Cockatiel Bothering Other Aviary Birds

I have a male cockatiel who is being extra protective of his mate.
She has just started using their nesting box successfully (so far), and he is being really vicious with the other birds who share their enclosure.
I have a largish aviary which has a covered area with the perches, nesting boxes and flying area, plus an open area, where they can sit in the sun or the rain. It has a mesh roof.

The male tiel is particularly nasty to another cockatiel hen. Everytime she tries to fly into the sheltered area to relax, or feed, he flies at her, and pecks her until she goes back out into the open part. He watches her all the time and gets really nasty.

I know she is a hen, because she is a pearl/pied with very clear pearling. She's two years old and a lovely bird.

I don't want to stop his taking care of his mate, but this poor hen is having a rough time of it. There are other nesting boxes in the covered area as well.
I have the four cockatiels,five budgies, and three quails, who have eggs. One of the quail hens in sitting on them well.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

How old are the nesting pair?
How long have they been a bonded pair?
Are all nest boxes set at the same height so that there is no fighting over the best nesting site.

Usually the female is the more protective of her nest and eggs than the male. Cockatiels are usually very tolerant of other birds for a pair to attack another bird suggest that one of the birds in the aviary have tried to enter there nesting site.
The only problem i had was with my male not allowing my female to enter back in the nest but she settle matters herself. They have both settled down now and have 3chicks which are doing great.

I would remove the pair and put them in a cage together with there nest box otherwise you could end up with serious problems on your hands.

Like i say its either moving the pair or removing the male you should never breed from an aggressive male bird as this trait is usually passed down to his chicks which they end up becoming feather pluckers and aggressive themselves.

Mike

 

I'm not sure how old the male of the pair is. We got him as a mature adult from a lady who had no idea of how to handle him.
He's a common grey, as is his mate, whois three. We got her as a chick.

I have four nesting boxes which I've put on a bench near the roof of the aviary. Around six feet off the ground.
I've spaced the boxes around six inches apart. maybe they're too close or something?
The pearl/pied hen was looking about the pair's box a week or so ago, but I don't think she has since the pair made it home.

I've been closing the partition door between the open area and the covered enclosure, of a night, so things settle down.

I don't have another large area to put the pair in separately with their box, other that a small run. It's about five feet long, two/half feet high, and two-half feet deep.
Would that be big enough for the pair, or would it be better to put the pearl/pied hen in there? She and the other male (common grey, got him from the same person as the other male) MAY be happy in the small run, but I'm not sure.
The pair have been mates for two years, but this is the first time it has gotten this far with the mating, nesting etc.
The nesting female has never entered the nesting box previously. She used to lay her eggs on the bottom of a small cage we used to have them in.
The male used to get very upset with her, but he's never been a nasty bird before.
The nesting male is leaving the budgies and quails alone while I have the other pair (?) shut in the open area. But I don't want all the other birds to be stuck inside the covered area all day. What do you think?

The aviary was only completed four weeks ago. This male is USUALLY a lovely natured bird who sings to me when he's not busy nesting.

 

I would remove the female that is being attacked and let the pair in the nest settle down to there duties.

If the female that was attacked has a mate i would put him in with her to keep her company.
Once they have had there clutch of chicks if any i would then remove the nest boxes allow all the birds time together in the aviary and then try again if this problem arises again i would suggest having the pair thats nesting now caged away from the others.

Males are usually the quiet ones and the females the agressive ones.
One a pair have found there perfect nesting site and are ready to lay eggs or have eggs or chicks in the nest they will defend there home to the death so keep a close eye on them.

But my siggestion would be to take the attacked female and place her in the run aslong as she can stretch her wings out fully without touching the sides then it is big enough for her.
If possible allow her out time where she is out of the cage for about an hour even if this is in the home with you and your family this just gives her some excercise.

Mike

 

Thanks for your help, Mike. What I think I'll do, is to keep the pearl/pied hen and the other male who is beginning to be friends with her, in the open area with the middle door closed.
The only time I'll have this door open is when I go in there to clean the aviary out, and so can supervised them.

The other pair seem quite happy to be in the open area. I've got water, seed and vegetables in both areas, so they're not missing out on anything, other than being with the others, which they can see through the gauze window.

The p/ped hen isn't tame enough to bring her into the house. She's always been a bit shy, so I never handled her, other than clip her wings when she was in the small run. All the birds now have their wings grown out nicely.

All the other birds...five budgies, and three quails, are doing fine with the cockatiels, so it makes me think the p/ped may have ventured too close at some time.
As I said, the male of the paired tiels isn't normally aggressive at all.

I'll let you know of anymore news as it happens.

 

Be very careful of the budgies as if they decide they want to start nesting they will take over the cockatiels nests and will break any eggs or kill any chicks that are in the nest.

Budgies are very aggressive birds when egg laying.

Hopefully everything will calm itself back down and they can all live happily together again.

Mike

 

Thanks for telling me that Mike. I'll keep a lookout on the budgies.