January 5, 2007

Parrots Do Love A Routine - Cute Story

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane

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December 11, 2006

Those Clever Quaker Parrots

Note: Seven years ago or so, I wrote a series of articles that appeared in the Quaker Parakeet Society's quarterly newsletter. This is the third of those articles.

Recently one of my Quakers said something so very appropriate that he had me once again deep in thought over how easily these birds pick up our language. It was one of those situations where I did not directly teach him these two phrases, especially not together in the way he used them. Instead, his intellect and language skills allowed him to put the two phrases together in a way that was very meaningful.

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane

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November 30, 2006

Bringing Home Your Baby Quaker Parrot

Note: Seven years ago or so, I wrote a series of articles that appeared in the Quaker Parakeet Society's quarterly newsletter. This is the second of those articles.

Few things are more exciting than bringing home a new baby Quaker Parrot. Even for those of us who have multiple birds, bringing home a new baby is a day we look forward to with great anticipation. Whether you are a first time bird owner or not, some planning should occur before the happy day arrives.

The obvious things to consider include choosing a name, cage, toys and brand of food. However, more important than these things is the need to plan what you want to teach your young parrot during its first year. Because your bird is no longer with its natural parents or the breeder, it is now your job to be your bird's parent and teach it everything it needs to know to live successfully in your household. The following list should provide a place to start when planning your baby Quaker's education.

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane

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November 10, 2006

Living With Quaker Parrots Article 1

Note: Seven years ago or so, I wrote a series of articles that appeared in the Quaker Parakeet Society's quarterly newsletter. This is the first of those articles, and I will be publishing the others over the coming weeks. I hope you enjoy them.

As I sit down at the computer to write the very first column for Living with Quakers, I find myself under the weather with the flu - not exactly the auspicious start that I had hoped for! Not surprisingly, it took only a few times of hearing my hacking cough before I had several Quaker Parrots coughing right along with me. Hearing those little Quaker coughs is something that almost always makes me laugh. Isn't it amazing how quickly they pick up on something like that?

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane

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November 2, 2006

Quaker Parrot Intelligence

by Beth Eldridge, Flying Colors Aviary

Just how intelligent is a Quaker? This question is one I am frequently asked by people thinking of bringing a Quaker Parrot into their lives and homes.

The answer that I give is based on years of living with these incredible birds. I say: "They are smarter than you are."

How did I arrive at this conclusion? Well… let's see…

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane

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October 26, 2006

Rosacea is Much More Than a Red Face

Can you imagine a disease where you can't be out in the sun for more than a few minutes at a time?

Can you imagine a disease where you can no longer drink alcohol or eat spicy foods?

Can you imagine a disease where you have to be in a controlled environment of a cool 65-70 degrees 365 days a year/24 hours a day because anything warmer than that causes your disease to worsen?

Can you imagine a disease that causes nerve damage to your face that in turn causes burning and pain when the above "triggers" occur or sometimes for no reason at all?

Filed under Health by Shelly Lane

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October 16, 2006

Parrot Taming That Works

In the past, I have used the towel method to work with biting birds, and it is something that seems to work especially well for Quaker Parrots. I even had a Quaker given to me that loved men but absolutely hated women, and by using this method of taming I was able to get him to allow me (a woman) to handle him.

There are a couple of reasons why I use and recommend this method of taming parrots. First and most importantly, it works very well. Second, it is a gentle method of taming that builds trust between both the human and the bird. Last, it allows an owner to tame a parrot while almost completely eliminating the chance for the owner to be bitten. Personally, I like this third reason a lot!

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane

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October 12, 2006

Liver Disease, Sprouts & Aloe Detox: One Bird's Story

Back in May of 2004, we had quite a scare with River, one of our Quaker Parrots. He was about 7 years old at the time. Looking back, his beak was slightly overgrown for a while leading up to this crisis, but apparently not enough that I thought it might be a problem. Another thing I observed is that he would sometimes have what appeared to be a bruise on his beak, and he would also have sores on his feet from time to time. I found out later that these are classic symptoms of liver disease.

I think one of the reasons I wasn't concerned is that I've had River since he was 3 months old or so and had always fed him a good diet of pellets along with a small amount of fruits and veggies. In fact, for the 3 or 4 years prior, I had been feeding my birds low-fat pellets. Most if not all of the birds with fatty liver disease that I had heard of had been on seed diets. So unfortunately, I just never put these symptoms together.

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane

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October 1, 2006

How Long Do Quaker Parrots Live?

I have watched my small dog age and slow down over the last couple of years. She is 13, and while I am grateful for the years we have had, I dread that day not too far in the future when we will have to say goodbye to her.

One thing I've always liked about parrots is that most species have longer life spans than dogs and cats. If you are reading this article, you probably feel the same as I do - that 10-15 years is just too short a time with a treasured pet before we have to say goodbye. So how long do Quaker Parrots live? Actually, I think there are two things we need to discuss in regards to this question.

How long can Quaker Parrots live?
How long do Quaker Parrots live?

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane

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September 18, 2006

Metal Toxicity and Parrots

I am re-posting this story about a special bird named Chit Chat. It's an important reminder of how quickly our parrots can get into trouble. The following was written by Chit Chat's owner, Angela Rolland.

Our nightmare started on Friday, April the 30th, 1999.

Damian and I had been extremely busy the previous weeks, me with QPS (Quaker Parakeet Society) stuff and Damian with building an extravagant iguana cage for some friends. He was using hardware cloth that was coated with zinc. Usually we deoxidize any kind of wiring that we bring into the house but this being for an iguana and not our pet we didn’t do it. However, we did instruct the owners of the iguana to do it after all this has happened. Damian completed the cage Friday afternoon, cleaned up his mess and took the cage to our friends.

Filed under Parrots by Shelly Lane