Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and I am new to owning a bird. I recently got myself a Quaker parrot named Taco and I absolutely love her. First off I will start by giving some history about my Quaker and then I will jump into the questions. About 6 months ago I had got a job at petsmart. After a few weeks of working there I noticed we had a quite chirpy Quaker parrot. He wasn't too friendly to begin with because she doesn’t really receive much attention but she liked to be talked too, and would always chirp and whistle back. After working for about I week I knew I had to have her. Now she was pretty expensive compared to a breeder. About 750 dollars. I just felt so bad because it has been there for about 2 years and nobody has given her a home. I gave her attention everyday for about 4 months and she started to like me and didn’t mind me around the cage. So I saved up some money (I’m only 18) and then bought her. Now I wasn’t sure of her age and neither was petsmart. I know she was at petsmart for about 2 years however I don’t know how old she was before she came to the store..I am assuming around 2-4 months. After buying her, I purchased a nice big cage for her along with toys and accessories she likes and needs. She’s been at home with me for about 2 months now and is doing great. She chirps, whistles and sings all the time. loves to play, however only by herself. Which brings me to my questions. She is very hard to get to come on my hand and play, however when she finally does, after biting me a few hundred times, she loves it and plays all over me. But for some reason whenever I or anyone else in my family approaches the cage she backs way off. And if you go to let her come on your hand, she will just keep biting and biting very hard and makes a hissing noise. I don’t know what I can do to help her be more comfortable with me and my family. Is it me or is this normal? and is there anything I could do to help with this? Also how could I get her to let me pick her up without biting? can she be trained? Also is age a factor? because she is older did she miss her stage to learn what and what not to do? In regards to talking and doing tricks is it also too late to teach her, any pointers how to?

Also other things you should know....She was in a store with music and lights on 24/7 and was never covered. Also people were always around because it is a busy store, so people aren’t new to her.

I’m sorry for all the questions, it’s just that I’m new to owning a bird and I just want what’s best for my Quaker. I want to give her a better life rather than in a store in a cage, with no attention at all. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

sorry i made a mistake, i had her for about 4 months now. And another thing she hates being away from her cage and always wants to fly back.

What a sweet story. The first thing is to make sure she has time to realize this is home now and she's not going back to the bright lights and constant stimulation with no real rest. Give her lots of dark, covered sleep, the poor baby. Then maybe you could open her cage and just let her come out when she wants to. Once she's out, stop by and talk to her without offering a hand to bite. If you have to keep back a little out of reach, do that, but talk very, very gently and keep telling her you love her and what a GOOD girl she is (even when she's not! ) After about a week of that, offer her treats with your hand. Occasionally back up to her with your shoulder instead of your hand and see if she's willing to hop on. A lot of people think you shouldn't have birds, especially bitey ones, on your shoulder, but I've had success with two different Quakers by doing that, because they were afraid of hands. Clyde loves to sit on a hand now and prefers it to anything else, while we're still working on Jade, but a shoulder is all she'll get on -- she won't even consider a hand.

If she rejects the shoulder -- and she might -- sit down close enough so she can get to you and eat something. She will eventually decide she wants some, too. It might take several times before she gets curious enough, but eventually I'll bet she'll hop onto your shoulder for some of your food. Praise her effusively for this. In fact, praise her for every tiny thing. If she does bite, just laugh it off. Don't yell "ow" or pull away. It'll hurt, but if she thinks biting doesn't bother you, it takes the incentive away for her to do it.

Jade has been with us since January and we've worked and worked to get to the point where she'll sit on our shoulders and eat our food, or hang out behind us on the back of the couch, or let us stroke her beak. She still bites sometimes, but I always say "Ooh, a point for Jade" or something like that, and she doesn't bite hard anymore. She used to draw blood! Now the biting is just to remind us she can. She loves to have us talk to her and hang out and she always comes over to get some supper from us.

Thank you very much, thats very helpful. Also, i leave the cage open all day and made an attachment to it with play toys, which you can see in the pictures which she loves. So she likes to play, just not with me, well yet anyways I will try everything you said, i hope she comes around. Thanks again.

Move slow and gentle with her. Tell her what a good girl she is. Find something she likes as a treat and give her bits of that whenever she IS a good girl. You may want to work with her AWAY from the cage, out of sight. You may want to consider clipping her wings if she is fully flighted. Being dependent on the parront (you) for transportation usually gives the little feather butts an attitude adjustment.

If she bites when she is on your hand, there is a little move called the earthquake (a gentle shake to put her off balance, not shake off, just off balance) that will teach her not to bite. They are very smart so you tell her No Bite, Gentle, whatever words you want to use and she'll catch on.

Keep training sessions short 10-15 minutes a couple times a day away from the cage to work with her on Step Ups. Praise often and effusively, they LOVE it

As for 'teaching' them to talk, if you talk to her, she will probably learn to talk back. Not ALL quakers talk, but most do. Talk to her, sing to her, tell her what you're doing (opening the cage, taking out/putting in food and water, cleaning the cage, putting in fun new toys, etc.), ask her to step up, be a good girl, go nite nite, whatever.

It sounds like you want to give your baby a happy home. Remember you will have her up to 30 years so she is NOT 'too old' to learn. They learn thru their entire lives, new phrases, new words, and they can and do talk in context!

Good luck working with your little one. Let us know how things are going and ask any questions you may have. We are all more than willing to share our experiences with you.

I also use to work in a petstore ages ago and two of my rehabilitated parrots were "unsellable" parrots from the store. How fast is the employee turnover where you're working? If it's anything like most petstores they hire and fire on a regular basis so there are always new people in the back, new people doing the cleaning, new people filling the food dish... and most new people aren't around long enough to form an attachment or bond with a specific parrot. If she's been handled by "new people" for 2 years in store than it explains a bunch of things. For one thing she's probably figured out that all she has to do is bite a couple of times nice and hard and everyone leaves her alone to play with her toys. She's probably confused as all get out as to why you keep persisting and insisting on sticking your hands in there. =) When she did have to be moved out of her living area in the pet store she was probably toweled or someone used gloves if she wouldn't step up - in the commercial setting no one has time to sit there and explain to her she why has to step up when they have a hundred other animals they have to clean up before a certain time. People approaching her living area with the intent of touching her, then, would be associated with being grabbed or having fingers, straws, whatever poked at her through the bars of her space if it had a bar enclosure or banging on the plexi if it was a sealed off one. With quakers being naturally territorial and being forced into a situation where anyone can walk right up to her 24/7 and she has no say... developing a back up response would be reasonable.

You can do it! Work slowly, be confident, and try not to push her into corners where she's going to use the pointy bits. Remember parrots are NOT DOMESTICATED.... even if she was from a breeder or was in a store surrounded by people for years. She's a wild little chicken out of her element and adapting to the best of her ability. You could try using a small perch to get her to step up, bait her with treats she likes and doesn't get in her food dish, and in this case I wouldn't recommend using the push trigger to force her to step up. She's been manhandled like a piece of property her entire life so far... Try giving her the chance to make the choice herself. (again... food is a wonderful motivator and even if you're bribing her, she still has to make the choice to move towards the food. It counts!) She can definately re-learn how to be social in her home setting!

Good luck!

Thank you everyone, this is all great help, and i appreciate it very much....i will try it all out and hope for the best! thanks again