Question by z: how do i train an adult quaker parrot?
my parrot keeps trying to bite me. I searched for hints but they only show hints and tips on baby parrots. its getting annoying.
Best answer:
Answer by Shelly L
Hi Z,
Despite the difficulties you are currently experiencing with your Quaker, they are one of the easier types of parrots to train. There is one ground rule however, and that is to never hit, yell at or in any other way punish your bird for biting or other bad behavior. Parrots don’t understand punishment, it never works and the only result is that your bird will trust you even less and become harder to handle.
Another thing to keep in mind is that some Quakers are very territorial around their cages. Sometimes just teaching the bird to step up onto a hand-held perch solves the issue, because once they get away from the cage they are no longer aggressive.
What happens over time is that a Quaker that starts out aggressive around their cage can become aggressive away from it too, because the biting behavior becomes a habit. So what you need to do is break that bad habit. Of course, the big question then becomes, how do you do that?
One thing that has worked for me in the past is to train the Quaker to step up to a hand-held perch or stick, as I mentioned earlier. Start out with one perch, and practice having the bird step up to it and then back to its cage, both to and from the inside and to and from the top. Once the bird has mastered that, then introduce a second perch (one held in each hand) and teach the bird to step up from one perch to the other, back and forth.
During this time, don’t try to handle the bird with your hands. Also, it’s best to keep the practice sessions short and have them 2-3 times a day rather than having one big marathon practice session. Try to have fun with it, praise your bird enthusiastically when it does well – food treats at the end of the sessions are greatly appreciated… for the bird, not for you. 
Sometimes this takes just a few days, sometimes a few weeks – how long depends on you and the bird. But when it is stepping up reliably from the cage and back again and from perch to perch, then it’s time to try having the bird step up to your hand again. For a bird that isn’t used to being on the floor (and I don’t recommend allowing a Quaker regular access to the floor), you can have the bird step up to the perch and then gently set the perch on the floor. Most parrots feel uncomfortable on the ground, and at that point they often willingly will step up to your hand just to get away from the floor. Immediately have the bird step up to its cage, and give lots and lots of praise.
Do this several times a day, and pretty soon you have a bird with a new “habit” of stepping up to your hand WITHOUT biting – yay! Keep up the step-up practice using your hands and perches through the rest of the bird’s life, and you shouldn’t have to deal with the biting issue ever again.
There are a few Quakers that are just super territorial around their cages no matter what you do. For these, continue using the hand-held perch to remove the bird from its cage and then handle him or her normally away from it.
If you’d like some other tips on how to care for and train Quaker Parrots, you can sign up for free email lessons at http://www.quakerparrots.com. Hope this helps!
Shelly Lane
Author of Quaker Parrots Made Easy
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