[Randa]

Hi Guys ,

I've posted here a couple of times, and thought someone may be able to help with my birdy issues. I have a 2 year old blue Quaker named Munchie. I raised him from 8 weeks old, and he's totally attached to me. He'll do kissies, spend all of his time on me and follow me everywhere. But he attacks other birds and people (including my 5 year old daughter).

This week I was given 2 birds. A green 2 year old Quaker named Larry, and a 3 year old female Eclectus named Ruby. Larry's cage is tiny, budgie size, and Ruby's cage is about 1/4 the size it needs to be for such a large parrot. Both were kept in these small cages in the few years their previous owner had them. I'm hoping to get them larger more suitable cages asap, it's just a matter of money.

Ruby loves coming out of her cage and flies to me.....as well as she can with clipped wings. She likes to come to me but hates fingers and hands. The slightest sight of a finger makes her charge and bite so hard it bleeds badly. She won't let me touch her whether she's in, out or on top of her cage, on the floor, etc. I can only get her on the perch to move her around, but even then I have to be real quick cause she goes for the hand that's holding the perch. I've tried everything from the www.birdtricks.com dvds and books, but she just won't get used to me touching her.

Larry the green Quaker is generally very friendly, and is hilariously talkative. When he's away from his cage, like on the playgym or my shoulder, he's very friendly and lets me touch him anywhere for scratches and cuddles. But on or around his cage, he launches himself at me and bites REALLY hard. Even when I try to get him off my shoulder by stepping up to my hand, he gets aggressive and bites me cause he wants to stay there.

Anyway, so my main problem is, none of the 3 birds likes eachother. Especially Munchie, he is viciously protective of me and will attack the other birds at every chance he can get. Larry was curious and wanted to play at first, but now attacks Munchie back. When I try to separate them, they both attack me. On the very rare occasion, Larry and Ruby will tolerate eachother (which was when I took the photos below).

What I'd like is to socialise them. Get them used to eachother so they can be put on the same perch without ripping eachother to bits. It's really upsetting, because I love each bird in their own way.

Any ideas or advice would be appreciated, thanks.

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[dawnmlly]

My thoughts would be that you should give them more time. Are you not going thru the quarantine period? While they all look healthy it is a risk imo. But with birds I am learning that they really are like children they need time to get used to one another lol.

The Ekkie is beautiful and looks to be young so maybe as you win her trust you can teach her that hands and fingers are not evil lol. And sounds like Larry has a good old fashioned case of cage aggression and is a little dominate right now. Don't let him on your shoulder for a while and see if that will break the biting from the shoulder.

Munchie is used to being the only "big bird" so he is going to be a jealous for a bit i would think. They may bond eventually and they may not...only time will tell.

Hope this helps some. Good luck

[PHENOMENON]

It's just me, but the shoulder is a position of trust, and the newer birds do not sound as if they should be trusted on a shoulder yet (but some people have a high pain threshold)lol.

One thing..I think we are too quick to interfer with birds getting to know each other..but it's a difficult call. Given that I just brought in a new Quaker, I don't interfer with their interactions much. What I do when I leave the house is Kiwi (new) is in a small cage on the floor, and Bammy has the same freedom that he always has so that he doesn't have a reason to resent the new addition. They both have their own beddy cages, and when I am home, they are both free. I have only had to tell Bammy to STOP once when he kept bomb-diving Kiwi (his wings have since been clipped putting them both on more equal footing).

I would have the newer birds restrained when I wasn't home and let the older one have the same freedoms as previously. Obviously Ruby is more powerful and dangerous to the Quakers, so I wouldn't force interactions but would hope Ruby got used to seeing them around and grew to tolerate them.

Someone else may have other ideas.

[slic102]

First I want to say that they are all so beautiful!! That ekkie is awesome, and I'm glad they are with you now and will be getting more suitable cages! You just got the other 2 this week? They just need some time to adjust. Even after adjusting, they may never "like" each other, but will probably get to where they will at least tolerate one another. If you are lucky, Larry and Munchie might become the best of friends, or they might not...it all just depends on the birds. I doubt the ekkie will ever be great buddies with the quakers, and I'd never let her out unsupervised with them just because of the size difference.

I can tell you that even though my caique can never be out unsupervised with my other 2, he and the quaker now get along well enough that I can have them out together on the parrot stand, or on me, without the caique trying to attack. My sun is our newest member, and has only been with us just under a month. Pogo (caique) still tries to attack poor Ollie so we have to have seperate out of cage time for him. Oddly enough, Simon (who we have had over a year) seems to really like Ollie, and will preen him every chance he gets. The reason I say "oddly" is because last summer, we had a senegal for a short period of time, as well as keeping a meyers for a friend for a month. Simon HATED both of them and was horribly jealous of them both. He could not be anywhere near them without trying to attack them. Later, in October, we brought our caique home. I knew they would most likely never be friends, because caiques just play too rough, but Simon will get on the floor and stroll over to Pogo's cage at least once a day and sit on the bottom of the cage, (outside) or on a little basket that is beside the cage and "talk" to Pogo. I assume he kind of likes no longer being the "only bird". Good luck with your new fids, and just give them some time to get settled in.

Oh, one more thing....always cater to your first birds needs first, as in give him his food first, his cuddle time first, etc. He is the "top" bird since he came to you first, and maybe this will help a bit with his jealousy. (my vet advised me to do this)