September 25, 2020
Alexandrine
I have a hen alexandrine and have acquired 2 male Alexandrines . Can I put both males in the very large aviary with her or will there be competition for the hen ?
Question:
Answer:
Hi Deb,
That is a definite no. When you have an odd number of birds sharing one space, even if they are all the same sex, they tend to pair off and one bird gets left out and is often bullied and picked on. In this case, the males would probably fight over the female and could even end up turning on her. I know that sounds odd, but it can somewhat short circuit their hormones and cause a lot of territorial fighting. I’m not sure that I would even add another female to have two pairs together. If you do that, definitely do not provide nest boxes or anything they can use as a nest. Likewise, if there are any other birds in the aviary besides the hen, do not provide anything for nesting. While they still may end up mating and she may lay eggs, the real battles start if they have a nest or if they are allowed to stake off any part of the enclosure as a nesting area. If you observe the hen sitting in one place all of the time, or sitting in a food bowl, you need to change things around to make her move on. Sharing space can get very complicated with birds without nesting involved, so you do not want to ever add nesting to the mix when it’s a shared enclosure. And back to whether there are other birds in the aviary, if there are, you need to observe them very carefully if you introduce a male. A single hen might be fine with other birds, but adding the male will shake things up even without nests. Bullying can be very obvious with physical fights, but it can also be passive with intimidation, such as one bird following another around the enclosure no matter where it goes. This type of intimidation can cause a lot of stress and can cause the bullied bird to not be able to eat or drink.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
