Quincy the Friendly Cockatiel

[Loz]

Hello everyone
I have a new friend now, a five-year-old female cockatiel named Quincy (I love that name).

I'd been pondering the plight of Coco, the young tiel I rehomed/rescued. She looks a little overwhelmed by the budgie horde at times - she holds her own and defends her personal space effectively but she isn't what I call an explorer. It crossed my mind that she could do with some reinforcements at some point and contrary to expectation, a perfect candidate appeared almost straight away.

Here she is in her travel cage having just arrived home:




And here she is having realised her cage door is open:




After a couple of hours, Quincy was quite accepting of me being only a couple feet away:




She suddenly realised she needed a bit of a tidy-up:




Then nap-time came:



Videos!

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Walkabout:

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Quincy's story follows soon ...

[Loz]

Well, it wasn't long before negotiations were opened up as to the nature of our new relationship:

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From there, the floodgates just opened right up:






For the first (and possibly last!) time I was able to transfer Quincy, thanks to a millet bribe, to her cage for a much needed meal



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Quincy was very quickly at perfect ease on my shoulder:

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For "at ease" read *asleep*

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Super cuteness:

[Marianne Marlow]

Wow, she is a beauty. Is she a rescue?

Was she already tame?

[Marianne Marlow]

Daddeh, don't block my shot

[Marianne Marlow]

Amazing that they now do Carte d'or for cockatiels is it millet flavour?

[ffiscool]

She’s lovely! I think Coco will be delighted

[Loz]

Quincy's story:

Quincy is approximately five years old. She spent a year with her first carer, an older lady who had apparently trained Quincy very well. Unfortunately, she needed to be rehomed and her next carer had her for four years.
Her new home was fine for a couple of years and a very cherished family pet but after those two years, a change of family circumstances meant that there was less time for Quincy to spend with her humans. After two years of these reduced circumstance, her carer made the painful decision to give Quincy up to a new home. The presence of a cat, non-predatory but still a cat, was less than ideal.

Having rejected a number of offers, I was lucky enough to be accepted as Quincy's new carer (I think slave might be appropriate, more on that in a minute). I brought Quincy home yesterday and as I type this, she is sitting on my shoulder and preening me.

I'm in a very new situation right. Every time I enter Quincy's room now, after a minute or two of assessment, she lands on my shoulder and refuses to leave it. If you could have seen what I've tried to do to persuade her off, you'd laugh. A lot. I needed to wash out one of her bowls this morning. In the end I just said to Hull with it, and walked to the bathroom and back, with Quincy on my shoulder. Strictly a breach of quarantine but little risk to the Flock.

I mean it, she won't leave my shoulder. I took off my fleece, pulled it up and over my head and she was STILL on my shoulder. How? How does that happen?

It's early days yet. I'm not going to panic but if this goes on, how do I look after the Flock when Quincy is a full-time, full-attention parrot? I've considered ending the quarantine early and just introducing Quincy. I think the risk is minimal - Quincy was a singleton her whole life, has been given a clean bill of health from an avian vet a few years ago. I'm worried that if I am to provide Coco with enough attention, Quincy will miss out, and vice versa. Things to ponder whilst I watch what happens play out.

[Marianne Marlow]

I really don't understand the mentality of having a cat with birds, especially small ones like budgies and cockatiels.

She sounds like a lovely bird :-)

Got your hands very full here loz

You may need to employ some staff!!

[Loz]

I am the staff, Marianne Marlow.

She is lovely, truly. And she's now wondering around the room looking for food and admiring herself in a mirror, so I was able to properly sort out her water.

[Marianne Marlow]

Perhaps she will be less clingy when she realises this is her forever home

[Loz]

May 4, 2024 8:59:31 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

Perhaps she will be less clingy when she realises this is her forever home

I hope so. It's lovely to get the attention but I do have other birbs who need my care.

And did I mention, lunch was two & half hours late yesterday?

She's sat on her travel cage at the moment, preening so I am getting a little time off.

[Marianne Marlow]

Aw. She's so sweet!

I remember my Hector, he was that clinging. He wanted to sit on my hand all the time. I could only eat food with either my hand or a spoon cos I never had 2 hands free.

[Loz]

Returning to Quincy's room after dinner yesterday, I discovered her on the sky snake. Excellent!




She soon returned to my shoulder though. I just caught the end of a thorough wing-and-leg stretch here:




This morning, business as usual:






Eventually, it was apparent to me that Quincy was hungry. I used this as a teaching moment and taxied her to her cage, to show her her seed bowl. Result!



After breakfast, she again sat on my shoulder and decided to beak-grind in my ear. And then she sneezed in my ear, which was cute

[Marianne Marlow]

Quincy is so much more adventurous than Coco. I hope they will be good friends.

[Ira]

Seems to be a bird that may have been placed on a shoulder from a young age, and being a singleton means she had all the fuss.

But hey, once quarantine is done hopefully Coco will start to feel more comfortable around you if she sees Quincy interacting with you. Or maybe Quincy will be curious about having another tiel around.

Quincy is such an adorable name.