Help! Two male/sibling quakers

[rjblackwel]

Hey Everyone -- I need a little help here.
My husband and I purchased two quaker parrots (reportedly both males per DNA test) back in March, who are brothers from the same parent & born together. We got them at about 8 weeks old in March. When we got them home, we left them remaining within the same cage since that's all that their very short lives had known. Can I just say... it has been a little chaotic. At first, the one that we named 'Little Foot' who has a severely deformed right foot (missing 3/4 of a toe & another toe missing a nail--and a little crooked) was very calm, easily trusting, pretty easily handled; while his brother, who we call 'Petri' (and has a sideways nail on his right foot) was very flighty and mistrusting and generally did not want anything to do with anyone. If you had one of them and walked more than a few feet away from the other (and you didn't give them the option to be able to fly away), then they would begin making chirps to verify that each other were still there. There came a point where we started trying to separate them which made it easier, but of course my husband (who is the one who wanted the birds and got them) decided that it was "torture" to separate them.

Now, the roles have switched. Petri is the much tamer one while Little Foot is the total butt head and EXTREMELY noisy. Still, at this point, they will accept seeds/treats from our hands, and they will step up onto a particular perch we use to get them in/out of their cage, but Little Foot likes to "bite" -- although it is not in an aggressive manner, but he will slowly tighten his grip. In any event, they are mating with each other--literally. I'm not sure if it is at all possible--like as in whether penetration of any kind is possible--but it definitely does seem like it. It's so strange to watch them go around in circles over each other trying to figure out... "who is going to do what" (we'll just say). Even before the mating, it is very obvious that they are bonded to each other and it is very cute watching them groom each other. However, more so lately, Little Foot is becoming randomly & unexpectedly more aggressive towards Petri. Typically it is nothing too severe but this most recent time I had to intervene because Little Foot had clamped down around Petri's beak and wouldn't let go even though Petri was screaming in distress. After I broke it up they promptly went back to grooming each other--and now a little while later trying to mate again.

I guess what I'm trying to find out here is whether I should be concerned at all AND/OR I should be separating them.

There's so much information online, of course though it is all general or doesn't fully encapsulate the situation I have going on.

 

[April]

Oh goodness this does sound quite stressful let me tag some Quaker folks. @Pixiebeak @Mizzely @zERo/
Love the names by the way.

 

[zERo/]

Wow! Seems like a real challenging situation you’re in!

If it were me, I think I’d look into getting a cage with either a divider or another cage. It sounds like the relationship is not 100% beneficial for both parties.

They may scream for each other initially, I would put the cages as close together as possible.
If you set up another cage with food/water/perches/toys, one bird may decide to move out.

I probably wouldn’t worry too much about the mating.
They don’t have females so they’re the next best thing to each other.

So how old are they now? I figured you meant you got them this March.
I wouldn’t figure they’re going through their first hormonal spell this young but it is possible.

Do they have plenty of toys to destroy? I recommend hiding favorites treats in their toys so they have more things to do and look for throughout the day.
Also make sure they’re getting at least 12 hours of peaceful quiet sleep.

 

[Pixiebeak]

If you didn't send out or do the dna test yourself I would repeat it , as you don't want brother and sister producing. And sellers can lie .

If they are sane sex pair bond , it's ok. I've girls that do the same thing.

While quakers are Highly sociol!! I think each in their own large cage is best . And still can be out together all the time , but separate cages seems best. I've highly bonded girl pairs and they can not share a cage .

Quakers are smart and active, so sum fir more than four hours out of cage time daily . Plenty of foraging fun, stuff to destroy.

Remember nearly all adult quakers are cage protective. Simply work around this by having perches in the outside of cage especially one by the door . Let them come out first before stepping up. Or even cage maintaining and feeding. Was very easy to teach mine to come out to perch first. Then we have no drama

 

[JulietRose]

I would agree with what others have said! Separating the cages but still letting them see each other out of cage, but make sure they are supervised when together!
For the cage aggression what I did (or more like he learned on his own lol) was have him fly over to my shoulder when he wants to be around me. That way I don’t have to put my hands in his cage and I know when he wants to be around me, so I don’t accidentally catch him at a bad time!