My first pet bird, a Quaker

Good day blueeli and welcome to the forum. Yes Quakers are very intelligent, curious and full of energy. I am glad to hear you are reading some of the posts on here as there is much to learn.

Please feel free to ask any questions that you might have as the folks on here are always willing to help.

Have you picked a name for your Quaker yet? My little boy is named Oscar.

Hi there, Blueeli & welcome to the Forum.
I am in Australia and our quaker is Bonnie.

Hi Blueeli! Nice to meet you and congratulations on your new feathered bundle of excitement! Because Quakers are intelligent birds, they are not at all hard to train. Maya, my quaker, is also my first bird and she is now fully flighted, harness trained (though she does still kick up a bit of a fuss sometimes) and recall trained. I would recommend a couple of good training books, like Rebecca O'Connor's 'The Perfectly Trained Parrot' and Michael Sazhin (or the parrot wizard) also has a good book about training. Both these books outline positive reinforcement training techniques and suggest clicker training. I clicker trained Maya and it took her forty minutes to learn to target and twenty to learn how to turn around.

We don't do training sessions so much any more, but I do believe that the training we did as she started to hit puberty has made her a lot more ameanable. Although she is getting a bit nippier with my partner and demanding all round, she is SO much better behaved than many other parrots (quakers or otherwise) that I know of in my community! Patience, love and attention will go a long way to keeping your little buddy happy and healthy, and they are the most important things.

Also, make sure you give your little one a rounded, pellet based diet. Maya is on KAYTEE's Exact Rainbow Cockatiel mix, but many of the people on this forum feed their birds Harrisons, Zupreem, Haagen or have recommended Pretty Bird to me in the past. Also, a range of cooked pulses (lentils and chickpeas etc) and sprouted lentils provide the protein your birdie will need. Most of us also feed our birds fresh vegetables/fruit every day or as often as we can (I won't deny that Maya might miss a day of veggies if I'm particularly busy or David is looking after her, but she always has her pellets and nutriberries and this is only once in a blue moon). I feed Maya (on a rolling basis) Broccoli, cooked green beans, cooked sweet potato, boiled peas, grapes, apples, red and yellow peppers, spinach, broccoli leaves, cooked green lentils, boiled wholemeal rice, boiled pasta (one or two pieces) carrot, pomegranate seeds and cooked baby sweetcorn. I don't give her ALL of these every day, some days she just has broccoli, other days she has a mix, but she gets all of these fairly often. A good diet, attention from the human flock members and a good 10-12 hours sleep a night will a happy birdie make! Good luck!

Hi, I am looking at getting myself and especially for my 6 year old son a quaker. Does anyone know of any breeders in Western Cape? Cape Town and surrounding areas?

Hi Ludwig. I think most Quaker owners will agree that it is not a good idea to have a Quaker as a pet for a very young person. These birds can be quite challenging and if not handled properly will bite and can often break the skin and draw blood. It is a challenge having a Quaker for a grown adult. Of course I am sure you would give the Quaker a good home but there is a lot to learn about these birds and they need a lot of attention.
Please take the time and read some of the posts on this forum and you will see the challenges we all face.

Should you go ahead and get one, please feel free to become a member on here and we will all help you with any questions you might have. Best of luck.