The Best Quaker Parrot Diet
by Kyra Brown
Because diet affects the length and quality of life of pet birds, it’s important to feed the best diet possible to our Quaker Parrots. And while it’s true that even the experts still argue over what is the best diet, here is one Quaker owner’s opinion on the subject. A list of toxic foods is included at the bottom of the article.
“What you put in is what you’ll get out”, is an old expression that still rings true today, especially as it pertains to the diet of Quaker Parrots. Perhaps you have already owned a bird, or two, or three, or more in your life and already know all there is to know about diet as it relates to health in the companion parrot, and if so, Congratulations! You have outdone avian medicine, breeder study, and science all together.
What I am trying to say is that no one has proven a 100% guaranteed, healthy, risk-free way to feed a captive parrot as of yet. Our responsibility as birdie parents is simply to provide the most well balanced, planned, variety of healthy foods possible to our Quakers, and then hope for the best.
Feeding a Variety of Foods
General consensus among bird enthusiasts, avian medicine, and professional breeders is that a pellet based diet is superior to a seed based diet and any possible drawbacks to the pellet based diet are far surpassed by the potential benefit.
What do I mean by “pellet based”? Just like it sounds, the diet is centered on a constant offering of high quality companion parrot pellet food, with a generous offering of fresh unseasoned vegetables, fruits, dairy, carbohydrates, and protein. Sound familiar? It should!
Simply put, our Quakers should eat as we should. Not as we do, however. Quakers are somewhat prone to fatty liver disease and hypertension, and therefore it is extremely important to offer them only foods that are low in saturated fats and sodium (salt). There is some debate over the ratio in which our birds should eat, but it is somewhere between 60%/40% pellets-fresh food and 80%/20% pellets/fresh food. Your Quaker will probably set its own pace somewhere within that acceptable range.
To Feed Seeds or Not
Does this mean that Quaker Parrots never eat bird seed? NO! Anyone who denies their Quaker both the pleasure of cracking seed and the dietary benefit of variety, is, in my opinion, doing their bird a terrible injustice. Cracking seed is a natural bird behavior, an excellent behavioral enhancer, and, well, just the right bestowed by wearing feathers. It is essential to feed only a superior quality, well stored, low fat seed, however. This would preferably be a parakeet (Budgie) mixture that does not contain sunflower seeds.
Sunflower and pumpkin seeds in bird seed are very high in fat and should be reserved for the occasional “special treat” food only. Wild bird and human prepared seeds are loaded in salt and should never be offered your Quaker. Premium seed mixtures for parakeets should be available at the dealer where you purchase your pellets and should be offered as approximately a 10% dietary supplement, preferably mixed in with the pellets. My Quaker, Tango, loves to pick through his food dish, and I have never had a problem with him only wanting the seed. Remember though, Oats are a grain, or carbohydrate, and not a seed. Quakers love them, but they should be fed in moderation as well.
As with any bird, your Quaker will crack open the seed, eat the contents, and leave the hull behind. Quite often this gives the visual impression that the bird has not eaten any or all of the seed, although there may be nothing left behind but the “suitcase”. Check this thoroughly when deciding whether or not your Quakers food needs replacing.
The Importance of Clean Water
All birds must be offered a constant supply of fresh, clean drinking water. It is simply a bird trait to soil the water dish, and you will just have to get used to changing it many times every day. If at all possible, it is probably healthiest to provide your parrot with bottled non-carbonated mineral water. If you must use tap water for your bird you should bring it to a rapid boil first and allow it to cool before placing it in the container. This will help destroy potentially toxic bacteria that grow in the water as it sits in the house pipes and also boils out many of the chemicals added at the water treatment plant. Although we humans are able to tolerate many of these substances, our body mass is substantially larger and our significantly smaller avian friends are not as adept.
Further, another option is to offer your Quaker a birdie bottle, which is a plastic, gravity fed water bottle with an incorporated stopper to prevent food from being inserted through the tip, blocking the gravity feed. Many Quakers adjust well to these bottles, and if you work all day, this a great option. Do not remove your Quakers water dish when not at home until you know for sure your bird has adjusted to the bottle, and be sure to change the water inside the bottle frequently as well, even if there is a lot left.
It is not alright to let your bird drink contaminated, soiled, foul water no matter how many pet stores you see that allow it. If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t allow your baby to. Also, it is not necessary, nor is it healthy, to add vitamins to your birds drinking water. Most vitamins oxidize in the water after a very short period of time and are actually contaminating it!
Eating is a Flock Activity
Eating is not only a means to achieve nutrition and energy, eating is a very social activity for birds as it is for us human kind. Most Quaker Parrots truly enjoy eating with their families, and I think this is preferable whenever possible. There is an excellent bird behavior specialist/author who claims that certain birds have suffered from anorexia for being denied the right to participate in meal time with their human flock-mates. Participating in mealtime is also desirable because most Quakers eat fairly small portions several times a day and breakfast and lunch with the family will provide your Quaker the opportunity to enjoy freshly prepared human food at least twice a day.
Things to Avoid
There are several things already mentioned that are bad for your birds, fatty foods, salty foods, moldy or otherwise unfit foods should all be avoided. There are certain things that present an even more immediate danger to your Quakers health and should NEVER be allowed. These include caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and nicotine. These things are bad for you, and deadly for your bird. Although some people do allow their Quakers to taste their beer and other (mind altering) things, there is truly no need for this, and I do not understand why you would take the risk. You have the ability to make an educated decision about what you consume, your Quaker does not.
Harmful Foods for Parrots
The following foods are toxic to your Quaker: Avocadoes, chocolate, apple seeds, and the pits of most fruits, i.e. cherry, peach, etc. Do not allow your bird to consume these three things under any circumstances. Some Quakers have ingested chocolate without harm, but others have died within hours. Please avoid that possibility.
Hi, My Quaker, Kaleef, has just be diagnosed with the fatty liver disease. His beak has grown almost twice it’s normal length. We are heartbroken and have adjusted his diet per the avian vet to just veggies, pellets, and no snacks, now he is heartbroken.!! I am looking into the china prairie sprout diet. Anyone had experience with this diet for the fatty liver problem? Thanks for any help, suggestions or advice. Janice
hi i’m very worried about my quacker lucky i don’t know if its a boy or girl but lucky has lost all his feathers around his neck i don’t know what to do for him to get his feathers to grow back
Hi all. I’ve recently adopted a young (hand-raised) Quaker. I see that many strongly suggest a pellet-based diet supplemented with seed, veggies, etc. Can anyone suggest a brand of pellet-based food? Or, if not, what sort of pellet mix should I be looking for (i.e. what kind of pellets)?
Similarly, is there a particular brand of seed-based food that stands out among the various labels available?
Thanks much.
Bryan and Jojo.
I have “adopted” my daughter’s Quaker – about 4 years old now. I think he is male as first thing in the morning (in the summer I’d catch him masturbating on his rope toy). He didn’t like being interrupted and didn’t say “Good morning” until it was over (and he’d had a bit of a rest and a puff afterwards). He does the strutting and the squawking as well which I believe is of male behaviour. BUT he can sometimes do the back arching – which is a female behaviour. But I think the male behaviour definitely overrides the female behaviour. We bath him in a wide shallow casserole dish, after he sees the sink fill up and hears the water, if it’s warm, he said “Have a bath??”, so then this prompts us to get the bath out. He has favourite tunes, which I sing to him at certain times, and he repeats them. He says “good night” when it’s time for bed. When guests are here and we’re about to say goodbye, he knows and starts saying “Good bye – bye – bye”. He has a huge repertoire of sayings. Regarding FOOD – he’s on a mixed small wild parrot seed, but after reading the above, this is wrong. He doesn’t eat the millet though. I’ve tried him on pellets, but he doesn’t like them. I should try them again. Also, he insists on getting what I’m cutting up for dinner – carrots, beans, capsicum seed, pumpkin seeds, celery, some lettuces. He is very possessive and has at times, acted like an attack parrot towards male visitors. We wouldn’t be without him and now I really don’t want my daughter to take him back as I will miss him too much. I also have a young Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kaleb. Bro is always chasing Kaleb around the house and one day, I’m scared he’s going to get cornered and I won’t get there in time. I have to be very careful. Bro is just so enthusiastic and thinks he’s bigger than he is. Thanks for this site, Jenny, Bro and Kaleb
Replying to the person with a cat and a bird. I have three cats and two of those cats could care less about my birds. But one cat, my Winslow…We watch him closely. All birds
are out during the daytime hours and at night all are closed up in their cages and covered for bedtime. Never have had a problem with that system. So I think you just need to come up with a system and watchful eye. Thats worked for us. Our oldest bird we ve had for 18years. So it can work. I have also trained the birds that when they fall off their cage or playgymn to go right back over to their exit point and all dogs and cats keep their position. And while that sounds a bit crazy, being calm and assertive everyone seems to respect everyones space. And we have several animals and it works. Good luck
how do you make birdie bread?
Here are 2 recipes
Birdy Bread
2 Cups Cornmeal ( can use 1 cup ground up pellets as a substitute for one cup cornmeal)
1 cup Flour
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
2 Eggs
4 Tsp. Baking powder No salt or Sugar
Water to make into pancake like consistency.
Then stir in any of the following: chopped Broccoli, apples, applesauce,Baked & mashed Sweet potato,Drained whole Kernel Corn ( can also use canned pumpkin), a couple T. peanut butter, carrots, mashed Banana, or cooked & mashed pumpkin.
Pour into a greased 9″ X13″ pan and bake for about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Toothpick will come out clean. I let cool and cut up into large pieces and put in large zip lock baggies and put in freezer and only take out one at a time to feed –You shouldn’t have to make it very often.
Bean Soup Mix for Birds
1 Pkg of 15 Bean Soup Mix ( don’t use the seasonings mix)
2 cups brown / white rice, cooked
2 Cups of frozen Green Beans
2 Cups of frozen Mixed Veggies
Clean Beans and put in large pot for cooking. Put just enough water in to cover beans ( may have to ad more if cooked too hot). Simmer for about 45-50 minutes. The beans may not be soft all the way thru–should not be too soupy. Ad other ingredients and put small amount of bean mix into Zip lock bags–Zip shut and flatten out mix, then layer or pat out mix until it looks like a bumpy pancake.–put these into the freezer–take out and break into small pieces and serve to birds.
My birds are enjoying it so far.
Hi, we have a 5month old green quaker his name is JoJo, we really don’t know if its a boy or girl, anyways we were wondering if we can feed him Jalepeno Peppers? I had read somewhere else they would feed their queakers peppers but we are wondering what kind?
Hi there
I feed my green quaker parrot seeds as well as a mixture of fruit and vegetables.He seems a lot more interested in the seed and I’m wondering if this is because his fruit is in a seperate bowl on the bottem of his cage. Should this be mixed with his seed?? or even place another large bowl next to the seed?
Just wondering what everyone does??
Thank you
Ellen,
we have 3 Quakers and an Eclectus. I have been told by several bird stores (where we purchase our food) that the seed is high and fat and although they prefer it, it is not healthy for them to eat all day. We give our quakers pellots in the daytime and seed at night before they go to bed. They have gotten used to this and eat both. We usually give them fruits and veggies in the morning – so they have kinda gotten used to this eating schedule, maybe this would work for your bird rather than giving them all three at the same time.
Hi there, OK so here I will leave some information on what I give my boy Wiji
In the morning
in the other bowl
After he nags me for pasta which he loves
-clean water in one bowl that has been washed well
-chopped up fruit (bit of apple, cucumber, tomatoe, sliced up grape and sliced up bell pepper and sometimes hot spicy chilli sliced up)just dont get a kiss from the boy after he has eaten the chilli…owch that burns…
-and I have just changed to Amazonian pellets which is best size for him, but spend about 3-5 mins a day getting most of but not all of the sunflower seeds out of it I leave about 3-5 of the very small ones behind (I use the ones I take out at a later time for traiing as a training treat)
then at about 5pm I remove the old fruit and veg and wash the bowl out for the next day, and he gets a warmed up dinner on a little plate for him to nibble on throughout the evening (all of this stuff is pre made and frozen in large quantaties) then defrosted in microwave so only takes 5 mins a night to sort out…
some
-corn,
-peas,
-tiny piece of plain chicken broken up to the size of the peas,
-some scrambled egg
-a sweet potatoe, veg and egg food mix, and
-a potato and veg mix,
he seems to enjoy this and has remained a stable 120grams now for the past year. the vet says he is healthy and to keep doing what i am doing and that is good enough for me (he is 2 years old now) (yes I spoil him, but the benefits I get far outweigh the effort I put in. I mean he plays basketball tenpin bowling, snuggles and ksses me… what more could I want)
at 7pm he does his 5-10 mins training or until he gets bored, this is when he gets his treat as training reward (sunflower seeds) bad seeds bad seeds…
at 8pm I remove the old water and replace it with fresh water and wash out hte water bowl for over night
at 9 pm he gets covered and goes to sleep for the night (11 hours sleep) and at 8am we start the process over again.
The only time he has millet is when travelling with me in the car or on very special occasions. Oh PS best thing I have bought for him is a thing called the Pak-o-bird for travelling… light and easy to carry I wouldnt be without it. just thought I would pop that in for general information. if you want to see him playing basketball or tenpin bowling he is on you tube, his name is Luigi and my you tube is cinzanno1 enjoy, or go to his web page listed http://www.belindaspage.co.uk/luigi.html all his litte tricks are here. I love him to bits and he deserves every minute of time I spend on him. I know you all feel this way, they are perfect little things. Oh one more thing, to get a DNA test just takes one drop of blood on a swab and sent off for annalasis. I would suggest you send away for a swab pack and have it at the ready for any blood you may get from your parrot, (mine happened to have been when his toe nail was trimmed a wee bit too short (silly ex husband), I immediatley placed the swab on his toe nail to stop the blood then sent it off… and one week later I found out I was the proud parront of a beautiful baby boy.
The people I used for this was the company I listed below and I think it was about £12 or there abouts,
MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES (MDS UK)
Point Four, Parsons Way, Winscombe,
North Somerset. BS25 1BT United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1934 844671
Email: Kathy@mds.uk.net
http://www.mds.uk.net
not sure if I am allowed to mention all these names of products I have mentioned but those ar my experiences good luck and I hope you are all still awake
What about kiwi (fruit)? Are there any implications given the seeds and core?
Can I feed my birds apples if there are no seeds in it? Also, can I feed my Quaker bananas and strawberries?
we have a 6 month old quaker, he wants to be out of his cage all th time, if he is in the cage he bites the bars(so annoying) and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
hi my mother found a quaker bird in the middle of the street injured badly!
we cannot afford a vet app. but we have noticed one of the eyes will not open and it has a very bad cracked beak with a broken foot, we cleaned the blood off of his feathers but it seems as if he ate something and it broke his beak his beak looks as if it were sealed shut! we are very worried about his diet he hasnt eaten because he cant (from the injuries of his beak) if anyyy of you have any information PLEASE HELP! i dont want this poor little fella to pass away!!
Hello. Strawberries I would stay away from but I wouuld say that bananas and apples are great choices. STAY AWAY FROM APPLE SEEDS OR PITS!! As for the quaker that is stubborn with stayin in the cage; routine routine routine!!! Stay on a consistant routine and don’t give in and let the parrot out of the cage as much as the quaker may bite and scream. As long as the quaker has time out of the cage, inside cage time, and people time he should be fine. Mine was the exacct same way, but once I put her into a routine and provided her with various toys, she has settled down. Toys are very important as well. You must provide a variety of toys and change the toys aorund every week. Provide toys that will satisfy all types of areas such as foreging toys, preening toys, wooden toys, rope toys etc. As for the poor quaker that was found on the road… try and see if there is a safe haven or a shelter that would be wiling to nurse the quaker back to heath… the only reason I suggest this is becasue it will take money to nurse this poor baby back to better conditions. I hope all works out!!!
I have had my baby a little over a year now. He has made friends with most of my family and has learned so many words and phrases and is singing Jesus Loves me now but the problem is he absolutely hates my 18 year old son. If my bird is out he will literally charge him and attack him biting hard enough to bring blood. I cannot figure it out. Any suggestions as to why and how we can turn this behavior around.
Hi, I’m a veterinary technician with avian experience. This article is great, HOWEVER, your birds food should be changed twice a day, no matter how much is left in the bowl, or how it looks. If you feed fruits and veggies, feed them in a separate bowl (they should only get 1 tablespoon of these once a day). Also, only do one layer of pellets on the bottom of the bowl, you won’t throw as much out this way, and it will be easier to monitor how much your bird is eating. If they finish them before it’s time to re-fill the bowl though, wash the bowl and re-fill it then, bird’s have very high metabolisms and need to be able to eat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or else they can get very sick. Great website though!
Hi. I love this site. I work at a high-end pet store. We sell several different kinds of birds and only the best products for all of Pets (family). I recently rescued, so to speak, a Quaker from a young College girl who bought the bird at 4 weeks old!! Yeah, I know. Anyway, I took him and brought him home and he is now 9weeks old. He is just about weaned. He still wants to be hand-fed a couple times of days. He is so smart. If you do things the right way, it is very easy to take care of these guys. Two weeks ago I got him the Zupreem Avian weaning cereal. They look like cheerios, but are made of the same ingredients as the hand feeding stuff. I soaked them in a small amount of warm fruit juice. (make sure it is 100% Juice, no added sugar) I put them in a small bowl in his smaller cage and covered three sides of his cage to keep down distractions. There are no toys in this cage. This is his Eating and Training cage. It took him about a week to figure them out. I recently gave him Zupreem fruit pellets and have repeated the same steps. He is still learning to eat those. He loves Millet and it’s a good way for him to practice, but I don’t let him have it too often. Next week I am going to start giving him fresh fruit and veggies. He is gaining weight and very happy. He has a smaller Sleep, eating, and training cage. He has a bigger cage that has toys and a play station. He loves to play. He also gets a good deal of one on one human contact. He spends time with my Husband and myself so that he doesn’t pick a “favorite” and I let friends hold him as well. It’s great to do that when you get them so that they don’t “attack” other people. Birds will become attached to one person if they spend most or all of their time with them. If you have any questions, you can contact me here or at Olliesmom4@yahoo.com. I will do my best to answer your questions.
Hi,
This is Christie…..just a tip: I have heard it is best to feed the healthy stuff (fruits, veggies, and pellets etc.) in the morning, afternoon, and early evening and then at night/later evening give them their treats (seeds etc.) so they are full and they don’t eat as much of the unhealthy stuff. Hope this helps:)
Why does my Quaker of 11 years suddendly have black discloration color on his beautiful green wings????
My quaker’s name is also Tango!!!!! Haha thats awesome.
Hi i have 3 quaker parrots Cocoa Lover and Pancho i got Cocoa a female first and with another one but the other flew away so i got Lover a male and then i had got Pancho as a gift later and hes a male and the first two mated. And had a great bond and then came Pancho my otger one and he mated with the girl Cocoa who mated with Lover in the past. And so Cocoa abd Lover began figting. She got her feathers pulled from her rear and bleed and soon on her eye and now she bites me when i tell her step up. And now Lover is the obe in the cage now and the other two outside . Is there a way to get Cocoa and Lover to be freinds again.? Pancho and Lover have a good friendship.
And how do i encorage my parrots to mate again and have egs. Because i want babies and how do i make the lighting food water space etc. And do i stip touching them and give them space.? Thabks
I have a Quaker Parrot named Buddy. He’s been with me 10 years or more. He is my best friend. He lives with me and I live by myself in an old house. In winter it is very cold, and in summer it is very hot. But he stays in the cage my brother built for him. It is 5′X 5′. He knows my routine from morning to night. When I first got this bird I had no idea he was so smart. I didn’t know birds were capable of intelligence. As time went by he taught me more than I knew. My bird was attacked by my girlfriend’s dog. That’s when I knew I was in love with Buddy. I didn’t know I was so attached to my Quaker. He got hurt and I took him to an Avian vet. I was lucky that my girlfriend was able to pay for Buddy’s care. It was very expensive. What bothered me was that if we had not had the money, Buddy would not have been seen by the vet and he would have died. I would like to be involved in a way to help people who cannot afford to take their beloved pets to the vet. Since Buddy has healed the vet says he could live another 20 years. He has the intelligence of a 5 year old child. I would like to see all animals get the second chance Buddy was given. If you would like to get in touch, please email me at mizligeia@hotmail.com.
I love reading about all the success and great attributes from Quaker Owners. I have had my Quaker for 24hrs!!!! I am a little put off that the breeder with whom my Husband got him from relinquished him with only being 5 weeks old. I have limited experience hand feeding. (Only once before with our Cockatiel (7weeks old) so I didn’t have to do it for long before he was eating away on his own. Now he is almost 6months). I am a little more nervous this time, but I will get through it. Any and all tips are much appreciated. Being a busy mom of 5 – I certainly need all the help with pre-made frozen meals for the Bird. I have to admit, I have not done so well with Fruits & Veggies with my Cockatiels (he has a seed & pellet diet).
I need tipps on home made cages and/or TOYS!!! I can not get over some of the prices of bird toys & accessories at the stores. So if anyone can send me more affordable DIY items – I would certainly appreciate that!!! (Especially since my kids could help in making them). Thanks, feel free to email me at jodi_bielinski@yahoo.com
my bird is a quaker parrot and my problem is that her beak is twisitng (I looked and the web says scissor beak) does anyone know what cause this or how to prevent it? We have taken her to the vet and he has trimmed it once but it is doing it again??
Thanks for the post. i just got my parrot and we put pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in the food. thankfully he is only a baby so he does not like pumpkin seeds and does not open sunflower seeds also in just three days we taught him to fly to my finger on my command.Keep info coming.
singed~luke and konrad
My Quaker parrot screams so loud all the time, the she interferes with the antenna signal on the TV!!!! Why? She has food and water, her cage is clean, with plenty of toys…why why why? She’s screaming now as I type this…HELP!
Oh and I forgot to say…I also spend time with her out of her cage…at least an hour a day..she gets plenty of sleep..I cover her cage around 8:30 at night and uncover it at 6:30 when I leave for work in the morning..really puzzled!
to nina your parrot is seeking attention, our parrot screams at tea time and we get annoyed so ur not the only one. if u shout at ur parrot it will make matters worst, just be nice to ur parrot and im sure the screaming will stop, it does with mine.
Hi im gill, my parrot talks to me. he is very clever if i ignore him he plays DEAD. at the bottom of the cage with his feet in the air. he does this to seek attention from me, and he likes me to tickle his head with my finger does ur do anything for attention?it is green and white. with a orange beak. hes a very good talker he can say quack quack like a duck. and be a good boy when hes naughty and he calls my dog a bitch!!!! ha ha bye
my parrot rings his bell everytime its dinner time. anyone would think im a servant. it say wee wee when i get up in the morning to let the dog out.how about that. how clever is ur parrot? my parrot is a good boy he eats when we eat our food, because in the wild parrots eat in flocks.
Thank you Katie…you’re advice was very helpful…it really worked!!!! Now my Choo Choo is alot more quiet..and I haven’t done deaf.
I just ignored her screaming ….talked quietly to her and now she even plays with her toys happily. Thanks again for the good advice from me AND Choo Choo.
i have a few questions i have had my quaker bibi for about a year now she bites everyone in the house besides me and my little brother, shes a sweet bird and i love her alot however she doesnt seem to talk much or play she used to be a wild bird and she was caught as a baby shes afraid of being held and afraid of any object she has never had contact with i don’t know what to do and how to get her to trust me please help
Now…having a hard time getting Choo Choo to eat pellets. I mixed them with his seed and oh boy…she was mad at me for that. So…once in a while when I let her out, in a separate little dish, I put some pellets there and she nibbles at them a little bit and then turns her little head around as if to say…yuck! I’ll keep trying to get her to eat those darn things because from what I read here and other places..she should be eating mostly that and then her fruits, veggies and a little seed. She LOVES those tiny seeds and just nibbles (mostly just tastes and spits out) apples, bananas. She eats whole wheat bread..sigh…but those pellets..no way!
I meant to say “HER” seed.oops
i have a quaker parrot he likes eatting everything i eat
I sprout for my birds and JoJo loves his sprouted mung beans. He gets them every morning and they are the first thing that he eats. He is also a big pellet eater and I feed him the Totally Organics Hookbill. He gets seeds at night only and his favourite treats are pine nuts which he gets in limited amounts. I feed fresh organic greens and some type of veggie/bean mixture that I fix fresh every few days. My birds also get steel cut oats, teff, brown rice, wheat berries, flax, chia, fresh fruit and whatever else I can offer that I eat. There are tons of foods to try for both you and your birds. It will take a while for JoJo to try new stuff but my parrotlet (who is a real foodie) tries everything right away. I also juice on a daily basis and offer drinks to the birds. Wheatgrass is really good for them too.
Hi there,
I have two beautiful Blue Quakers, I have had them now for about 2yrs, I feed them fresh fruit and Vegies morning and night, but alas I have been putting small parrot feed in their cage for them to nibble on throughout the day, I fear I have done damage with all the sunflower seeds, I am going to try to change them over to pellets, but I have tried previously and they just won’t eat them, any suggestions as to how to get them to eat pellets? Also is feeding them vegies morning and night too much?? My quakers LOVE strawberries and snowpeas, they are both very happy and love being around me, infact I cannot leave the room without them otherwise they scream for me! They are almost 2and half years old and they are not talking like I thought they would by now only a random ‘hello’or they blow ‘raspberries’ at me when they want something, anyway its nice to see so many people also enjoying these gorgeous creatures!
hey recently found a quaker parrot and i wasnt to sure about what i should feed him so i bought the quaker parrot feed at petco but my parrot seems to pick out all the seed and eat them…. so right now his only on a seed diet and sometime = apples…can some give me a schedule of a weekly diet that would benefit the health of my adorable parrot:)
We just got our parrot, “Bob” 3 weeks ago, he is now 13 weeks old, when can we expect him to talk? He sounds like he is trying to already!
Hey all im really loving the positive advie I hate a few questipns myself I baught a four year old quaker and hes very mean and hisses at my boyfriend. He lets me hand feed hiim but seems really scared how can make him warm up? Also his feathers seem a little messy does he need vitmans? And will her ever talk to me? I love him alot and dont belive hell be a meanie foeeever but id like to know whats up with him… Thankx a bunch ohhh and one mmote how do I,know what he is? Ok lol im done thanks again
And sorry about the mis spelling im using a phone…
My Quaker “Darcy” loves slices of cucumbers and eats out all the seeds first.
All the advice about the pellet diet is correct, I lost my first Quaker to
liver disease, so I am very careful about Darcy’s diet.
For new owners, I wold advise leaving the cage door open as much as you can so the bird can come and go.
Quakers normally “bond” with one person, my Quaker cannot stand my husband!
I have a Quaker she is 17 years old,her name is Bird, I have switched her to pellets, unfortunately she is a feather picker, since being on the pellet diet, I noticed that she is not picking out her feathers! very happy about that
, she also likes to watch cartoons, so I keep it on Nickelodeon for her(she has her own t.v.)Bird is sooo spoiled!
I have just read through your forum and thoroughly enjoyed the posts. Our first Quaker died at the tender age of 4 from some sort of stomach growth and were very sad. Our new Quaker is much younger and so eager to try all new foods and new words. To answer a couple of your posts, re changing your Quaker over to pellets from seed, We feed our Quaker and Eclectus Vetafarm Pellets and on their web site they describe how to convert your bird’s seed eating habit to pellets. The web address is http://www.vetafarm.com.au if you go to “Bird Articles” on the left hand side of the page you will find the answer to your question. We were able to successfully convert our Quaker although I wouldn’t say he is over joyed with his pellets but he does eat them now.
Re Teaching your Quaker to talk. They are very eager to learn and will pay close attention when they are in the mood to learn. Just keep repeating what you want them to say. It really only takes about 10 minutes providing it isn’t too difficult for them. We had a very funny thing happen with our boy when I had his undivided attention on a car trip for 40 minutes. I kept repeating “I love you dad” over and over. So instead of him just saying “I love you dad” once he would keep repeating it like a broken record for a while.
Good luck and enjoy!
I have appreciated the questions and answers, as I have just purchased two young Quakers (hopefully male and Female) and though I was told they are just like Cockatiels, obviously reading these articles this is not the case. At the moment I am trying to handle them as much as possible without upsetting them. I haven’t even tried any fruit or vegetables yet. Please all keep your comments flowing, very helpful to a new owner.
I love your forum, I live on the gold coast in Australia and I had two blue Quaker parrots stolen from my car on October 30 2011 two weeks after my birthday and I had left hospital on the 14th of October, their names were uzekiel and uzzaba, I loved them so much two boys and I was devastated and still am but I bought another little boy who is just as lovely and I am highly protective of him. I only left my car for seven minutes because I had a problem with the lock on my place. I have so much respect and admiration for every comment posted on this site, thank you all immensely. God be with you all uve
I have learned so much here and plan to keep learning. I have two blue baby Quakers that are 4 months old. Got them at 12 weeks on a seed diet and I’m trying to slowly switch them to pellets. I absolutely adore these babies! I named one Echo and the other Mimic (Mim). They can both say “UP” “EAT” and they bend over and make a barking sound while watching our Beardie bark! Thanks for all the great info. I might try a little juice in their Zupreem tomorrow.