Post by EllenD on Aug 10, 2016 10:28:15 GMT -5
Hi everyone, and thanks for having me. My name is Ellen, and I just found this forum last night. I got my first Quaker parrot about a month and a half ago, she is blue, and her name is Lita Ford (I'm a guitar player😎)...
I have had birds since I my mom bought me my first English budgie when I was 6, and I then started breeding cockatiels when I was 18.
Currently I have a cinnamon turquoise green cheek conure named Iggy Pop, Lita the Quaker parrot, and a flight with 12 breeding budgies of a year and a half of which one pair just gave me my first clutch of 7 babies! I'm hand raising them, as I always did with my cockatiels, and I currently have 4 of the 7 in the brooder (I'm pretty sure mama bird was very thankful to me when I took the first 3 out at 2 and a half weeks, she never stops moving!). I'll be removing the other 3 when they are old enough, however a clutch of 7 budgies puts quite a gap in ages. I also have an Australian Cattle Dog named Lola that is almost 3 and a Shar Pei named Jett (yes, Joan Jett) and he just turned 6 months old. It's a menagerie!
Lita has been an amazing bird, I always loved Quakers, and she's every bit as loving as I thought she would be. She is 16 weeks old, I got her from a breeder on Long Island at 9 weeks. Mt green cheek, Iggy, was none too pleased at first, she herself is only 7 months old, and she is stuck to me 24/7, so when Lita appeared on my other shoulder Iggy was like "what the hell is this?". Lita walked over and preened Iggy a little and then all was well. I have a 3 bedroom house and one bedroom I'd "the bird room" where Iggy and Lita have their cages and free flight all day long. I built them a huge play gym out of PVC so they are on that all day and are only in their cages to sleep. They both ride around on the cattle dog's back, she is used to birds and could care less. The shar pei isn't digging the bird's though, so he's outside in the back yard or in my bedroom when Iggy and Lita are hanging out downstairs, with short, supervised meetings to get him accustomed to them. The parakeets have their flight in my office, and as I said they are breeders, and I actually rescued them, otherwise I hadn't thought about breeding again in a long time. They were purchased from a very reputable breeder as babies as a 4H project for a teenager, but the teenager lost interest in a month and they were well taken care of but needed to go. So I saw the ad and stepped up. They are great parents so far and sing and talk all day long, but they were not handled for a year so they hate hands. They wait for me to feed them, give them water, change some millet, and then are like "OK, you can go now", lol. I'm going to keep one of these first babies as a hand raised bird for myself, the rest I am selling to friends and family.
I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself and my flock, and say that I love my Quaker! She is so fat and cuddly! She loves nothing more than to sit on my shoulder, get under my hair, and preen me. Oh, I'm wrong, she loves to remove my earrings more than anything.
If I can ever help anyone new to birds with any bird questions please do not hesitate to ask, I am 36 and have 30 years of experience!
Lita
I have had birds since I my mom bought me my first English budgie when I was 6, and I then started breeding cockatiels when I was 18.
Currently I have a cinnamon turquoise green cheek conure named Iggy Pop, Lita the Quaker parrot, and a flight with 12 breeding budgies of a year and a half of which one pair just gave me my first clutch of 7 babies! I'm hand raising them, as I always did with my cockatiels, and I currently have 4 of the 7 in the brooder (I'm pretty sure mama bird was very thankful to me when I took the first 3 out at 2 and a half weeks, she never stops moving!). I'll be removing the other 3 when they are old enough, however a clutch of 7 budgies puts quite a gap in ages. I also have an Australian Cattle Dog named Lola that is almost 3 and a Shar Pei named Jett (yes, Joan Jett) and he just turned 6 months old. It's a menagerie!
Lita has been an amazing bird, I always loved Quakers, and she's every bit as loving as I thought she would be. She is 16 weeks old, I got her from a breeder on Long Island at 9 weeks. Mt green cheek, Iggy, was none too pleased at first, she herself is only 7 months old, and she is stuck to me 24/7, so when Lita appeared on my other shoulder Iggy was like "what the hell is this?". Lita walked over and preened Iggy a little and then all was well. I have a 3 bedroom house and one bedroom I'd "the bird room" where Iggy and Lita have their cages and free flight all day long. I built them a huge play gym out of PVC so they are on that all day and are only in their cages to sleep. They both ride around on the cattle dog's back, she is used to birds and could care less. The shar pei isn't digging the bird's though, so he's outside in the back yard or in my bedroom when Iggy and Lita are hanging out downstairs, with short, supervised meetings to get him accustomed to them. The parakeets have their flight in my office, and as I said they are breeders, and I actually rescued them, otherwise I hadn't thought about breeding again in a long time. They were purchased from a very reputable breeder as babies as a 4H project for a teenager, but the teenager lost interest in a month and they were well taken care of but needed to go. So I saw the ad and stepped up. They are great parents so far and sing and talk all day long, but they were not handled for a year so they hate hands. They wait for me to feed them, give them water, change some millet, and then are like "OK, you can go now", lol. I'm going to keep one of these first babies as a hand raised bird for myself, the rest I am selling to friends and family.
I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself and my flock, and say that I love my Quaker! She is so fat and cuddly! She loves nothing more than to sit on my shoulder, get under my hair, and preen me. Oh, I'm wrong, she loves to remove my earrings more than anything.
If I can ever help anyone new to birds with any bird questions please do not hesitate to ask, I am 36 and have 30 years of experience!
Lita
With all your experience, I'm sure you'll have a lot to contribute to the Forum. 
