Hi,
A proven pair is a pair that has successfully produced & raised offspring – at least to the age when someone might choose to handfeed them. This pair is clearly not proven. The unfortunate truth is that nobody sells a proven pair, unless it’s a breeder who is getting out of the business completely. And in that case, they usually know other breeders who will buy their pairs. Some breeders will claim a pair is proven, to get rid of birds that aren’t producing for them. These will be birds that don’t lay eggs, break or eat eggs, won’t sit on eggs, won’t mate, or fight off and on or any of a number of issues instead of producing. Some pairs simply do not make good breeders. Cockatiels should be at least 2 years old before allowing them to pair up and breed. A pair might seem to get along and be bonded, but when it comes to settling down to lay eggs, they fail for whatever reason. It doesn’t sound like this pair will be compatible as breeders. And the hen may not be a suitable breeder, even with another male. I would not try to breed the pair again. Her attacks could get more serious to the point that she kills the male. If you knew that the male is not 2 years old yet, then that could be the issue. But it really sounds like this pair simply fails when it comes to producing, and the previous owners knew this, and whoever sold the pair to them as proven knew it. There is nothing you can do to fix them. You could try either bird with a new mate, but from what you say, I doubt the female will act any differently with a new mate. For unknown reasons, sometimes a male or female will behave this way. Often it can be in the middle of caring for eggs or chicks. The male suddenly turns on the female or vice versa. This is even worse because it can cause the loss of the eggs or chicks. It’s better to find out now, than later with eggs or chicks in the picture. A single bird usually can’t raise a clutch alone – it’s too much work. One parent sits during the day, and the other sits at night. So what happens if one parent has to be separated is the eggs or chicks get left alone for the night or day, and end up dying. I would advise against ever buying a pair that is already together, because there is almost always something wrong with them. The seller might say they haven’t tried to breed them yet, when they have and know the pair fails. If you still want to breed cockatiels, buy separate birds, but do not pair them until they are older than 2. Just keep in mind that they choose their own mates in the wild, so they aren’t always going to be compatible with the mate you choose for them. Breeding birds is not easy, and more usually goes wrong before you end up with chicks. People make it look easy by posting cute videos online, but they don’t mention all the fails that led up to it, or they were just very lucky.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
