My cockatiel’s partner flew away without her a few days ago. She was so depressed, she refused to eat anything so we decided to get her a new partner. She had laid 4 eggs 2 months ago with her old partner but none of them hatched. Now she sits on her egg all day and whenever the new bird tries to come near her she tries to attack him and gets aggressive. What should I do to get her back to normal and bond with her new partner??
Hi,
The first thing you need to do is remove the new bird. You should never just put two birds together like that. You also should always quarantine a new bird for 45 days in case it has any diseases. Cockatiels are known for carrying Chlamydiosis and can pass it on to your existing birds. While the carrier doesn’t get sick from it, other bird can and it is a fatal disease if not treated.
Your hen is nowhere near ready to accept a new mate. She has to figure out for herself that her mate is not coming back. Right now, this bird is her rival. She is nesting and will protect her egg at all costs. She will kill that male if you do not remove him. This is her natural instinct. She doesn’t understand why her mate isn’t there to protect her, but she will protect her nest and territory. As far as she knows, this new bird has done something to her mate. There is no way she will accept him while she has a nest. The best thing to do for her is remove the nest box and discard the egg. Remove any other eggs she might lay. There are some changes you need to make to get her out of breeding mode which I will post below.
As for the new bird, after the 45 days, you can put the cages side by side. NO nest box! It will be a long time before you can set them up as breeders. If both birds start to sit next to each other and attempt to interact through the cage bars, you can try putting them together. Watch them very closely. If either bird is aggressive, separate them again and give them more time. When you do put them together, you need 2 food & water stations at opposite ends of the cage so that neither bird can prevent the other from eating & drinking. If you are finally able to have them in the same cage, and they start to get along, you can watch for signs of pair bonding. If they start spending most of their time together, grooming each other, feeding each other and finally mating, then you can give them a nest box. If you give them a nest box too soon, she is likely to claim it and prevent him from entering it. She could go back into protective & territorial mode if she has not accepted him as a mate yet.
Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The goal is to reverse these conditions.
Limit her light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening
Do not give her anything to use as a nest – no bird huts or tents, no box, bowl, etc. If she decides to sit in a food bowl, remove it and replace with smaller cups.
Do not give her anything to shred such as paper or cardboard.
Rearrange the toys in the cage frequently.
Move the cage to a different place in the room. Move the cage about once a week, or whenever she shows signs of nesting – settling on the cage floor for example. This disrupts her idea of having a stable place to lay eggs and raise chicks.
If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering any for a couple of weeks, and then only offer them in small amounts about 2 or 3 times a week. You can resume normal feeding later when the birds aren’t being hormonal.
If there is no metal floor grate, then do not use any bedding or paper in the cage tray – leave it bare and clean it daily.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
