Hi,
Henrietta is our first QP, she (maybe a 'he') is 3-4 months old now, rules our house, has terrorized the 13 year old cat, and has us pretty well trained. I think she is the most beautiful bird but then I guess we all think that. I only have one book on QP and I'm trying to do everything right, but Henrietta won't bathe, really prefers seed over veggies, only accepts apples and is starting to scratch a lot. Is it molting time? We live in Arizona so it's still pretty warm down here. Any words of wisdom for a new owner?

Welcome and congrats. Try using a shallow glass cereal bowl and just put a inch or so of warm water in it. I have one quaker who will not take a bath if his water is cold, in fact he loves it real warm. You can also try taking her in the shower with you and wetting her down that way. Another is to mist her with warm water if nothing else works. Seed diet is not good for a quaker. It has been shown in studies that a seed diet causes quakers to have liver problems which can eventually kill them. Listed here on the forum is a conversion chart to change them over to pellets which is a much healthier diet for them. As to vegetables and fruits, you can try many different ways to get them going on it. For instance quakers are very curious, if they see you eating something or playing with something and talking about how yummy or how fun it is and make a bid deal about it they will want to check it out too. Usually thats all it takes. Or you can make birdie bread and make sure it has veggies and stuff in it and most birds do not turn down any kind of birdie bread once they try it.

If she's itching a lot she probably needs more baths and you might want to check the humidity in your home. I live in a semi-arid climate and have to run a cool mist humidifier 24/7 at my house in varying degrees of strength depending on how much we're heating/cooling our house. Sounds like you're having fun with your QP! Have you tried pellets mixed with the seeds she is eating? With the nutritional value of the pellets, she'll still be able to get her vitamins and minerals while she's learning to be a better veggie eater. We like pictures too! Do you have any of her?

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Looks like you are typical Quaker parronts already, your home is ruled by the Quaker !!!!

Donut has a shower with us a couple of times a week and bathes in his water dish.
Try different things, Henrietta may like one but not the other.

Pretend you are eating the food you want Henrietta to try, she will probably try it then.
Otherwise try cutting/preparing it in a different way - chopped/grated/mashed.
This often works too.

Plenty of pics please.

Tricia

Welcome to the forum....if you are like me, you will become addicted to it here! Congrats on your new baby! Simon did not want to take baths for quite awhile, but eventually he decided it was ok...we tossed his play ball in the water, and he finally got in. Now he loves his baths, and if I forget to put his "bathtub" on his cage playtop every other day, he will try bathing in his water bowl. Mine also prefers the water lukewarm, and he won't get in the tupperware thingy I use for a bath unless it is on his cagetop. As far as diet goes, ours was on a seed/pellet mixture when we got him, but I soon found out that he wanted NOTHING to do with pellets as long as there was a single seed in the bowl. I tried doing the conversion that is suggested on here, but I swear, as long as there was seed, he would NOT eat pellets. Finally after talking to my vet, I did a "cold turkey" conversion, and just switched to pellets (with veggies and fruit morning and night) and it's worked fine. You will be surprised how much healthier his feathers will look once he gets off seeds. As far as veggies go, for at least the first month, Simon would NOT touch anything in the veggie bowl but corn, which isn't so great for them. I just kept putting different veggies in every morning and night, and now there's really not much that he won't eat as far as veggies go. Simon is a bit odd about fruit, and really doesn't like anything but blueberries...but that's ok since veggies are better for him. One thing tho, he will not touch raw veggies at all. I just get a variety of frozen ones and some fresh, and microwave them for him. I don't really know about the scratching issue. Simon really doesn't do that, but whenever he gets new pin feathers on his head and neck that he can't get to, I have to help him preen the shafts off the new feathers, or they drive him nuts. Maybe Henrietta just needs a bit of preening from you. Just sort of roll the pin feathers around between your fingers and the shaft will start to disentigrate....looks sorta like they have a bad case of dandruff...lol.

Good luck! Henrietta is a beauty!

Thank you all for the great suggestions. It will seem strange taking a shower with a bird!!! LOL.
Her nails are really sharp so I think I'll wait until the DNA is back, just in case I have to nip her nails. If not for that drop of blood, I will clip them in self defence. Where do I get these pellets that you speak of?, I can be heartless if it's for her own good. She seems to just enjoy throwing the veggies all over her cage. She hasn't attempted to eat our food yet, but I'll share. I printed the list off from another QP site, quite extensive and we bought a box of Cheerios today and she does seem to love them, but drops them through the cage before she can get a lot eaten, she's learning to hang on to things better than a week ago. maybe she is just young?
Well, tomorrow is a new day and a new way of doing things. I have a few pictures of her and will try to to get them in. One is attached to my first note.

Thanks again, sure do appreciate all the help.

She's beautiful and yes, she looks young. She will get less clumsy as time goes on. I'm happy for you! I had to giggle ... I'm not sure but in the first picture there looks to be framed art behind her cage. Wondering how long those buttons will last on the frame! (Mine would have them off in under a minute!)

Enjoy your new baby and congrats!

Jen

yea, the frame has lots of buttons, but at this point she can't get to the frame, I'm sure that is just a short moment
Dodo