The Problem With Quakers

[nikki9093]

NO new posts...so Im gonna say a bit about my Quaker. I just got him, a resuce from a rescue...lol...he isn't loud as in screaming all the time, he is cage territorial, but I knew that all ready. He has mental health issues and is a plucker...nekkid as a fresh plucked chicken on his tummy and chest. I was aware of the problems that were in store for me, and took them on full steam ahead. He really isn't all too hard to deal with. I have 12 Tiels that are obnoxious and louder then he is. There are alot of things that make a bird the way they are, and Im sure that he has had a lot of stuff happen in the years he has been where ever he has been. I know that he likes being with us, and Im happy with that. He is spoiled rotten too, just like my obnoxious tiels...lol. Maybe we will fix his plucking or maybe not, but he has a loving home now and I count myself luck to have him here.

[tielguy]

Congrats on the new bird. But keep in mind if you 'just' got him it will take a couple of weeks at least before he settles in. You won't know how loud he is until you've had him for at least 3 weeks.

Good luck with your rescue bird.

[nikki9093]

Well, here I am again with an update on my Quaker. As now it is May and he has very much settled into the routine we have set up for him. He still is cage territorial, but we are working on that. Not really any louder then the Tiels that I have and loves attention. He got a new cage last month and loves it. I wasn't suprised about how he was. He does call for me if I dont move him to the bird room. (He sleeps in my room at night and is in the living room during the day) We have a strict routine that I established for him from the start and we stick to it like clockwork. He knows what to expect everyday. We rotate toys like we do with the tiels, just more often. His diet is very different from his last owner as we give him no sunflower seed and a very good seed/pellet choice. Different fruit and veggies, and he gets some human food too. He really likes rice, brown or white...lol...he dont care. As for his being loud...flock calling along with the others...lol...its amusing actually to hear them ALL yelling at each other and me...lol. I do know that if you really can not handle loud calling and having high maintainence bird, a Quaker is really not the way to go. They ARE easy to keep, and have a way about them. They are smart and funny, interesting and definatly have an attitude to boot. The way they are raised the environment they are in is a very big factor. Their personallity also is a factor. Some are very loving, some are just meant to be breeders, and not pets. I know too that my quaker Quiggly was in an abusive home and that Im his 3rd owner. The lady I got him from got him from someone else, and THEY yelled at him...ALOT. He does not get yelled at here. AND he will have no more owners other then me...so I still do count myself lucky that I have him. I have learned ALOT from doing...and from trying different things with him. I know what he likes and dont like...his moods and his attitude. They are not the kind of bird just for anyone...but that can be a comment for most parrots in general. Its just whatever you as a bird person are willing to deal with. Definatly high maintenence, but not something totally outragous that it cant be worked out...ya know?

[BirdMoMof4]

Gosh my Quakers are not that loud, I think it really depends on the situation and how much time is spent with them. When they flock call I just call back and say I am busy and will be back soon and they quiet down. I agree they are not for everyone. But as far as loving and intelligence they are far more fun then my Cockatiels. JMO

[Caique Crazy]

Monty has become a none stop squwaker and he is out of his cage all the time is given all the love in the world and has tons of toys etc etc ...Its just the way he is

[Birdman]

I've been a parrot owner for many years. I own 3 quakers now, one is 8 years old, one is 2 years old & the other one is not quite yet 1. I have never ran into these problems, but will keep an eye out for them. It might be because I've have all my parrots on trick training & there for spend alot of time with each one....

[nikki9093]

Well, here we are into July and Im gonna give ya'll an update on my guys...lol...I now have TWO quakers...lol..and both are doing great. Bobbie is a 9 year old and so totally "into" the new digs around here. She fits right in and we have not had any issues with her. No obsessive yelling, just the normal flock calling, and shes not really all that loud. AND, wen we got her, she was supposedly very much a bi***, not wanting to be a breeder,not really wanting to be a pet...kinda didn't want nothing. Well, I am proud to say that she has learned to beltch, and we're working on peek-a-boo, and saying "hello baby". She knows that one, but will only say it when she feels like it. So I dont see what hte problem was with her at her previous home. MAybe a bit neglected, and housed with an agressive bird the plucked her. She was a bit bare when we got her, but she has since grown most of the pins out and had feathered up nicely.

Quiggly is still Quiggly...he is still like a plucked chicken, but just accept him the way he is...bald and bueatiful.

[longhair]

ok guys , what am i missing here ? i got a new QP afew weeks ago,thats 11 weeks old . we read quit about them before we got the little guy . sure seems to be a really smart bird as he can untie knots and steps up on command. he seems to like all the people that he meets and loves to ride in the truck . as i travel often to see my soulmate, thats a 45 mile trip one way, also he seems to do great around the other birds at her house.but one thing that i've noticed is that RJ loves out of cage time ,looks forward to it any time he gets it . so please tell me , whats not to love ?

[debs]

Hi! I am a new member and find this thread very interesting. I have a quaker that I took in at about 5 years old, and after several owners. The person I bought her from said that she was NOT hand tame. Indeed, when I would just put my hand in her cage to feed her, she would chase me down and try to bite my hand. I handled her anyway, and within a week I had her trust. She is a wonderful bird. Now both my husband and I handle her regularly.

As mentioned above, she is NOT a bird that anyone else can handle. We have young children, and they can feed her snacks, but we would never have them hold her. She does NOT perform on demand for visitors. We are SO glad we took her in. We would do it again in a heartbeat. We love her, and our kids love her (but also respect the boundaries we have set with her). Given the opportunity, I'd get another quaker in a heartbeat. But I would not recommend them to someone without some bird experience.

[moonlite121]

My gator is 2 years old. He chose us when he was 4 months old. He has been a wonderful addition to our zoo. He does have some quirks about him though, but I would not hesitate to get another if I ever decided to get another bird.

I will agree that he can be VERY loud when he wants attention or more food. I have to say that my tiel is much louder than him. He doesnt really talk much except at night after the lights go out in the evenings. I tell everyone that he is reading himself and the other birds a bedtime story. He loves being in his oversized cage and is very protective of it at the same time he loves to be out.

While I can do whatever I want to with my hands in the cage, no one else can get around him unless someone else is feeding him for me. Otherwise, they get a hiss and a lunge. He can bite hard, but I guess he chooses not too. If he doesnt like what you are doing, he will hiss and "push" you with his beak and if that doesnt work he will give a little bite, that leaves no mark nor draws blood. When he is out, all he wants is to be on you and be rubbed and give kisses and have quiet quaker conversations with you, never attempts to bite anyone.

The only problem that I have with him is that he is VERY VERY VERY i cant say that enough, DESTRUCTIVE with toys. He can have a rope of any material untied or a toy destroyed quicker than you can attach it to the cage. He loves to play on the bottom of his cage and I decided one day to try plastic cat balls (no catnip) that have a little plastic bell inside them. He probably has 10-15 in his cage at any one time. He loves to lay on his back and get those bells out. Dont ask me how he does it but he can get them out without damaging the ball. I inspect them daily and if i see the bell is out or he has damaged the ball, I throw it away and give him a new one. All day long you hear bells bells bells, more than you hear him yelling.

I love my Gator and wouldnt trade him for the world.

[zekebird]

My Quaker Larry, is over 15 years old, a wild caught bird,a nd the sweetest (well, to me) thing in the world!!! Larry is not as loud as the teenager in the apartment above me. My landlords love Larry, in fact, my landlords put Larry's name on my Lease!!!

Larry does protect his cage, and does think I am "his" (sorry, we all thought Larry was a "he" for over 11 years. That is, until that emergeny visit to Angell Memerial Hospital in Boston! Larry laid what could have been one of the most expensive eggs ever!!!) I really don't think Larry is any louder thant my budgies, or group finches, or other birds I have "baby-sat" for, unless "he" feels he is being totlaly ignored.
Feather plucking is a major problem, and I have battled for years... Lots of vet check-ups attempts at collars, medication trials, but I have decided that Larry shall never win any beauty contest, and I deal with a slightly bald neck and "shaved legs." I have also found that plenty of toys, fresh fruits, changes of scenery, TV, radio, daily TLC, and daily showers keeps it in check.
I also find that an an occassional splash of organic red apple vineger in the water helps to keep yeast grams down (the vet saved me lots of money and said this works better than medication. According to the past wellbird exams this works great!).
If someone ever offered the most exotic, prize winning, brillant birds in the world, I would not trade my Larry! Quakers rule!!!!

Don't forget to help the wild quakers in CT!

[Traci]

i also work in a bird only shop and i will agree that Quaker's are fairly loud for their little size, i do own 2 of them ( both handicapped ) and they, well more one than the other lets me know when he wants his out time with me and is the friendliest little green bugger, i manage to work 2 jobs and they are adjusting well to MY hours, same as my
CAG and bare eyed cockatoo, if my house didn't sound like work i wouldn't know where i was half the time... lol .... all are time consuming birds..and all are SPOILED ROTTEN

[robibobi]

GREAT information!!!!. I researched quakers for over a year before i got one. And then I searched for the one I wanted.I opted to saty with green I didn't want a blue or a yellow.I must say I am very fortunate for several reasons #1 Houdini si not loud like many quakers I have seen and heard.I was ,however prepared for loud.I have her going on 2 months now and once in a great while she let out a LOUD call but for the most part she is content so long as either me or my youngest son are around.She has bonded with both of us.She is great with the rest of the family.She is about 6 1/2 months old and I know that is young yet and puberty is on its way.I do not suggest a quaker for anyone who does not have the patience or the time or does not like LOUD noises.And honestly anyone who has not owned birds before ...this is not a "starter parrot by any means. I have always had birds mostly parakeets and Cockatiels but I worked in an all bird store for quite some time and had the good fortune of being able to see quakers and many other birds in action.I couldn't agree more that so many of these birds end up in rescues and worse because it was an impulse buy.I have said it many times before ...people should have to pass a test before being allowed to have a particualr animal.I do consider myself very fortunate that my little green chicken is not all that loud...I have a cockatiel that beats her for noise level.But I love the sounds they make...With quakers its either you love em or hate em. I LOVE EM!!!
Robin

[Momto3]

Gee... it sounds like you all hate these birds yet you still have them. They are part of the parrot family...didn't anyone research how noisy parrots are before they bought one? All birds have their moods. With patience and knowledge of how to treat them as well as a natural love for birds, they should give you years of pleasure. I hope you all find good loving homes for your birds so they are well cared for.

[NeapolitanSixth]

Momto3, we don't hate quakers. The purpose of this thread was to give warning to a potential new bird owners. All of these traits are in all parrots, but quakers can be more stubborn than the rest. Everyone who replied graciously shared personal stories and ways they coped with problems--it was all meant to be helpful, not hateful.

-Nikki

[Traci]

i luv my quakers, i adopted both of them. they are handicapped to boot ( each having only one leg ) i have 7 birds total and wouldnt give up any of them.................... http://usera.imagecave.com/Traci06/av-2096.jpg

[love_none7]

http://www.quakerparrots.com/quakerfaq.htm#II

Gives you the pro's and con's

[Roscoe's Mom]

Quakers are prolific, and so they are also illegal in a few states. The following link lists the legal status of Quakers in each US state, though more accurate information might be found through research at the Department of Agriculture.

In the state in which I live, Quakers are euthanized.
http://www.quakerville.com/qic/statelaw.asp

[Traci]

the thing about Quakers......... is that they have the OMG cutest talking voices... at nite i Have to mute the TV just to listen to buddy in the back room saying "Hello what r ya doing"..............

[postie]

I'm new here and have posted about an African Grey. I'm also fairly new at keeping birds. The grey is a foster/rescue I've spent thousands of hours researching. Well, I went to my first bird fair in Morganton, NC last week and saw the Quakers! I thought they were wonderful and being the newbie, I was not armed with info. After reading this thread, I realize how lucky I am that the Quakers are illegal in my state (TN)! This Grey has made me cry enough, I would die if I ended up with an equal problem. So, I left the bird fair with a Sun Conure with all the toes missing on one foot....I made an excellent decision!!!

In fact, the Quakers are not just illegal, they are SO illegal that if even the name Quaker bird is whispered, authorities are knocking on doors to seize the bird! I still think they are beautiful and may someday be prepared to care for one...I'm just glad I didn't start out that way!

Great Info!!

[Roscoe's Mom]

My husband and I cared for a quaker transitioning between homes. He was a character. Every time that he heard the 20th Century Fox theme song, whistled or hummed or played, he would stand at attention and then -- CHARGE!!!! and attack whatever it was coming from.

I have to admit that I recorded it onto a Wordy Birdie and spent hours hiding it and watching the wrath of Beaks. He was tough, but he was a loyal pal to whoever would get past the greeting stage.

[juliebird]

Hi everyone -

This seems to be quite an old thread, so I'm not sure if anyone is even going to see this.

We are lucky to have 2 adorable little quakers (Frodo and Sammy) that have captured our hearts. By all accounts, these two have broken many of the "rules" that we have heard about keeping quakers and birds in general... while other "rules" have definitely held true with them.

I guess the thing to remember is that no bird will follow every generalization that has been made about it. For example, not every African Grey is a talker...

Keeping two birds together - I'd heard that if you do this, the birds won't be interested in people and will bond to each other in exclusion of everyone else. In our case, this is definitely NOT true. What we've found is that they LOVE to come out, play, and snuggle with us. On the other hand, they're best buddies. They spend the day when we're at work playing, preening, and snuggling with each other. Putting them back in their cage isn't a problem because they're not always desperately wanting our attention. Sure if we walk by, they'll throw out a few kissy sounds to try to entice us to play, but that's it. Also, both birds talk and make various sounds (unfortunately, their favorite is the "farty sound").

Hormones - We've never had problems with them being hormonal (yet). Perhaps this is because we were expecting problems with them that were worse than anything we've seen. They're about 3 now and so far, things have gone well.

Biting - This is perhaps one of the things that I've found most intriguing about raising these guys. Once they got out of their "cute little snuggly baby" phase, they started testing us. They'd latch onto our fingers and see what we would do. We didn't overreact. Calmly told them no bite, put them back on the cage, turned our backs to them, etc. That got them through the majority of biting issues. However, occasionally, they would still play a bit hard with our hands. The interesting part was that we'd notice if they were preening each other and one preened too hard on a spot, the other one would make a little squalk and pull away. So we started doing that. If they pulled a hangnail out or nibbled a bit too much, we'd make the sound and sort of twitch our hand. And the little sweeties would stop! Frodo actually gets pretty upset when Sammy preens us too hard - he'll get all skinny and start bobbing his head... so we have to reassure him that it's ok.

Being one-person birds - This couldn't be farther from the truth for our guys. They love both my husband and myself. When friends come over, they're happy to jump onto their hands and start talking.

Plucking - So far, we've been lucky with this. No plucking. They preen each other well - I've never even seen a pin feather on their heads!

Hating other birds - We've got our budgie flight cage next to the quakers. While we never let the birds be in direct contact with each other, the quakers definitely assume the budgies to be part of their flock. They call to each other and Sammy acts like the cage policeman. When something is wrong, she'll let us know. In fact, that's how we found out our last budgie was sick. She was acting strange as she didn't come running out to me when I opened the cage. I finally got her on my hand and she kept leaning and leaning toward the budgie cage, right to near where Pippin was sitting. It was then that I realized he was sick (we put him to sleep last week ). They obviously care alot about the budgies.

Now for the rules that have held true:
Noise - These guys are LOUD. Luckily enough, we have a nice bright walkout basement. So that's where our entire gang lives. And it's a good thing, 'cause when these guys do their calling, they're SO LOUD. You can hear them outside of our house (which is insulated for our Canadian climate). I find that this is the big problem with non-bird friendly guests. Usually, the quakers will get excited to see new people and let out a squawk. This is enough to turn most people away from the birds - it's especially frightening for our little nieces and nephews.

Not sure if anyone has had trouble with this one, but it's something we always have to work at
Fear of colors - For some reason, our guys have chosen a select number of colors that they have deemed to be mortal enemies. If anyone comes in wearing these colors, they'll do their dog-like growls and screeches. This is another deterrent to unsuspecting guests, especially children who seem to have an affinity to these bright, apparently unwieldy colors! We try to introduce the parrots to new objects with strange colors to try to get them to become more used to them, but it's an ongoing battle.

Anyways - we love our quakers more than I ever thought I could and wouldn't give them up for any other bird. I guess I just wanted to say that we've been really lucky in finding happy, well-adjusted birds... but it's taken ALOT of work on our part. They are not birds that you can buy, get bored of, lock up in the cage, and expect to behave nicely. I'm sure that if we stopped interacting with them and finding ways to challenge them, they would definitely pick up some of these other unfortunate habits. But for people who are comfortable with training birds, are aware of these issues, are willing to work hard to take care of these guys, they're amazing, hilarious (yet LOUD) little bundles of fluff.

I bet that even if we were to get two quakers from the same breeder that these guys came from, they would behave completely differently. So please don't assume that our experience is the "norm"... even with all of the work that we've put in.

One of my favorite times with the birds is when we're holding them and I'll be blabbering or singing to them. They'll get so happy and fuzzy that they're feathers end up sticking straight out from their bodies and they look like two grey/green little pompoms of feathers.... followed by a big happy tail shake.

- julie

[elstrongf]

Hello! My name is Eleanor Strong and I'm the owner of a wonderful, one year old quaker parrot. He is not quiet. I knew that and did not mind. I got that information from a great book - Parrot Training-A Guide to Taming and Gentling Your Avian Companion which also stated that all parrots are noisy and if I wanted a parrot I would have to be willing to put up with that.

From that book I learned to teach my parrot to step up everyday until he would automatically lift his foot at that command. Then I repeated the same training in his cage and then on top of his cage. Now he steps up on command no matter where he is, even behind the couch on a dowel. The Parrot Training book also addresses many unwanted behaviours and how to train them not to do them.

The screaming in the morning doesn't bother me and it doesn't continue all day. However, when I'm watching tv or a movie and he's screaming it does. I think he's bored or lonely or just sees me sitting there and wants to be with me. So I usually drape a towel over the back of the couch and he and I interact and bond(quietly).

I think its a very good idea to warn people that owning a parrot is not all fun and games. It is a responsibility and commitment (someone should tell that to prospective parents.) You did a good thing there.

However, nearly all the things you've mentioned occur when an owner has not educated himself or is not interested in his responsibilities toward it. When parents do not interact and/or discipline with their children they raise screaming, demanding spoiled brats. That's what happens with the parrots you've described. Concientious parents educate themselves, read books(plural), and ask countless questions. Then they apply what they've learned. Usually this produces well adjusted, well behaved and pleasant children. They are responsible parents.

I say usually because we can't choose our children. Sometimes it doesn't work. But we can choose our parrots. I checked out 3 before I settled on my quaker. He was 10 months and snuggling with his breeder. When I held him he snuggled with me, too. I could work with that. But it takes work. If you don't work with even a good quaker you will end up with a disaster.

So educate yourself, choose a sweet docile bird and apply your "parenting skills". Being a parrot owner is like being a parent. Many parrots have the intelligence of a 3 yr. old child. You wouldn't put a toddler in a corner, interact with him only when you are in the mood and expect him to behave if you don't teach him how. Parrots are not goldfish. If you're not willing to work with your quaker don't get one. Get a goldfish.

Eleanor

[NeapolitanSixth]

Thank you all for your insightful posts! You're right; the purpose of this thread was not to bash quakers, but to warn of what problems will probably come if you do not socialize the bird and educate yourself. Any type of parrot can react this way too, so take this as a general warning. Thank you again for all the wonderful personal stories and snippets of info and advice....keep it coming!

-Nikki

[mothertiel]

This is a really great post. Any bird that is out-lawed in many states should be carefully considered before made a pet. If only people were made to take a class about bird behavior , there would not be 4 rescued birds in my house. Just because they were not what the people who bought them thought they would be.