I got my Quaker about 7 months ago, and she's close to 4 years old. We knew, when we got her, that she had issues. According to the lady that had her, she couldn't even be gotten out of the cage without being toweled. But much to our suprise, she took right to us, and within two days, she was cuddling, letting both myself and my husband handle her. We went thru a period of biting about a month after we got her, but we got over that, as well.
Now, suddenly, we have a new issue. This just started in the last couple of weeks.
Ever since we brought her home, she's had her own cage across the room from the 'tiel cages - we have 11 'tiels, and they have their own stack of cages and play spaces. It only took us two days to teach the tiels to leave her space alone, and until now, there have been no porblems.
But now, she'll be out on top of her cage, fly across the room, land on top of the tiel cages, run them all off by screaming at them and chasing them, then climb INTO the top cage and chase anyone who's in there out as well - usually by grabbing their tail and pulling them off the perch!!
I've tried tons of ways of getting her to stop... taking her back to her cage and putting her in time out... taking her across the room to the BOTTOM of her play stand, so she has to spend some time climbing to even get to some place she feels happy at. I've even put her in a small travel cage, and put her in the bedroom with the lights dimmed for a time out. NONE of these things work, as soon as she's out she goes right back over there! The ONLY thing that works is if I pick her up and play with her, and I feel that's a reward for bad behavior.

She gets tons of attention. She has a big cage and lots of toys (that she almost never plays with). She's got a good diet with lots of variety, and she gets plenty of sleep. I hate the thought of having to have her only out at certain times, especially since we have NOT had to do that in the 7 months we've had her. She spent almost a year living in a cage with a mean old male and very little human attention... *sigh*

Any ideas? Oh, also, we haven't clipped her lately because she's a minor plucker, and we were advised that it's not a good idea to clip a plucker... is this true?

Well, the first thing I'd do is clip some wings so she can't fly over there any more. That would probably solve a lot of your problem.

Part of her issues could be that its spring. The hormones are flowing and she may be wanting to nest or something...So that can be causing her to act abnormal...

But the easiest way to control her is to trim the wings.

I couldn't agree anymore then with Connie. Trim the Wings, it has a way of "humbling" our quakers. If you trim the wings your quaker will stay put. When you have a "bunch of birds" it probably is a good idea to trim their wings. Just my opinion. I only have 2 and they don't really get a long. I trim their wings for SAFETY reason. I have had my quaker of 7 yrs fly into blinds, not a good thing. I have had my Green Cheek Conure fly onto my dogs back, NOT A GOOD IDEA. So my suggestion, just like Connie's is to clip the wings. and don't leave your bird unattended.

*sigh* I feel like a two year old who's just been scolded. *laughing* I was actually looking for some real behavior ideas, and I DID specifically ask "Oh, also, we haven't clipped her lately because she's a minor plucker, and we were advised that it's not a good idea to clip a plucker... is this true?"

Sure, I can clip her. But she wasn't plucking until we clipped her the first time, and she started not a day after that. THEN I was advised NOT to clip her because she plucks. My 'tiels are always clipped, except for the one I have with a damaged foot, and I NEVER leave my birds unattended, and I don't have ANY pets other than my birds.

Soooo... my real question is: Will clipping her again aggravate the minor plucking she already does? And does anyone have any idea how I can get through to her that she needs to stay in her space? We've gotten her through most of the other issues she came with, but this one is simply eluding us.

Thanks a bunch!

Those two said it all.

I don't know about the clipping wings with a plucking thing. I'd like to know that because I have a plucker too....and she's clipped.

I'm sure someone with alot more experience than I will be along to say something about it.

Good luck.

sorry for the scolding I put in a search about wing clipping birds and plucking and came up with lots of sites. Below is just one of them. I am not sure if it will be helpful or not. But just put in a search the same thing I did and see what you come up with. Just an idea.......
http://www.theparrotsocietyuk.org/wingclipping.shtml

I'd consider your problem behaviour of chasing your teils worse than the possible worsening of the plucking. As long as the bird isn't damamging skin, plucking is not something to really worry about, whereas your poor tiel's safety is at risk from your bully QP. The feathers grow back. Clip them IMO.

Hiya Fire

First off, let me say that I know Fire quite well. She's had Emma for a long time now and I have never seen a Quaker take to Tiels like Emma has. She, up til this point, just loves those Cockatiels!!! While I've never been one to promote allowing Qs and tiels to play together, I've never said differently to Fire because of the special relationship that Emma has with those Tiels.

Secondly, I'm guessing Emma's change in behavior has to do with the season. It is mating season after all and she could just be going through a hormonal phase. I can think of no other explanation for her to go after the tiels.

As for the clipping...you can clip her, just use the right clip. I think we use the same clip, Fire. The type of clip where you do it close to the feather growth, and not along the coverts. By clipping close to the feather growth, you eliminate sharp, annoying, cut feathers that can bother a plucker which can encourage plucking.

Click~Here for a good site with pictures showing the clip I mean. Also, this is another site that shows the clip. To access the proper page, you have to click on 'avian' at the top, and then on the left hand side chose 'Proper Wing Clip'.

Give Emma and the tiels scritches for me!

Thanks, Carrie!

Yes, Em has always had a special relationship with the tiels. For the first month she was here, she actually had a PET 'tiel, an outgoing lil guy named Nigel who actively wooed her. And she has a special friend, even now, who can come visit with her on HER cage any time, a sweet little lutino pearl named Sara.

That's why this hit me so hard... it's like, one morning she was a different bird. She NEVER wanted to be on the tiel cages because they are too loud and active for her liking.

Anyway, I had a talk with my vet yesterday, and he said much the same things Carrie has said... that the type of
clip I've always used *shouldn't* aggravate Em's plucking problem.

Apparently that's not the case in Em's case. Within an hour of her clip (which apparently we didn't take far enough, because she can still fly like a champ) she was sitting on my shoulder plucking feathers out by the mouthful and making aweful noises while doing it. And I've NEVER actually seen (or heard) her pluck until now, the only reason we knew she plucked was because she always had a small bald spot on the side of her neck and a slightly bare ring around her neck area.

I called my vet back and told him what's going on (yes, I have an awesome AV who's available for phone consults almost ANY time!) and he gave me some suggestions and we have an appointment for a visit in a few days.

Sooo.. for the person who asked about plucking/clipping... here's what I've gleaned. *Most* Quakers are not bothered by clipping, provided you do a clip that doesn't lead to 'starring' or irritating ends of the shafts. But any clip that leaves this ends rough and irritating can easily lead to plucking, because the Q *starts* working on those irritating feathers and just carries on from there, chewing and plucking becomes a habit.

However, apparently some Q's either get depressed, or associated being clipped with some prior trauma, and almost immediately start random plucking (as opposed to plucking on the wings where something might be irritated) as a behavioral response to being clipped. Some just do it for a few days, and some continue on... I guess we shall see how my Em is. *sigh*

Thanks Everyone, and Thanks Carrie, for helping me figure this out. I don't know why, it seems I know most of the answers when someone else needs help, but when it's one of MY birds, I get suddenly stupid. It never really occurred to me she could be getting hormonal and nesty (despite all the tiels doing the same darn thing!) but that's exactly what she's doing. As a test yesterday, I put allll the 'tiels on the big playstand by the window, and put Miss Em IN one of the 'tiel cages, the one she's always trying to get into. She was happy as a clam, ripping up paper and stacking toys in the corner and periodically letting rip with a jungle call and wolf whistles.

*sigh* Makes me wish I could re-arrange things... but the tiels have 4 smaller stacking cages and EM has a much bigger cage. I *could* put a couple of the tiels in her cage, and give her one of the stacking cages, but her's will not fit where the smaller one is, and somehow I doubt she'd be happy if I MOVED the smaller one... I may play around with it tomorrow... BUT... if this is just hormones, won't she be over it soon and want her big bad cage back? LOL

Fire, sorry you're having troubles with Emma!

Maybe try using Better Bitters on Emma's feathers to stop her plucking??? I'm sure she already has lots of preening toys but if you keep one in your pocket maybe you could inturrupt her plucking? Would she have fun killing a box of kleenex?

Some QPs can fly even when they have a full clip... Emma sounds like an accomplished flyer, so it could be really really tough to get her "grounded".

My vet recommended that I cut starchy snacks from Captain's diet (breads, pasta, pumpkins etc) because apparently starch can inspire nesting and hormonal behaviors.

Hopefully you can get that beak busy doing something other than pulling feathers... Sorry I don't have a lot of advice...

'accomplished flyer' Yeah, that describes Emmy to a T. Even partially clipped, she'd come 'find' us if we were in another room, and watching her fly has always been amazing. She never flies straight to anything, always makes a big graceful loop, scopes out her landing zone, and lands exactly where she planned. To go from the main room to the bedroom requirs a hard right then left turn after a duck through a doorway and it was always beautiful to see her do it so gracefully.

Anyway, for anyone still reading, She's a different bird today..
I don't know if it's GOOD, but the 'tiels are happier, anyway.
She hasn't left her area all day... though she's only let me pick her up ONCE. She hasn't even done her usual demon bird screams if there's no one in the room for more than two seconds.
She's just kinda hanging around, moping. At least I haven't seen or heard her plucking all day, and she did let me give her some juice and an apple slice.

I set a bunch of new shreddables in her cage last night.. she hasn't touched any of them yet, but maybe it will help.

*sigh* I hate it when one of my birds is unhappy.

Thanks, Jamie, for the help... I'll look into the 'bitters' idea and see what folks have to say.