Question about a female quaker parrot.?

Question

My boyfriend and I have many birds and try to help find homes for birds that people want to give away. Our neighbors wanted to give away their female quaker parrot. We couldn't keep her because our sun conure was extremely jealous over her and causing problems plus we really don't have the room. The quaker was cage aggressive but very sweet once you got her out. We gave her to a family that loved her and spent lots of time with her. This was about 5 months ago. Everything has been fine and now all of the sudden she is attacking everyone and being evil. Could it be because she is wanting to lay eggs? If so, how long does this behavior last? If not, what could this be because they are wanting to get rid of here now. Please help!

Answer 1

Quakers seem to evil little things we have one and he is crazy one minute sweet as pie and the next biting and screeming. I dont know why they are like that. Its like they want to be the boss of everyone.

Answer 2

Quakers are hormonal 2x a year...Spring and Fall.  Those are the 2 times of year when it is baby time!  You didn't mention the age of this female, but it really doesn't matter.  1 of my 2 Quakers is cage agressive, also.

A few things can be done to discourage egg laying:

1 - lessen the amount of daylight.  Allow only 9-10 hours per day then cover the cage.

2 - Offer less food.  Only offer 1/8-1/4 cup of pellets a day and offer less soft foods.  I don't know how much this bird is fed but adjust to just what it needs for the day.

3 - Offer toys for the agression and also make sure the bird gets enough baths or showers during the week, at least 4 x a week.

4 - be patient.  As others have said, it's just that time of year.

Answer 3

It does sound like she's hormonal. It won't last all year long, but if you learn the signs, you should be able to deal with it (by signs, I mean like eye-pinning and head-lowering).

I've had three Quakers in my lifetime and all of them were like that (two of them were male, so it's not just the females). It never made me feel like dumping them.

If they have the patience, tell them to just bear with her -- ALL South American parrots get hormonal and there's not a lot you can do but learn to live with it.

P.S. I have three caiques now and they get cranky at times -- but I'll never get rid of them just because of birdy PMS. They're my babies.