Condo construction?

john8terry

New member
Jan 24, 2019
64
7
Serious question: Have any of you given your QP a huge bundle of twigs and told him/her to go at It? I've seen several YouTube videos of QPs engaged in some serious(!) urban renewal.
Good idea? Bad idea? Comments before I give Consuela, my QP, a very big present?

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noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
Not all sticks are safe: 1) there is the possibility of poison wood--some wood is toxic. 2) if the wood has been exposed to pesticides at any point, or if it grew near a road where it would contact run-off or winter salt, it's not safe. 3) then there are the parasitic, bacterial and fungal risks, which is why all SAFE wood should still be baked at 240-300 degrees F for like 40 -60 minutes and then cooled to room temp (depends on the thickness of the wood etc). Your bird doesn't have the same immune system as a wild bird, and cut wood almost immediately begins to break down with all sorts of nasty critters (mold, fungus, insects, bacteria etc).
 

cnyguy

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2010
1,021
464
Syracuse, NY
Parrots
Quaker parrot, Ralph
Ralph has some thin wooden dowels (bought at craft shops and home improvement stores) that are cut to 6 inch to 9 inch lengths. He likes to arrange and rearrange them, but doesn't seem interested in building a nest. After he gets them arranged the way he wants them, he'll squawk at me to pull them apart so he can start a new construction project. He has lots of fun building with his sticks (well cleaned before he gets to use them) and it keeps him busy. :)
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
This is a BAD idea because if your female does in-fact start building a "condo", aka a NEST, she is going to become extremely hormonal and possibly start laying eggs...To a Quaker Parrot their "condos" are their nests, and they build them for their families/babies, with them usually adding on to them during breeding-season. So that's a really bad idea due to the health risks of a female being hormonal and laying eggs.
 
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john8terry

New member
Jan 24, 2019
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7
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This is a BAD idea because if your female does in-fact start building a "condo", aka a NEST, she is going to become extremely hormonal and possibly start laying eggs...To a Quaker Parrot their "condos" are their nests, and they build them for their families/babies, with them usually adding on to them during breeding-season. So that's a really bad idea due to the health risks of a female being hormonal and laying eggs.
Best advice yet. I was afraid of that. She is only 8mos old, and I do not need these problems. SO . . . no general contracting licence for Consuela. Thank you very much.

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EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
This is a BAD idea because if your female does in-fact start building a "condo", aka a NEST, she is going to become extremely hormonal and possibly start laying eggs...To a Quaker Parrot their "condos" are their nests, and they build them for their families/babies, with them usually adding on to them during breeding-season. So that's a really bad idea due to the health risks of a female being hormonal and laying eggs.
Best advice yet. I was afraid of that. She is only 8mos old, and I do not need these problems. SO . . . no general contracting licence for Consuela. Thank you very much.

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Lol...Yeah, unfortunately a lot of people don't realize that those "Condos/Townhouses" that Quaker Parrots build are actually their nests...Quakers don't make separate, normal looking nests, what you see is what you get, lol. And again, you'll typically see them adding-on an addition or a new wing in the early Springtime and early Fall because they've got little-ones on the way, just like other birds make their nests during the same times. So if you give your Quaker Parrot construction materials to make a "Condo", it's no different than giving any other parrot/bird a bunch of bedding/wood-chips or shredded paper in the bottom of their cage, it's going to cause their hormones to go nuts and you'll definitely get a new Condo, but you'll also get a clutch of infertile-eggs...And at 8 months-old and being a female Quaker, I hate to be a party-pooper but the last thing you want is a chronic egg-layer, because it's not only bad for their overall-health as far as malnutrition and specific nutritional-deficiencies, but each egg is another possibility of your Quaker becoming Egg-Bound, which is 100% fatal without immediate medical-intervention, and the majority of the time this means major surgery and general-anesthesia...So obviously it's best to avoid giving your birds any type of "nesting material" or anything that they can use as nesting-materials, just like you shouldn't give them any types of Boxes, Tents, Hammocks, "Huts", Beds, etc. inside of their cage, because small, dark places that they can get inside of or underneath do exactly the same thing (such as furniture, getting behind pillows and underneath blankets, towels, etc. when outside of their cage)
 

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