I have 3 little quakers that I love very dearly, they are my everthing everday they’re my life. Communication is the key, I call them feathered children,little people in bird suits they are to smart to be birds at least my 3 are, they understand everthing and I do mean everthing you say to them and they do exactly what is being said to them When I say NO to something IT’S NO and when I say to STOP SOMETHING mine do just that at both of those things these little guys are extremely intelligent indeed they do know exactly what’s being said to them and they react to it all becuase of their intelligence Mine are KIWI, QUAKEY and TIKI and Quakey can get a little jealious of Tiki at times an try to get at Tiki and stuff like that and he immediately will listen and will stop when I tell him to and I tell him NO don’t do that, these little guys are just way to intelligent to be able to put into words just how smart and intelligent they really truly are it’s all communication with them and they do understand at least my 3 little wonders(quakers) do, I always ask my 3 if they want this if they want that and they truly do let me know what it is exactly that they do want and I always give it to them and they are the greatest of the little parrots that are truly feathered children indeed.

Our oldest quaker (Critter) is like a dog. He follows us around, will travel from his cage into another room to crawl up our leg, calls my kids, takes showers with kids, bites the mean kids that my kids hang out with (but my kids are not allowed to hang out with them now…Critter is an incredible judge of character!) and above all, Critter is affectionate towards our other animals and family.
Critter also knows the words “Time Out!” extremely well. If he acts badly…screetching, biting “nice people”, being rude…Critter gets 5 minutes time-out in the bathroom. This rule has been enforced since Critter was 3 months old. If you say “Time-Out!” now, Critter gets an attitude adjustment immediately!
I have a hard time saying all of the
wonderful qualities and surprises that Critter gives to our family because there are so many.
Critter recently lost his best-friend “Sweetheart”, a peach-faced lovebird. It was heartbreaking the toll that it had on Critter; he was mourning, he was biting my daughter (whom he absolutely adores), and he was squawking constantly…We
could not give him enough attention.
It was very apparent that Critter needed avian attention, as well as ours.
Long story short, ended up getting two baby quakers. Critter is loving them being here, but not ready to be alone with them…you can see a wonderful change in Critter’s morale though!
Quakers are incredible and intelligent…Please understand that when you bring a quaker home, it’s for life…40 years plus…they look to you for a forever love and home. A quaker will give it’s heart to you, please do not abuse that gift.
They require and deserve time (for hours, every day), love, attention, respect, flock-like devotion and discipline. Please make sure that you are willing to give that for the next 40 years.

Please note:
If you are pondering breeding of quakers, it is your moral responsibility to make sure that the people adopting are aware of how to hand-feed, all parties of the family are met and made aware of the responsibilities of what owning a bird requires. People (over-all) are unaware. Please make sure to educate and follow your gut instinct of the right thing to do.

i have just gotten a quaker parrot in september when she decided to stay at my house one day. i don’t kno wether its a boy or a girl but its so pretty it has to me female so me n my girlfriend named her Eva. i didn’t kno it was a quaker till i got to this website.all i knew was it was blue with a grey chest and had these amazing mettalic blue tail and wing tip feathers.she was flying in my backyard one day and then was sittin on the gutter below my bedroom window i gave her berries and she left me grab her with a towel. i didn’t understand why the towel but after a few weeks indoors i realized that she will sit on ur head or shoulders leg face whatever but not near ur hands she gets scared when she sees fingers for some reason even if ur holding a nut or berry she is afraid of hands which made me beleive she escaped from who may have been abusive she answers to eva and stares eye to eye when u talk to her looks down when u yell at her she hates her cage and only goes in to get food or early in the morning when i tell her im going to work she doesnt talk but she understands she is so smart its amazing she even knows that her bathroom is in there and uses it when she needs to she loves to nibble on ears and lips she likes when u kiss her beek or close her beek with ur lips she doesnt like being alone for a long time either and follows me wherever we go she like to steal food from ur plate when ur not looking and if ur smoking eva feels the need to steal it from you and smoke herself which looks so funny. im trying to break that habbit with her but eva refuses to go on the patch lol. she loves just about anyone thats around except for my father who tried to catch her while he was drunk and she was in the living room ever since then when he goes around her she puffs up her feathers and squaks while spanning her wing out like a proud eagle.i have been noticing that she mimicks peoples laughs and sometimes make noises which sound like words but not the words that are being said. one day i kept repeating the word hello and going eva say hello she then started making noises that first sounded very close to my girlfriends laugh and it sounded like she tried to say shut up moron. but that again could be her trying to mimick my girlfriend from a past day.i am just completly amazed at how smart she is and when she flies she looks incredible but im afraid she is turning into a thief stealing things such as dimes pens keys lighters ciggarettes and small jewlery which i find hidden in either the food or water dishes if anyone has care and training tips please e-mail me at phantm75@aol.com

My boyfriend bought me a quacker parrot about a year and a half ago… he defies eveything i’ve ever read about them…he doesn’t talk he won’t play with toys he hates me if i go near his cage he bites at me or flies away he will step up onto my boyfriend but soon gets off of him i desparatly want him to like me not sure what to do…any suggestions please email me :>{

Amanda, Hang in there! it could be any number of things that is leading to the stress and anxiety in your parrots (and you and your boyfriends also it seems) behavior. The bird may very well detect your fears and disappointment in general. They (in my opinion) are really quite similar to young children when it comes to emotional issues, it may very well be the reason for the biting and flying away. Your bird will most likely not be interested in toys unless it feels comfortable (emotionally) possibly for the same reasons. Please feel free to e-mail me, we “found” a quaker parrot in our backyard last December and are now the proud owners of the sweetest little guy you could ever imagine, but he started out very much as you’ve described your parrot. I hope things improve soon for you, I’d be happy to share my experiences with you if you wish.

My husband & I were given a Quaker Parrot 5 or 6 years ago by friends who were moving out of state. We discovered that “Samson” had obviously had a couple of previous owners as his language can become extreme when he is upset – he will walk around on the bottom of his cage saying “F-it”, “F-it”, F-it” and doing his “Stevie Wonder imitation” (rotating his head left to right & up and down) – he did not learn that from my husband or I, or from the couple from whom we adopted him.

Samson had amazed us on several occasions because of his ability to seem as if he undersands what you we are saying to him and his ability to respond appropriately. He was able to say several different sentences when he came to live with us, “Hello”, “I love you”, “What are you doing”, “Give me a kiss”, “Pretty Bird”, “Good Bird”, “Whatchadoin?”, “Come here”), etc., but since then he has picked up on things that we weren’t trying to teach him!

For example, one day he was in his cage in the living room while I was in the den when he made his kissing noise, saying “Gimme a kiss”. I responded from the den with the same noise and “Gimmie a kiss”. He did it again and I repeated it. We did that a couple of more times when I finally said “Samson, I’m busy, that’s enough”. He paused for a couple of seconds and said – “I love you” (plaintively). Well, will that not melt your heart? It made me go take him out of his cage for a little one on one time : )

I never tried to teach him my name, but several years ago after I had cleaned his cage and had taken his toys in to the other room to clean them he suddenly yelled “Hey Robin, come here!” I was startled and looked at my husband and said “Did he say what I thought he said?” He laughed and said “yeah!”.

Then, one of the funniest things he did was when he showed me that he was paying very close attention to – and putting what was being said into context. I had made breakfast one morning and since I was told that it was very important to give him “human food” in addition to his “bird food” I had given him his regular supplimental dish of scrambled eggs, biscuits and fruit. I laid the dish on the bottom of his cage and he perched on the side of it, looked down, looked at me and said “Is it good?” Not thinking, I said “of course it is”. And he chowed down while repeating “Yum”. It was then that I realized that when I had been giving him his “human food treats” I had been asking him “is it good?” – knowing that if he said “Yum” he liked it and if he gave no response and stopped eating that he didn’t like it.

Are these birds amazing, or what?

The only question that I have is to the the fact that “Samson” layed three eggs a couple of years ago. I was so shocked – even knowing that is it almost impossible to determine the sex of a quaker parrot with out a DNA profile – that I called the couple who gave “him” to us. I was assured that quaker parrots can “change their sex” accoring to what they said that their avian veterinarian stated. I am not buying that. From what I understand, we are all born with our sex organs and they do not change.

So, can someone give me emperical evidence that male quaker parrots cannot possibly lay eggs? I understand hermaphroditism, but I have never been able to find anything stating anything other than it is impossible to determine their sex without a DNA test.

So, as far as I’m concerned “Samson” who had heretofore been known as “Sammy” is now known as “Samantha” – because males of most species do not lay eggs!

Is there any help? My husband and I brought home our little quaker, Abigail, a little more than a year ago. She was about 2 or 3 months old then. We bought her from a breeder and she was not particularly friendly. It took probably a month before she would step up, and even then it would come after a couple bites. A year later things have improved. She usually steps up on first command. She has developed quite a vocabulary – Pretty Girl, Good Girl, Good Morning, Whatchadoin, Do You Want a Nutriberry?, Yum-Yum!, Gimme kisses *kisskiss*, aww, what a sweet bird! – The list goes on and on. She would climb up on my shoulder and kiss my cheek. However… all of a sudden our sweet little bird has turned into a raging psychopath! She’s never been as nice to my husband as she is to me, but she’s turned on both of us! She’ll bite our face when we get too close and then start laughing (adding insult to injury)! She screams constantly. Before, I would try to ignore her and wait until she became dissintered. Then I would try to interrupt her with constructive conversation (“Abigail, use your words”, “No screaming, Abby”). Now, even a blanket over her cage won’t stop her screaming. She’s recently become rather hormonal and is getting frisky with whatever is nearby. We took away some of her toys, but we can’t take out everything, can we? I don’t know what to do. We’re thinking about having children soon and I know that if it comes to down to a baby or a mean-spirited bird, there’s really no conest. I hope it’s just a phase, but our patience is quickly wearing thin. Any advice would prove helpful, as this is a difficult dilemma. We love our sweet bird – how do we get her back?

To Nicholas;
The bird you describe, being mostly blue all over, is a specially bred bird, and, while not that rare anymore, uncommon. Quakers are green in the wild, with a gray cowl and blue flight feathers, but not blue all over, like Eva. You have a special bird, indeed! Someone probably specialy ordered that bird, and then the bird flew away as Quakers are known to do…in fact, an avian vet in Denver was quoted as saying, “If it’s flown away, it’s probably a Quaker!”. Doesn’t mean it was mistreated, just flew away possibly due to owner negligence. One has to be very careful with Quakers when transporting them or openning dorrs and windows, if they don’t have trimmed flight feathers.

Enjoy!

to melody
ive been told by the lady i bought my bird from who hand feed all her birds said that a bird that is tame and then starts biting and screaming its either lack of attention or they could be sick thats just rule of thumb but it could be something esle most birds will pluck themselves when there sick but mabe this one is telling you in a different way i dont know for sure but when i read your article thats what i thought of good luck