Ask Lafeber

Bully bird

Hello! I had 2 cockatiels for almost a year. One of them is a male and the other one is not sure. When we first bought that bird it was said as a female. Its a lutino but not no dots under their tails/wings are to be seen. The whole time they would fight with eachother. The other one would just remain silent but the other one(which was said as a female) would bully him. Even if they are separated, this bird will try to get to him and do a mating dance even through the cage bars. I dont know what to do. Should i give this bird back? Or keep him?

Hi Kylie,

As I said in the previous post, the bird is a male since it lost the dots after he molted. These two males do not sound like they are going to get along. I would not put them together or the bullying can escalate to a serious attack. They can live in separate cages but if you feel the more aggressive bird is still scaring the other bird, it might be best to find a good home for one of the birds. If you were planning to breed birds, I would probably keep the quieter male because the other one may also be aggressive to a female. It sounds like the quiet bird has a better temperament and would be a better pet or breeder.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda