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Post by biteybird on Jan 14, 2015 3:53:28 GMT -5
Bonnie has developed a healthy disdain for her two human slaves. She displays this by: 1) Poop. Anything is fair game, especially CLEAN clothes (which she seems to instinctively target).  2) Noise. She has a VERY demanding squawk, particularly when ignored. We just wait it out, but it can take some time.... 3) Stealing things. She picks up anything she physically can and flies with it up to her wall ledge, behind the silver photo frame. Once there she emits a distinctive "RAAT ruh-ruh RAAT ruh-ruh RAAT RAAAAT!". We've come to appreciate this as her little rebellious way of saying "I'm the king of the castle".  Once up on her ledge she runs through her sounds & words repertoire (focusing on saying "good girl" when she's been naughty  ). 4) Nipping/biting. Usually she just wants to play, but sometimes gets carried away in trying to preen my hair, neck, or wrinkles (yes, as a middle-aged woman I do have some!  ). When she goes overboard, I say "no" or "no biting" - but when I feel she needs a serious talking to I say "decorum/etiquette, please", "you need to learn some manners", "that's not necessary/appropriate/appreciated", etc...
Maybe there's some truth in that saying "Familiarity breeds Contempt". Bonnie has just turned 1. Do quakers generally become more well-mannered as time goes on? Or less? Any advice from those with older QPs, or should we just resign ourselves to 35 years of thankless servitude? |
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Post by Jan and Shah on Jan 14, 2015 4:32:27 GMT -5
Well Shah is now 10 years old. He calls me Monkey Breath. His manners are atrocious. I thought he would settle down as he got older but he seems to have become more demanding - if he wants it now, I had better drop everything I am doing to service his demands OR ELSE .....
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Post by Jan and Shah on Jan 14, 2015 4:32:39 GMT -5
Well Shah is now 10 years old. He calls me Monkey Breath. His manners are atrocious. I thought he would settle down as he got older but he seems to have become more demanding - if he wants it now, I had better drop everything I am doing to service his demands OR ELSE .....
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Post by biteybird on Jan 14, 2015 6:17:34 GMT -5
Thanks Jan, at least we know what we are in for...in the next 9+ years  |
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Post by Sharyn and Mr P on Jan 14, 2015 12:42:03 GMT -5
Mr P has also gotten more demanding as time has gone by. When I first got him I was amazed at what a well mannered fid he was, considering his background.
These days, if I am not paying enough attention to him, he marches himself down from his playstand using his ladder, struts across the living room to the couch, climbs up the side of the couch, climbs onto my hand and DEMANDS that I speak to him, pet him, whatever.
More recently, he accompanies this behavior by hollering HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY at me the entire time he's heading towards me.
He is not happy anymore to just sit on his playstand next to me while I am trying to work, but yells HEY at me until I get him and he can sit on my hand while I work, walking across my keyboard when the mood suits him and causing me to type odd things as his feet hit the keyboard. When not engaged with the keyboard, he is chewing on my mouse, tearing up my paperwork, grabbing pencils, pens, whatever he can get a hold of, or basically just in my face.
Of course,the only way to distract him seems to be giving him a treat, but that normally doesnt last for long and he is back to demanding my attention.
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Post by aaron on Jan 14, 2015 13:54:43 GMT -5
Cupcake is pretty easy to manage, as long as everyone is home. With three adults and one child, she stays occupied flying around to everyone to see what we are doing, etc. However, generally one or two days a week, someone works from home and spends the day with her. When it is one on one, everything changes. She expects one-on-one time to be more intimate, it seems, and I have to have a plan for how I am going to keep her occupied so I don't end up with a little green chicken strutting around and yelling at me because I am not focusing on her enough. This is definitely something that has escalated with time. As she gets older and more confident in her role in this flock, she seems to feel justified in demanding more from her flock-mates. She usually tolerates a couple hours of me working at a time (although I am not sure how long that will last), so I plan a schedule where I take breaks with her to do different things around the house to keep her entertained. I'll work for a couple hours, then I'll take a shower (and sometimes dunk her in the water too if she's up for it), I'll work for a couple more hours, then we'll go to the kitchen to do the dishes, I'll work for a couple more hours, then we'll change the water in the fish tanks. If I do this, she remains content to sit on my shoulder or in her nearby cage on her platform while I work on the computer. It is important that she feels like these tasks are things we are doing together, so I always make sure to treat her like a teammate in the task at hand.  I will say this-- she seems to go through phases. There will be several days where she is quite agreeable, and then there will be several days where she is just not having it, and there is little to nothing I can do to keep her happy. Sometimes I think she appreciates my attempts and sometimes she just seems totally fed up. I do think it must be rather frustrating at times to be a bird stuck in a human world. |
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Post by Jan and Shah on Jan 14, 2015 15:25:32 GMT -5
Ha Sharyn, I remember when I first got Shah - he was a perfect angel and extremely well mannered. Lasted 3 weeks. Aaron, I am finding with Shah that he likes to be part of a team - the team consisting of him and me. I am actually doing a lot more things with him on my shoulder these days and he seems quite happy and content - unless I am handling something he doesnt like and then there is the customary nip on my neck to tell me to put it down. Of course, I disagree with his assessment and get another nip or two for my troubles.
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Post by biteybird on Jan 14, 2015 18:25:59 GMT -5
So it seems that She Who Must Be Obeyed (sorry, Rumpole, had to steal that phrase!) will most likely become more ill-mannered as time goes on. Oh well, the more training she gives us, the more content we may become.  |
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Post by siobhan on Jan 14, 2015 19:39:18 GMT -5
<gasping and wiping my eyes> Well mannered and Quaker parrot never, ever belong in the same sentence. Clyde spends inordinate amounts of time preening my eyebrows, including trying to remove a scar on one of them by force (a teenage mishap; I fell while wearing my glasses and the resulting blood and black eye made me the talk of school for a couple of days). He demands I pet his head and bites me for doing so. He uses very improper language if I dare to speak to one of the other birds, wear clothes he doesn't approve of, or take a sip of my coffee. Often he also chomps me for these infractions. We don't know his age, but he arrived at our bird feeder as an adult and has lived with us and commanded us for six and a half years. Resign yourself to thankless servitude. You'll be happier that way.
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Post by aaron on Jan 14, 2015 20:20:06 GMT -5
Jan, i think it's a really good strategy. If she feels like I want her to be with me, helping along the way, she is far less pesty in general. If I go anywhere in the house I act like I need her help with things and beckon her to follow. Because she is focused on our task at hand, I actually feel like she requires less attention overall. It obviously doesn't get rid of all misbehaving but it helps a ton. At least for now Clyde spends inordinate amounts of time preening my eyebrows, including trying to remove a scar on one of them by force Perhaps the eyebrow preening is his idea of thanks!  |
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Post by cnyguy on Jan 14, 2015 20:48:18 GMT -5
should we just resign ourselves to 35 years of thankless servitude? That's right there in Chapter 1 of The Quaker Parrots' Manual for Human Slave Behavior.
After reading about some of the other QPs around here, I'd say that Ralph is comparatively well-mannered. Which is not to say that he isn't often stubborn, bossy and demanding or that he never bites or complains. He just behaves in those ways a little less often than some QPs. And that is, of course, subject to change without notice (that's in the Manual too). |
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Post by biteybird on Jan 14, 2015 23:46:02 GMT -5
<gasping and wiping my eyes> Well mannered and Quaker parrot never, ever belong in the same sentence....Resign yourself to thankless servitude. You'll be happier that way. Geez, Siobhan, thanks - I nearly peed my pants laughing when I read your comment. I agree, a mental adjustment is in order. As I type this, Bonnie is sitting on my shoulder nipping my neck non-stop then saying "Ow". This is interspersed with trying to dismantle my laptop, then pooping down the screen, shrieking "hello!" right in my ear and taking sips from my mid-afternoon white wine (  it's OK, I'm a teacher on school holidays, alright?). Even though I've told Bonnie I'm typing about HER, it makes no difference. She just doesn't care.
Gary, Ralph would be an absolute dream compared to this evil little blue package we have. I guess we must embrace the agony... And I must reacquaint myself with the Manual; obviously I've forgotten some bits of it!
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Post by Jan and Shah on Jan 15, 2015 4:13:50 GMT -5
I don't believe Ralph is a quaker. He is far too well mannered and nice to be a quaker.
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Post by siobhan on Jan 15, 2015 14:33:05 GMT -5
Clyde can say "ow" too -- he hears me say it a lot -- but his favorite is "quit!" He'll bite me and say "quit!" which is what I say when he's chompy. Then he chuckles. Sometimes he chuckles first and then I know what's coming. Two nights ago, I was tucking them in and Jade had wound a shoelace around her cage door so it wouldn't shut. I give her things like that to play with; she's very big on tying knots. She had gone in and was in her happy hut ready for bed, but the unwinding took a LITTLE too long and I was busy and didn't see her coming and she chomped me on the knuckle. I said "ow!" and Clyde said "quit!" and Jade said "whatcha doin'?"
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Post by biteybird on Jan 15, 2015 17:32:32 GMT -5
Jade said "whatcha doin'?" What indeed, Siobhan? I think you must be in constant 'fight or flight' mode over at your place... |
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Once up on her ledge she runs through her sounds & words repertoire (focusing on saying "good girl" when she's been naughty 
).
). When she goes overboard, I say "no" or "no biting" - but when I feel she needs a serious talking to I say "decorum/etiquette, please", "you need to learn some manners", "that's not necessary/appropriate/appreciated", etc...
it's OK, I'm a teacher on school holidays, alright?). Even though I've told Bonnie I'm typing about HER, it makes no difference. She just doesn't care.