# New addition, angry resident



## purekate (Oct 29, 2010)

i just brought home a new cockatiel and my resident one turned on us. previously, he'd been a wonderful, mellow bird who understood the rules of the house. anybody could handle him and take him out of his cage. suddenly now, he's biting, making funny chirps, and is all around an aggressive and totally different bird. the new one hasn't been in the house an hour! they are in separate cages and not being allowed to interact directly with another. the original cockatiel, nick, is not being aggressive towards the new bird, just us, which has never been the case before. anyone ever heard of this or know why it's happening? thanks in advance for your help!!


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## Belinda (Oct 9, 2010)

It sounds like he's just doing what comes naturally and being territorial and possibly protective. No doubt he feels threatened by the new bird. I've read tiels will often attack their flockmembers in order to drive them away from danger. Once he realises this new birdie is a new flockmember and supposed to be his friend he might calm down.. he's had his nose put out of joint!


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## purekate (Oct 29, 2010)

oh, i hope so, and thanks for replying. i really hope that is what is going on. it was weird, he seemed friendly towards the new bird, but started biting us almost immediately! it was so unexpected. lol


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## Belinda (Oct 9, 2010)

Oh really? Who knows.. they are funny creatures. Perhaps someone else here has something different to say about it. It's only been a little while since you got the new one, he is prob a bit confused and needs time to adjust... see how it goes


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## jojo09 (Oct 9, 2010)

it could be a form of redirected aggression. sometimes when an animal becomes upset and aggressive towards another animal, but cannot take further action it then takes it's anger out on the owner. so if your original cockatiel is upset at this new bird, but can only get to you, it is very possible that he is now taking his anger out on you instead. or he could very well be upset with you for bringing in a new bird. it's really hard to say. i would just give it some time to get used to the new tiel and keep up your bonding with your original bird.


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## purekate (Oct 29, 2010)

Thanks for all the replies, first off! 

So, this morning, the blanket had fallen off my original cockatiel's cage and he could no longer visualize the new bird. As luck would have it, the newbie was also not making any sounds, so he couldn't hear him, either. The original bird started singing like he usually does, and i spoke back to him with the usual reply. Heartened by this, I took him out and he was all his old sweet usual self. I was encouraged and relieved! But then, my boyfriend and I uncovered the new bird, and sure enough, right away our old bird started mashing our hands to bits with his beak. We removed him from the room and it took him a couple minutes, but he calmed down and went back to being sweet. 
Then, the new bird from the other room started to make little chirps. Our bird started biting on us again! But not as aggressively as when he actually visualizes the new bird. 

Then, we took both birds out and put them on the carpet. It seemed as if the original bird was trying to keep us and everything else away from the new bird. He actually ran at us with his wings and beak opened, making funny little repetitive chirps if we made a move towards them. Only later, when we had them both on a towel in our hands, did the original bird do a bit of pecking at the newbie. I can't figure out if he's protecting the new bird from us, or protecting us from the new bird, or what. Very bizarre!

This is so different to me, but we will definitely both continue to handle our old bird just the same as we always did. And maybe to try and soothe everyone, when we want to work with the new bird, we'll take him into another room so the old bird can't see that we're with newbie and not him...


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If your old bird is hormonal he may be trying to claim the new bird as his mate. Hormone reduction techniques might be helpful.

Holding a piece of millet spray in your hand for him to nibble on might help him get a better attitude toward you. Just keep your hand out of biting range!


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## purekate (Oct 29, 2010)

He already has a great attitude towards us. He was one of those rare birds that anyone could come in and remove him from his cage and hold him, pet him down his back, on his belly, anywhere. 
I don't know if he's hormonal, or even if he's a he at all. How does one tell if the bird is hormonal? And would one bird really choose a mate within seconds of just seeing it? I mean, literally, as soon as the old bird noticed the new one, he turned vicious. And it happened as they were in separate cages being wheeled by one another.


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## cinnamon (Jul 16, 2009)

Am I right in guessing your new bird is a hen?


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## purekate (Oct 29, 2010)

I don't think so, the avian specialist at the store was fairly certain it was a male, and it was one of two extremely vocal and "high vocabulary" cockatiels that were available. No words, but a variety of sounds that I'd never even heard my own cockatiel make in the 3 or 4 years we've had him. 

Now, that one I'm not even sure about either. We thought he might have been a male because he has bright, well defined cheeks (the original bird), but I'm not entirely certain how reliable a method that is. I mean, in the store, the new birds' range of sound was so much more than anything my original bird made. And to make matters more confusing, they both have bright well defined orange cheeks. lol of course!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Have you got any pics of your teil


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## purekate (Oct 29, 2010)

Sure, here is a shot of the original bird that we've had for a few years. 
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._163617556228_648036228_2809768_5410684_n.jpg

And here is a shot of the new bird. 
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._443579781228_648036228_5397708_1172892_n.jpg

I hope these come out...i'm not very good sometimes at posting images in forums...sorry.


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## Duckybird (Sep 13, 2010)

Your old bird is a color variety called a pied, which are nearly impossible to sex visually. Your new bird is a normal grey male, and older than 6 months to have reached all of that coloring. You'll have to research male behavior to determine if your old bird is male or female, but I'm willing to guess female if it's not very vocal and allows a lot of touching all over the body (hens are usually more cuddly and docile towards strangers as well.) Hmmm, I'm not sure why a female would act this way...


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## purekate (Oct 29, 2010)

Well, it's funny you should say that about the old bird and cuddliness. While it's true that the old bird would let anyone hold it and take it out of the cage, he was never really one for cuddles. I mean, I've seen videos on youtube of people scratching their cockatiels behind the head and the bird just loving it. Our old bird was never really a fan. He would let us stroke him down his back, but not for very long. It was really only holding that he was good with. Does that help at all?


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

well iv compared photos of your birds and got that your pied tiel is female, the photo does look like female to me and searched for pied hen and they do look like your pied tiel.
Others may help you out  so dont just take my word for it


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## purekate (Oct 29, 2010)

No, not denying the gender thing, I've had my doubts concerning that bird's gender for a long time. lol. After all, we were told that males are talkative and will concoct complex tunes, and my bird never did that. lol. 
It's more this aggression that I'm worried about. So, if she's a hen, does that help us get any closer to the root of the problem? Why would she attack us immediately upon seeing this new bird?


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Actually saying that my lucky is a bit off with me not the way she used to be as iv too got cookie now so could be hormones taking over another thing iv noticed while cookie is now here she learning stuff from him like attention whistle but she is not quiet like she used to be


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