Help....Biting and frightened Quaker?

Hi
New to the forum and a new Parrot owner.
We have a 5 month Quaker bought from a pet store who hand rear the birds. He is great and we have had him for about a week but although the store told us we can start to teach him to step up now he doesn't want to know at all. He has the cage, loads of toys and we talk tio him all the time and when he's in the cage he seems fine. He eats and drinks, screams alot, and as long as the cage door is shut he seems fine.
If we open the cage door and try and gently approach him to start to teach him to step up he just flies to the back of the cage and clings on to the back of the back, shaking like crazy! We love him to bits and all we have done is talk to him, give him lots of fresh fruit and want to start to start to train him but to be honest as new bird owners, we are lost as he just wants to bite when we go anywhere near him. I've looked at loads of videos on the internet and seen a number of books but are these any good? Is this normal for the bird of 5 months or is it just us he doesn't like! Any suggestions or advice for a new ownerwould be greatly appreciated. We just want the bird to be happy and enjoy being with his new family. Thanks, Mark

Ok, so I have done plenty of research and spent dollars on numerous training techniques. Will bird take fruit from your hand if you put it through the cage? If so, thats a great bonus. Try clicker training. Get a chopstick and use a clicker. If the bird walks towards the stick, click and offer a reward. It depends on his feelings towards eating from your hand. Let us know and we can further assist, or try to.

I have baby boy Quaker, got him just after he was weaned. His cage is right by my bed. This first day I took him out and have ever since then. After about 2 months he is just learning to go "up" when I say up. He gently climbs up on my hand, but only when he wants to. I just have been gently lifting him out of the cage ever since I got him. Now he will just go to the door in the morning when he wants out to say hi to me. at the times I do lift him out gently he shakes a little at first then I let him snuggle in my jacket or he perches on my head or shoulder , they also like to bite your rings on your fingers. He really feels comfortable on the computer desk when I am on the computer and climbs all over me. I clipped his wings the second day I had him, otherwise they might fly and hit walls, mirrors, etc and hurt themselves.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and feedback.An update! The bird still is afraid of my hand and will not step up, as soon as he sees a finger or hand coming towards him he backs away, however, I can put my face close to him, he doesn't bite, he will fly around when he wants to and land on my shoulder without a problem, and he will sit on the sofa for ages!! He just won't step up and is afraid of a hand from anyone....think a little progress is being made, guess it's just taking time....he is brill though!

Terry36887 he will take treats from us and fruit as well and come towards our hands to take them, but if we try and touch him he backs off or fly's away!

Mine was the same-- took treat from me, came forward but would back off and bite if I tried to get him to step up with my fingers.
I tried clicker training and put my hand really low so he would touch my hand to get the treat. He was less frighten of my hand; but still, he wouldn't step up.

Then one day, I had my forearm in front of him, he just hopped on. He has been stepping up to my forearm for months; but he would back off and bite if I try using my hand. I just wanted to share that with you.

It will be a long process, I would leave trying to touch him for a while until a lot further down the track. Just use that chopstick to entice him to get on your hand. Just dont push it, coz if you do then instead of taking one step forward, you are taking two steps back. Persevere, take it REAL slow. Let us know how it goes

Hi,

I'm in a similar position with my IRN, I have found target training to be super beneficial.
Start off by just clicking and offering him a treat. Do this for a full day. It will condition the click noise to mean he's being treated.
Then add the chopstick and click and treat whenever he goes near it, touches it etc. once you can get him targeting all over his cage. You can have him target slowly around your hand, not onto it, but around it to get used it. Put the stick end on your palm and let him just touch without grabbing or danger.

Then you can progress to taking the chopstick a little further back and seeing if he will distracted enough and jump on your arm.

Best of luck!

I have Mattire Sue Athans Guide to the Quaker Parrot too and would also suggest it. It will help you understand how he feels about his cage. We don't take ours out - we just open the door, but he loves attention. He is 5 months old too.

But we do have something that might help you. I'm in the UK but even if youa ren't you might be able to find something similar. We have the Trixie 5661 Natural Living Playground from amazon UK. This sits in front of his cage and the door opens onto it like a bridge. He loves to come out and rip up the bark, climb about etc... but once out he is ever so much easier to pick up. If you can't get tehm where youa re they must have some kind of bird playground.

Also mine is now wonderful with me, but he was scared of me at first. Not my husband or even the children and he was rehomed for not getting along with the children in the last family, but me. I didn't try to lift him until recently about 2.5 weeks. I just walked by and coaxed him close for a bit of food, spoke to him nicely and left. I never touch him even now unless he calls me or approaches me, but he does call for me quite often now, and seems very happy for my attention as well. I just had to let him get used to me. Only problem now is I have long hair which he seems to want to take out to play with, and he tickles but he is lovely. I'm sure a few treats and kind words will bring him around soon

Try putting the cage on the floor as well my bird knew how to step up but would bite and hide when I stuck my hand in his cage, as soon as I put his cage on the floor he calmed down and stepped up, also maybe try teaching him him a stick or a perch to coax him out, good luck!

From my personal experience, quakers are slower than other species when it comes to accepting new things, toys, food, people, cages. They tend to take weeks or months instead of days. Not to say they aren't intelligent, they are wonderful birds and very clever, just require a longer adjustment period. A lot of quakers prefer not to be handled a lot and some have a real problem with hands. Going slow with training will pay off when the bird is older. Try to match your birds pace instead of pushing it too much. Most quakers are easier to train away from their cages and some will readily step up on a perch when they refuse to step up on a hand. Given enough patience they will surprise you with what they are capable of learning. Good luck with your new friend.

I have found that when I use slower movements over-all helps and lining fingers up with the end of the perch so that they step off the perch to your finger w/out recognizing it....I haven't had much of a problem with Cosmo so far except that he'll sometimes use the beak or one foot to steady himself. That means he's looking spread eagle or bat like...lol One foot stepped up and one elsewhere. Sometimes he gets it right quickly and sometimes it's awkward and he is still clumsy....lol He had a tough time learning when/how to step off but he's finally got a handle on it well enough that we get by....

I just finished reading the book about Captive birds by Mira Tweti, or should I say I cried thru most of it. Reading about how these birds are captured, mistreated and smuggled into the country is appalling but not much less so than the ones that are bred here in the states and sold before they are even weaned and are sold sick and/or terrified of humans. the horrendous way the breeders treat the breeding pairs is disgusting. Now I wonder how my 28 year old yellow nape came to be......captured in the wild and mistreated or bred and mistreated? Read this book and it will completely change your perspective on why so many of these birds self mutilate and have a fear of human hands.