By devoting a great deal of time and attention to your new bird, you will be teaching the Quaker to be emotionally dependant on their human flockmates for gratification and praise. This praise will be held in the highest regard by your parrot. Quakers truly enjoy soothing, cooing, tones like, "Goooood Bird", and "Pretty Baaaaby". These phrases uttered before each time you command your bird to "Step Up!", and each time they complete an acceptable behavior, such as playing with an approved toy or eating, will encourage the correct behavior in your Quaker and will often put the bird in the "right frame of mind", when it may just as easily been "wrong".

All birds have an inherent instinct that teaches them to climb to the highest available point. There is not much we can do about instinct, except repress the instinct to climb from our hand to our shoulder. If we hold the bird on our hand with our arm bent, elbow pointing at the floor, rather than creating a ramp out of our arm, the posture will force your Quaker to climb down your arm to reach your shoulder, thereby defying instinct. Why does this matter? In a birds social "pecking order", height is completely relative to status. When an aggressive or overtly sexual parrot has free access to the human shoulder, thereby greeting you at eye height, the bird has equal or greater status or perceived authority over you. This is a recipe for disaster in the form of biting, wing bashing, and, well, pain or injury. Only a well socialized, dependable parrot should be allowed free access to your shoulder.

Which brings us to another topic, transportation dependance. Another important thing to check when purchasing your Quaker is its wing trim . Quakers are excellent flyers, there are definite health hazards associated with untrimmed wings, and there are also probable behavioral complications. A companion parrot that is able to fly freely from place to place is not dependent on humans for its transportation and is therefore more self-sufficient, willful, and downright stubborn. There are some critics out there who may say that wing trimming is cruel or unnatural, however, just like seed vs. pellet, I feel that the benefits of a good wing trim far outweigh any associated risks. Wing trimming, when performed correctly by a knowledgable bird dealer or avian vet, is not at all painful. To trim the birds wings is to cut away 7 to 10 of the birds flight feathers back to within 1/4" of the primary feathers, thereby enabling the bird to coast to the floor, but not gain altitude and escape. The extent to which the birds wings must be trimmed depends upon the flying ability of your Quaker and may have to be adjusted. However, do not leave the breeder or pet store with an untrimmed bird. You will be sorry. Also, it is important to know, birds have something called blood feathers. Do not attempt to trim your birds wings yourself if you are not aware of what this means and have experience. Usually most avian shops and all avian vets can perform this service for you while you observe until you feel confident. Some people never feel confident grooming their companion birds, and if not, thats o.k. too! Just make a standing appointment with a skilled and recommended groomer.

In order to be truly happy, Quakers require multiple "foraging" areas in their homes. A birds natural instinct is to search out food in many different areas. Providing a T-Perch or Playgym in two or more rooms of your home will allow your Quaker more freedom and time with the family. It is possible to build quite an elaborate version of the commercially available varieties at a fraction of the cost, check out the Quaker Parakeet Mailing List for more details!