Ask Lafeber

Female not letting male feed

Hi , so i have a male parakeet and a female parakeet and female laid three eggs. One of the egg hatched today and I saw that the male bird was trying to feed the female bird but she was attacking him insted. Also she is not letting the male feed her. She is coming out of the nest and eating cuttlebone at times threatening the male and going back in and feeding her i don’t know what to do or whether to interfere there are two more eggs yet to hatch. Please help me
Thank you
Aneri

Hi,

It’s always best to leave them alone and let them work things out. The only time you should split up a pair is if one is injuring the other, such as drawing blood. She is protective of the chicks and wants to get her own food. She may also want to make sure the male knows she is not interested in mating right now. Male parakeets do not help as much as cockatiels do, for example, but they still need to be around in case she lets him help. So unless there is imminent blood shed, let then work things out.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda