I got a male cockatiel to be the boyfriend of my female.
He is in a small cage and I want him in her larger cage.
I put the two cages together and the female walks up to his cage and goes inside. But the male won’t come out of his cage. He’s younger. About 1 yr. He’ll come on my hand , but doesn’t want to go out of the cage. I don’t want to force him. Tried treats, etc. Any suggestions how to get him out?
Hi Linda,
When you get a bird to share a cage with an existing bird, you have bought a mate – not a friend or companion. Even if the birds are the same sex, they generally end up bonding as mates. With these two being opposite sexes, they will most likely bond as mates at some point and will no longer be tame or want to be handled. If your intent was for breeding, then you have done the right thing. But if you want the birds to be pets to you, then you should not let them share a cage. They can interact when they are out of the cage, but again if caged together, you will lose both birds as pets.
As to the breeding end of things, if this is your plan, then you need to wait about 6 more months for the male to finish growing up. He is possibly physically ready to breed, but he is not mentally developed enough. Captive raised birds tend to become sexually mature at a much younger age than in the wild, but this causes problems because they are not mentally mature enough to settle down and be a good breeder. The female needs to be at least 2 years old so that she doesn’t have complications when she starts to lay eggs. If you cage them together now, she is likely to bully the male if she is ready to breed and he isn’t. This can prevent them from bonding when he is old enough. Even if he was receptive to her, he is more likely to make breeding mistakes or develop bad breeding habits that will ruin him as a potential breeder. So let the male mature for now and try introducing them after at least 6 months.
Once they are introduced, don’t give them a nest box right away. They need to be fully bonded with signs of wanting to breed before you set them up to breed. Once they are spending all of their time together, grooming and preening each other, possibly feeding each other and finally trying to mate, then you can set them up with a box. They only need a nest box during breeding season, and once the chicks have been weaned, you have to remove the box and let the pair rest for a few months. In the wild they would generally only have one clutch per year, so it’s best to limit them to no more than 2 clutches per year in captivity. Laying eggs and raising chicks is physically draining on both birds, so you don’t want to over breed them or the chicks will not be healthy.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
