About To Get A Quaker Doing Some Research

It's so interesting reading everyone's different experiences. It sounds like I have been EXTREMELY lucky with Maya. Now two years old, she is an incredibly affectionate, sweet and companionable bird. Although she clearly sees me as her human, she gets on really well with my partner too, and even tolerates (to some extent) visitors! (Although she has recently developed a rather annoying habit of swooping low over their heads to try and scare them!) She is very affectionate and does not really bite except in certain situations (like when I get the milk bottle out. Man, she hates that milk bottle!) She is, however, a parrot, so I have to keep an eye on what goes into that beak. If left to her own devices, all paper would be in shreds. She loves computer keyboards. Luckily, David and I both have laptops so we can close the lids to protect them, and we quite often end up hiding the remote controls from her! She LOOOVES yoghurt, which is David' favourite evening snack, but is terrified of our pull out tape measure, so David often eats his yoghurt with the tape measure on his knee in order to deter Maya's ninja attempts to dive into the yoghurt pot!

I think every parrot, no matter the species, is an individual. Parrots are really smart and smart animals, if not properly stimulated and cared for, can become very destructive. This is true of dogs as well as parrots. The smarter the animal, the more love and patience it needs. And puberty CAN totally alter a parrot's personality. Luckily, I'd read up on bird puberty before getting Maya and received some really good advice, so I started training about a month after bringing her home. Puberty made keeping up with training more difficult, but we persisted, and she now knows her place in the flock and is aware of what behaviours are not acceptable. Like with dogs, parrots need clear boundaries and training, but every bird is different and I think Maya's personality is naturally quite lovely, so I really have been rather lucky with her. Quakers have a reputation for being feisty and demanding, which is definitely true. They are little personalities, but if you want a slightly less assertive bird, a species like cockatiels might suit better. Cockatiels, as parrots, CERTAINLY deserve just as much love, care and attention as a Quaker, but generally they seem to be slightly easier to train and tend to have more docile personalities. (That said, every bird is different, and I'm sure there are 'tiels out there who are little divas in comparison to my Maya! You never do know what you're letting yourself in for with a bird, but I wouldn't be without mine. Bringing her home was the best decision I ever made.)