HELP With my first quaker parrot :'(

[Bellakhan]

hi i just bought an quaker/monk parrot and its actually my first bird ever.i kept him in my room and the person i have bought it from has not given me much information and i found this blog site and read a few articles that were quite helpful. well for one pumbaa kept trying to get out of the cage this morning. i just brought him home last night and from what it seems he looks as if he didnt sleep at all or maybe im just very confused. everytime i get a phone call or get off my bed he kinda freaks out like sticks to the back of the cage all the time. and this morning i guess he got up before me and there was no food in the cage and he was basically kinda going wild. idk i guess that part was my mistake. i really feel like i dont know what im doing if i dont know if he will ever like he i tried petting him and he just tried to bite me and pumbaa actually bites pretty hard lol. but is it normal for quakers to try to escape all the time?? and keeps biting on any part of the cage that he can.. i dont know if this is normal or... and when is it safe to finally bring him out? any advice will help! please and thank you

[pennyandrocky]

if he wants to come out already then let him. don't force him to accept your hands let him come around on his own. I just sit talking to mine with my hand laid out not moving they get curious and will explore on their own. if he doesn't put a treat on your hand but don't try to touch him until he comes without hesitating. birds should sleep 10-12 hours so I get up well before that, I like a little quiet time to wake up before I have to start taking care of everyone. take your time the most important thing with parrots is trust.

[Bellakhan]

thanks i know i figured i should let him out but i just brought him home yesterday and the people from the shop told me to let him be for atleast 72 hours and i thought he just wanted to get out because this is not the home hes used to and hes just scared of the cage i dont know it was hard to put him in the cage in the first place. im confused :-/

[Bellakhan]

, thanks for replying ,,,thanks i know i figured i should let him out but i just brought him home yesterday and the people from the shop told me to let him be for atleast 72 hours and i thought he just wanted to get out because this is not the home hes used to and hes just scared of the cage i dont know it was hard to put him in the cage in the first place. im confused :-/

[janetafloat]

I suggest you let him settle down for a few days - if he's frightened, which is what it sounds like, the last thing you want to do is let him out then traumatize him trying to get him back in if he won't step up or go back in the cage voluntarily. Just sit quietly with him, reading or something, not looking at him most of the time until he's sitting on his perch, not clinging to the side of the cage. Then you can talk to him softly. When he seems a bit calmer you can start offering him a treat through the bars at first, then just inside the cage door. Once he'll take a treat from you then you can start following Michael's taming guide which is on this site, you'll find it under the 'Taming & Basic Training' section at the top of that page, the thread is called 'How to teach parrot to step up & come out of cage'.
Be very patient at this stage, what you do now is setting the foundations for your relationship with your parrot. Remember they are essentially a wild creature and are very very wary, so don't be in a hurry but spend time with him and talk to him a lot and you will get there! They're very social creatures and he'll settle in and want to interact with you.
Let us know how you're getting on!

[pennyandrocky]

normally I would say wait because most birds don't want to come out the first couple of days. as long as you have nowhere to be and the bird wants to come out I don't see any reason not to let him out. when mya came to my house she was out of the cage right away with no problems.

[Pajarita]

How old is the bird? Does it have a leg band? Did they give you a Hatch Certificate with the name of the breeder who produced it? Because, from what you describe, this is NOT the behavior of a hand-fed baby, it reminds me of the wild-caught back home and, apparently, there are nowadays people who poach baby quakers out of the feral populations and sell them (three of them were caught in Brooklyn, recently). Hand-fed babies are usually mild-tempered and not afraid of people -they might be a bit apprehensive in a new home but they don't act like you describe. Don't let the bird out, it will freak out even more because he won't be able to get away from you and, if he does find an open door or window, good-bye bird! Put a towel or whatever covering half the top of the cage, the back and the sides so he has a hiding place to relax (he sounds extremely stressed out, poor thing!). Put the cage at eye level, not lower, and don't move it, climb on a chair to change the paper and refresh food and water. Put out two different kinds of soft food for it and produce (quakers are great eaters).

If I were you, I would go back to the petstore and question them a bit about this bird because I doubt you will be able to tame it. I am not trying to be mean or put you down in any way but you admit not knowing what the heck you are doing and feral quakers take a lot of knowledge, time and effort in taming (I couldn't do it and have more than 20 years experience) and, if the bird is a feral, it will suffer tremendously in a cage.