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Question:

May 24, 2021

Male attacking female while nesting


Hi, I have 2yr old cockatiels that laid their first clutch. There are 5 eggs in the nest box and they were rotating incubating them for the first two weeks. Then the male suddenly started chasing the female and doesn’t seem to allow her in the nest box. He also becomes very aggressive with me if I try to go near him if neither he nor the female are in the nest box. Should I force him out of the nest box so the female can sit on her eggs? Or any other intervention?


Answer:

Hi Kim,

Some captive males do this, and it’s really not clear why. It is very important for their cage to be in a private area, with very minimal human contact. If the cage is in a busy family room, this can make them insecure. You can’t move the cage now, but can keep that in mind for the future, and give them as much privacy as possible now. When a male gets this way, you can remove him from the cage, when it’s time for the female to sit, and then trade them out when it is his turn. The aggression can get much worse, to the point that he injures her or worse. So separating them is best when he acts this way. Again, try to stay away from them because at this point, you are a threat to his family as far as he is concerned. If he can’t get to you, he may be turning is aggression towards her. Hopefully by trading them out, he will settle down. It’s very hard for a female to try to feed chicks by herself. All you can do is hope he settles down and can help if the eggs hatch. Keep in mind that first clutches almost always fail. If they get as far as the chicks hatching, they sometimes fail to feed them or stop feeding them after a few days. This can be heartbreaking, but if you want this pair to breed again, it’s best to let them learn now. Remember that once the chicks leave the box, or once the eggs are overdue if they fail to hatch, you should remove the nest box ad rest the pair for 6 months before returning the box to them. You should limit them to two clutches per year, which is one more than they would have in the wild.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda

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