Hi,
This can happen with a breeding pair in captivity – either the male or female suddenly turns on the mate. You mentioned she does it when he enters the cage? Did you mean cage or nest box? When you have a pair set up for breeding, they should not be let out of the cage. Breeding birds can’t be pets anymore. The cage should be in a quiet, private area, and there should no longer be any contact with people. If you try to handle or interact with a breeding pair, this will cause confusion and can result in fighting. Once a cockatiel has a mate, other birds in the flock become rivals. There is no longer physical contact with flock members, and any that venture too close will be chased away, or attacked if they ignore the warnings. If the male is leaving the cage, the female sees it as him looking for another mate. She is treating him like a rival when he returns.
I would remove the nest box, and out them in cages side by side. Don’t let them out and do not handle either bird. You need to stop offering the egg food for now. They should also not be eating loose seeds – these do not offer much in the way of nutrition, and they end up overeating trying to feel satisfied, and then they get fat and can develop heart disease. Even of vitamins are added, they are lost when the bird removes the hull. Pellet are nutritionally balanced and should be their main diet. If you want to offer seeds, you can offer our foraging pellets, which are formulated the same as a pellet but the ingredients are left whole. The seeds are fresh, human grade with the hulls removed, then all ingredients are coated with a nutritionally balanced binder and formed into a berry or square shape. Nutri-Berries and Avi-cakes can be fed instead of or along with pellets. You should also try adding more chopped veggies – broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, etc.
Once both birds seem to have calmed down, try reintroducing them. If they get to the point that they are acting like a bonded pair – sitting together, grooming and feeding each other, and then mating – you can return the nest box. You can also offer the egg food again. If all goes well, she will lay eggs. The nest box does not stay up all the time – you remove it between each clutch whether the eggs hatch or not. Then you rest your pair for 6 months before returning the nest box. You only feed egg food when they have the nest box and are breeding.
The other possibility is they do not bond when reintroduced. They may not have been bonded as a breeding pair. Not all birds are compatible as breeders. If this happens, they might get along without a nest box in the cage. But if a pair does not have a true pair bond they will usually fight once a nest box is introduced.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
