Quaker possessed with me

Hello everyone.


First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is John and I am from Slovakia. Because of this, sorry for my english, but I´ll try my best We have 3yo Quaker and his behavior is becoming a big issue for us. Here is an entire story, thanks for reading.


Me and my fiancee bought him from breeder when he was 4 months old. From the beginning, he´s been very quite parrot and loves to cuddle with both of us. Now, he is about 3 years old and last six months, he´s suddenly started to be posessed with me – going everywhere I go, cuddle and playing only with me, ignoring my fiancee. However, the biggest problem is, when I am out of sight, he is ignoring everything and only thing he´s doing is screaming. When I am at work and my fiancee is with him, he is screaming all day long, refusing to play with her, or doing anything else. As soon, as I show, he calms down and starts to play with toys, eat, bath, etc. It does not matter if he is in the cage or outside, he is looking for me all day, screaming and totally ignoring her.


Why that sudden change of behavior and how to deal with it ? He liked us both in the past. Now, It´s excruciating for her to stay with him alone and nothing seems to help. This scream is driving her crazy. Thank you very much for help.

Hello and welcome!! I feel your frustration on this and hopefully some other members can chime in with some advice.

At 3 years old, your Quaker is now sexually mature, and it seems as though he has picked you as his 'mate'. Captive birds often do this with their caretakers and choose a favorite, and tend to ignore(and in some cases attack) other people. Your quaker is acting the same way a wild bird would if his mate were to fly out of sight -- he is clearly very bonded to you and is clearly very stressed while you are gone.

Unfortunately there may be no breaking this habit, it's kind of wired in their DNA to want to pair off and reproduce, lol. I'[m really hoping some other Quaker owners read this thread and can share some advice.

Also, quick question -- did you have a change in work or anything in the time that he has been with you? DId you switch shifts, or start working full-time, something like that? Some birds do not react well to changes like this, and he may be upset with you not being at home with him.

itzjbean said:

Also, quick question -- did you have a change in work or anything in the time that he has been with you? DId you switch shifts, or start working full-time, something like that? Some birds do not react well to changes like this, and he may be upset with you not being at home with him.

Click to expand...

Nothing like that. We moved to new flat a while ago, but it´s been a year already. The problem has started about six months ago, so I´m not sure about any connection between that. Nowadays, we thinking about give him to another Quaker, which is alone as well. Do you think it´s good idea?

It sounds like he is bonded with YOU..and is looking for you and missing you.
All I can advice is for your girl friend to be patient with him and work with him during the time you are not there,and not ignore him.

if you were to get him a "companion" he may bond to that bird and loose interest in you also..and that could bring on even more stress/problems.




Jim