The Parents- A pair of Split To Blue Quakers

                                                                                                                   This is our Blue and Red Eyed Cinnamon Quakers


  

       Split To Blue Quakers. ( He Had A Rough Day )                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                        Green Quaker

The Monk parrot or more commonly known in Australia as the Quaker parrot Myopsitta monachus.  This bird has two outstanding traits that attract aviaculturalists (bird breeders) world wide to breed these birds.  First is their ability to build a nest entirely out of sticks and twigs and is the only known parrot to do so.  Second is their chatter or clicking like voice that is quite unusual and when repeated several times can become quite annoying. 

Quakers are an unusual mixture of green and gray.  The gray extends the whole way down the front of the bird starting from the crown with a lovely light shade of gray and extends right down to the lower abdomen.  There is a light tint of green on the lower abdomen and the gray

Above: Left blue mutation and right common green.

green mixture then blends into a light green color on the legs and extends right down to the tip of the tail.  The feet are medium to dark gray and the beak is a creamy – orange colour. The Quaker is approximately 29cm in length. 

  Origin

This parrot originates South America in the Uruguay , Paraguay , Bolivia and Argentina regions.  These birds when seen in the wild are considered as pests.  In 1883 Charles Darwin reported that along the Uruguay River he saw Quakers destroying vegetation.  Today Quakers destroy corn and sunflower crops and are shot by farmers in prolific numbers to keep the population down.  Nests are poisoned and destroyed as a means of chemical and physical control.  In 1984 Sir Edward Hallstrom bred the first Quaker in Australia while a member of the zoological parks trust of Taronga zoo.  It’s an extreme disappointment that the zoos don’t display Quakers any more.

Housing

If you are going to keep your Quaker in the house as a pet than the best size cage would be 600mm high x 600mm long x 600mm wide.

This size cage would be adequate for one pet Quaker ensuring that it was let out for daily flight exercise within the house.

If your Quaker is extremely friendly and tame than a large play gym would be adequate.  The cage or play gym should have plenty of toys to stimulate the birds mind, toys include rope with knots, loops, large metal rings, mirrors etc, pine cones and cuttle bone should be available for the birds to chew as Quakers love to chew objects.  The cuttle bone also acts as a source of calcium. 

If housing Quakers to breed they should only be housed as pairs or in a colony and no odd bird should be in the same cage.  Quakers when breeding can either be housed in suspended or conventional aviaries.

Breeding

When purchasing Quakers to breed the best way to do so is to buy two young birds and pair them yourself.  I would strongly recommend not buying birds that have theoretically breed before.  The reason for this that you have to consider why they are selling good breeding birds in the first place, some reasons they might be selling good breeding birds is that they might in actual fact be bad breeding birds.  Bad breeding birds might eat eggs, neglect young or the person might have just sold you two birds of the same sex that they say have bred before.  Once you have established good birds and have purchased from a reputable breeder is it time to setup the desired aviary whether it be suspended or conventional, for this birds complex but unique nesting behavior.  Quakers build a stick nest and are the only known parrot to do so although lovebirds build a nest within a nest box with soft pliable bark, there is nothing quite unique as a Quaker nest.  To cater for the nest a wire basket should be available for them to build their nest in, but a complex jumble of sticks makes nest inspections hard, another alternative in to put a wire tunnel about 600mm diameter around a nest box entrance hole, this way they can build a tunnel heading into the box were they nest.  The other option is to use just a cockatiel size nest box. I use a ply wood constructed nest box which measures 350mm deep x 250 wide x 250 long and a 75mm hole 2in from the top of the box with a 2in thick bed of pine or hardwood shavings NOT TREATED.  I believe that the stick stimulate the birds to breed.