Ask Lafeber

Behavior

Does it hurt anything for my cockatial he is male to nest.. ? And how would I go about giving him a friend.. He’s about 20 we think he was a gift about 15 years ago, we were told he was 5 at the time.

Hi Rita,

The main issued with letting a single male cockatiel nest is he may become territorial and aggressive. At his age, I would not get another bird – at least not to share a cage – unless you can get another male that is as old as he is. If you can handle the bird, then you are the companion. When you have two birds together, they will bond with each other and not want to be handled anymore. He is too old to mate, so whether you get a male or female bird, it is likely to bully him because of the age difference. Putting another bird in the cage will probably stress him out or worse. If you just want another bird, it needs to be in its own cage.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda