Help New 1st time parrot owner!!!

We recently bought a 6 yr old quaker parrot. We are new the parrot world. She did so well in our home for the first 3 weeks. Somewhat insecure around children as she was raised by a woman. Yesterday she began attacking the cage when anyone was near. Agressive is a big understatement here. Also bites and attacks you if you put your hand in the cage where before she loved being petted and sitting on our shoulder. Making clicking noises with her beak. She is also sitting on the floor of her cage a lot and fluffs her feathers which she did frequently anyway. She is lifting her wings and bobbing her head a lot now and has quit singing andy griffith song and whistling at us. it is more of a scream now. She acts like she has epilepsy now. We are really worried about her and are at a loss as to how to procede. We have tried the time out thing in the cage covered. also firmly saying no and when she bites we gently squeeze her beak to get her to let go. We want her to be happy but are at a loss as to how to help her. any suggestions would be welcome. thanks

Re: Help New 1st time parrot owner!!1

I would suggest a trip to a good vet, either an avian vet or one who has years of experience with birds. The thing that troubles me is the sitting on the floor of the cage fluffed up. I am sure someone with more experience will be able to tell you more about the aggressive behavior.
Rhonda

Re: Help New 1st time parrot owner!!1

The aggression behavior is a secondary thing that is, at this time, of little concern. This little one needs to get to a certified avian vet as soon as possible (look for one in your area here: http://www.aav.org/vet-lookup/). The wing/head bobbing while breathing, fluffed up/sitting on the bottom of the cage/not singing are all warning signs of being sick ...

Also, for more clarification what do you mean when you say that your bird "acts like she has epilepsy now" ... can you give more info on this one?

:50:

Thanks for taking time to help us! She seems to be doing much better whatever was wrong. The shaking has stopped and she is climbing around her cage now. She is still very aggressive, but the worrying behavior has stopped. I am now trying to rebuild her trust so she wont bite. She lets me get with in 1/2 inch of her before she shows signs of aggression which is major improvement. She is also whistling her favorite tunes again. Don't know what the ailment was but so thankful it was short lived. I will keep on reading posts on behavior so I can be her pal. Thanks again for taking the time to help.

I don't think that just because the "worrying behavior" has stopped I still think that this little guy needs to get to a avian vet for a full workup ... especially where everything happened so quickly ... you should get him checked out.

I agree with Tex. I believe a trip to a vet is in order. Even if its just to get a basic work up on her. Birds hide illness and injury well because in the wild an injured/sick bird is somethings dinner. By the time a bird shows signs of illness they are very sick.

As far as getting her settled in goes, is she in a spot where at least one of the walls of her cage has a wall behind it? So nothing can sneak up behind her. That may help with feeling secure. It takes time to build trust between you and the parrot. My zon has been here for a little over a month and he still bites sometimes but I haven't been caught off gaurd and actually biten for over a week and a half now. I have learned his body language and he has learned to trust me more. We are both in training. How is she away from the cage? When I move my Zon to another room where he can't see his cage he is a complete sweetheart. In the room with the cage though...he is a bit nippy still. I believe he sees the whole room as "his space". When he is in what he percieves as my space he is much better behaved. With time he will let me touch him more and more in "his space", he is already letting me give him scratches through the cage bars and some while he is out on his tree stand. Just be patient and don't expect too much too soon. It will come.
Rhonda

Birds hide their illnesses quite well and usually when we see that something is wrong then they ARE VERY SICK.

Don't take any chances, GET THIS BIRD TO A CERTIFIED AVIAN VET.

As the others suggest, you have to take quaker to a certified vet. It is not normal for the parrot to be acting in such a way because it had not acted like that before. Something has to be seriously wrong, because if he would have been uncomfortable living with you and your family then it would have acted like this since then. I can make a comparison to a baby that cannot speak yet, babies are only fussy when they need something and you know their moods after a while; if they begin throwing a fit all day then you know they are trying to tell you something which is when you then take them to visit a doctor. I hope this helps.