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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly about Quaker Parrots

NoahsMom

Meeting neighbors
Joined
12/10/13
Messages
20
Location
McMinnville Oregon
Real Name
Pamela
We have been really lucky with our Quaker Mary Frances....she isn't much of a screecher, preferring to make repetitive sounds such as coughing, giggling, and something that sounds like a squeaky shopping cart. LOL....When she makes that sound I tell her that she is a squeaky meds cart and I want my Valium! :lol:

She has pretty much chosen my wife as her main person...as long as Maddie is in the room I can't even get a glance! But if I am the only person in the room with her, she will grace me with her presence, and if I just let her sit on me without messing with her much, she snuggles and loves on me, just to get my attention! She will sit on my shoulder with my two chihuahuas in my lap, but heaven forbid the other birds try to get near her! :cautious:

She is a rescue, and from what we have learned, someone used to beat her cage with a broom or vacuum, resulting in a badly broken beak. It is finally almost grown out, and we have gotten her to the point where she doesn't freak out when we vacuum anymore. :dance4:

We are very lucky to have our little Quaker, she is our little ray of sunshine!!! :dancing:
 

ZoeyFredrik

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
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9/3/13
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2,331
Location
N. Central Florida
Real Name
Nik
We have been really lucky with our Quaker Mary Frances....she isn't much of a screecher, preferring to make repetitive sounds such as coughing, giggling, and something that sounds like a squeaky shopping cart. LOL....When she makes that sound I tell her that she is a squeaky meds cart and I want my Valium! :lol:

She has pretty much chosen my wife as her main person...as long as Maddie is in the room I can't even get a glance! But if I am the only person in the room with her, she will grace me with her presence, and if I just let her sit on me without messing with her much, she snuggles and loves on me, just to get my attention! She will sit on my shoulder with my two chihuahuas in my lap, but heaven forbid the other birds try to get near her! :cautious:

She is a rescue, and from what we have learned, someone used to beat her cage with a broom or vacuum, resulting in a badly broken beak. It is finally almost grown out, and we have gotten her to the point where she doesn't freak out when we vacuum anymore. :dance4:

We are very lucky to have our little Quaker, she is our little ray of sunshine!!! :dancing:
Oh my goodness! That is horrible, beating her cage with a vacuum! I am so glad she has a nice home with you! Quakers are wonderful! :heart:
 

Mizzely

Lil Monsters Bird Toys
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Northern Mitten Michigan
Real Name
Shawna [she/her]
Here is more delightful Quaker natural calling goodness, this time an Alarm Call:

 

Jennifer Kiser

Meeting neighbors
Joined
7/19/14
Messages
60
Real Name
Jennifer Kiser
I just joined today and I am owned by Molly Q Pickle Pants a little green quaker who is funny, feisty, very vocal, has an amazing vocabulary and is always making me laugh. Molly has been with me almost 3 years. Molly came to me at the age of 4 and I am Molly's 3rd home. Molly has come so far in the time I have had him/her. I have watched my baby go from a scared, angry and confused little parrot to a loving, scritch demanding little sweetie. Molly is not cage aggressive with me I can put my hands in the cage, change out food dishes, move toys and give scritches. Now if my hubby or son tries that watch out! here it comes CHOMP! :wideyed: I adore Molly and spent a good 35 minutes today cuddling and giving kisses on top of Molly's fluffy little head and on Molly's beak while Molly said kiss kiss and made the kiss sound :xflove: . The only bad thing with Molly is I am Molly's chosen mate. I have to be very careful when giving Molly attention my hands and side of my neck have received Molly's um special attention :( trying to handle a hormonal quaker who is in love with you can be quite a job LOL. I have to say I would never trade my Molly for anything I am totally in love with my little green darling.
 

ChirplockHolmes

Strolling the yard
Joined
7/13/15
Messages
110
Location
Houston
Real Name
Pat
Thought of gettinga a Quaker, then I read this. I think I'll stick to budgies for now lol. XD
Thanks for the great info!
 

wasabismom

Walking the driveway
Joined
5/10/16
Messages
187
Real Name
Nicole
I thought I should write a post about my quaker wasabi.
Wasabi is a female quaker about 3 years old. I dont find her to be very loud, she does make lots of noise but she doesnt get as high volume as other quakers I have heard. She talks and makes clucking noises the most and it's usually morning time and dinner time. She loves her routine and gets annoyed if it changes... Sometimes the weekends stress her out because our routine is slightly off. She is not a cuddly bird. She will let me scritch her head every now and then when she wants but if I try by myself she will pinch me and laugh. She is nippy. She doesnt bite anymore but she squeezes/pinches to tell me no. She actually will laugh or say "dont dont" (which is what I would tell her when she used to bite hard during puberty)
She can be sweet she will whisper in my ear (you cant tell whats shes saying) and then do a kitty purr and get really close to your face and just sit there. You cant rub her head unless she wants you to... even if shes being cute the answer is no.
She does however like her feet rubbed! If I ask her to tickle her feet she will hold it out to me to rub gently and she will make the kitty purr sound :) if she has had enough she will tell u will a good pinch and a laugh and she will move away.
She is independent and plays will her toys. She hates my cell phone and will attack it any chance she gets.
She is a great bird... The only bad would be not being snuggly... Not being flexible with her schedule... Being so independent... But the biggest is not liking anyone else... She does not like my kids or my friends she is a one person bird that doesnt like change :)
Quakers are very smart! They will teach you tricks like rubbing of the feet :)
 

wasabismom

Walking the driveway
Joined
5/10/16
Messages
187
Real Name
Nicole
I thought I would add... When she wants out of her cage she will make kissing noises and say "give me kiss" untill I open the door to give her a kiss (this is a trick she just wants to fly around and eat that sandwich you just made) (total female) (it works everytime)
 

Jaguar

Rollerblading along the road
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7/11/14
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3,243
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Real Name
Ry
I've had Puffy for almost a year now, so I'll drop my 0.02 here.

Preface: Puffy is supposedly a 2-3 year old unsexed unbanded green quaker. I bought him second hand from a family that was so scared of him that they never let him out of his budgie sized cage or really did much with him.

The good:

Puffy is pretty quiet. He has the capacity to be loud... very loud. See Mizzely's video above. But he's only really loud for a few minutes a day, usually in the morning.
He's quite chatty. He barks, whistles, and blabbers a bunch of nonsense I don't understand. I just roll with it. He has that typical cute squeaky quaker voice, which I love. He has a chicken cluck that is spot on, it makes everyone laugh.
He's very low maintenance. He's happy to just chill and have snacks together. Doesn't want to play or explore much. The kind of bird you can plop on a T perch and not have to worry about destroying your house or getting into trouble.
He loves food and eats just about anything. He's very much a social eater and will squeak impatiently every few seconds to remind you he's waiting for his piece of what you've got.
He is a good sleeper. I wake him up between 11 and 12 and he doesn't complain if I'm late. He WILL let you know if you're late for bedtime, though!

The bad:

He's a perch potato. It's hard to get him to move around or exercise. He has no interest in playing with toys or otherwise. I have to be very careful with his diet so he doesn't end up overweight.
This is less of a bad and more of a ???. He doesn't live for human interaction. Lots of people would consider him boring or otherwise uninteresting. He would disappoint someone looking for an interactive, fun loving companion.

The ugly:

When he wants to scream, he can really belt it out. Sometimes he'll be screechy for a few days, which is really annoying. Fortunately, it never lasts longer than that.
He bites down HARD and hangs on for dear life. He would do some serious damage if he got his beak on someone. Fortunately, I haven't gotten bit, not even once.
He is very cage territorial. He will huff and lunge at you if you're in his space. Pretty typical for quakers, but can be disheartening for someone who isn't expecting it. If you take out his food dish, he'll angrily slam the feeder door until you put it back (which makes me laugh).

All in all, Puffy is a very low maintenance and easy to live with parrot. I love that he's independent and easy to please. I don't handle stress very well, so Puffy's a very good match for me.

 
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Lodah

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
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5/4/16
Messages
4,662
Location
Sydney NSW Australia
We are very lucky to have our little Quaker, she is our little ray of sunshine!!! :dancing:
I am sure that the same can be said about yourselves! She is also very lucky! :rolleyes:
 

CBrown

Moving in
Joined
7/7/15
Messages
9
I'll tell of my experience with my Quaker. She's the first parrot I've ever owned, but I work with native wild birds at a wildlife rescue center so not new to birds in general. She's a DNA tested female but unknown age.

Ollie came to the wildlife hospital from an area where we have a feral flocks of Quakers here in Florida. We figured she was a feral. She had a fresh shoulder dislocation, probably from sideswiping a vehicle. The day after she came to us, I reached in and asked her to step up...and she did! She enjoyed attention from the start (with moments of crankiness) so we knew she wasn't a feral. Either an escaped or released pet. She now flies pretty well, although she has a lingering wing issue and wears out after a couple laps around the living room.

She's very sweet and cuddly, and wants to be with you at all times, or have you sit with her at all times! When I moved recently, she squawked constantly whenever I left the room. She's adjusted now and only does that every now and then, thankfully.

She rarely tries to bite me, but gives cranky nibbles when she's annoyed about something. But if she decides she doesn't like you (like with a few of my coworkers) she won't hesitate to nip. For one of my friends whenever she'd approach Ollie's cage, Ollie would lean out mouth open. So bad, but so funny too.

She IS noisy, and voices her displeasure when she wants. I'm in a triplex now so that's a little worrisome but so far no major complaints. I try to keep her as quiet and entertained as much as possible. She has an odd phobia of trash bags and screams whenever i open a trash bag or take out the trash. That does get old lol. She's learned to say things and mimic sounds and has learned a few tricks. It was fun to see the lightbulb turn on for her when teaching a few things! She loves to say and play peek a boo, and has learned to say I'm an Eagle, and other things and can mimic a lot of wild bird sounds since she goes to the wildlife center with me a couple times a week, since she's the only bird and would be lonely all the time by herself at home. She may need a friend at some point. She's been a fun, sweet little bird!

In summary, they can be sweet, chatty, smart and cuddly. But we prepared for noise.
 

Birdlover42

Walking the driveway
Joined
1/13/18
Messages
174
Location
Indiana
Real Name
Alicia
Not sure....We got our baby quaker Skittles about two weeks ago and she is 9 weeks old now. We are still hand feeding her with formula twice a day. We have tried to cut her down to one feeding but she has fits until we feed her. She is very much into biting us...not in a mean way but a pinching way and she keeps doing it. She's very happy and playful. Will play all day then at night she snuggles and falls asleep on our shoulders. Once we put her to bed she has a little fit but then goes to sleep for the night. She follows us around the house and if we go outside she waits by the door and makes a lot of noise. This is our first quaker and we feel a little lost as to how to deal with her. She's super smart and I'm pretty sure she's smarter than we are lol
 

Birdlover42

Walking the driveway
Joined
1/13/18
Messages
174
Location
Indiana
Real Name
Alicia
Not sure yet lol.... my fiance and i are new to Quakers and we got our first baby at 8 weeks old while she was still being hand fed. We did two feedings a day for over a week and now we are down to 1/2 a feeding at night. She's almost 11 weeks and still has a fit for that night time feeding. She seems very bossy and wants her way ALL THE TIME. We are having issues with biting which is getting better. She's absolutely in to EVERYTHING! She can be cage aggressive but not bad because we touch her cage a lot by cleaning and moving things. She reminds me of a bratty 2 year old that tests her limits. If she can get away with doing something she's not supposed to do she will do it and she keeps trying until you give in. At the same time she's SUPER snuggly and sweet and she's suck a silly clown. There is just absolutely no way to ever feel sad or down when she's around. We have fallen totally in love with her and she's our baby. She defends me if she thinks my dog is being mean to me...like when he's playing aggressively .she will chase him away and she shows no fear which I find quite inspiring. She loves to fall asleep on our shoulders at night and snuggle until she goes to sleep and she lets us hold her like a baby. Finally she's already trying to talk and it sounds like she's saying Hi! Hello! And whaaaat???? Oh and she loves to preen us and give kisses lol geez I can't stop! I love this baby girl and she's become such a bright light in our home! Idk what we would do without her!
 

Miss Annamarie

Rollerblading along the road
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Jamestown, North Dakota, USA
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Annamarie
I always go through a phase of wanting a quaker every couple months and I read this and it convinces me not to for awhile again! (someday)
 

Edie

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
8/2/20
Messages
4
To add a little more to the Ugly...I was just told by a 2nd Avian Vet that Blue Quakers are not a healthy bird and will be smaller due to messing with color mutations. This may not be the case for every blue quaker owner but it certainly has been for me. Breeze has chronic health problems and most likely always will. I've been advised by these 2 separate vets that if one wants a quaker, stick with the greens.
My blue Quaker live 19 years....
 

Kathryn

Meeting neighbors
Joined
5/2/16
Messages
36
Real Name
Kathryn
To add a little more to the Ugly...I was just told by a 2nd Avian Vet that Blue Quakers are not a healthy bird and will be smaller due to messing with color mutations. This may not be the case for every blue quaker owner but it certainly has been for me. Breeze has chronic health problems and most likely always will. I've been advised by these 2 separate vets that if one wants a quaker, stick with the greens.
I too have heard that, which was why I got my green. She is so beautiful, plus I wanted her to live longer which the blues are known for not doing as well with longevity.
 

Kathryn

Meeting neighbors
Joined
5/2/16
Messages
36
Real Name
Kathryn
Our Quaker. Noodles is a blast, he has a strong personality which has its good and bad sides. I would say he is a much easier bird to manage than any of the caiques.

The good:
He is super friendly and a cuddlebug. He doesnt get upset if he spends long periods alone or with the flock of caiques ( who accept him completely). He imitates caique and lovebird sounds perfectly. He also says Boooooooooooy! and whatchadoin, and tickle tickle!. He likes to come in from the aviary and have cereal with the SO, then go back to play, no complaints. He will allow himself to be handled any which way and VERY RARELY bites ( see below).
I let him out in the morning, he flies to me and takes apiece of food, then he is off to eat it and all is well in his little world.

The bad:
He wakes up first in the morning, and starts his 'OW'... 'OW', repetition until he is let out of his sleeping cage. If nobody moves QUICK, he will wake up the caiques ( Please NOOOOOOOOOOO!).

He is kept in the sleeping cage overnight because he has decided that one of the little lovebirds is 'his' friend/possible mate and screams at any other lovebird who approaches her. When there is a raucous din in the aviary, its usually him defending his 'mate'. We are afraid to get him a real mate, the NOISE of a pair of quakers!. OMG!

He IS cage territorial, which we tried to discourage by switching him between cages often when he was young, but he has still settled on his preference and will defend it. When he is excited, in this state, he will attempt to bite, but has never really attacked.

See there is no real 'bad'

View attachment 138755
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture, awwwwww.
 

Kathryn

Meeting neighbors
Joined
5/2/16
Messages
36
Real Name
Kathryn
I have had my Quaker now for a few months and let me just say she is so wonderful. Her name is Calypso or "Caly" for short. She is very cuddly, she steps up now fully confidently, she says hello and she is my new love. She calls for me every morning to interact with her. It is more adorable than I ever thought it could be. We do have 9 more other birds so I am familiar with birds and all but this is my first Quaker parrot. I always dreamed of having one and now I know why they are so beloved by all who have them in their lives. She is experiencing her first molt though and her feathers don't looks so good. She broke a tail feather about a week ago but already has new feathers replacing it. I love her so much. She flies to me when I am working out when she wants a quick snuggle and hides up under my chin. Can anyone say awwwww? I mean she has weaseled her way directly into my heart and I can't imagine my life without her in it. She is so precious to me. So far there is no ugly about her. She is so loving and sweet. I love how she purrs when she is nuzzled next to my neck. It's as though she is saying, "Love me some more". I had no idea that a bird could purr. I have never seen such a snuggly bird. My lovebird Keeco is snuggly too but she is far more snuggly. A lot of our birds are not snugglers so it is a nice change to have this. She can be loud at times, especially when she wants my attention. But I love everything about her. She is hanging out on her play gym by me while I work and is asleep right now. I love my new baby so much.

Keeco - 5 year old male Peach-Faced Lovebird
Ricco - 3 year old male Blue Fronted Amazon
Sunbeam - 1 year old female Olive Mutation Fishers Lovebird
Greyfeather - 10 year old White Cheek Cockatiel
Cresto - 5 month old Pied Pearl Cockatiel
Calypso - 6 month old green Quaker Parrot
3 finches, no name and hatch days unknown
 

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Christy Cat

Meeting neighbors
Joined
11/21/17
Messages
39
Location
Baltimore, MD
Here's my good bad and Ugly I no longer have Coffee Bean but want to share this info.

The Good!
Coffee Bean is the sweetest little bird, I kept him in a cage right in front of my recliner where he could see my whole first floor of my house. He happily sat on my shoulder while I would do chores and whisper sweet nothings into my ear. He has a huge constantly changing vocabulary, I think he says about 50 different words and sounds. He can speak a little in context and would ask for certain snacks and treats. He would tell the dogs to be quiet then tell them they were good girls when they settled. He would remind me to feed the cats at dinner time and would remind himself no bites when he wanted to nibble! Such a smart little bird he learned very quickly when I put in the effort to train him. I've heard most Quakers are cage aggressive but I never had this issue with Bean. Then again I never really pushed him to do something if he didn't want to either and usually let him come out of the cage on his own. He LOVES his toys! It was so much fun watching him play I would take paper grocery bags put a couple treats in the then squish them into a ball. He would spend hours destroying it and made the happiest noises while doing it! He's a snuggle bug! And wants nothing more then to cuddle against you and whisper sweet nothings into your ear!

The Bad
Very nippy! He never bit me so hard as to draw blood but he would nip a lot like he just couldn't help himself. Very much a one person bird, he would go to others but not if he was on me. He would bite anyone who tried to take him off me. He was a bit hand shy, I think prior to me getting him he must have been grabbed a lot because hands made him nervous. He got better as I worked with him and even started to let me scratch his head, but still preferred to step up on my arm rather then my hand. He was fairly clingy, any time he came out of his cage he would make a bee line for me. I could never convince him to just chill on a perch. For some I'm sure they would count it as a plus but I often called him my clingy boyfriend. He can also be very loud! He pretty much makes noise constantly chirping and talking to himself, which I personally enjoy. Right around noon each day he will get very loud so loud I often put ear plugs in. You can hear him outside with the windows closed 3 houses away! It's so loud it makes your ears ring, however he generally only does it right before he takes a nap. So it doesn't both me much, I just stick in my ear plugs. However over all I don't think there was much bad about him.

The Ugly
Quaker Parrots are illegal to own some places including Pennsylvania. Unfortunately my Father has a terminal Cancer and I've had to move back to PA to be his primary care taker. I've read too many horror storys about Quakers being confiscated in PA and the owners never find out what happened to them to be willing to chance taking him with me. I was and am beyond heartbroken. I love that little bird and miss him dearly. I was fortunate enough to find an amazing young woman to adopt him. She keeps in touch with me and sends me regular pictures, videos and updates. She's doing a fantastic job training him and has almost cured him of his hand shyness. I still miss him horribly but hope to someday get another parrot one that won't be illegal to own.
 
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