Hi From Australia Sydney

[Devenah]

Hi, I'm Dee from Sydney and I'm about to pick up my new blue Quaker bird. His name is bubblegum.

I hope I've come to the right place for guidance and if I freak out!!

I've handrasied a love bird back in 2003 then my mum adopted her, Wings past away I believe at 13-14 years old.

I hope to train and have a well socialised parrot

Dee

[Chantilly]

Hi Dee! Welcome to the forum, I beleive you have came to the right place, it will be great having you here!
It is sad about your lovebird, but he was obviously well cared for.
When you get your Quaker home, please send lots of photos!,

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.

Just about anything you need will be somewhere already just do a search. Otherwise this group will help you any way they can including your well being. Don't hesitate to ask questions. There are no dumb questions. Poop has been one of the topics. So any question is a good question.

Hope you keep us posted on you bird. This forum feels like a neighborhood to me and just like a child "it takes a village" to raise a bird.

[Devenah]

Thanks guys!! I've got everything ready for my fur baby cage is all set. Food bought and ready. Kids will be summoned to make forging toys for our little friend.

Dee

Gess it's been so long since I've been on a forum I need to figure this back out and I need a signature etc etc lol

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum.

Relax, you will do fine. I don't know what you have food wise for your new baby and am not sure how much you know about parrots in general or about Quakers in particular, but we are here to help you with your Bubblegum.

How old is your new bird and is he fully weaned? I suppose that the last part of this question is really a moot point as it would be a good idea for you to get some of the handfeeding formula from the breeder where you are getting him and then get your own bag of the same handfeeding formula that the breeder is using . The reason for my saying this is that it is very common for breeders to wean a bird, but then with the stresses of moving to a new home, the bird regresses and needs to be weaned all over again. If this occurs the bird will need to receive the handfeeding formula a couple of times a day in addition to its regular foods.

Your new baby is also going to need you to teach it to eat a wide variety of fresh raw fruits and vegetables as it can't just eat a seed mix or pellets and receive the proper nutrition. These are the first things that come to mind for me as I am actually looking at it as if it is your first bird given the time since you last had a bird and in light of the things that we have learned about them in that amount of time.

We will be happy to help you in any way that we can, so please feel free to ask any questions that may come to mind.

[Devenah]

Thanks for the information!!

I believe he will be 2 months old or a bit older. He's been weaned now for over 1 week and feeding alone and had been also on fresh fruit and veggies.

Food wise I have, parrot seed mix, some nut mix more for the training and to put in forging toys for enrichment. I'll also supply him with fruit and veggies.. and the occasional cracker lol I've also got a supply of millet as well. So hopefully this should get us started.

I might do as you say and get some handrearing food just incase he goes backwards.

Yes this will technically be my first bird. It's been awhile since Wings, but hand raising that bird with zero experience and zero food on hand at the time I was quite proud of my self raising the bird and also teaching it how to fly

[Wolf]

It really sounds to me like you have things well in hand. Still have one last thing that I would like to mention, not that you haven't already considered it, but it is one of those areas where peoples knowledge has increased and their outlook has improved and that is cage size.

The average size of a Quaker parrot is 29 cm with a wingspan of roughly double that or 58 cm. The minimum recommended cage size for this bird is double the wingspan or 116 cm and the cage should be placed so that the highest perch in it is about eyelevel when you stand next to it. Actually, last year sizing the cage for a parrot in this manner was passed into a law in Sweden along with some other considerations, so at least in some areas of the world people are beginning to wake up to the actual needs of these wonderful companions.

While I did not raise my first bird like you did without any prior knowledge, I do have a very good idea of what your first experience was like as my first parrot was a female Senegal parrot who ran away from a bad environment in the early spring here in the mountains of North Carolina while the temperatures were often below freezing. She arrived early in the morning very cold and hungry demanding to come into the house and although I knew absolutely nothing about parrots I let her in. I soon learned that she was going through puberty and what that meant with this being a new place for her with no one that she knew and with raging hormones. This little bird ate me alive for a very long period of time, while I learned about her and what she would need to be healthy.

Different bird and ages, but we both began with no knowledge, so I know how much effort it took while you were learning all about your bird. My experiences with my Kiki, Senegal, really help me to appreciate how well you did with raising your love bird. You did a wonderful job with that one and I really expect that you will do wonderfully with your Bubblegum as well.

[liz]

I thought I knew how to care for cockatiels but came into the forum in 2011 and had to change everything I was doing. All my kids are rescues. Rambo came from a loving human who had to give him up. She did not care for him properly but really loved him. He gave me a crash course in "Amazon". I was searching for another Amazon rescue and joined this forum for more info of how to find one. Myrtle was 1 and came from a very bad place. She was scared, dirty and dull in color. Rambo helped me with her.
If not for this forum I would probably have killed them all with kindness.