Male vs Female Quakers – Is There A Difference?
I recently wrote an article about blue and green Quaker Parrots and the differences I’ve noted between these two color varieties. A question popped up on the Quaker Parrot Forum yesterday about whether there are differences between male and female Quakers, so I thought I’d try to address this question here.
In my experience, I have not noticed any differences between male and female Quakers in personality, talking ability, train-ability, aggressiveness, intelligence or any other trait or skill. There are only a few responses to the question so far on the forum, but those who have responded up to this point agree with my own experience.
Now, I have to qualify this statement to say that this is true when Quakers are housed separately. When a male and female are kept in the same cage, all this can change. From what I understand, this is true of other types of parrot pairs as well. For a particular species, generally either the males or females become more aggressive when kept in pairs. For Quaker Parrots, it is the female that becomes more aggressive. But again, this is ONLY when they are kept in pairs. This extra assertiveness does not present itself when a female Quaker is caged by herself.
With one of my pairs, this female aggressiveness is particularly evident. The female will squawk and try to get a nip of me through the cage bars whenever I go near the cage. The male will actually push her out of the way and then squeeze his own beak through the cage bars. The only difference is that he is asking for kisses instead of wanting to rip my flesh apart. LOL!
So there you go. In case you were wondering if a male or female Quaker would make a better pet, I’d like to reassure you that males and females make equally wonderful companions. We have 5 females and 2 males in our household, and I wouldn’t hesitate to add either a male or female to the flock if the inn wasn’t already full here. 
I have a seven month old Quaker I bought 5-20-10 and the lady at the pet stors said DNA was the only way to sex the bird. If that is true. Where do I go and about what is the cost for this test?
Thanks,
Ric,
You can go to any avian vet and they can do the dna testing…. I think that this is the best way. I know that also some local bird stores are willing to do this for you if you ask them for a fee. Most places that do wing clipping and nail trimming can help you with this or direct you to someone who can
We had our vet do a DNA test to sex our Sweet Pea. It cost $40 here in Texas.
Avian Biotech, I hate that the vet charge an extra $20 when any bird owner can do it themselves, For around $20 (the same with any other testing), You can either send a feather or clip a nail and let a drop of blood saturate the blood card, (you have probally done this by accident before anyway) then whipe off nail with a sterile pad and then super glue (or liquid band aid)it shut.
I would like to know, I have done myself some pet care to my bird. In which is a quaker and 12 year old right now. I still don’t know what sex is she. But I always thought at she is a girl for some reason. Anyway, I would like to know why she doesn’t like to use the white thing in which I don’t remember the name right now. But it’s use for them to file the peeks, and she doesn’t like to use that. So I always have to do it for her. Like almost every 3 or 4 months. Today I did it like to close to the peek liner that I made her bleed. Please tell me what to do then. So I don’t do that again. and she could to it herself. Thanks Maria
Maria,
first of all u must be careful but I know it happens. Most birds do not like the white thing to wear of their peak. When that does happen use some of the power you can buy in stores for dogs and any other animal which will stop it from bleeding. If you go to a store and tell them what happened they will point you to that powder.It’s used for dogs when the nails get cut too close and start bleeding mostly.All u have to do is put a little on the insured spot and it will stop the bleeding right away. I hope this helped since I can’t rememebr the name of the powder to save me life. Have a great day and lots of fun with your birf. I know I enjoy every day with my bird which took the place of my kids when they left the house.
You could get a DNA or if not in a hurry then just wait to see if they lay eggs.I got mine Aug 2nd 2006 an found out that i have a girl,she just layed an egg yesterday the 26th.
I got my blue DNA sexed before I got her. The breeder did it for me and it was $25 extra on the price of the bird.
Quincy, my green, went in when I adopted him to the vet for a health check up and they took blood and sent it off. It was $40 for the test. I am glad I did it and you can bet these two will never get together as I do not want baby quakers.
Quincy’s was done in Davis, CA by Zoogen, Incorporated.
Chatty’s,my blue girl, was done by Avian Biotech International, Tallahassee, FL.
The white powder used to stop bleeding is called Quik-Stop, it is a styptic powder, but usually for those who do not have that on hand, we always tell people in the grooming shop to use white flour, cake it and hold it on the place till it coats it and bleeding stops.
I have just become a bird owner. I got my first companion bird (A Green Quaker). I wanted to know how to tell when the beak is getting too long? I notice my Cap’n does not use his cuddle bone, so I was wondering how to tell and if his beak is too long what can I do without having to go to a Vet or Groomer?