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Post by siobhan on Apr 28, 2015 12:21:22 GMT -5
There's a web site called Flock Call with lots of good info on parronting and it's run by a woman who also has a Facebook page for her grey, Felix, where she posts funny photos of him with funny captions and he is in charge of training all of us to be better slaves ... um, keepers. So I contacted her for advice when I was considering getting Rocky and I told her I had been trained by a Quaker, and she said a 'too would be a cakewalk after being used to Quakers, and I should note that she does not have a Quaker. She has macaws, the grey, a ringneck and tiels but no Quakers. LOL She referred to Felix, the grey, as the "easier option" compared to Quakers. Wait till I tell Clyde and Jade that their little ornery selves are more intimidating than a huge parrot with a huge beak and a loud mouth (Rocky gave a lengthy concert this morning). Rocky could take off a finger if he wanted to, yet I feel safer letting him snuggle under my chin than I do letting Clyde sit there.  |
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Post by aaron on Apr 28, 2015 12:57:57 GMT -5
Wow, I wonder why specifically she feels this way... from personal experience or if she's just on the anti-Quaker bandwagon... Not that I don't agree that these little green chickens can be quite trying  |
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Post by easttex on Apr 28, 2015 13:46:22 GMT -5
As the vet said today when I gave her an update on Peppy, a quaker who is not yelling at you is not feeling well. (Unless, of course, it's named Ralph or Cupcake.)
But, having both a grey and a quaker, I would disagree. Peppy yells at me more, and he certainly nips more, but on the whole he is more adaptable, and all-around easier. He's bolder about new things and more comfortable around strangers. On the other hand, if I do get bit by my grey, a rare occurrence these days, I don't have to puzzle out the reason for it.
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Post by aaron on Apr 28, 2015 15:59:53 GMT -5
I think there's definitely a bit of lore about Quakers that makes the rounds in parrot-enthusiast world. When I go to parrot stores, they often make comments about Quakers when I mention that we have one. But I don't know how many of these people actually have enough personal experience with them outside of a store that would qualify them to be able to make such comments... they may just be echoing what they've heard.
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Post by siobhan on Apr 28, 2015 16:26:28 GMT -5
I think in this case, she was mostly joking that if I could manage to live with Quakers, who are demanding, moody, emotional and loud, that a cockatoo wouldn't be a challenge I couldn't handle. I hadn't yet met Rocky at the point she and I had this exchange, and I didn't know what to expect. How was I to know he was a model parrot most of the time, who mostly does what I ask? My experience is with small feathered divas who mostly do the opposite of what I want them to and then chuckle about it. When I told her yesterday about how easily Rocky seems to be adjusting to us -- eating his pellets without complaint, already stepping off when asked, getting up when he wants to in the morning but keeping quiet until he knows we're up, too. No, really. We're amazed, too. I asked her if he were abnormal. She said no, in her experience, when a parrot is really "home," he knows it and behaves accordingly. Unless, apparently, said parrot is a Quaker. LOL!
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Post by Jan and Shah on Apr 28, 2015 16:26:46 GMT -5
They are still a relatively "new" bird in Australia so dont really hear any negative feedback about them as when people ask what sort of bird do I have and I reply "quaker" they dont know what it is. Shah is cheeky, rude, obnoxious, noisy, aggressive, stubborn and just plain impossible at times, but then there are the snuggle times and it makes up for all the grief.
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Post by biteybird on Apr 29, 2015 3:02:58 GMT -5
Jan is correct about them being relatively unknown here (Oz). When we took Bonnie camping at the World Superbikes at Phillip Island we had her cage near the fence. Many people walking past stopped to admire her and were asking what sort of bird she was (apparently she wolf-whistled at some of them, too!)  . A lot of the time Bonnie is like Shah, but she often snuggles up and does some really cute things that offset the 'horrible stuff'. |
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. A lot of the time Bonnie is like Shah, but she often snuggles up and does some really cute things that offset the 'horrible stuff'.