What do you make of this behavior?

[alleng8304]

Jack, my adult rescue stopped talking for about two weeks. Today I started him on Harrisons fine pellets and the Power treat. I also put a Happy hut tent in back of the cage. At the entrance to the hut their is a food cup in the shape of an sliced orange. I put a few power treats in this cup. He now takes the power treats out of the cup and goes into the tent to eat and play with them. In the tent he starts talking again?

 

[noodles123]

How long has the tent been in there?
Are you saying he started talking again when you added the tent?

 

[alleng8304]

Tent has been in for about 3 days. He stopped talking about 2 weeks before the tent. He showed no interest in the tent until today. I found him in it this morning with his tail sticking out of the tent when I uncovered him. Today for first time I put Harrisons power treats in food bowl next to the tent then he took a piece of treat and went into the tent to play with it and eat it.

Sidenote-when I first got him 2 1/2 months ago he would talk when I approached the cage but was standoffish. Now he is friendlier but stopped talking when I approach.

 

[EllenD]

Regardless of whether or not the "Happy Hut" started him talking again (which is not good anyway, as it's an indication that Jack being in small, dark places is making him hormonal), I really highly suggest that you remove that Happy-Hut immediately, as Quakers love to chew/rip/tear/work-on everything and anything they can get their beaks on, and there are many suddenly-dead Quakers on the "Happy-Hut Death" website. With the Quakers they don't usually die from becoming tangled in loose threads, but rather they die after little, tiny bits of the material build-up inside of their GI Tracts and eventually cause a bowel-obstruction...And their owners have absolutely no way of knowing that anything is wrong with them at all, because the bowel-obstructions aren't a problem until the second that they form, and the blockage starts things "backing-up" inside of your bird. By the time you notice anything is wrong with your bird (usually the first symptom is sudden vomiting of feces and then immediate lethargy and death) it's usually too late to get him into surgery at an Avian Vet to remove the blockage. I suggest you read the "Happy-Hut Death" website, along with doing a Google search for "Happy Hut parrot deaths" and read about why the company actually had to put a big starburst on the front of the packaging that says "Not Intended For Conures", as if it's okay for all other species of birds to die from them though..

I don't know why Jack would have "stopped talking" and then suddenly started talking again when you put the Death-Hut back into his cage except that Jack being in a small, warm, dark place is causing him to be hormonal, which is triggering his vocalization. And along with the vocalization comes all of the other signs/symptoms of them being hormonal, which are not good and should be avoided....Was Jack DNA-tested to determine his gender? The reason I'm asking is that if not, and if Jack happens to be a female, then the small, dark, warm places like the Death-Huts often trigger chronic egg-laying in females. You can't sex a Quaker from their appearance, so if Jack is going into the Death-Hut and becoming very vocal, then this is actually very indicative of female hormonal "nesting" behavior...

 

[itzjbean]

It sounds like he went through an adjustment period, where they tend to 'take everything in' until they feel comfortable enough to talk/sing/whistle again.

I personally would take out the hut, it's caused many parrot's deaths (ingesting the soft material, getting it tangled around their feet/neck) and they are also known to cause an increase in hormonal behavior, resulting in aggression/protection of the happy hut as their 'nest'.

My advice is to take out the hut and instead invest in some cool toys for him to try out. He will start talking eventually again as he gets used to his new cage, surroundings, and you.

 

[noodles123]

The reason I asked about the duration of the hut's stay was that I too was leaning toward nesting/hormonal behavior. I think that is probably the case, based on timing and that can be problematic...then again, Quakers are some of the only parrots I know of that build actual nests....so having never owned one, my "negative" connotations may be unfounded (?). I just know that you don't want to give other types of parrots dark spaces etc or it can encourage hormones which can lead to egg-binding, aggression, and feather problems. Again-never owned a Quaker.

 

[noodles123]

Okay, so I Googled this...I am still thinking the tent could promote unwanted territorial behaviors...According to a couple of sources....self-stimulating parrots will often make noises as well....cough cough...
I would remove the tent and provide him with other outlets for his energy....and make sure his light/sleep cycles are consistent and in keeping with best-practices for his species.

 

[alleng8304]

Ok the tent is history. Thanks to all. It is possible that Jack is a Jackie. If not he has been hormonal since I got him. When on my shoulder he will rub his backside into my ear and in his cage, from the former owner, is a toy hanging from top of the cage that looks like a mop. He rubs up against it. He is very active, has several toys that he plays with, especially his bell which he rings all day and all night. Day/night cycles are consistent-8pm bedtime, cage covered, wakes up around 7am. I change his water every morning and feed him. Then I let him out and he goes to top of the cage and comes over to me to give me a kiss and then gets on my shoulder. Shortly after that his training period starts-on a perch stand in another room. Since he will not step up, I have to pick him up and carry him to the training site. Training is 10-15 minutes three times daily, then treats and praise. He is warming up nicely but again stopped talking.

Ps> Spoke to former owner who said their was another Quaker in his cage when she had him and they did not like each other. The other Quaker laid two eggs. He does not like my parakeet either that wants his friendship. Parakeet is tame, talks and free flight when out of his cage. Sorry for so long. Thanks to all- Allen

 

[Laurasea]

Some parrots like to practice words in private.

 

[noodles123]

LOL!-- good times -
The "rubbing" you speak of could be from a male or female, but don't encourage it. Instead, redirect the bird to a non-sexual activity (distract) and do not continue to pet a sexual bird (no scolding for this behavior either) ...You just want to make sure you aren't accidentally encouraging sex via dark spaces or touching certain areas (varies by bird)...Basically, you don't want to lead your bird on, or it could lead to anger issues and frustration.
It's okay---you aren't the first to run into this issue. It is natural and kind of a compliment to you, but doesn't change the fact that it can make things problematic over time.

If a bird is fixated on a toy, I would also look at ways to tactfully remove it----I haven't ever had a bird who "self-stimulates", but I am sure Google can help you there as well.

 

[EllenD]

Noodles took the words right out of my mouth...The "rubbing" could be either male or female sexual/hormonal behavior. My female Cockatiel and my female Quaker (DNA tested) have both "rubbed" themselves against things, including my hand; the "rubbing" is also often accompanied by a weird, little, quiet, constant kind of "chirping", I can't really describe it accurately, but females who are masturbating or attempting to masturbate often make this little noise, it's very distinct, once you hear it/see it you won't forget it. Either way though, encouraging hormonal behavior in either sex is not good, as males can become extremely aggressive and even bite hard completely out of nowhere, like they don't even realize why they just did it (my male Green Cheek did this to me once after going underneath my couch for about 20 minutes, I couldn't find him, and when I finally did and I put a flashlight under there, he stared at me with eyes pinning, constantly chattering to himself in half English and half birdie, and then suddenly charged towards me out of nowhere and literally attached himself to my hand, to the point that I had to pry him off; he had no idea why he had done it, and he's not ever done it again or prior, it was simply hormones caused by him being in a small, dark, confined space).

Quakers are one of the only species of parrots to build "nests"; however, they aren't really "nests" in the conventional sense at all, but rather more like "Townhouse Complexes"! Seriously, if you've never seen a Quaker community nest then you should Google it, it is something to see. They make large, inter-connected, covered houses that have actual "rooms" and where different families live together in different areas. I have seen them in-person in both Brooklyn and in Delaware (Brooklyn is full of wild Quakers everywhere, there are actually different "clans" of them that have home-complexes in different areas of Brookly). I have spent a lot of time in the NYC area, especially Brooklyn, and there are different Quaker colonies in Coney Island, in Williamsburg, and then there is another colony that has it's home-complex near a church in Brooklyn, though it's escaping me now what part of Brooklyn the church is in, but there are hundreds of them there. The point is that I'm not sure how much hormonal activity is caused by their own "housing complexes" that they build, versus one Quaker being inside a little tent or something similar.

I would think about getting a DNA test done on Jack, just so that you know what his gender is, and so that you can be prepared, just in-case Jack is actually Jackie. It's always a good thing to know whether or not egg-laying is something that you're going to have to be ready for...

***And I'm so glad that you removed the "Happy Hut", for Jack's sake. I'm sorry if I came off a little aggressive about the "Hut" thing, but the fact that this company still sells these things even though they are very well aware that they have literally killed hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of pet birds just amazes me; when they started putting the warning about "Not intended for use by Conures" on the front of the packaging I was seriously enraged; like Conures are the only birds who chew on material and swallow it, or who get caught in loose threads. Andy company with a conscience and who cares about living animals more than they do money would maybe, I don't know, CHANGE THE MATERIAL!!! I know that's just crazy talk, lol...

Anyway, I tend to get very fired-up when the topic of "Happy Huts" comes-up, mostly because just calling them "Happy" Huts makes me literally nauseous. So I now call them "Death Huts", as that's exactly what they are, there isn't anything "Happy" about them. But my anger certainly was not directed at you in any way...I do get frustrated with the people who say come on here, listen to everyone and read all of the hundreds of comments written by people who have lost their beloved birds because of one of these "Huts", and then the person says something like "I appreciate all the concern by you guys, and I understand the risk I'm taking by keeping the Hut inside of my bird's cage, but I just can't take it away from him, he loves it so much. So we're just going to have to take the chance", or something like that...That's happened on here more than a few times, and I always have to restrain myself from screaming out "Well your bird won't be happy at all if it's dead, so better alive than without a Hut"....Uhg. All you can do is try I guess, can't win them all.

Bottom-line is that there are so many things that make our birds sick, accidents that happen that hurt our birds, and so many ways that our beloved family members die far before their time, that there is absolutely no reason at all for us to purposely give them a toy that we know has literally killed hundreds if not thousands of pet birds. We're supposed to be responsible for them, they totally and completely rely on us 100% for their lives and their care, so it's our responsibility to protect them, not to purposely give them things that we know may very likely hurt them or kill them...

 

[alleng8304]

Thanks Ellen-as I said the hut is history-in circular file. Yes, I have heard that little chirp you mention -almost like a Cooing sound. As I said ,Jack was previously in a cage with another Quaker , and all they did was chase each other. The other Quaker did lay two eggs on cage bottom. Nothing hatched

 

[ChristaNL]

LOL, oh so much fun... you also use the expression "circular file", did not expect that

Anyway- well done!
This hormone-management is something most of us did not expect to be a part of parrotkeeping.
Somehow that part is always missing on the care-sheet.