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Post by pidgesmum on Jan 2, 2018 20:11:28 GMT -5
Over Christmas I took Pidge to Bird Rescue aka Parrot play school. He attacks anyone who comes to the house quite savagely so I reluctantly decided to have his wings clipped. There were 18 parrots all flying free and I think he was a bit taken aback although he loved it last time. He took his first flight which totally shocked him. I cried on the way home.
When I picked him up he wasn't that enthusiastic to come to me which was a shock. He usually chats to the radio and GPS on the way home but this time it was dead silence. If I went near him he backed off.
He can fly high enough to get on top of kitchen cupboards and sits up there making no noise. Yesterday it was the bathroom. He seems happy enough in an on his cage with the door open.
When he is on me he wants me to scratch him all the time, up to an hour. He has some pins I scratch out. This is the first time he has initiated this. Otherwise there is no chatting, no talking, no amusing himself with chattering. The house is very quiet.
I put the radio on golden oldies and pretended to sing enthusiastically if not tunefully and he started to take an interest. When Love Potion no 9 came on he bopped his little heart out. I know he'll get better but I'm pretty sad. On the other hand my friends say they'll visit me more if he is not attacking.
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Post by cnyguy on Jan 3, 2018 21:14:21 GMT -5
Sorry that Pidge hasn't been his usual self. If he doesn't seem to be returning to his normal behavior, you might consider scheduling a vet visit. Behavior changes sometimes are a sign of illness, and if Pidge was in contact with unfamiliar parrots, it might be wise to have him checked out.
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Post by pidgesmum on Jan 4, 2018 0:41:02 GMT -5
He seems to be a lot better. Lots more noise and he comes to me now instead of acting like an invalid.
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Post by thorolf on Jan 4, 2018 7:27:56 GMT -5
New things often times will confuse a quaker. This may result in them withdrawing or even becoming aggressive until they either understand or at least become accustomed to the new situation. When my late wife passed away Beowulf would have nothing to do with me for over 2 weeks, while the 2 conures I owned at the time hated me for the rest on their lives ( over 5 years ). We just have to give them time to get used to the new situation while remembering that our quakers only have the intelligence of a 3-4 year old child. While that is huge intelligence when compared to a dog, it is still low enough that our little guys sometimes have a hard time understanding the big wide world.
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Post by pidgesmum on Jan 11, 2018 19:12:07 GMT -5
Thank you for your reply. Pidge has settled down, chats all the time and seems to be a lot happier. I'm a lot happier as he no longer attacks anyone and he is far more affectionate.
Can't believe the change!
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Post by dinucci on Jan 14, 2018 7:39:27 GMT -5
This same sort of thing happened to me too. I took my son on a fishing trip for a week and when i got home,he would have nothing to do with me..just clung to his cage or to my girlfriend,and would nip at me sometimes...for 2 days..then I managed to soften him up and things got back to normal. She lives with me,so she was home with him. Then a couple months later,we.went on a trip together for fall colors for 10 days. This time he went to a bird sitters house and was surrounded by other parrots..a dozen, 7 of which were hers. When we went to pick him up and his sleeper cage we brought,he was so excited to see us chattering and all..like a little puppy..jumping on both of us back and forth..but when we got home and set his living area back up..he seemed upset and a bit withdrawn..but came around to his usual sweet self a couple days later.
One thing that was funny is she had 2 Meyers parrots..so he was imitating some of the whistles they do...little.tweets while craning his neck up high from his midsection. We still do this together today whistling back and forth with the same neck motion ! It's hilarious..he loves imitating me swinging my head back and forth and whistling to jazz music..it's something I also do when he's pissed or stand off ish..breaking his concentration when being cage protective too ! Works every time ! Cheers !!
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Post by julianna on Jan 14, 2018 16:48:39 GMT -5
I agree with you for sure. Breaking his concentration when being cage protective works... and that is when I sing to my Quaker. He then allows me to do whatever I need to do. It is very normal for Quakers to be a little standoffish after returning home. My Quaker insists on a bath the moment he comes home. I am not sure if this is because he wants to rid himself of the other smells of birds... or what it is... but he gets his bath.
Cheers back at ya!!
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Post by dinucci on Jan 15, 2018 4:11:07 GMT -5
Yeah it fun because he views his cage tops and his domain,so sometimes I just stand there with my arms folded on the rails as if to say," I'm 200 lbs and your 5 ounces", I like my chances..haha..but this way if he does nip,it will be on my sweatshirt sleeves with my hands out of sight...he returns to normal within a few seconds.
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Post by pidgesmum on Jan 17, 2018 1:15:21 GMT -5
Ha Ha
My book on Quakers says they should be considered little dragons and when they hit puberty they are a very fiery little dragon. I think Pidge is just entering puberty. He is around 15 months old.
Having said that, he is now so sweet and hasn't attacked anyone. He did bite a visitor on the face but found out the guy put his face right up to Pidge so it was basically self inflicted. I am going away for a week in the beginning of March so we will see how he goes.
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Post by biteybird on Jan 17, 2018 2:01:05 GMT -5
If you find that the biting and attacking is becoming out of hand you could always take Pidge to the Vet and get a hormone implant injected (that is what we do with Bonnie - she just got another). We find it mellows down her behaviour quite a bit.
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Post by dinucci on Jan 17, 2018 6:23:26 GMT -5
I may have to look into the hormone shot for buddy,aka Howie sooner than later. He is almost 11 months,but has been showing signs of mating like behavior for about 3 to 4 months already ! Since he has already decided my girlfriend is his mate..hahaha..I'm ok with this really, he is protective of his blankets. They're comforters..throws I think they're called..soft fleece like. We drape them over the kitchen chairs and he hops down on them,walks and struts about while doing his little whistle thing,grunts and whips his head up and down. Sometimes he'll push his chest out like macho Camacho ! Such bravado..if I put a whiffle ball on the seat,he goes nuts after it and throws it out of the "nest". Since I laugh at this..he imitates my chuckling while bobbing his head up and down,standing tall. During this time,only laura can come up to him whereas he seems to want to nip at me. Also,he tends to pull the blanket up from the sides to bunch it up a bit. Yesterday I saved him this trouble and bunched the blanket up,hiding the new soft green ball toy in the blanket out of his sight. It has 2 eyes and a smile on it..when he unearthed it,he went ballistic ! This sounds like mating behavior to me..he does this too if I tent the blanket over his playtop,thus making it into a "fort". Quite amusing and funny for us,but he's all to serious..one thing I've noticed he does as well is he scratches at the newspaper in his playtop while screaming ,barking, real loud while looking out the windows...does any of this sound familiar? ?
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Post by julianna on Jan 20, 2018 15:28:51 GMT -5
Are you sure he is only 11 months? I did not think hormones kicked in that soon but I could be wrong. Building a nest is something that they love to do. They are some folks on here that think it should be discouraged however... Oscar has been building nests (houses) for years and he loves it so much... I don't have the heart to stop him.
I love your descriptive story... sounds so cute. Oscar will do something similar especially the part about attacking something in his house. I am not sure if you saw my video about how "Oscar hates the toilet paper roll"... it is funny to watch.
I am thinking that his actions are more of a possessive nature rather than mating nature. They are very protective of "their stuff"... as I am sure you have noticed.
Oscar will scream out the window if he sees something threatening... such as a city worker wearing bright colored clothes. Orange and Yellow are the colors he hates the most as they scare him. He has a certain call for "danger" and I hear it every time the City truck comes by.. lol
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Post by dinucci on Jan 21, 2018 8:58:17 GMT -5
Hey julianna! Oscars behavior strikes a lot of familiar chords with buddy. Yes he's almost 11 months..had to wait 2 weeks to get him cause he wasn't totally off formula at the time I bought him..he's banded too. Couldn't have gotten luckier not only for the bird himself,but for the caring folks that brought him into this world..I see them at bird shows here in Chicago burbs every month and they always ask about him. Like oscar,he is protective of his toys,aggressive with paper towel rolls,and basically hates orange and chartreuse colors as well ! He is a junior carpenter so far,just gathers stuff in a corner of one of his playtops. During the storms we had here, (you're around here right?)I gathered a bunch of twigs and placed them on his playtop. Also took advantage of this to make him some new perches out of maple and mulberry. All he did was move them to 1 corner with some twisted paper towel sheets I gave him. This evokes downright nasty behavior, altho natural,on his part. Made it hard to clean his cage top or get near it! Even replacing his food dish..nipped me on the left hand,the one that feeds him..told him ne needs to bite me on the other hand ! No tho..I didn't see your video tho..is there a spot here to post them? Haven't looked..
He was really good last night. Had a dinner party and he just sat and looked at everyone,didn't squak but head bobbed a lot..so we took him out to play and the only time he reacted was when he was on his sleeper cage playtop..it was time for bed !
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Post by julianna on Jan 21, 2018 16:59:47 GMT -5
quakerparrotforum.net/thread/1247/oscar-hates-toilet-paper-rollI am not sure if the above link will work but this is the video of him beating up the toilet paper roll. It is titled Oscar Hates Toilet paper roll dated Feb 23, 2016. (old one lol) If you scroll down to the section called "Photo Gallery" you will see this is where we all post pictures and videos. Once you are in the photo gallery, use the "search" section and type "Oscar hates" - then search and it should come up right away. I do not live anywhere near 99% of all the people on here. I am in Northern Ontario Canada... about 500 miles north of Toronto in a small city called Timmins. Home of Shania Twain... lol. If I am not mistaken there is only one other Canadian on here that chats every now and again. Guess we are the rare breed... lol On the forum it is usually better to start a new thread each time we change subjects so that the forum keeps more organized. It really is amazing how similar these little guys can be to one another but then there are times when I read something and I think... wow... that is the complete opposite of Oscar.
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