I have a male cockatiel , single , going through mating season . He suddenly became aggressive and would bite hard . Usual behavior would be a nibble on my finger but now due to mating season , he bites hard and doesn’t let go sometimes .
I don’t take him out the cage that much anymore just 1 hour a day , cause he tends to keep going under sofa or shoes or dark places as a nest .
Plus making him sleep early . Got him new toys as distraction .
Anything else I can do ? It breaks my heart when I see him turn aggressive , bite hard , fly on top of my head attacking .
Answer:
Hi,
It’s hard when a pet bird is hormonal. What you need to do is avoid & reduce triggers. You are correct to not let him get in or under things. But you also can’t allow him to roam around, because this mimics searching for a nesting site. As much as I don’t like to see a bird clipped, sometimes a very moderate clip can help – just enough to slow him down a bit. But first work on the triggers. While light may or may not play a part in hormones with captive birds, it doesn’t hurt to limit the light to 8-10 hours each day. However, do not move him to a small sleeping cage or warm, cozy room, as this is like giving him a nest for the night. If you feed a lot of fresh foods, try stopping that for now. Once he settles back down, you can offer these foods again in small amounts, just a few times a week. If he is obsessed with a particular toy or mirror, and feeds it or mates with it, then remove anything like that. If he nests on the cage floor, put some toys in the way, and if he nests in a food dish, remove it and replace with smaller cups. Never give him a bird tent or hut, boxes or anything that can be used as a nest. Try not to keep the room he is in too warm – he can do fine at 70F during the day and even cooler at night. Keeping a warmer house can definitely contribute to hormonal behavior. When you do handle him, limit petting to only his head, and keep these sessions short. Usually this is a temporary behavior change, but it is often worse during peak breeding years, which start around 3 years of age. We do have an entire playlist of hormone related webinars, because this is a problem that most bird owners face at some point.
