Ask Lafeber

How do I stop my cockatiel from fighting

I brought a 1-month-old cockatiel (Coco) which I handfed and kept in a separate cage from my 2 budgies for the first 15 days, in case he had any infections.
After 15 days I tried to introduce coco to the budgies by putting him in their cage but the male budgie (Nile) was a bit aggressive so we decided to keep Coco in a separate case at all times.
It’s been more than 2 months now. We keep both the cages together so that budgies and Coco can get familiar with each other and it worked. Nile became kind of obsessed with Coco to the point where he’ll scream non-stop if we take Coco to another room or if we give him something to eat.

From inside the cage, it looks like they’re bonding because both Nile and Coco will hang out on the same side of the cage.
But as soon as we take them out, Nile tries so hard to play with Coco but he just starts biting and tries to run away from Nile.
Is their a way to make them friends ?

Hi,

You are actually creating a very confusing and potentially volatile situation by trying to get these birds to get along. These birds are not intended to get along, and when you have different species that are different sizes, the smaller bird often gets injured or killed by the larger bird, whether the larger bird means to or not. The next issue is the budgies have each other. And odd number of birds simply never works out – even if they are all the same sex. Adult birds don’t have friends. Once they bond with another adult bird, they stop having physical contact with the other flock members. They live in flocks for protection from each other, but it’s hardly one big happy family. Each pair keeps to themselves, and another bird that gets too close to their personal space is viewed as an intruder, and will be attacked and even killed if it doesn’t back off. Pairs can get extremely jealous and territorial. And female budgies can be very vicious. If your other budgie is female, she is going to have enough of her mate making a play for the cockatiel – if that’s what is going on – and she will end up attacking either her mate or the cockatiel. An angry and jealous female budgie can kill another bird in a matter of seconds. She can even kill the cockatiel because that’s just how aggressive female budgies can be, and the cockatiel would never expect a real attack and would be a goner before he could even react. Lastly, your cockatiel is supposed to be your pet. If he bonds with another bird, he will not have any interest in you. Right now he is still young, so hormones haven’t been a factor. Once hormones kick in, everything will change – and not in a good way. Let the budgies be there for each other. You are the companion for Coco, so you need to stop trying to make them all get along. This goes against their instinct, so you are actually going against nature. You are also probably misinterpreting Nile’s behavior. It sounds more like he is going after Coco in an aggressive way, and Coco knows this so that’s why he tries to bite Nile. There is no need to make these birds get along as each has a companion already – the budgies have each other and Coco has you. I know you would be heartbroken if Nile & Coco did happen to bond, and Coco stops having anything to do with you.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda