New from Florida

Welcome, Lee Ann and Sugar! I think some other forum members have had the same issue as you and I'm sure they'll chime in with advice for you.

I'm in FL too, what part are you ?

Thank you for the replies! I'm so sorry that I have not been able to get back until just now.

Just to clarify, I joined this board, many, many years ago, when Sugar had a cage accident. She got a long thread wrapped around her and almost died. Luckily, I am right down the road from an avian vet, and she stayed up all night with her, not sure if she would survive the night. But she did. For a long time after that, she did not want to come out of her cage or be handled. I always had her near me, and near a window, and lots of new (safer) toys, but she was not the same for a long, long time. So we just sort of let her be in her cage, for a long time. We did not ignore her, but we just didn't push her to come out.

Well, the other day, after a long, long time since we had last tried, I opened the door once again to see if she would come out, and she did.


To my surprise, she jumped right on my finger! She seemed so happy. I had my sister in law, who has birds, clip her wings. Sugar has never been much of a biter....outside of her cage anyway, although she will give you a good pinch if you put your hand IN her cage. She cuddled right up on my chest, like old times, and was very content.

I know she looks dreadful. She has plucked so long, I don't think her stomach will ever grow feathers again. Her wings, I don't believe will. But she does not look like she is plucking any longer....she actually has not really done it for a while now, I just think the damage is done.

But I am happy to have my old girl back. She does seem much more frail than she used to be. She is not as peppy or loud. She will come out of the cage, if she comes out at all, for about 5 minutes, and then wants to go back in. The other day, she did stay curled on my chest until she fell asleep for a half hour, but most of the time, she just looks like she wants to go back in her cage.

She seems healthy, other than how awful she looks. She eats great. I have her on mostly pellets, with a small amount of seeds (no sunflowers). I did that conversion years ago, it was tough, but with help from people here, I was able to do it. She HATES fruits and veggies, although I still offer them. Her favorite thing in the world is spaghetti, she will literally scream for it until you give her some. She likes mashed potatoes too, will not eat sweet potatoes though. She will eat beans on occasion, but she refuses to eat anything green, and I have tried and tried. She will literally throw anything that she does not want outside of her cage. I have thought about taking her to the vet to be checked out, but I feel like she is old, and I think it would stress her out. She eats fine, poops fine, and she has always enjoyed her daily bath that I put in her cage for her, which she is now enjoying once again on top of her cage.

I'm just so happy to "have her back". We got her old cage out of storage, and need to wash it down really well and replace all of the perches. I'm a little nervous about changing her back to this cage, not sure if it's a good idea, but she always liked it before, and it's a much nicer cage than the one she is in now. I have been reading up on this forum like crazy. I took some cuter pictures of her the other day and a video of her bath time, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

She is a little funny looking, but she will always be beautiful to me.

That is quite a tale of resilience.  She's lucky she is with someone willing to be so patient.  She is beautiful - just look at that face!  Sometimes, after everything has been tried, accepting the plucking is all you can do.  That, and reassuring her that she is still a beauty.

If you have the space, you might try setting up the second cage right next to the old one, and letting her get used to the idea first.  You can gradually migrate things to the new one, and see if she will make the move on her own.  That would probably be a lot less stressful for her.

Sixteen is really not that old for a Quaker, though perhaps her experience aged her. If you decided you did want to take her in for a vet visit, you could try a trial run.  I had to do a couple of those with my Africa grey before we all felt comfortable enough for her to be handled by strangers.  

Congratulations on getting her back! 

Thank you all so much for your kind words. She really is a beauty to me. I am going to do just that, get her old, nicer cage ready, and set it up near the other one and let her get used to it. It is a much nicer cage than this one. We had put her in this one a few years ago because I felt like the other one was too big at the time, but this one is just getting old and gross.

I have observed something with her that worries me a bit. And I do feel like her life may be shortened a bit from her trauma that she went through, but I hope I'm wrong. Anyway, what I am observing is this. She will be eager to come out of her cage, eager to sit on top of it and play for a bit, splash in her tub, which then usually wears her out and she wants to go in for a rest, but she will have spent some time out of the cage. Then, she will have two days that she either won't come out at all, or she will come out part of the way, and then go right back in. And she seems to want to sleep. So I'll fret and worry about her, and then the next morning, she will be all chipper, and come right out and want to be held, take a bath and hang out for a bit. But even then, the time she hangs on top of her cage is maybe 5-15 minutes, and then she goes right back in to her spot, even with the door open.

I went to a wonderful bird store that we have close by, looking for a corner platform perch for her, and they only had a huge one that was too big for her cage, but I did see one on Amazon for $10 that I am going to order for her. I have tried a tent before, she never went in it and only pooped on it. I did buy her one of those perches that has a little tent over the perch and put it near where she likes to hang out, and so far she is ignoring it. She is a cuddler, so I am hoping she will snuggle up to it soon. I have not tried one of the tents that is open on both sides, I'm thinking of getting one of those. I keep getting things that she just ignores. She doesn't even seem interested in looking out the window any more, something she used to love.

I know all that I can do is take the good days and enjoy all that I have. She is eating her pellets and small amount of seeds every day, and you should see this girl go bananas if we have spaghetti. It is hysterical. She will scream for it, if we try to sit down without giving her any, oh no, she won't have any of that. It is her absolute favorite thing in the world. If only she were as crazy about fruits and veggies, but nope, not having it, they get thrown out of the cage immediately.

She did come out today and snuggle on my shoulder for a bit, so it was a good day today.

The poor little girl, she does sound a bit fragile...but the big 'plus' is that she has you! That is absolutely the best thing. Maybe she's just more comfortable in her cage. She looks adorable and you deserve a big pat on the back for the way you are looking after her. Try to stay positive.