Need Advice on Aggressive Quaker

PapayaTheQuaker

New member
Apr 6, 2020
10
0
Florida
Parrots
Quaker -Papaya
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this community but I'm very excited to be a part of it. I have an 8-month-old quaker that I've had for a couple of months now. I got Papaya from Petco they were actually about to transfer him to a different store and I told them to stop because I am getting him.

Nevertheless, he was super sweet when we first got him. He would step up etc but I rushed the process and tried handling him too much when I shouldn't have. Now I created a very aggressive bird. He bites and he hisses and he screams. I used to work a lot so I didn't have time to train him to fix these behaviors like I have been wanting too but now I have all the time in the world and these behaviors need to stop.

I have been able to gain his trust back slowly, he lets me pet him and give him treats, etc. I bought him another cage so it will be his sleep cage so he will have his daytime cage with all his toys and at night he will go to the other cage, I read that was good.

I cannot stop the biting though. I cannot stop the hissing and screaming if he's mad at me. He refuses to step up. He bites my fingers and bites any perch that goes near him. I'm trying clicker training but how can I do that if I can't get him to do the behavior? How can I make my bird stop biting me? And I mean truly biting me like all he does is bite everything. I don't know if I gave him too many toys and I need to remove some? Please help I've watched so many videos and I tried saying no, but that doesn't work and I dont want to spray water. If you have any advice I would really appreciate it!
 

Amsterdam

New member
Sep 8, 2018
565
23
Turkey
Parrots
..
man.. i wish i could help you but i have no experience with quakers as i read in your post you are willing to learn im sure you will get there!! just have some patience untill one of our more experienceds members can help you out
 

OzBlue

New member
Apr 5, 2020
46
0
Parrots
Quaker - named Blue, but actually green :D
Hey Papaya, good to read someone else is on the Quaker journey. I've got a 7 month old that I just recently brought back. I'm also trying to learn how and where to shape behaviour. Initially i fed her through the bars of the cage, which eventually allowed me to open the cage door and feed her from my hand. Trying to do the step up thing has/is difficult, haven't gotten there myself. Not sure if it's because its 7 months old and has had bad experiences with people handling her before but yeah, very warry of fingers and if she can't reach the food that i'm trying to lure her with, she'll just bite the closest finger she can and then move off in annoyance.
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
10,702
USA
Parrots
Full house
Hello welcome,
I love quakers. But their are challengrs, they like to make noise a LOT, so get them saying words and phrases , as that's easy to take. They are very very smart! And social! Therefore they are prone to behavior problems, like scream, like plucking, like Quaker mutilation syndromes. They as soon as they become adults are very cage agressive. You have to accept they are cage agressive, and work around that. Mine won't even take treats through the cage bars. If I put my hand in the cage while they are in there,the scream and bite. Outside of the cage they snuggle, and are very sweet. You can click my name and look at my albums.

I recommend reading all the past Quaker posts, under the Quaker sub forum. So.e days we thi k of things to say, and some days more people reply to different posts. This thread I broke down the basic behavior shaping. So give it a read
http://www.parrotforums.com/quakers/83780-help-needed-new-quaker.html

Begs shaping works on all species. It's shaping the mind to move towards you in a positive way. The little tiny steps are important , if you loose ground you can go back to the beginning.

Quakers need a lot of social contact. If you have them in a snuggle mood , snuggle them till they are full up on snuggles.

They are an active species,I think k keeping them flighted helps. Having several hangout spots and activities spots in the house helps. Teach foraging, teach how to play with toys. Also have stuff that can chewed ripped up in one setting. Make puzzle toys or buy them. One thing g that is easy and mine never get tired of. I thread a bunch of little plastic toy, hoops, rings on a long stick, and attach horizontal, they live to work each thing off the long stick. Then I thread everything back again. I recommend at least five different types of toys in the cage, and more on top of the cage, and at play stations, and more held in reserve to rotate out. Toys that slide up and down, toys that make noise, puzzle toys, easy to shred stuff, ( like an old paperback book, foot toys they can carry around. Papper straws, or popcicle sticks that they can build with, a treasure box they can try and pull stuff out of, a cup of plastic bottle caps. You've got to keep theses guys busy.

They also need a lot of interaction, as they are gregarious by nature, living in huge flocks, in an apartment like community. Mine need to seem an hour each of petting, scritches, and kisses, and a couple of hours hitching a ride on my shoulder, and an hour foraging, a couple of hours on top of the cage tearing stuff up lol.
 

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