# Male and Female housing arrangements



## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi, I have just bought a second bird, I am pretty sure my first is a girl and am pretty sure my second is a male.

My birds are indoor pets one is hand reared and very friendly and the other was parent reared and I am currently taming.

At the moment the birds are not even in the same room, although they are aware of each other, now when I am able to introduce them to each other I don’t really want them to breed mainly because I am concerned that they will no longer be tame, I have heard that once birds breed they revert back to a more wild nature.

So I was wondering what all you guys do regarding housing and keeping tame Tiles that are the opposite sex, I do want to allow them to interact with each other, and wouldn’t be to bothered if they shared the same cage, although I think this maybe a big no if I don’t want them to breed, not that I am overly bothered if they did breed, but my main concern is would they go wild if they were to breed and lose my tame baby’s? So would I be better to keep them apart?

I know a few of you have more than one bird, so thought you guys will have the answers.

Jenny


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## LuvMyTiels (Dec 31, 2009)

To be honest I pay more attention to personality than the sex of my birds. If mating and egg laying become a problem you can always separate them later. I had a female 'tiel that was an extremely picky eater so I kept her and Spot in separate cages next to each other. That way I could keep track of her eating.


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## NietosBirdsNest (Mar 16, 2010)

I think your best bet will be to keep them in separate cages like luvmytiels said. But when spring hits, nature calls and it could be hard to keep them separated. I have heard of some pairs staying semi tame after being paired up, with a lot of interation from there humans, but most usualy will prefer each other once the hormons kick in. I would give the two cages side by side a try first.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

My 'tiels were caged together and I have 6 males and 6 females. They're separated at the moment because a few of the males were trying to get on-top of the girls. I'll be putting them together again soon though and never have any problems otherwise.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Cockatiels that are already tame will usually stay tame even when they're breeding. They won't have as much time for you while they have eggs and babies to take care of, and hormones might make them somewhat temperamental. But they're not likely to turn against you completely.

Food bribery is an easy way to maintain your popularity. Teach your birds to take treats from your hand, and feed them frequently this way. Keep this up during hormonal times or actual breeding.

The long nights treatment will prevent many (not all) tiels from breeding. Make sure they get 12-14 hours of uninterrupted darkness every night, and they'll think it's fall/winter. This isn't a good time of year to breed so it puts a damper on their hormone levels.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Thanks Everyone for your comments,

Little confused about what the best action for me to take with some conflicting answers there, I think I might be best to house in separate cages and just let them interact with each other outside of their cages when I can keep an eye on them, lol

Jenny


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