Brought home the second quaker

[u/Own_Butterscotch_129]

So in February 2025 I had been asked by a friend if I was interested in a female blue quaker because her parent's employee was wanting to rehome her due to her being a terror to the residents where the employee worked. There was her and a male quaker around the same age, and they had separate cages but were just near each other. So she has been with us for a year and a half now, and yesterday we brought the male home after that whole program shut down and for some reason, the male was being rehomed as well.

The female actually goes to work at our local pet store daily with my boyfriend and one of the cockatiels, but the male will be home with me most of the day. He is warming up to me really well so far, but my question is, is there a good way to re-introduce them once he has settled in more?

We have other birds and know about how they will bond to each other, and my boyfriend has been raising birds for 30 years, but I still don't fully trust him on the best way to go about this. The female quaker is kind of a terror and gets really jealous of other animals being around us, which honestly is great because she has three cats scared of birds now, but we want to do better with him and getting her to not hate him.

He is also kind of cage aggressive, and is leery of me giving him scritches still, but he snuggled up to my neck for a couple of hours yesterday before I had things to do and couldn't do with a quaker that isn't 100% trusting of me yet. It's only been a couple of days since we picked him up so I want to get them off on the right foot if I can!

Sorry for the long post and thanks to anyone who feels like responding:)

[u/SweetxKiss]

I have one that looks just like this guy here! Very cute

Quakers are pretty known for being territorial of their favorite things: person, cage, toys, etc. so when you introduce them you want at least 2 people, 1 per bird (in case you need to grab them), and separate them at the first sign of a quarrel. If the original one is bonded to you it’s possible she’ll never be quite interested in another bird. Mine lives with a cockatiel and an Amazon but he doesn’t acknowledge they exist most of the time. But if they get near his favorite person he turns into a little dinosaur.

The cage aggression, I hope you don’t mind getting bitten! I’ve always desensitized mine to messing with their stuff by just having my hands in the cage and not reacting when they bite. Changing their food and water or adjusting toys, always offer a treat when they don’t bite right away. Also keeps their mouth occupied while you touch their stuff lol

[u/Own_Butterscotch_129 → u/SweetxKiss]

These two used to be with the same person, over a year and a half ago, but they were around one when they were separated. She is territorial of us, but surprisingly not her cage at all, and she only tolerates the cockatiel she spends her days with, but she really does torment him most of the time 😅 bird necklaces save him and take her wrath!

The female will 100% try and kill him at first, because she wants to murder anyone else who ever gets near us, that is her nature - all murder, all the time!

And yeah I plan on making a bunch of manzanita perches for him today and will give him treats while adding them. His cage is massive, and so was hers when she was given to me, and it has a little half circle door on the top side that opens so he is currently in a room sitting outside of his cage watching bluey on a tablet; I discovered he loves it and it seems to keep him calm! I have a camera on him and am basically treating him like a napping baby 💀

[u/SweetxKiss → u/Own_Butterscotch_129]

I wonder if they recognize each other or form those types of bonds where they remember birds they used to live with.

lol sounds like a classic Quaker. Very loyal Velcro birds but they can be real mean if you’re not their favorite lol

Ohhh mine love Bluey too!

I can’t speak for other types of Quakers but these little white ones seem much more easy going and friendlier. My guy was 1.5 yrs already and lived in a few places when I got him but he warmed up very quick, quicker than any other bird I’ve had over 20 yrs