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Post by birdiegirl on Jun 30, 2018 19:23:00 GMT -5
Does your bird have free run all the time? I work from home most days so am able to stop by his cage and make a fuss of him every hour or so. He is out of the cage and with us for about 1-2 hours in the morning and from about 4 hrs later in the day. Is this enough? He doesn't seem distressed and always wants to engage when I get close. He plays with (aka destroys) his toys quite happily and doesn't vocalise excessively. He doesn't fly. He can sit quite happily on my monitor (as he is right now) or on his T-stand whilst I do other things around him. He "helps" prepare the veggies for our evening meal and sits on his stand at the dinner table and eats with us. If I get time, I will take him out in his birdy back-pack for an hour's walk which he seems to enjoy. However, some days I am out for most of the day which worries me a little. Maybe I'm just being over-anxious. Sometimes I worry that he might need another bird to keep him company? My hubby flatly refuses to get another bird though. I'd love to know how much time other people spend with their bird and how much is enough?  |
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Post by cnyguy on Jun 30, 2018 20:32:46 GMT -5
My two parrots spend much of their time in their cages and are only out when I can properly supervise them. Ralph wants to be with me whenever he's out of his cage, and that isn't always practical or possible. Scooter the CAG prefers being in her cage and will only spend 15 or 20 minutes at a time outside it-- and then, she just sits on, or climbs around, the outside of her cage. She still doesn't feel confident enough to go any farther. They have plenty of things to do inside their cages, and are happy to just have me talk to them when I'm busy with other things. Ralph gets out two or three times a day, for anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours at at time, depending on my schedule for the day. Sometimes he decides himself when he's ready to go back to his cage, though I'd be able to have him out longer. Even when the parrots are in their cages, they get attention from me; I give them each a little one-on-one time when I'm at home, in between the other things I have to do. It's not really a good idea to get a second bird just to keep the first one company-- that's something that should only be considered if you really want a second bird yourself. There's never any guarantee that the new bird and first bird would even like each other or want to have anything to do with each other.
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Post by biteybird on Jul 1, 2018 1:52:04 GMT -5
Wow, birdiegirl, you let your quaker master spend WAY more time out of the cage than we do! Because we both work full-time Bonnie does not come out of the cage until we are home from work (around 5pm each day). Then she spends about an hour out - she is flighted, so can follow us around the house as we prepare food/do housework. She is actually happy with that time as long as she spends it with her slaves (i.e, us!). We've found that if we let her out for longer than an hour or two at a time she starts to behave 'badly'...that is, biting, screeching and carrying on. So she's far more appreciative of our time when she knows her out-of-cage time is limited. I agree with Gary (cnyguy) that you should NOT get a second bird at this point. We would never consider getting another quaker to keep Bonnie company while we're out - she'd probably attack it. :0 Your quaker will be fine with you being out most of the day, as long as the time you spend with him is quality time. Hope this helps. |
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Post by birdiegirl on Jul 1, 2018 2:54:03 GMT -5
Thank you cnyguy and biteybird for your input. I agree that getting another Quaker just to keep him company would be a bad idea. Plus the fact that two would be downright exhausting and as you both said, they might fight. I am relieved to hear that your birds are quite happy to spend extended periods of time on their own. I guess they get used to amusing themselves. I am quite new to bird keeping and probably over-thinking things and worrying too much. I just want my little fella to be happy little birdie.
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Post by frugaldiva3 on Jul 2, 2018 2:17:42 GMT -5
I've had my Verdito for about 14 yrs. He screeches a lot when either my husband or I leave the room. We no longer close his cage door. He goes in & out as he pleases. He seems to really like his cage & spends time in it playing & just hanging out in there when he wants. He has his flight wings, but never flies because he's so used to us coming to get him from his cage & going around on our shoulders around the house. He also screeches from his cage whenever I'm on the phone. He doesn't usually screech if he's on my shoulder when I'm on the phone. Because he reacts so loudly when leaving, it concerns me. But he has never plucked or done any other negative behaviors while we are out as far as I can tell. He really does a lot of screeching & I've never been able to figure out a way to stop that. I've used a spray bottle that is effective sometimes. But it hasn't been a permanent fix. What have others done to train your birds not to screech. What are some reasons he may behave this way?
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Post by biteybird on Jul 2, 2018 6:10:23 GMT -5
Haha, Frugaldiva, I don't mean to be nasty by laughing, but....they screech because they're parrots and, more importantly, because they're QUAKER parrots.  Bonnie does all the things you've described (screeching when one or both of us leaves the room, when we leave for work in the morning and when we are on the phone - man, she HATES the phone!). She also hates anything that makes a noise, like the coffee machine/grinder, or else pretty much anything that takes attention away from HER. All we do when she screeches is completely ignore her...including not even glancing in her direction. Sometimes it can take up to half an hour, but eventually she stops. The worst thing you can do is react to the noise by giving her verbal attention. If you haven't worked it out already, all quakers seem to be narcissistic and bi-polar. But, of course, we love them and wouldn't have it any other way. |
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Post by frugaldiva3 on Jul 2, 2018 16:57:46 GMT -5
Biteybird, haha! I do know they are screechy. But I was wondering if they do it a lot more at times than others, if there is a way to deal with that. Ignoring them sounds good. I do sometimes. It's funny that when we run the vacuum or my blender, he starts whistling. I certainly enjoy that more. lol! Your confirmation that they just want all our attention is reassuring. Thanks for the input to not even respond verbally. I think my husband is better at ignoring the screeching than I am. |
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Post by birdiegirl on Jul 5, 2018 2:42:30 GMT -5
"If you haven't worked it out already, all quakers seem to be narcissistic and bi-polar. " LOL biteybird. Soooo true |
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Post by dinucci on Jul 6, 2018 7:08:09 GMT -5
My lil bambino,buddy,is a cross of all the above! Scooter seems like the ideal peaceful parrot and contrasts with ralph!
Now bitybird, I have the male version of bonnie with less biting and a little less screeching. He hates being in lock down while we're eating at the kitchen table next to his cage. Other than that,he's out all day,but if we're not home, he's great and stays on his 2 cages and play gym which have windows on 3 sides..he really has no need to venture away because we keep the other rooms dark and the doors upstairs closed,plus,his whole world is his toys and food! We have a ton of visiting birds on one of the patios his cages look over,so he chats it up with the other birds. When I come home,I usually find him on his swing chain on the ceiling or his sisal rope...so behaved.
But that's where it ends. He demands shoulder time whenever I'm about in the kitchen. All I have to do is open the fridge door and he's on me,looking in and saying "yummies yum yum ". Should I ignore him,he bites me on my arm just to let me know he's there and moves to the center of my back where I can't reach to remove him...and hangs there like a bat !
I love this little guy..makes me laugh a lot. As a chef and former restaurant owner,my whole world was food..he fits right in ! Come to think of it,he hates stainless steel and won't go anywhere near the stove,luckily, but the fridge is and he has no problem and has almost jumped inside to help himself !
Yeah he's spoiled...and maybe needs more than the 20 minutes at dinner time and at night in his cage..on the occasion I do lock him up for being a pest,he says " hey buddy " and let's out a screem haha..
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Post by biteybird on Jul 6, 2018 7:36:21 GMT -5
OMG dinucci, you and buddy really crack me up! The thing I find really funny - because Bonnie does it too - is they hang on your back between your shoulder blades because (as you mentioned) they know you can't reach there. Little buggers - just TOO smart for their own good. |
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Post by birdiegirl on Jul 15, 2018 22:13:32 GMT -5
Awww buddy is so funny! I have the same thing with Birdie, if he's on my shoulder and I open the fridge he's running down my arm like a little ant as if he's going to help himself to the goodies in there lol. If I let him he would be right at home in there!
Birdie is in his cage outside for most of the day where he can see the other birds as there's a birdfeeder quite close. He will yell "good morning" "whatcha doin'" and yummy yummy" at them which they politely ignore haha.
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Post by dinucci on Jul 18, 2018 6:19:16 GMT -5
Awww buddy is so funny! I have the same thing with Birdie, if he's on my shoulder and I open the fridge he's running down my arm like a little ant as if he's going to help himself to the goodies in there lol. If I let him he would be right at home in there! Birdie is in his cage outside for most of the day where he can see the other birds as there's a birdfeeder quite close. He will yell "good morning" "whatcha doin'" and yummy yummy" at them which they politely ignore haha. Yes. He runs down my arm when I'm trying to have my cereal in the morning. I call this fly hopping because he does it so fast,he can beat me to the spoon ! |
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Post by birdiegirl on Jul 20, 2018 4:25:41 GMT -5
Yes dinucci, they can move so fast!! Does he get to grab some of your cereal?
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Post by Betty on Apr 20, 2020 11:12:43 GMT -5
My bird Polly has been plucking her feathers on her chest and neck for some time now. She has times when something makes her go nuts, flies allover and Ihave to put her in her cage so she doesn't hurt herself while flying. Are there any home remedies i can do to make her stop scratching?
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