am i right?

Question

my daughter has a quaker and it makes me sick to see how much this bird loves her, everytime she leaves the room the bird just freaks out and screeches loudly, i told my daughter that she has to start leaving the bird with me for a while, it has to get used to being without her. my daughter doesnt leave the house at all, ever. she has problems, but the baby bird has made a huge difference to her life, its the been the best therapy shes had. but i was wondering if this bird will get used to being away from her, its still screeching at me and its only been 20mins away from its mum. please tell me it will?

Answer 1

You are right: Birds do need to learn their independence. The time you give a parrot when it first comes home sets the tone and then they get used to that, and if you start slacking they will start to feel abandoned.

First tell your daughter and everyone else in the house not to talk, or look at him when he screeches after she leaves. He has to learn scremaing won't get him attention and once he learns that, it should stop. Just be consistant, a parrot cna be a great manipulator and once they learn what gets them what they want just like children they will do it.

Also tell your daughter to allow her quaker out of the cage time without him being on her. A playstand with lots of toys is a good idea and jsut having her in the room reading so he feels safe and close but he cna leanr to explore and play on his own. Now she should start to "wean" him off slowly. If he doesn't have a playstand yet, then get one and put lots of toys on their: old and new. Add treats and a foraging toy and let him jsut check it out. If he alrayd has one then let him spend time on their. A quaker needs abotu 4 hours a dya out of the cage, but about only 1 hour one on one with their owner. The other time should be play/exercise time on the playstand or whatever letting the bird be a bird, climbing, chewing, flapping, maybe scremaing a bit. I'm nto saying she should spend less time with him but less time one on one. let her be int he room reading a book while he plays on the playstand. Have her try and encourage him to play with toys and more and more leave him to play at his own leisure.

Once a parrot learns how to be a parrot and leanrs some independence they won't screech every time their mommy or flock member leaves the room. Birds have to be taught their independence just like they do in the wild. Also having her quaker involved mroe with the family will help him be less dependent on one person as well. If possible set up his playstand in the living room so he can always be near his flock members, but not necessarily on you guys. My birds don't get along so I usually only have 2 out at a time, and thye jsut hang out and do their thing talk to us, and watch us do our thing as we watch them. They get playtime and stimulation but on their own, but still feel like they are part of the family and not abandoned.

Answer 2

One thing you can do to help this situation is to start feeding the bird. Get your daughter's permission to be the one to feed it whenever you are around. This can make a big difference to a bird, being fed by somebody. It will begin to have some attachment to you too.
Also try making a recording of your daughter's voice to listen to when she's not there; it could make him feel better.
I wouldn't assume that the problem will go away automatically.
If you can't figure something out, try to find a bird trainer or bird behaviorist that can help you to understand the birds needs and help it adjust.

Answer 3

By "makes me sick" I hope you don't mean that in a jealous way. Birds are loud in general. Quakers have a distinctive noise (rattle) they make quite a bit.

Whatever you do to ease any separation anxiety wtih the bird... it must be done GRADUALLY and over time. Yanking him away from your daughter and into your home suddenly will only cause stress and likely make the bird act out more. If your daughter lives separate from you... you should go to her house first... spend time with the bird while your daughter is present... then have your daughter leave the house for short periods of time. During that time, you should sit and read to the bird, or just talk to him. After doing this for a while, you should start to spend longer periods of time alone with the bird.

Just be sure that neither of you are reacting verbally or physcially in any way when the bird screams. If you're telling him "no" or "bad bird" or anything else, you're only reinforcing the screaming. You have to ignore the screaming... if he screams when your daughter is present, both of you leave the room for a bit... as SOON as he stops, go in and verbally praise him, take him out of the cage and give him some interaction.

As I said, whatever you do, do it slow, steady and over a period of time. Birds can adapt to change, provided it's done at their pace, which almost always takes time and a lot of patience.

Another thing to remember is to empathise with him... instinctually and in the wild, they are in flocks with hundreds of other birds (they are NEVER alone) and they always have a bonded mate by their sides... their monogomous and mate for life. If your daughter has become that mate to him, his instincts are telling him that something isn't right when she leaves his side... he's probably quiet stressed out and anxious whenever she does leave. This is another reason any correction of this behavior needs to be done slowly and over time.

Good luck!

Answer 4

quaker parrots are usually 1 person birds. It's fine to spend time with her bird. However, it sounds like the quaker is already bonded to her which means that it will always prefer her if given the choice. If it is great therapy for your daughter to spend time with the bird and the bird loves your daughter. I say don't interfere.

Answer 5

It will grow used to the routine... it might help to have your daughter record her voice with some things she says to the bird so you can play it while she is gone and that should help calm him down.... You spending time with the bird and doing some of the same things ur daughter does might help too...but in time.. it will be alright

Answer 6

will the bird loves her but maby to to to much try u playing with the bird for 30 min so the bird could love every one he might think she the mommy