Please help with my frightened Quaker.

[quakerboo]

Brought my new quaker parrot home today. He is 4 months old and not tame. I was under the impression he had at least been used to being handled but it seems quite obvious that he's not. As when we took him he was scared of the breeder when he got him out the cage with a towel and he was screaming.

Anyway he is now in his cage and he is just sitting in the back in the corner and seems to be just observing everything that's going on. When I went out the room just now he came to the front to try and get some food but when I walked in he came back so dont think he has eaten and he hasnt drank any water. He's making a few sounds not screaming just kind of a soft little sqawk, kind of sounds like a pur.

Anyway I don't know where to go from here. I know its only the first day but its hard to imagine him ever being comfortable with me. Should I talk to him next to his cage? Should I leave him? How can I make him comfortable? I know it will take some time but I want to know where to start.

[Pajarita]

Sheesh, what a terrible, terrible breeder! The sound he is making is hunger and fear, you need to put out two kinds of soft food served fresh daily for him as well as millet -put them on the bottom of the cage. Put his cage at eye level with the back covered (could be against a corner of the room or you could put a towel on it but leave the front open to the light) in a quiet spot where there is not a lot of human traffic but where he can see and hear people from a distance. Watch him when you first walk in and, as soon as you see him scooting to the back of the cage, stop where you are and take one single step back -that is the place where you should sit down and talk, sing, whistle to him. Do this for about 10 to 15 minutes, several times a day and, when you see him relaxing at this distance for a few days, move the chair one step closer. I might as well tell you that this bird sounds as if he was not hand-fed but parent-raised and those can be tamed but takes a long time to do it.

[Wolf]

I agree with this assessment and would like to add that when you sit and talk to him don't look at him dead on as that is the way that a predator looks at them, look at him in glances or at an angle.

[Harpmaker]

Oh, the poor baby! The breeder just grabbed him with a towel?! So he's been almost literally ripped away from Mom and Dad and hauled off to a strange place with people he doesn't know?

It's up to you to let him know that the place he lives now doesn't do that to baby birds, and you will be his new Mom and take care of him. Follow what Wolf and Pajarita said, and just tell him how sorry you are that the mean breeder scared him, and that things will be better now. Then tell him how happy you are to see him and what good times you will have together.

Think of him as a wild animal you are taming, because he is.