Hi! My partner and I have a new quaker parrot, Tyrande, she is about 8-9 months old and we have had her for about a month. Prior to that she was in a pet shop, the only pet shop that is anywhere near us that sells quaker parrots, basically wild with several other quakers in the small cage. She doesn't seem terrified of us, but she definitely shy's away from us if we ever approach and will not come anywhere near either of us. I'm not sure if I'm not doing the right things to get her more used to us, or if I'm just being impatient.
Inside her cage, when she sees either of us approach the cage she will back up to the very back top corner of the cage. I've slowly gotten her to eat from a long millet spray I was holding at the cage door once a day for about a week and a half, but she still stays as far away from it as she could and wouldn't follow it onto another perch as I see so many training videos show.
We talk to her all day, and leave her cage open most of the morning-afternoon, and during that time she either stays inside the cage or she stays on the perches on top of it and doesn't often explore the house, and never flies near us. When she is on top of her cage, we cannot approach her at all. I cannot attempt to give a treat or millet spray, she will just climb to the opposite side of the cage if she thinks we're going to get anywhere near her, or sometimes fly to the kitchen and back. She /always/ goes back to the cage though, so she clearly feels safe there I guess.
As for the cage placement, my partner works from home at a desk about 5 feet away from where the cage is, so she is seems comfortable with our presence in general, but if we pay any attention to her, she shys away. On the other hand, it does seem almost like she wants our attention because she isn't loud most of the time, just small noises, but SPECIFICALLY when we're on phone calls or conference calls she SQUAWKS LIKE CRAZY, and sometimes the same when I leave the room during the day.
My overall concern is that because she was already 8 months living as a wild bird in a cramped pet shop that she'll never be "tame". I see lots of people talk about their pet adoption experience where they visit the bird and help hand tame them from the time they're babies, they cage train them for like 3-4 weeks after they're weaned before taking them home, etc, but this pet shop, a man literally just walked up to a cage, snatched our bird out of it, and put her in a cardboard box for us to take home. I love her already, but I feel like I made a mistake buying her there, and that I should have traveled further to find a shop that has a better adoption process.
Am I just being impatient? Do I need to adjust what we're doing? Any guidance super appreciated!
Inside her cage, when she sees either of us approach the cage she will back up to the very back top corner of the cage. I've slowly gotten her to eat from a long millet spray I was holding at the cage door once a day for about a week and a half, but she still stays as far away from it as she could and wouldn't follow it onto another perch as I see so many training videos show.
We talk to her all day, and leave her cage open most of the morning-afternoon, and during that time she either stays inside the cage or she stays on the perches on top of it and doesn't often explore the house, and never flies near us. When she is on top of her cage, we cannot approach her at all. I cannot attempt to give a treat or millet spray, she will just climb to the opposite side of the cage if she thinks we're going to get anywhere near her, or sometimes fly to the kitchen and back. She /always/ goes back to the cage though, so she clearly feels safe there I guess.
As for the cage placement, my partner works from home at a desk about 5 feet away from where the cage is, so she is seems comfortable with our presence in general, but if we pay any attention to her, she shys away. On the other hand, it does seem almost like she wants our attention because she isn't loud most of the time, just small noises, but SPECIFICALLY when we're on phone calls or conference calls she SQUAWKS LIKE CRAZY, and sometimes the same when I leave the room during the day.
My overall concern is that because she was already 8 months living as a wild bird in a cramped pet shop that she'll never be "tame". I see lots of people talk about their pet adoption experience where they visit the bird and help hand tame them from the time they're babies, they cage train them for like 3-4 weeks after they're weaned before taking them home, etc, but this pet shop, a man literally just walked up to a cage, snatched our bird out of it, and put her in a cardboard box for us to take home. I love her already, but I feel like I made a mistake buying her there, and that I should have traveled further to find a shop that has a better adoption process.
Am I just being impatient? Do I need to adjust what we're doing? Any guidance super appreciated!
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