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Post by benm214 on Nov 3, 2015 12:56:17 GMT -5
New comer here! Quick question, I've had 2 Quakers for about 4 weeks now, the person I received them from said they are brother and sister! They are 15 weeks old so still babies, but I just want to know how do I make them want to be with humans instead of each other? Most of the time they just want to be with each other, and on top of their cage. But I want to get the benefits of feeling their love if that makes sense. Seeing parrots online being extremely in love with their owners and seeing mine just want to be with each other makes me jealous lol. Is there any way to change this? Seperating them? Idk I need advice. Sorry if the formatting and grammar of this post is bad, new to this.
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Post by aaron on Nov 3, 2015 14:31:05 GMT -5
Greetings! I'm not personally an expert on this subject, but at the very least you'll need to separate them if you want the opportunity to develop a full bond with them. As far as the behavioral impact of this separation goes and the challenges you may face as a result, I'm not going to be much help, but I'd wager there will be some obstacles to overcome-- the cages will probably at the very least need to be kept near each other to avoid separation anxiety of sorts... Some of the others on the site will probably be more useful than I  |
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Post by julianna on Nov 3, 2015 14:42:53 GMT -5
You are correct aaron. The birds will need to be separated and in different cages.... and the best time to do that would be now while they are babies. You must remember that these birds are "flock" birds and love the company of other Quakers. You can expect a lot of screaming going on at first but it will settle down after a little time.
Each bird will require a lot of your attention so that they do not build an anxiety and start plucking feathers. I am sure you will bond to one more than the other because that is life. This will cause stress on the birds.
I personally would not have two Quakers unless I did not want to have a bird that I could interact with. I have read many articles that say... if I was to get a second Quaker, then I should say good bye to the bond we currently have.
I am presuming the previous owner had them DNA tested because other than that... there is no obvious way of telling their sexes.
Hopefully others can add to this post and perhaps give you a more positive message?
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Post by aaron on Nov 3, 2015 14:48:17 GMT -5
Yes, at one point we strongly considered getting a second Quaker because we felt bad about the time Cupcake spent at home alone... but after learning more about it, it became clear that this posed a substantial risk of totally destroying the bond we have with her. Not surprisingly, birds would typically rather bond with other birds than humans if given the choice.
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Post by easttex on Nov 4, 2015 4:50:18 GMT -5
Another consideration is breeding when they are mature. There are multiple reasons you wouldn't want that. While that wouldn't likely happen in the wild, it very well could in captivity. That argues for separating them, although it isn't absolutely necessary as long as you don't allow eggs to develop. But you should know that separation will probably be hard on everybody. If they were parent-raised, it's going to take some time to get them to accept you as the main companion. I'm not saying you shouldn't, but you should be prepared.
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