Hi. So I have adopted a female pearl cockatiel 7 months ago but since it put eggs, I brought a male lutino for it, 2 months later.
The problem is that he is very into her but she can’t even stand sitting next to him or eating in the same plate with him. And bites him when he comes to her. Both are very domestic and love to be cuddled by humans.
I am not sure about their ages.
Is there any way to mate them and see their eggs?
Hi,
Breeding birds generally can’t be pet birds. As of now, these birds are not compatible anyway. The only way they might bond is if you stopped handling them and put them in an isolated place in the home with little human contact. Birds have to bond and they can’t bond with each other if they are also bonded with people. They aren’t like a dog that you can just breed and then separate. They have to become bonded, and spend all of their time together, and eventually they might mate and produce eggs. Both parents sit on the eggs and care for the chicks. However, given what you are telling me, I think the best thing for these birds is to let each have their own cage, and be the sweet pets they want to be. There are far too many cockatiels in this world to try to force pet birds to become breeders when they clearly prefer being pets. And these are both very common mutations. You could end up with two birds you can’t handle, that never successfully breed instead of having these nice pets. There is more that tends to go wrong with breeding than right, and you will typically have a lot of failures before you see any success, if they are ever successful. Not all birds are good breeders, and as of now, these birds are not good candidates for breeding. Maybe as they get older, they will get interested in each other, or maybe they will want to continue interacting with people.
But as to the cuddling, you need to be careful with the hen because cockatiels are bad about becoming chronic egg layers and laying too many eggs will eventually kill her. When you handle her, you need to only pet her head and neck, and do not cuddle with her. This is something only a mate is allowed to do, so you are sending her the signal that you are her mate.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
