Quacker was our first "little green
chicken". He belongs to my youngest son wh o is in high school. Quacker chewed a hole
in the box on the way home. Once at the house he LEAPED(bonzai!) into a bowl of
chili and started chomping away. He is always a little fat monger who loves all the
fattening things that birds are not supposed to have. Quacker was a bird that
the pet store co-owner had n ot originally planned to sell. He was 8 weeks old and just
weaned. He talked! He said "Quacker" (which was his name) and
quacked like a duck and said "Kiss, Kiss". After a lifetime with dogs, cats and
budgies he was a real shock! He has a sweet personality and has been DNA sexed as a
male. He is bonded with Stoney.
KiKi was our second Quaker to join
the flock here. My eldest son went looking for a cockatoo, but their price was
scarey. He HATED quakers because Quacker would chase him a ll over. However, in our
wandering around the pet shop we noticed a quaker in a small round cage. We asked and were
informed that the bird wouldn't come out of her cage. The previous owners
didn't have time for her and she hadn't been out of her cage in a long time. The
round cage had made her very pidgeon-toed.
When my son opened
the door the pet store lady said, "She won't come out. Not even for
me." KiKi took one look at my son and climbed slowly up his arm and
proceeded to pluck whiskers from his face. She was cooing and talking
"lovey" to him. SOLD~ Of course she already knew her name so we kept
it KiKi so she would not be confused. We were going to have her DNA sexed, but in
November 1997 she layed 4 eggs. All by herself, with no help from "The
guys". She is not a multiple people bird. She generally only accepts my
oldest son an d myself. She bites others. But to us she is loving and sweet
and a joy to play with.
The third Quaker to join the crew
was Stoney. We belong to two bird clubs and one of the clubs was having a bird fair
(what fun those things are!). Someone had donated a Quaker to the raffle
table. My youngest son Tim s[ent his entire allowance buying raffle tickets and
stuffing them in the box for the quaker. Needless to say, when they called him
number he almost went into orbit. Stoney had psittacosis when he came to live with
us. But after medication and love and good food he is a wonderful (but skittish)
little guy. He learned to talk by mimicking KiKi and Quacker. He speaks pretty
plainly. He is the only Quaker that we actually named.
Cookie...gee, how do I explain Cookie? We went to
the vet to get more medicine for Stoney and the vet said, "Would you like another
Quaker?". Bob (the Daddy of the house) said "NO!! No more
birds. We have 4 budgies, 1 cockatiel, and three quakers! Enough!". But
after seeing Cookie in the vet cage how can a person resist? Cookie had been a stray
(for who knows how long). He DID talk but it was somewhat "bad"
language". He had bitten everybody at the vet and for a month left Mommy Birdy
with bleeding scars. But, he is now coming to realize that Mommy Birdy LOVES him
and that he is a good boy. He is much loved. He laughs, says "Cookie Good
Boy" and a few other things. When I was just fooling around I teasingly asked
him what his name was and he said "Cookie good boy" very plainly. So...no
choice of names for him.
We also have 4 budgies and a cockatiel in our
flock. However, the other birds do not interract with the quakers. The quakers
have taken over the living room and have a tall tree branch mounted in a Christmas tree
stand. It has ropes and baskets and bells and all sorts of toys that get rotated so
the sweeties don't get bored. They are the owners and WE are the slaves! And
I wouldn't have it any other way!
