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Post by gameoldbird on Sept 21, 2015 6:22:19 GMT -5
Hi there  I thought I would be brave and introduce myself and my baby Quaker 'Otis'. Otis is my first parrot having wanted one for several years! I was fortunate enough to be friends with the breeder and got the opportunity to feed and cuddle my baby whilst he was being hand-reared, which was both a joy and a privilege. He's only 16 weeks old and we brought him home at 7 weeks of age. He is very affectionate towards myself and my partner (which is nice and stops any jealousy over 'bonding')  and loves to preen my neck, nape and ears (which tickles and makes me laugh - much to his amusement)! He started speaking soon after bringing him home and is copying new sounds and movements all the time. All-in-all he has been the most wonderful addition to our family and I'm so looking forward to giving him a long, loving and happy life. Once I work out what I'm doing I will post a photo of him (although right at the moment he is looking a bit scruffy as he's going through his first molt)! This forum looks great and I'm really looking forward to getting to know everybody and their feathered friends, and learning lots from the more experienced owners on here too. Bye for now!
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Post by julianna on Sept 21, 2015 15:17:11 GMT -5
Welcome gameoldbird and welcome to Otis too. I absolutely love this site and have learned so much about Quakers that no book could ever teach you. My QP Oscar used to just preen my face too but now since has removed every single hair I have he is now pinching my face and making little sores. Each morning he cannot wait to get back up on my shoulder and pick my face some more. It is quite funny actually and the only way I can make him stop is to let my hair down. He hates walking in my hair.
It will be nice to see a picture of your little one. What color is he?
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Post by Jan and Shah on Sept 21, 2015 16:08:57 GMT -5
Welcome to you and Otis. My quaker, Shah, grooms me every morning before I go to work - I get my eyelashes groomed and then he picks off anything unsightly on my face - unfortunately, it is often part of my face. My clothes have to be beak checked, same with any jewellery. Then, when he is satisfied that I am looking my best, I am allowed to go to work. I say "bye bye Shah, have a good day - see you tonight". He says "Monkey Breath"!
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Post by biteybird on Sept 21, 2015 20:01:41 GMT -5
Hi there, gameoldbird and Otis (love the names!). Hope you enjoy the forum as much as we do! P.S. It's raining here (Melbourne, Australia) too, at the moment. One day it's 24C, then the next 13C…go figure!  |
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Post by cnyguy on Sept 21, 2015 20:12:42 GMT -5
Welcome to you and Otis! It's such a great help to have our QPs preening us to keep us looking our best.  |
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Post by gameoldbird on Sept 22, 2015 2:01:48 GMT -5
Hello again - and thanks for making me feel welcome I'm looking forward to getting to know you all. Hopefully you can now see my handsome boy as my profile picture - he's a lean, green, squawking machine!  |
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Post by aaron on Sept 22, 2015 15:57:49 GMT -5
Welcome to you and Otis! He looks adorable from your profile picture. We certainly love to talk about Quakers here, so you've come to the right place. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have, and keep us posted on how things go!
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Post by biteybird on Sept 22, 2015 22:06:27 GMT -5
Oh, Otis is cute! And do I detect that typical Quaker parrot feisty look in his eye? I saw my first green quaker parrot in a pet shop today (I was buying nests for my canaries) and I almost didn't realise it was a quaker, as it was so much bigger than Bonnie. There does seem to be a real size difference between the greens and the blues. |
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Post by gameoldbird on Sept 23, 2015 9:44:34 GMT -5
Yes biteybird, he is cute and can be a little *** sometimes (or 'fiesty' as you so diplomatically put it)! LOL I think that's all part of their charm don't you?  I 'hid' some food inside one of his toys this morning for the first time (cooked pasta and raw broccoli) and he found it within seconds - such a clever bird! Trying to get him to try more things as he is reluctant to eat anything but his seed mix he was weaned on. It's a good quality mix but unfortunately it has LOTS of sunflower seeds in it (which of course, he loves) and he shows little interest in most fruits and veggies. I'm thinking of trying to slowly introduce a pellet diet instead which is more 'complete' to make sure he isn't missing out on any valuable nutrients. I'll let you all know how we get on! 
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Post by gameoldbird on Sept 23, 2015 9:55:59 GMT -5
BTW, I've never seen a blue quaker before - Bonnie sure is pretty! |
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Post by julianna on Sept 23, 2015 14:19:00 GMT -5
Now that is one handsome Otis... just lovely. I think Oscar has a twin... lol Thank you for sharing.
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Post by gameoldbird on Sept 24, 2015 3:19:58 GMT -5
Oscar and Otis - they should be twins with cool names like that Thank you for your lovely comments x |
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Post by aaron on Sept 24, 2015 10:12:28 GMT -5
Switching him over to pellets is definitely a good idea, as I'm sure you've read. We use harrison's, and they also make a mash, which is essentially pellets in powder form... You can start by mixing it together with the seed mix to get Otis used to the flavor, and then gradually swapping out the seed mix for pellets.. I still give Cupcake mash with her pellets every day. It also helps to soak pellets in unsweetened fruit juice to soften them up-- this can make them more appealing to the little guys.
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Post by gameoldbird on Sept 25, 2015 4:20:49 GMT -5
Thanks Aaron I'm definitely going to swap him over as with his 'fussy pallette' I want to make sure he's not missing out on anything! Not sure where you are but here in the UK I have found one called 'Kaytee Rainbow' pellet food which promises to deliver 100% of their nutritional needs. Cupcake is such a cute name! |
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Post by aaron on Sept 25, 2015 9:03:39 GMT -5
Very good. And also, seeds are very fattening, and Quaker Parrots are particularly susceptible to fatty liver disease... So you really don't want them eating a long-term seed-based diet. All of this being said, the most important part is definitely fresh vegetables and some fruits as well. While nutritionally balanced, pellets are a processed food, and cannot be expected to cover all nutritional needs, even if the packaging makes that promise. Humans don't do well on purely processed food diets, and neither do birds. They can be picky but if you try enough different things, you will find veggies they like to eat. Cupcake is very picky but we have found that she will always eat cucumber and lentil sprouts, so the main staples of her diet are pellets, cucumber, and sprouts. We also supplement periodically with steamed zucchini, butternut squash, bell peppers, etc.. It would be ideal if she would eat some leafy greens of some sort, and many birds do, but Cupcake refuses. Before we got her on a consistent diet that included fresh veggies, and she was just on pellets, her feathers did not look as good, and showed signs of malnutrition (the fact that she was on a seed-based diet for the first 9 months of her life probably did not help)... Once we started getting fresh food in her every day her next molt yielded perfect green feathers. We love the name Cupcake... she had actually been named already when we got her at 9 months, so I can't claim to have come up with it... but it is an extremely appropriate name. She is a very sweet girl. |
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I thought I would be brave and introduce myself and my baby Quaker 'Otis'. Otis is my first parrot having wanted one for several years! I was fortunate enough to be friends with the breeder and got the opportunity to feed and cuddle my baby whilst he was being hand-reared, which was both a joy and a privilege. He's only 16 weeks old and we brought him home at 7 weeks of age. He is very affectionate towards myself and my partner (which is nice and stops any jealousy over 'bonding') 
and loves to preen my neck, nape and ears (which tickles and makes me laugh - much to his amusement)! He started speaking soon after bringing him home and is copying new sounds and movements all the time. All-in-all he has been the most wonderful addition to our family and I'm so looking forward to giving him a long, loving and happy life. Once I work out what I'm doing I will post a photo of him (although right at the moment he is looking a bit scruffy as he's going through his first molt)! This forum looks great and I'm really looking forward to getting to know everybody and their feathered friends, and learning lots from the more experienced owners on here too. Bye for now!
I 'hid' some food inside one of his toys this morning for the first time (cooked pasta and raw broccoli) and he found it within seconds - such a clever bird! Trying to get him to try more things as he is reluctant to eat anything but his seed mix he was weaned on. It's a good quality mix but unfortunately it has LOTS of sunflower seeds in it (which of course, he loves) and he shows little interest in most fruits and veggies. I'm thinking of trying to slowly introduce a pellet diet instead which is more 'complete' to make sure he isn't missing out on any valuable nutrients. I'll let you all know how we get on! 