Hi We're new to the world of Parakeets

[AlfieBays]

Hi,

We have had our Quaker Parakeet now for almost 3 weeks. Alfie is approx 4-5 months old and has been hand reared. So far he has been a very well adaptable bird and has settled in very well to our family. This consists of myself, my husband Mark and daughter Erin who's 9.
So far Alfie has built up a great affection to my husband and will get so excited when he knows he is due home. Our daily routine on a weekly basis has been easy for him to pick up. We both work full time and my husband leaves for work very early, some mornings it can be 3am! He walks past Alfie and he doesn't make a sound. When I get up around 6.30 - 7am he is still quiet and doesn't really make any noise until I'm down stairs and it's only when Erin has come down that he knows he can come out until we go to work and school. Alfie is then put back in his cage the TV is turned off and the Radio is put on, we say good bye and see you later to him and thats it until we get home around 4.30.
I so far haven't seen a problem with him being left so long and he seems happy enough when we get home, so much so that he is very vocal! Is this too long for him to be left in a cage? Bering in mind we got him from a pet store and he would be in his cage all day apart from 1 hr when he was out for flying.
As I said Alfie has built up a very close bond with my husband and he will do anything for him, but with me and Erin it's slightly different. Alfie doesn't seem to like stepping up on my finger and continues to bite me when doing so. I have been using a wooden stick for him to step up on and he's happy with this. When he has flight time in the evening before bed, Mark and I will stand at opposite ends of the room and he flies between us both, he doesn't seem to have a problem with landing on my finger! This is all the same with Erin, although Erin does show slight fear when handling him because she's scared he will bite her hard. We have told her that he can sense fear and is to remain calm around him and he will soon learn to trust her and her him. This is something that will take time and it's early days yet.
We do have a few questions that we could do with being answered if possible.
- Why does Alfie seem to keep pulling our hair when he lands on our heads?
- He doesn't seem to interested in his toys and we have introduced new ones but he tends to stay away from them all, how do we get him playing more?
- We happen to be going away at the weekend, leaving Friday morning returning Sunday lunch. We are concerned that although we have someone going in twice a day with Erin to let him out for approx 1hr each time, will he get upset/annoyed that he's not getting his normal 3-4 hours out? Would it be advisable that he goes to stay with a relative so at least he has company?
- What are quakers favourite fruit/veg? Alfie has grapes, Apples and broccoli.
- Alfie sits with us at the dinner table and will sometimes go on the table and walks around picking off our plates, this will only be peas/sweetcorn and other veg and never meat, is this ok for him or would it be best that he goes away while we are eating?

I think this is all for now and I'm sure as we progress further with Alfie and he gets older we will have more questions.
Sorry for the long winded post and hope we can gain some great advise from you all.

Thank you so much

Helen

[edgy13]

In my experience they tend to be one-person birds(Get attached to one person, ignores the rest) and he may be scared of the toys as they may be unfamiliar(play with them in front of him to show that it's not a threat. When he pulls out your hair he is attempting to preen you which is a way to show friendship. and yes bring him to a relative schedule changes may be streesful and can cause behavioural problems. You should give hive carrots, spinach, kale, corn, peas cucumbers, ect.(They need a varied diet) Fruits should be varied too, include bananas, kiwi, mango, pineapple, oranges, and grapefruit.(This is not a full list but some examples) As for feeding him at the tabe, just make sure he doesn't ingest anything toxic and you should be fine, good way to bond I'll have to try that!:)

[Pajarita]

No, no spinach. It's way too high in oxalates (inhibits calcium absorption), broccoli, organic kale/romaine/escarole/chicory, etc are better. Yes, he pulls your hair because he wants to preen it, it's a sign of affection. Yes, he spends too many hours in a cage, he's still a baby and should have company all the time. They eat a lot of fruits and veggies (they adore corn on the cob -even raw!) and don't do well on pellets (which, regardless what you may have read in birdsites are not the healthiest option when it comes to a parrot diet) so don't worry about him not eating them (try cooking whole grains like wheat, barley, brown rice, oats, kamut, etc and mixing them with some cooked small white beans and/or lentils and thawed frozen veggies like corn, peas, organic carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, etcc). They are not into commercial toys, they like to build, give him things like little branches, popsicle sticks, pieces of cardboard -mine loves to pick up entire newspaper sheets and carry them to her 'nest' to hide under. She also 'weaves' old feathers, strips of paper, dried leaves and whatever else she can find between the bars of the cages.

Now, as to your trip, yes, leave him with somebody, as I said, he is a baby and babies should not be left alone, it makes them feel insecure and abandoned and could have emotional consequences in the long term.

But, my dear, I am afraid your schedule is not going to work for a quaker in the long term because they are not tropical or even semi-tropical birds. I know many websites say so but they are incorrect (I come from one of the countries in South America where they come from and I can assure you we are in a temperate zone with four distinct seasons, with long nights in the winter and short ones in the summer). All birds should be kept on a strict solar schedule (not my opinion but what nature decreed) in order for them to keep a healthy endocrine system (it's governed by quantity and quality of light) which, in turn, keeps a healthy immune system. But birds from temperate climate even more so because whereas tropical birds use food availability as their primary breeding trigger, the ones from temperate zones use photoperiodism and quakers are one of them. The propensity of quaker owners to think of them as tropical and keep them to a human light schedule is what has caused the epidemic (and given them such a bad reputation) of plucking, screaming, biting and even self-mutilation among them.

He will be fine for now but, as time goes by and he gets older, if he is not kept to a bird light schedule, he will start screaming and biting and believe me when I tell you that you don't want a sexually frustrated (birds are meant to produce sexual hormones only during breeding season and not all the time but, when you give them long days and rich food all year round, they just keep on producing them) quaker in your hands as they can scream constantly and VERY loud and are fearless little things that have no problem whatsoever biting anybody real hard. If he has been DNA'd a male, you might get lucky because, in quakers, females are dominant and the more aggressive gender so males tend to have a milder temper (quakers are cantankerous little things, I love them to pieces, they are one of my favorite species, but you can't take their good nature for granted).