Kiwi the Quaker Parrot

[UnbackedMuffin]

A few days ago I was given a Quaker Parrot named Kiwi from a friend of my sister. The girl was leaving for college soon and was unable to continue caring for the bird. I've been interested in getting a Quaker Parrot for awhile now but every time I found a breeder they were sold out or they didn't hold the bird for me. So when I found out she was looking for a home for the bird, I offered to take him. What I didn't know at the time was that Kiwi was rescued, by the girl from an abusive home. The girl didn't speculate or give any detail on the abuse. I'm going to contact my sisters friend and ask her a few questions that will aid in my approach to training. She told me that the band on his foot said 96 making his age 16. I haven't had the chance to check the band yet for myself but I plan to when I get up in the morning. I'm not sure if the girl did any form of training with him or not. He seemed pretty calm when she dropped him off besides for some loud screeches. He didn't display any negative signs towards me when she was there. I was able to put my face next to the cage and talk to him. It wasn't until the girl had left that he began to act up. I took him out of the cage and sat with him on my lap on my bed. Once out he seemed eager to be pet and have his head scratched. I was helping free the hard white coated feathers around his head, he's molting. Unfortunately after about 10 minutes he climbed onto my shoulder and almost instantly started biting my neck. I got him down, now a little fearful and waited a few minutes until I thought he calmed down before starting to scratch his head again. He let me preen and scratch his head for awhile but without warning he quickly ran to my left arm and sunk his beak in. I didn't pull away thinking he would stop but he continued to apply pressure until he finally broke the skin. I returned him to his cage shortly after that incident and he has been displaying aggressive behavior since then. This behavior led me to research heavily on methods of training / taming Quaker Parrots. I knew a few things but not nearly enough to fully deal with the problem at hand. I spent the next day sitting close to the cage talking to him calmly with my fingers as close as he would let me trying building his trust. That night I used a perch to get him to step up in order to get him out of his cage. Once out of the cage I put the perch next to him until he steps on then reward him with a treat. I continued this for about 10-15 minutes that night. He hasn't tried to bite me outside of the cage again since the first night but I've been using caution. I'm hesitant to have him step up on my finger until I feel he's comfortable with me. He becomes aggressive once in awhile briefly then returns to being playfully curious not caring at all about my close presence. I plan on going to a pet store tomorrow to pick up a clicker, treats and a few other needed items. I'm excited to start training him and hopefully building a strong relationship. I've learned a lot from everything I read the past few days and I'm going to continue to do research on my Quaker Parrot. I'm glad I stumbled onto this site. It gives clear, step by step instruction on how to train friendly birds.I also learned quite a lot about my parakeets from the research I've been doing on the Quakers. I'm going to use some of the methods I learned to teach my parakeets some new tricks.

If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations I'm completely open to instruction. Is there anything I should know about rescue birds or training older birds? Thanks for reading and I apologize for any errors, it's 4:30 a.m and I'm to tired to proof read. I appreciate any help or advice that is given.

[janetafloat]

Well done you, for taking the bird in and for doing your research! Sounds like you've made a great start, and everything you need re training info is on this site. My only pearls of wisdom are that taming what is essentially a wild creature is a long process, just settle in and know that you'll get there, one little step at a time, if you're patient and persistent. Look forward to hearing how you get on!

[Strawfrawg]

One of my boyfriend's Senegals was a wild-caught bird that he got years ago before he knew better. "Akeyo I" (when she died, he got Akeyo II) ended up being a great companion and you'd never have known she wasn't hand-raised. But talk about a long process! Janetafloat gives good guidance...just accept that it's going to take time, and lots of the diligent research you've already been doing. You'll get out what you put in, starting with the respect you've already been giving him.

I love the Quaker voice. They are a little too active for me, but the husky voice is just too cute. I'm jealous!

Good luck and keep us updated! Glad you found this site.