# Plucking his cage mate and fighting



## Payton Leeroy (Sep 10, 2012)

Alright, so the old cockatiel [Little Dragon] who was rescued off the side of the road last year ended up passing away in Jan. The vet did a necropsy and said that the most likely cause of death was a stroke, and it would indeed be safe for me to continue keeping birds as pets.

So, I went and found a new pair of cockatiels, one is certainly a male, the other I am suspecting is female [pearl markings, but she's never whistled.] Sometimes they absolutely seem to love each other, and Hansel will shriek if I take Gretel out of his sight, though she doesn't seem to mind if I take him away from her. However, he seems to think that he should pluck out all of her orange feathers over her ears, and I've been able to see the ear holes since the first time I met them and brought them home last week. When he does this the two often start fighting, and unless it's time to sleep she doesn't generally like to let him get too close.

These birds are supposedly around two years old, and while the woman I got them from was terrified to try and touch them, it's clear that someone had done at least a little training, as they seem to adore being on/around me. They even seem to think they need to sleep on the curtain in my bedroom when I'm home for the night [which I have no problem with]. They were both clipped earlier this year, but new flight feathers are coming in [yay!] and Hansel is able to fly around a little, though Gretel hasn't made it to that point yet. Since living with me they've had quite a few showers, and are starting to enjoy their bath time. I'm hoping this will help Hansel focus on his own proper preening and less on pulling out Gretel's feathers. We're also working on getting them onto a better diet, as they were on the Kaytee mix when I got them. So far Hansel has eaten a little bit of apple, but they still aren't convinced that it's safe to eat anything but seed. We will get there though! The vet said they both look nice, and I have collected poo from each of them to take in for a gram smear, though we're gunna wait on the blood work till I have them eating better foods.

So, the main question I have is what else can I do to keep him from pulling out her feathers? Honestly, if that were to stop I'm certain the fighting would too, and I'm sure they'd both be happier.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Some cockatiels will overgroom or pluck their mate, possibly as a way to indicate possession. There doesn't seem to much that can be done about it. You can keep them in side by side cages to limit his access to her, although this obviously isn't ideal if you want to breed them. If you don't want to breed them you can use hormone control techniques.

You could also try providing more shredding toys or preening toys to give him something else to destroy, and make more sodium available in case any sodium deficiency is involved. There's more info the relationship between sodium and plucking at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/nutrition-tieldiet.html#breeders


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## Payton Leeroy (Sep 10, 2012)

I'm not planning to breed them, so if I can't deal with it through diet and bathing and controlled light and whatnot then I'll look into separating them, but I really don't want to do that if I can help it. I'll certainly make sure that he's getting enough sodium, though I doubt that's it as he only seems to pluck her right on the cheeks. They do have a lot of toys for shredding and such, and she uses them plenty. He's starting to as well, so maybe that will help. I think I'll add some paper balls with treats inside on the bottom of their cage, since that seems to be their favorite place to play and shredding those may keep him too busy to go after her.

Now, I know the wing feathers and such moult twice a year, but what about the smaller feathers such as her cheek ones? Is the poor girl going to have her ears showing for the next six months?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If he plucked the feathers out (as opposed to just clipping the quill) the feathers will start to grow back immediately. If he clipped the quills, she won't start growing in new ones until the remaining stub has molted out.


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## Payton Leeroy (Sep 10, 2012)

He is plucking most of them all the way out. The poor girl has bald spots.

And I've found that I'm going to have to put aside time each day to make sure that she's getting food, and am adding another food bowl to the opposite side of the cage. Today I put her on the food bowl cause I hadn't noticed her eating all day and she dug right in. Went to change and when I came out he'd joined her at the food bowl and was trying to force her off. What a bully! Hopefully a second food bowl and the foraging we do in the morning on the dining room floor will help assure she gets enough to eat, but I may be looking at rehoming one of them since I really don't have the room for a second cage...


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Multiple food bowls are definitely a good idea. You might want to try hanging up a millet spray in a place where one bird can sit on each side of it and nibble at the same time. Millet spray seems to be a better than average "sharing" food, I can have 3 or 4 nibbling on it at once without problems. They're more prone to fight over other things.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

If he continues to bully her away from the food even after you add the other bowls, you may need to separate them. You can't have him starving her just because he's territorial over everything. I would also monitor her weight to make sure she is getting enough to eat since now you've caught him doing this to her.


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## Payton Leeroy (Sep 10, 2012)

Just wanted to let you all know I've found a great solution for the food guarding. I've been feeding them out of an egg carton at the bottom of their cage. It allows them to forage, but is big enough to keep them apart and they can both eat from it at the same time without either feeling crowded. Of course, the egg carton has to be tossed out often, so having friends save theirs' for you is important too.

Now they only seem to argue when he's trying to pluck her, which is usually when they're sharing a perch. It's happening less and less with them having enough room that they don't have to be next to each other much, if at all.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

A couple of small cautions on egg cartons. Use paper ones of course, not styrofoam which would be hazardous if the birds ate it. Before use, bake the egg cartons in the oven for a while at a low temperature to kill any germs. The cartons are used to hold poultry products after all so they're a potential source of bird-loving germs.


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