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Post by dfluff on Apr 16, 2015 3:38:32 GMT -5
Hello, I might be a first-time quaker companion..- I learned a few days ago that my husband has arranged for me/us to adopt a baby quaker parrot (hand raised by a breeder). I have loved birds (ANY bird) all my life, grown up with budgies and would love to have such wonderful company again- BUT: I am working full-time and so is my husband, meaning that the little guy/girl would be alone at home for ca. 8-9 hours per day. I would of course let him out of his cage as soon as I'm back and hang out with him/her and on weekends, but still, is this a problem? I am very aware of these guys being flock birds and of how incredibly smart they are. I couldn't bear to make this feathery little person unhappy, so I wanted to ask if anyone else has had this kind of situation?
We have a smallish house (big enough to fly around in) where the bird would be hanging out with us in the main living room/dining room area and could spend the nights in a smaller room in case we stay up longer than his bedtime..
We also live with a tame and free-roaming indoors bluetongue lizard.
The things I've come up with so far: lots of toys, leave some music on, be around the bird whenever we are home and give him lots of attention at least in the evenings during the week.
Any advice would be very much appreciated! Thanks heaps already,
dfluff
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Post by Jan and Shah on Apr 16, 2015 5:14:01 GMT -5
I am out of the house 11 hours a day 5 days a week. Shah is fine - he watches the cockatiels in case they do something wrong so he can yell at them. If you have toys, etc., and will be spending time with him when you are home, then I cant see a problem.
Welcome to the forum. Please ask any questions you want. We are a friendly mob and are all here to help each other.
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Post by biteybird on Apr 16, 2015 6:28:25 GMT -5
Hi dfluff, quaker and attached husband!  My hubby and I both work full-time and Bonnie (our 1-y-o quaker) is on her own from 7am until about 5pm each weekday. She seems fine. We let her out for about 3 hours on weekdays/nights and more on weekends. Just think about things like if you want to go on holiday (do you take the bird with you or is there someone you trust to look after him/her) and be aware that these birds live for over 30 years on average, so it's a commitment. Hope this helps. |
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Post by aaron on Apr 16, 2015 12:11:10 GMT -5
Greetings! My wife and I, and our roommate all work, and my step-daughter is in school all day... We are generally away from Cupcake around 8 hours a day. We hang out with her for about an hour in the morning before we leave for work and at night for around 4 hours before she goes to bed. Periodically one of us will work from home and spend the day with Cupcake, and on the weekend we try to spend as much time with her as possible although we are often quite busy on the weekends as well. Cupcake does just fine with it. When we are home, she is basically never caged, which is probably helpful. One recommendation I have is to always make a big deal out of saying hello and goodbye to the bird. (Don't forget! They don't like that!  ) Especially when coming home from a long day-- the first thing we do as we walk through the door is enthusiastically greet Cupcake, and one of us will drop everything and run over and let her out. Around 95% of the time Cupcake will enthusiastically greet us back as well, and I am certain that she feels important because of these greetings, and is better adjusted to all the alone time as a result. I don't know much about the bluetongue lizard-- sounds pretty cool, but I have no sense of its compatibility with a Quaker parrot. There is definitely a huge committment involved-- worth thinking carefully about how much it will impact your lifestyle if you have any hesitations. Owning a parrot like this will significantly reduce the flexibility of your lifestyle on an essentially permanent basis. It's great when you know what you are getting yourself into and are ready to embrace it, but if you get blindsided, it can be tough. I don't think anyone in my household had a great idea of the impact it would have on our lives, and it was definitely rocky for all of us, including Cupcake, at first. That said, Quakers are amazing and wonderful creatures. Our entire family is in love with this bird, and we can't imagine not having her in our lives. She brings a unique element of joy to each day that I can't really imagine finding elsewhere. We would never go back. |
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Post by julianna on Apr 16, 2015 17:00:42 GMT -5
Well said aaron. Quakers will adjust to your time table... as long as they have quality time with you. Remember if you let him fly around to cover the mirrors and windows so that he does not get hurt. They are such loving birds but also very demanding of your time. You set the time frame and they will adjust around it.
Good luck and welcome to the forum.
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Post by cnyguy on Apr 16, 2015 20:07:29 GMT -5
Welcome! Quality one-on-one time with a parrot is important, more so than the amount of time spent together. As you've seen in the earlier posts, there are lots of good Quaker parronts who have busy schedules. From what I've read, parrots and lizards typically don't mix well, but I have no personal experience, being lizard-free. |
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Post by dfluff on Apr 17, 2015 8:19:31 GMT -5
Thanks SO much for all your replies and experiences! That's really reassuring to hear that all of you guys are working full-time as well and your parrotlets are happy with you regardless And thank you all for giving me such a friendly welcome as well Also: The dice have been cast...-we went, met and took home a 2-month-old baby quaker... Not sure if it's a he or she-- gut feeling says he though.-He has been hand-raised and is OK with being picked up, but doesn't want to step up on a finger yet. But sat on my shoulder for quite some time, occasionally saying something small and guttural in Parrot and otherwise preening himself  It all feels very unreal, but he's now "in bed" in his cage and seems to be OK to go to sleep. Thankfully my husband is home tomorrow and will keep him company and I have at least the Sunday as well! Hope to introduce him to the skink over the next couple of days & hope this will go well. Have a nice weekend all! |
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Post by aaron on Apr 17, 2015 16:07:11 GMT -5
Glad to help! Please feel free to ask any questions you might have. I don't know much about introducing birds to lizards, but I would be extremely careful. They should probably not be let very near each other. But I really don't know what I am talking about, my gut just says be cautious. |
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Post by Jan and Shah on Apr 18, 2015 3:38:05 GMT -5
I would exercise caution if you are going to have the lizard and the bird near each other. I have a dog and she is not allowed in the room when Shah is out. 99% of the time I don't think she would hurt him but I cant be certain as she does chase the birds in the backyard. The thing with birds (and indeed any animal) is that it only takes a split second for tragedy to strike. Please don't think I am raining on your parade - you know your animals and you will make the best choice for them. I know others on this forum do let their dogs and birds mix and it works well for them.
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Post by dfluff on Apr 18, 2015 19:26:14 GMT -5
Thanks Jan & aaron, and yes, I agree, I wouldn't let them be out and about in the same room without close supervision. To be honest, my major concern is about the skink being pecked..-but of course he can also bite if really provoked (such as someone squeezing their fluffy self into the skink's house when he's inside-so I think it will be a very gradual process and never unsupervised!
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Post by aaron on Apr 18, 2015 22:40:11 GMT -5
Sounds good. It will be exciting to hear how that goes! Congratulations on your new little one. They are really incredible little creatures. You are in for a treat |
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Post by dfluff on Apr 19, 2015 3:15:28 GMT -5
Am soo excited (and still concerned) about it. So far he seems really chilled out, is very personable and now has even started to step onto my finger (bout 50% of the time ) Sits on shoulder a lot, got some first cuddles and did a little bit of exploring. Hope he'll be OK tomorrow when his humans are both away.. I will definitely send an update about how everyone is getting along |
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Post by Jan and Shah on Apr 19, 2015 4:15:30 GMT -5
Don't forget to ask questions if you need to. Your little one will be fine. Even though I complain about Shah, I wouldn't trade him for the world. He was such a smoochy boy this morning - I got lots of kisses. Tonight I got beak bashed for a long time as I had obviously done something wrong - although I don't know what it was  |
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Post by easttex on Apr 19, 2015 9:47:40 GMT -5
I don't know how valid the concern is, but I've also read something about a risk of passing salmonella between birds and reptiles. I don't know if that is only certain reptiles or not. Sorry to toss out something that I haven't really researched, but I wanted to mention that you'll probably want to wash your hands in between handling them.
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Post by aaron on Apr 19, 2015 18:32:49 GMT -5
I did a little bit of research and salmonella does seem to be a potential concern... It seems to be fairly infrequent-- not all reptiles carry it.. But many do. It sounds like assuming good hygiene is practiced, you are more likely to get salmonella from handling raw chicken then handling a reptile, but it definitely possible, and birds are not resistant to it like reptiles are (nor are humans, obviously), so it seems to be a concern, albeit a fairly minor one. Just wash your hands thoroughly after touching the reptile and you'll be fine (I imagine you probably already do this)...
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My hubby and I both work full-time and Bonnie (our 1-y-o quaker) is on her own from 7am until about 5pm each weekday. She seems fine. We let her out for about 3 hours on weekdays/nights and more on weekends. Just think about things like if you want to go on holiday (do you take the bird with you or is there someone you trust to look after him/her) and be aware that these birds live for over 30 years on average, so it's a commitment. Hope this helps.
) Especially when coming home from a long day-- the first thing we do as we walk through the door is enthusiastically greet Cupcake, and one of us will drop everything and run over and let her out. Around 95% of the time Cupcake will enthusiastically greet us back as well, and I am certain that she feels important because of these greetings, and is better adjusted to all the alone time as a result. 
