My family and I adopted a female cockatiel of an unknown age (we were told she was old) about two years ago to join our family of two cockatiels (male and female, unbonded). She has always been a bit withdrawn (story was that she was separated from her mate) so we just let her be and give her the same opportunities as our other birds (we leave their cages open when we're home and watch TV and such with them on our shoulders). She was always very reluctant to come out of her cage, but seemed to enjoy it when she did venture out. She was also very hands off, no scratching her head, no touching her, etc., but she would give kisses.
Recently, I have noticed a sudden change in her behavior. She's been biting the paper on the bottom of her cage (she never did that before) and now almost demands to come out of her cage when I come home. She has holed herself up in our other female cockatiel's cage and bites the paper in there and generally has made a home for herself in there. She actually chased our other female out of it. She is also acting aggressive towards our other birds, when generally she's been the one being terrorized by them. Unprovoked, she would hiss and chase our birds around.
Today when I came home, she didn't chirp when I arrived, and she didn't want to come out of her cage (she was sitting on her perch). I finally coaxed her out and she sat on my shoulder for a while. I noticed that she let me scratch her head, and just generally seemed very lethargic. When I put her back on the cages, she sat on the top of our other female bird's cage, puffed up a bit, and looks as though she's either breathing heavily or rocking front to back. She's been like this all night.
All this behavior signals that she may be nesting, but her being on top of the cage has me puzzled. Does anyone know what might be going on with her?
On a side note, our male cockatiel is about 15 years old and seems to have no interest in mating with either female. I think he's too attached to me, lol.
Recently, I have noticed a sudden change in her behavior. She's been biting the paper on the bottom of her cage (she never did that before) and now almost demands to come out of her cage when I come home. She has holed herself up in our other female cockatiel's cage and bites the paper in there and generally has made a home for herself in there. She actually chased our other female out of it. She is also acting aggressive towards our other birds, when generally she's been the one being terrorized by them. Unprovoked, she would hiss and chase our birds around.
Today when I came home, she didn't chirp when I arrived, and she didn't want to come out of her cage (she was sitting on her perch). I finally coaxed her out and she sat on my shoulder for a while. I noticed that she let me scratch her head, and just generally seemed very lethargic. When I put her back on the cages, she sat on the top of our other female bird's cage, puffed up a bit, and looks as though she's either breathing heavily or rocking front to back. She's been like this all night.
All this behavior signals that she may be nesting, but her being on top of the cage has me puzzled. Does anyone know what might be going on with her?
On a side note, our male cockatiel is about 15 years old and seems to have no interest in mating with either female. I think he's too attached to me, lol.