Woah! What singing!

First thanks everyone for the great advise with my new Quakers... still looking for names for this lovely couple, but at the moment we're just trying to get to know each other and feel comfortable. Recently I have noticed that they are getting louder and louder as I feed them and change their water. I try to keep a routine so that they get use to me doing this stuff, but it seems I keep agitating them more and more... is it the food? Not enough veggies or fruit? too much?

I have not separated them yet (they are still cohabitating), and have only attempted to keep one caged while the other roams around the cage or on their perch (for a few minutes every day). They are within eye sight of each other, but their cries are just so powerful and painful... both for my ears and my heart... I can't help but feel that I am ripping them appart... And I'm just keeping one inside the cage!

After a few tense minutes, I let them reunite and the first thing they do is start grooming each other, all the while grunting and squalking at me... almost demanding some privacy... hmmmmm. When they first arrived, the male was far more docile than the female; she always tried to protect him. Now it seems to be the other way around. The male will squalk and let out these high pitch cries while the female seems curious about me and almost stepped up right before the male came running over to defend his mate.

Looking forward to listening to the beautiful music they can sing, rather than these piercing squalks and grunts, until then any advise on how to quiet them down... my sense is just to let them cry away until they have had their fill... this might not be so great for my neighbors...

--juanita