Ask Lafeber

Bird bullying

So i have 2 cockatiels. It is a male and a female. Female has dots and stripes under her wings so i am sure about her gender. So i had my male before i got the female and now she is bullying my male because the male’s smaller than her. She also acts like a male by singing and dancing infront of him. And now she doesn’t allow the male to do anything what he wants. She fights with him. And i dont have another cage to separate them. Can u tell me what to do? Its like they are both males.

Hi Sarah,

It sounds like the female is interested in breeding and the male is too young and still immature. If this is the case, the fighting can get worse or she may even kill the male. It’s also not impossible for a cockatiel with pearls or dots to be a male – sometimes this happens and a male will have female markings. These birds need to be separated before the smaller bird gets badly injured or killed by the other bird. If you don’t want to buy another cage, then you need to find a new home for one of the birds. You can’t force birds to get along, and while they might possibly get along when he gets older, in the meantime they can’t be left together for him to be bullied. If she doesn’t kill him, she will make him so timid and scared of her that they will have no chance of bonding in the future if that was your plan.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda