Young Chewing Quaker

Hi, I got a new Quaker 3 days ago and I'm naming it Bailey. Not sure if it's a boy or girl unfortunately. It is quite young so is small at the moment - only slightly bigger than my budgies. I was surprised by how smart this species was. It has learnt target training, clicker training and how to step up on a perch already . However, the problem is that it has a habit of chewing on my fingers and it chews quite hard, enough to have drawn blood twice. I don't think it is chewing on me from fear or anger. It is fluffed up like birds are when they are relaxed and it doesn't try to walk away when I put my finger near it. Actually it comes up to the bars of the cage when I talk to it and tries to grab onto the door to get me to open it. I also don't think it is territorial of its cage, which I heard Quakers can be, because when I took it to my budgies play gym away from its cage and it still tried to bite. I'm wondering if young Quakers or parrots in general go through a stage where they like to chew on things? My budgie Jay used to chew on my hand but he stopped doing it when he got older. If this is just a stage it will it get past it eventually? Should I just wait for it to stop or is there anything I can do to teach her it is wrong? So far I have tried ignoring it, but it is too sore to let it continue as it just chews harder. I have also tried waiting until it stops trying to chew on me then rewarding it with a treat for stopping. Now I just try and push its beak away from my skin with my finger and say no. If you have any idea how I can handle this problem I would really appreciate it!

Welcome! Beautiful baby! FYI, it will take him, at most, a week to escape that cage! Make plans now! They really are smart buggers!

I also just got a quaker a few days ago and he's also been quite a biter! I haven't done any clicker training yet, but he seems to have already started to realize that I don't like the bites and has been less intent on chewing my flesh. I haven't done anything special, just told him to watch that beak and reduced his opportunities to grab on. If you look at about the 2:00 mark in the first video I have posted in my new quaker thread you can see me denying him that tasty knuckle. Soon as he starts to grab I tighten the skin up so he can't get a good bite. I can't promise he won't make me bleed tomorrow but so far he seems to be quickly gaining respect for daddy.

Pretty bird and I like the name Bailey too!

Flboy said:

Welcome! Beautiful baby! FYI, it will take him, at most, a week to escape that cage! Make plans now! They really are smart buggers!

Click to expand...

Thanks! Planning to get a more Quaker-proof cage later lol Heard they can be quite mischievous

TexasWade said:

I also just got a quaker a few days ago and he's also been quite a biter! I haven't done any clicker training yet, but he seems to have already started to realize that I don't like the bites and has been less intent on chewing my flesh. I haven't done anything special, just told him to watch that beak and reduced his opportunities to grab on. If you look at about the 2:00 mark in the first video I have posted in my new quaker thread you can see me denying him that tasty knuckle. Soon as he starts to grab I tighten the skin up so he can't get a good bite. I can't promise he won't make me bleed tomorrow but so far he seems to be quickly gaining respect for daddy.

Pretty bird and I like the name Bailey too!

Click to expand...

Must be a thing amongst quakers lol. Good that your Quaker is starting to learn not to, mine is showing no signs of stopping haha. Guess its early stages yet. I show Bailey the back of my hands sometimes when it bites and it helps a lot. Thought Bailey would be a good name that fits even if it turns out to be a boy or girl