I am sometimes asked if it's possible to determine the age of a Quaker Parrot. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to do unless the bird is very young or very old. Quaker Parrots are usually fully feathered around 6 weeks of age. At that time, they greatly resemble an adult bird. However, if the bird is younger than 9-12 months, it may still display some characteristics of a young bird. Here are a few things to look for.

An adult Quaker Parrot should have bright, vibrant feathers. A young Quaker who hasn't molted yet often has feathering that looks a little "dull." Also, baby Quakers shake their heads and wings in a begging behavior for food and attention. This often carries over for a few months even after the bird has been weaned (is no longer being handfed). A very few Quakers carry this behavior into adulthood, but most don't so if your parrot is exhibiting this behavior, it is likely still a young bird.

In addition, younger birds are often clumsier than adult birds. If you notice that your Quaker Parrot falls off of perches often or frequently breaks tail feathers, it is likely that it is 6-9 months old or younger. For this reason, I usually keep perches fairly low in the cage until my birds are 6 months old or so.

One final thing that I'd like to mention is that many parrots are provided with a leg band by the breeder. Along with containing the breeder's information, it often has a year on it. This is not a 100% guarantee of the bird's age since some breeders will reuse bands, but if your parrot is banded it can sometimes give you some idea as to the parrot's age.