Blue Quaker vs. Green - are there differences?

Jay wrote:Hey Ohsnap nice read enjoyed reading your experience.
My green quaker Molly is like the blue you described if she's not clipped
I can't leave her side or she is right there. Even clipped she will try to get to me on foot lol

haha thats Sky! she has lost puppy syndrome.

I do agree about our Quaker Molly. 9 years ago we got her. She was a very abused bird. She was 3 years old when we rescued her. The woman would flick her in the head and they kept her in a dark stair well because she was too loud. When we first brought her home I tried and tried to gain her love. But she took chunks out of me and Jessie (Jay). He could take more of it being a guy I guess lol. She was our very first bird and she was given to us by this couple because they couldn't stand her anymore. I was determined to get her to like me. If Jessie wasn't around I could hold her and give her bathes. When he is in the room to this day I can't really hold her like he can. He can have her hang upside down on his hand now and she gives him kisses and all kinds of stuff. She has a very very good vocabulary and like Jessie said she isn't really bad about her cage, which surprises me. Now we don't have a blue quaker to compare her to, but she will fly down the hall way to get to Jessie when he is leaving the room so she can go with him. She loves to shower with him and if he's in the kitchen, when she has full flights she will fly in there to find him. She is very lovey with him. I do believe they are one person birds though. At least from everything I have read on the green ones.

Ok I have a green Quaker who is an excellent talker. She is as sweet as she can be with me after allot of work . Anyone can get her from her cage. She might be more aggressive if I'm in the room. Now keep in mind she is 12yrs old.
And for years I was the only one who could touch her. She has turned in to a great family bird which a few years back I would had said she would never be but a one person bird.So I think regardless what color your Quaker is, love and lots of patience will win them over.

Hey Ohsnap nice read enjoyed reading your experience.
My green quaker Molly is like the blue you described if she's not clipped
I can't leave her side or she is right there. Even clipped she will try to get to me on foot lol

I have a green and a blue and raise them both. For the most part this article is true but I much disagree with talking. My blues are talking by nine weeks and in some cases talk more and better then the greens I have raised.
In the case of talking I think each is different. I had green that would talk, sing, laugh and was just a clown. I have a rescue that has only spoken one time in the 7 years I have had him.
My last blue to sell from last years babies could out talk my Topaz any day of the week.
My blue pair are much sweeter then the green pairs. Not as vocal when I get near the cage. Not saying they don't bite just not as aggressive as the green pairs on the parrot farm where I work.
This leads me to think it is true that blues are sweeter then greens not that that it well always be true but in general so far it has been.

As i stated above i have been owned by both color quakers. Allow me to speak about both. Forgive me if i start rambling or this becomes long winded. These are my personal experiences with both.

The Green
Our first bird excluding parakeets was a green quaker. He was caught by my brother on the Ohio river. There is a colony near the marina where he works and those birds love to beg. One day at lunch Chit Chat (CC) landed on my brothers shoulder at lunch time. They caught him and brought him home. CC was most likely a freshly weened baby at that time due to his size. CC put on a few more grams and bulked up some in the coming months. At first it was hard for them to handle CC but he eventually calmed down and became part of his family. My brother could handle him just fine but was never able to acquire him from his cage. My brother had him for many years until the birth of their first baby. At this point i was asked if i wanted him and i agreed.

CC came into our home knowing alot of words and speaking them boldly to anyone. He was well versed in profanity and very inventive with it I think that bird knew well over 10 curse words alone and the way he would string them together was a riot. My bro liked to party alot so everyone coming and going would teach the bird new "fun" words. I nearly died when the bird called me a "motherfa**ot" Anyway back to it then. We could not touch him near his cage at all. Might as well forget in his cage..... He would draw blood every time. To interact physically with him he needed to be toweled off his cage. When he was away he was a well mannered bird. He loved to purr when stroked and would talk to you face to face. You didn't have to speak to CC over and over to get him to talk as he was more than willing. At last count he could say 40+ words excluding his 20+ phrases and whistles. Andy Griffith and the dukes of hazard horn were his favorite whistles. He was a very bold and out going bird to say the least.

CC died a bit over 3 years ago. We estimate him at about 7 years old. As soon as he came into our house we immediately went online and began to research quakers. At first we didn't even know what kin of bird he was! The whole time my bro had him the same was true. When he came to our house i wanted to know so i put up a pic of him on a message board and was informed. At that point we read everything we could about them. One post said that open water could be lethal to quakers like toilets for example. It said to make sure the lid was always down. I relayed every bit and byte of info to our family so they could understand as i did. My son was climbing out of the shower one night. CC chose him as his favorite. My son saw CC flying into the bathroom and reacted by quickly shutting the lid and as fate would have it....CC was right there when he did. CC was either crushed or his neck was broken we will never know. He died very quickly We were all traumatized by this and to make things worse it was at Christmas to boot. My son beats himself up to this day over it even though we explained to him it was not his fault. It was mine. I should have never took EVERYTHING i read to heart. It was overload of info that killed him. The lesson here is raise your bird with common sense and DO NOT rely on every word over protective people write. Thats the best piece of advice i can give someone new to raising birds.

My mother bought a green about 4 years back. Monty is his name and he was a hand fed baby. Very tame at the point of purchase but when he came into his own he became exactly like CC. A great talker and biter. Again one could not touch him near his cage. This bird is well cared for and loved but the same things tend to surface. Not shy about talking at all.

The Blue
We bought Sky from a breeder in Waverly Ohio. She was hand fed and very passive at point of purchase. The breeder was very pushy and arrogant. I did not like him much and even more so when he wouldn't return my calls regarding buying a grey (which he also sells). Over time she grew into a clingy, loving and very cuddly bird. Compared to CC or Monty, Sky is an angel. She has never bitten anyone nor is she cage territorial. Anyone can pick her up off her cage or even in it! I would trust her not to harm even a small child. Her talking ability is actually great but she is shy about it. She will not talk when anyone is in the room except me and only when my back is turned. Sometimes when on my finger or shoulder she will ask for a drink or a peanut but thats it. I think she knows about 25ish words and phrases. It was very easy to potty train her which was something i could never do with a green. Something notable with her is she uses body language more to communicate than words. That is something i personally haven't seen a green do most likely due to the greens being more robust talkers. When her wings are grown out i cant keep her off me. She follows me like a lost puppy. Again this is something i have not seen a green do.

Everyone's birds are different and their personalities vary from bird to bird. Keep this in mind when reading this or buying. But the general rule of thumb is blues are more docile than the green at the expense of talking ability and weight. Enjoy!

I snipped this article written on another site for our benefit. I have to agree with the bulk of it having owned both a green and a blue. I participated in the comments of this article. Enjoy!
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by Shelly Lane

A question that sometimes comes up about Blue Quaker Parrots is if there is any difference between them and green Quakers other than the price. This is an important question, because Quakers are often chosen as pets not for their looks but for their great personalities. They truly are "a lotta parrot in a little package." So if there is a difference in personality in blues vs greens, I agree that it should be noted.

I have two green Quakers, three blues, one split to blue (visual green) and one cinnamon blue (also known as a pallid blue). In addition, I have talked to many, many Quaker owners of all color varieties over the years. So here are my general observations of the differences, keeping in mind that this is not a scientific study and that birds are individuals with traits that don't always follow the "rules."

Size and Health
Blue Quaker Parrot The first and most obvious difference is that Blue Quaker Parrots are usually a little smaller than greens. My green Quakers range in weight from 110 grams to 130 grams while my Blue Quakers are more in the 90 gram to 110 gram range. So in my personal experience, Blue Quakers can be 10-25% smaller than greens. Of course, as with anything else mentioned in this article, there are exceptions.

In case you are wondering, I have not noticed that blues are any more prone to health issues than greens are. On the other hand, I think that blues may be less prone to feather plucking than greens. None of my Blue Quakers have ever become feather pluckers, and I don't often hear of other blues becoming feather pluckers, either.

Sweetness
Again this is in my experience, but I have found Blue Quakers to be a little "sweeter" than the greens. Of course, this is a very difficult thing to measure, and there are definitely many, many sweet green Quakers out there. However, I have to say that I've found the blues easier to work with, and they don't seem to be quite as "sassy" as the greens. I think that blues are more likely to be the birds that will go to anyone, and therefore may possibly be better suited as a pet that the entire family will enjoy and be able to handle.

Talking Ability
All of my Blue Quakers have learned to talk at least a little, and Kaylee (pallid blue) in particular has picked up quite a few words and phrases. Still, both of my green Quakers far outshine any of my blues when it comes to talking ability. Not only have my greens learned more words and phrases, but they use them more often and seem to be better at using human language in context than my blues. This seems to be an area where green Quakers are superior to the blues… in our little bird family, anyway.

Again, I have to remind you that these are my observations only and that not all blue and green birds will match these observations exactly. Each bird has its own individual personality, and that personality is determined not just by genetics (or color) but by how the bird is raised, first by the breeder and then by the owner. Still, this question comes up often enough that I thought it important to document the few differences that I personally have noticed.

What do you think? Do you have a Blue Quaker Parrot or a green? Do my observations hold true for your bird? Post your comments below and let me know.