I've got two Quakers. One is friendly, the other one isn't!

[Wolfie]

Hello there parrot lovers!

This is my first post and I'm hoping that I'm writing it in a good section So this is how things are. Recently I moved in with my girlfriend. Girlfriend's mom is a massive animal lover. They have a quite a big animal farm. And recently, my girlfriend got two baby Quakers who we had to hand feed. This is a video of them a day or two after getting them.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEq5saLErJw"]Ptice - YouTube[/ame]

The blue one is Kuba, the gray one is Charlie.
So anyway, they grew up to be quite wonderful birds. But we didn't really socialize with them too much lately. They talk to us a lot and we talk back, we even taught them to laugh, whistle and say "Kubicek, kubicek!" which is a sweet way of saying Kuba on our language.
Long story short, Kuba is wonderful. He (Or she?) doesn't bite, and he's just.. an actually wonderful bird. Charlie on the other hand.... Charlie is very aggressive. Charlie talks much more and much better, but bites extremely hard. Until blood almost. Until about a month ago they were both flying onto us when they were let out, but as of recently only Kuba does it. It's almost as if Charlie does not know us. What should I do so that Charlie would become kind again?

Also, a very interesting thing, when ever Charlie tries to bite us (well, mainly me. I'm the one who spends the most time with them!) Kuba hurries between us and pushes Charlie away. It's so cute!

And also my girlfriend found out that they low to wash themselves. So we decided to test it out. This was the result!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_yXrDk1NYQ"]Prvo kupanje! - YouTube[/ame]

Hope to hear back from you soon!

 

[Allee]

Welcome to the forum! Really adorable quakers you have there. I love the bath video. Quakers have a wide range of personalities, looks like you have one at each end of the spectrum. Quakers respond well to training and often enjoy the interaction. Have you looked into clicker training? I would spend more quality time with Charlie and maybe work with them separately, at least during training sessions. Good luck, please keep us updated.

 

[Wolfie]

I am very new in the parrot kingdom and I actually knew nothing about parrots until these two quakers were thrown into my hands. Of course, googling things out is easy but I'd rather trust people who I know have more experience in birds than someone else who just writes stuff for money.

So what's the best way for me to train them? How should I start?

 

[Allee]

I'm sure you've already noticed, quakers can be very bossy, if you aren't careful they will be more than happy to train you. By hand feeding your birds, you've already built a bond. The biting can get out of hand without training, for a small bird, a quaker can deliver a very nasty bite. The good thing is, quakers catch on fast, if they are sitting with you or on you and bite, immediately return them to a perch. No drama, just quietly return them to a neutral area. Quakers tend to get territorial around their cages, I use a playstand when I'm working with them. My quakers are fully flighted, it's a little more challenging without a clip, but it can be done. They usually get the idea pretty fast that biting is not allowed and every time they bite they will find themselves back on their playstand and without their human companion. Three times is my limit, the third time, they go inside their cage. I used this method with a serious biter and it took a few weeks to change the behavior, it shouldn't take that long with Charlie.

The following link has some excellent tips to get you started and it gives a good description of how clicker training works.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

I hope that helps, please ask any questions you need answered. We have some great quaker parronts. Sometimes it's helpful to hear a few ideas and choose the one that best fits you and your bird. I would love to see photos of Kuba and Charlie.

 

[Wolfie]

Thank you very much! I'll get onto that training as soon as possible, and will make sure to take photos while doing it. Thank you

 

[Allee]

You're very welcome! Please let us know how it goes.

 

[Wolfie]

Oh, also, another question, how can I know what sex are they? We are still not sure if they are brothers, sisters or one is male and other female..

 

[Allee]

With quakers the only way to know for sure is a DNA test. Your avian vet can do it for you or you can order the kit and do it yourself. There are several companies available on line. I recently used Avian Biotech. It's easy and less costly than a vet visit and you get the results in just a few days. Here's the link for you.

Avian Services Center: DNA sexing and disease testing for all species of birds.