Ask Lafeber

My male cockatiel keep screaming at the female cockatiel

I have a male and female cockatiel. Male just turned 2 and female age is unknown (my vet said she is close to 5/6 years old from her looks and behaviour).

I know they are a mated pair because when I bought them the seller said they reproduced before and laid eggs. The female even laid 2 eggs just after I bought her (but she didn’t incubate them)

I now had them for 6 months now but recently the male cockatiel keeps screaming at the female for no reason (a very loud screeching scream). He attacks her (he tends to try to bite her feet) and makes her fall down from where she is perching (she even got a blood feather because of him). He gets very territorial over their food as well.

I tried to stop this and even tried separating them but every time I tried to separate both of them kept screaming in unison until they are together again or they get depressed and just turn and look at the wall (without eating or drinking) until they are united. I separated their food bowl but the male goes over to the female food bowl and eats from hers and won’t let her eat until he had his share (and he eats a lot). My poor female won’t eat or play with things until after the male is done with it. I am not sure what to do about this behaviour.

PS- I have tried to discourage their mating (no nesting box) but they still mate.

Hi Sue,

If this pair really did produce chicks, the male was much too young. Cockatiels should be at least two years old before they are paired and allowed to breed. Based on their behavior, I highly doubt they ever produced chicks. She may have laid eggs, but it’s unlikely they sat on them or raised chicks. This male is a typical young male. He is hormonal because of her, and only wants to mate. Even with a nest box, he is clearly not ready to settle down and raise chicks. Your female could be younger than him, or a lot older than him. Once a cockatiel has the adult markings, you can only say it is at least a year old. There is no way to tell if it is a year or 5 years. If the bird was showing signs of being elderly, then you know it’s older, but still you can’t narrow it down because some cockatiels are elderly at 10 years old and some are elderly at 20. So regardless of what a Vet said, you truly do not know what the age difference is between these birds. She might be younger than him and simply not ready to breed, or she might be quite old and has little interest in mating or breeding.

Basically these birds are somewhat compatible, but not fully bonded. The male is being a bully, and this is hard on her. His attacks could escalate and he could end up killing her. The best thing would be to separate them and either find one of them a new home, or try having their cages side by side to see if that will work. If one goes to another home, both birds will adjust once they can’t see or hear the other bird. If having them side by side works, then let him get a bit older and see if he settles down some. You could try having his wings trimmed but do not have her wings trimmed. This will put him at a disadvantage and he is likely to settle down. You can try things to keep him from being so hormonal. Limit their light to 8-10 hours a day by covering the cage early each evening. When he starts chasing her or bullying her, move the cage to another spot in the room. Or move him to his own cage until he settles down. The more you move them around and change things, the less likely he is to keep being hormonal. Instead of just two food bowls in the cage, have four. He can’t guard them all. I think all of this is due to hormones and him wanting to mate but she really isn’t interested. Try making changes, split them up when he gets too aggressive and hopefully this all will settle his hormones down so he will stop pressuring her.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda