# URGENT. Penny's sudden aggression.



## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

Hi guys, It's been a long long time since i have posted anything, but currently i'm in a really unfortunate situation regarding Penny my 3 year old male cockatiel and quite frankly i'm drawing my last straws with him and i need some real advice from experienced people.

Penny has always been a "random biter" meaning some times he would be good to step up/ scratch, then other times he would just launch out with an ***ault on my fingers, he hardly ever broke skin so i'm sure he wasn't 100% meaning it.

I have always ignored this behavior and made him step up or if he does this while getting scratches, i stop giving him any interactions but irregardless of how long i have persisted with this he would still be nippy.

A little more then a month ago, i bought in a budgie chick and hand raised it.
At first Penny would ignore the baby (since the baby was in a nest box and wasn't out and about) and couldn't care less but as it grew (being out on the sofa / sitting with me and my partner) Penny became more interested in the baby and more and more aggressive towards me whenever i needed to move him / feed him/ touch the baby.

I have tried hard not to back away when he is biting but he is now REALLY going for the bite and attack and its actually breaking skin and making me bruise. 

Suddenly within the last few days he has become OBSESSED with this baby budgie, any time i take Penny out of his cage (which is in our bedroom) into the living room (where the babies cage is) ALL he wants to do is be with the baby budgie. 

Not a single exaggeration here, its *ALL* he wants to do! Its as if me and my boyfriend are not even here anymore or friends with Penny!

I figured okay, let Penny be with the baby. 
I let them Eat seeds / share millet together since its good for the chick to learn how to be a bird & wean but whenever i need to move the baby, or put him or Penny back into their cages for whatever reason its a big attack on my hands and i'm getting REAL sick of Penny's aggressive behavior.

I am trying my best to ignore it, and i usually shoo him away / ignore him but now Penny has started TARGETING the BABY with his aggression! 
If Penny cant reach my hands to bite, he will try to bite the baby instead.

He shouldn't be feeling jealous since i am still trying to spend equal times with each bird but as said above, once he is in the living room and in view of the budgie, or his cage, he couldn't give a rats *** if i was there or not.

I am starting to think i might move the Budgies cage into our bedroom as well so when Penny is out he can't see or be with the baby.
HOWEVER i am a little adverse to this since i want the baby to see everything that goes on and be comfortable with me and my boyfriends presence + if we cannot be watching the baby, he can still be around us from inside the cage.

I really miss my sweet cuddly Penny and i am starting to resent him because of his behavior. Attacking me in such an aggressive way + attacking the baby is just NOT acceptable in this family.

Any ideas anyone? 
Could be be protecting the baby / claiming the baby as his own? 
Could be he hormonal..?

HELP!


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

I would think URGENT should only be a beginning to a title of a health thread. 

But anyway, it sounds like Penny is bonded to the budgie. And the reason he is biting more is because he is trying to keep you from separating him and his mate. The reason he bites the budgie when your hand is out of reach is because he is overexcited and needs a place to release his energy, and the budgie is the next closest thing.

I'm not sure what you can do about this because I'm not in your shoes. I have the same problem with Allie and Taz..but I keep them together to keep Taz happy. We also pick Allie up first and put her away before attempting to put him away because he won't budge if he thinks he'll be separated from her. Taz can and does bite hard (he doesn't even like people), but I find his bites tolerable..however, because I try to respect my birds I try to avoid causing a bite to happen because that is there way of saying "no" and if I'm getting bitten then I'm not listening to them.

Normally, we don't recommend housing budgies and cockatiels together because budgies are usually more aggressive than cockatiels, but seeing that your cockatiel has bonded to the budgie you might eventually considered it. 

What I'd definitely try first is hormone reduction techniques. They can be found in the Sticky Library under breeding. It takes at least 2 weeks for them to take affect.


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## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

Sorry for the title.

They are in separate cages, not together, i would never house them together since the budgie is disabled and would not be able to stand up to himself if a situation arose.

I do remove Penny first usually but this still results in him charging at my hands and having them looking m***acred and battered, it takes a lot not to react but sometimes you honestly cannot help but pull away.

Penny does get longer hours to help his hormones but i doubt that's working since i have been doing this for months now especially since its coming into breeding season.

I'm not sure why he would be bonded after such a short amount of time, in fact i wouldn't even call it bonded since he doesn't care for the baby at all, Its not like they are preening each other / acting like a couple, The baby couldn't even care if Penny was around or not, it just seems Penny is the one obsessing to be near the chick.
Penny wasn't even this aggressive at all when we had another male cockatiel living with him, it just seems like since i have bought this particular baby home, Penny has gone crazy.

I think i will put the budgies cage in the bedroom as well and then i can take Penny out separately.
I am also letting Penny's wings grow in so he can fly, then we can drain some of his energy flying around the apartment supervised, I have a hunch some of this is because he isn't getting enough exercise.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Releasing pent up energy definitely helps with aggression in any type of situation. I'm glad you're allowing his wings to grow in.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Is it dark enough in the cage to seem like night during the long nights treatment? If you're using a cage cover, drape it over your head and look at a bright light to see how much light gets through. If there's too much lighting coming in you could be simulating nestbox conditions instead of nighttime conditions. If you take a fresh look at the hormone control thread you might pick up on something else that could be improved http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330 However there are some birds who are immune to the techniques and it's possible that Penny might be one of them.

Here's a thought... since a budgie is smaller than a tiel, maybe Penny is perceiving the budgie as a baby rather than a mate and is tending it rather than trying to court it.


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## Stevolteon (Aug 31, 2013)

We're in almost exactly the same situation except with a female cockatiel instead of a budgie. Nigel used to be extremely well behaved and affectionate, particularly to me; but now we have Nyra he only has eyes for her and will react very aggressively towards us.

The only solution we've found so far is to cover Nyra when we have Nigel out (not very fair on Nyra, but given how nervous Nigel's presence makes her probably the lesser of two evils). It's far from perfect and we're hoping with time he'll calm down about the situation but for now it's the only way.


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## catalinadee (Jan 1, 2011)

I do agree with the others in that you should try all of the hormone treatments before anything else for now. There are a few things you can try 

Is he going out of his way to attack you? Like flying at you to attack? Or is he only doing it while you're trying to touch him? 

When a bird becomes hands off (and for overall mental stimulation and bonding), I recommend target training, especially if you're going to be letting his wings grow out. Hopefully that too would put his mind elsewhere


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## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

My parrotlet is a nippy little brat at the best of times, but, let him out with his budgie girlfriend and he turns into an aggressive little monster... He will literally charge across the top of the cage after me if I touch it! I have accepted that he is who he is and deal with it in ways to reduce biting... Be alert...lol do not casually put my hand on the cage... It will get cussed at and bitten. I remove him with a small wooden ladder or a wooden dowel... Saves fingers... I make sure his hen is far enough away from him before attempting to get her to step up, for both my fingers sake and hers as he will nip her to drive her away from me... This is called misplaced aggression and is his way of protecting her from danger or a rival.


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## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

No, he will only try to attack me if i try to do anything with him (if he is near the baby) or if i try to do anything with the baby when he is in the vicinity. 
He does charge sometimes though (like if they are on top of the cage together he will come running from the other side)

It is totally dark in the cage for him with the cover, its a thick dark blue blanket. We also have black out blinds that we pull over the windows, however being in a tiny apartment he can still hear he in another room (like typing on a keyboard) or hear everything that goes on outside, so i think that ruins the point T_T"

I will be re-arranging Penny's cage today when i clean it and putting the baby's cage in the bedroom as well, I did not want to do this but it seems that's the only choice if i want to have Penny out with me but away from the baby.

Does anyone know how to exercise a bird that has clipped wings? I want to get him exercising in hopes that he will calm down with some more activity.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

You can have him perched on your finger and gently move your hand downward so that it causes him to flap his wings. You can do that repeatedly, but don't get him overworked (panting).


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

Ezzie said:


> Sorry for the title.


Don't apologize, I thought the title was okay.

I don't really have any advice for you :/ I'm used to just having one bird, so I'm not experienced with bird interactions. All I can say is, you did everything right by ignoring him and not encouraging these behaviors. I'll be looking to see what others say. I hope you can get him back to his old self again.


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## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

It seems taking Pips (baby budgie) cage away from the living room and giving Penny a neighbor in the bedroom has calmed him down A LOT.

He is sitting with me currently as if nothing ever changed.
I now have to work twice as hard to give attention to both birds and they will spend most of the day together then when its time for Pip to go to bed, i will spend time with just Penny alone. 

thanks for all the support guys!


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## Stevolteon (Aug 31, 2013)

Ezzie said:


> It is totally dark in the cage for him with the cover, its a thick dark blue blanket. We also have black out blinds that we pull over the windows, however being in a tiny apartment he can still hear he in another room (like typing on a keyboard) or hear everything that goes on outside, so i think that ruins the point T_T"


Nyra and Nige's cages are directly opposite each other so the cover is a slim disguise at best! Not having direct line of sight seems to do the trick with Nigel. He is a little distracted whenever she makes a noise, but not to the point of being aggressive. The cover has to be on before we let him out though, if he's seen the cage exposed when he's out then he won't be fooled and will pull the cover off!


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