Mating Season has begun

[Pajarita]

It sounds to me as if he is trying to get out so he can go looking for a mate...

[shiraartain]

Thank you for your reply, Wolf! I knew about that for concussions in humans, and was worried he might have had one, but didn't put the two together. We used to have a sticker on there so none of the birds had flown into it, but yes, I'll put something back up for them.

Parjarita, because we're keeping the other two, a mate isn't viable until I head off to grad school in about a year. I had a similar thought, but when I even tried to edge towards the subject of a friend, the other three adults in the house gave me a resounding "No!" (In unison, at that!). I had wanted to bring in a friend for him around now, but it looks like we are at full capacity. I still lurk around the for sale ads, but all the birds are either way older or babies.

Going to work on softening up family, though I get the feeling I will be encountering the reasonable ultimatum of "give away the pair if you want to bring another."

Which I am not averse to doing, but it is so hard to find good bird owners who can give them equal or better care. Time, diet, and tolerance of bites are all so important. I just had my arm chomped on for daring to put my hand in the cage to adjust their food dish while they were out. Clover has no qualms about leaving scars.

[Pajarita]

Oh, yes, sticking your hand in a quaker's cage during breeding season is not something that I would recommend to anybody. Having said that, I had one quaker that I could even stick my hand under her body and touch the eggs without her reacting at all but I will be the first one to admit that she was an exception to the rule!

As to getting Fajr a mate... well, non bird people are not very understanding of the need so I am not surprised. It took me years to get my husband to see it from my point of view but, one thing I can tell you, if your parents are like my husband (very kind person, incapable of harming -even by inaction- an animal) once the concept manages to get into their brain and become part of their scheme of birdy things, they will be all for it. We just came back from getting a new mate for my male button quail, Itsy. Little Bitsy, his mate, died a couple of weeks ago (have no idea what caused it, she was perfectly fine and, one morning, I found her dead) and I had been looking for an adult female (lots of babies out there but it's not so easy to find adults) and I saw an ad in CL yesterday advertising babies so I emailed the man and asked if he would be willing to sell me one of the older females and we came home with a pretty white lady button quail. She is quite dirty, the poor thing, (the man breeds them for their eggs and meat ) and very scared right now (I made her a little canopy of branches and leaves so she could hide under it) but she will be fine - Itsy is already putting food on the ground in front of her (part of their courtship) and I don't know who was happier, Itsy, me or my husband

[shiraartain]

My family is definitely bird people, but we just don't have space. My parents bought the house expecting that our family wouldn't grow anymore, but fast forward 15 years and now it's at full capacity with the twins and three parrots. Adding another bird who would need separate space for a minimum of three months would be nearly impossible to manage.

I'm happy to hear your quail was able to get a mate! There is a serious lack of non-baby GCC ads...I might keep an eye out in the Chicago area as well. Worst case scenario, I'll end up posting on Facebook to ask acquaintances and bring Fajr over to live with me after locating and quarantining the new one. In the end, he will have his friend

In the meantime, he's mating with everything. Nobody accepts Lemon's advances. The box I gave the pair was enthusiastically received (they had a party chewing it up) but then it got soggy and I have yet to replace it. Will probably do so this afternoon.

[Pajarita]

Well, there is bird people and then there is bird people... I had a friend that lived in a studio so the entire apartment was a birdroom (the birds did not even live in cages) and my friend just happened to live with them.

[shiraartain]

Okay, I see what you mean. Even I am not in that category of bird people. At least, not in a house with carpet.....