isn’t tiny though, it’s a flight cage of a good size. Anyway, all of the sudden has been seemingly aggressive. He hasn’t been aggressive or bitey at all until now. He will give nips that seem to be love nips, and he does the same to my face when I give him a kiss. But the bites he is giving me now are different. I will put my hand in the cage to pet him and he will quickly attack my fingers, biting pretty hard. If I go by him on the outside of the cage, though, and put my fingers or face up to the cage he will give the light nips I described before, making the typical little quacking noise (almost like a duck) he makes when I give him kisses and he gives them back to me. If I stick my fingers through the bars, however, to try and pet him, he will bite again hard. I’m wondering if this is him being territorial? Or possibly hormones? I cannot think of many other reasons for this random aggressiveness. I don’t know how to fix this if it’s territorial behavior, because he doesn’t seem to really want to come out of his cage, and I can’t reach in there anymore to take him out myself. Has me taking him out myself caused this aggressiveness? I feel like maybe I should have just left the cage open and even though he was scared, let him come out on his own after a while. If you have any ideas on how to try to solve this, let me know.

 

[Mizzely]

He's telling you to stop putting your hands in his cage. He doesn't like it. Open the door and walk away. Let him make the choice.

Quakers are known to be fiercely cage protective, too, so the sooner you learn to respect his space, the better off you'll be overall.

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

Like Mizzley said, he probably doesn’t like being picked up and dragged out of his home so he is now giving clearer signals.

He will eventually come out by himself in his own time!

 

[JBosley]

Agreed with above responses!

I have a perch on the cage door, so when I open the cage my birds go on the perch and only they do I ever try to get them to step up! If I try in ANY of their cages, they will all tell me "back off". This has worked great for me! If they don't want to come out, they don't.

 

[Donna turner]

Please , please beware of letting your cats or dogs in the room when your parrots out. It only takes a couple of seconds for the bird to be caught and their idea of " play " would mean death for the bird. Your dog is displaying too much interest when he sits by the cage and whines. My gcc is very affectionate ,but will bite my fingers if I stick them in her cage. Same thing if I were to stick my finger in her face. Find your birds favorite treat and offer that in his dish for awhile ,then progress to holding it so he can see and wait for him to come to your hand. Don't try to get too close. Just close enough he can reach it. I agree you should let him come out of the cage on his own and reward him with something when he finally does.