# aggressive daddy



## taxlady58 (Sep 16, 2008)

have 2 cocatiels, one male, one female. female is 10 months old, male's age is unknown. female has laid 4 eggs, male is extremely aggressive towards her at this point, wants total control over the eggs, bit one of her nails off last night. dosen't want her anywhere near and if she happens to be out he attacks her. kinda new at this, want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. I get him in his cage eventually and all he does is scream. I have a separate bird house for the babies, not in either cage. please help.


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## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

She should of been 1 yr with 18 months being a better age before breeding

how ever that's not going to change the fact of the dad being aggressive 

The mom can raise the babies on her own - I've had to do it for when mine already had 2 clutches and I didn't want to risk them having a 3rd

He needs to be removed from the cage - Cover his cage so he can't see her and he'll eventually stop screaming 


I've got one pair is extremely bonded and I removed her and the babies after they were old enough - not because he was mean - We were going to try to pair him with another female 

but all he did was call for her So we put a towel over the front of the cage and after about 20 mins he'd settle down - then her or the babies would fly and land on the cage and it started all over 

eventually we put her back with him because he wouldn't pay attention to no other female (not even one who is the same mutation as her)


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## Plukie (Aug 26, 2007)

I've moved this post to Cockatiel Breeding, you will get more answers there. Welcome to TC.


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## taxlady58 (Sep 16, 2008)

*agressive daddy*

I have two separate cages and the house is outside the cages, inbetween. I've tried covering him up and he dosen't shut up. He will go from screaming to talking and whistling everything he knows and then he will start screaming again. I'm wondering if taking the bird house with the babies and the female completely out of the room to see what happens. If he is aggressive with her will he be aggressive with the babies if there is any?
He has been very gentle with the eggs and wants to lay on them all the time and not let the female. Is this normal?


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## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

i have the same problem but mine are 3 years old with a different thing i have 2 males that both want the same female so what i did was cover the top and side of the cage so the last male can,t see her he is all calmed down now but if i remove the cover so he can see her then he starts up so i keep it covered


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Normally the male will do a bit of sitting during the day and the female does the rest. That's what mine do anyway. It is not the regular pattern to have a male that wants the eggs all to himself. He usually stands guard somewhere near the nestbox for the night. One of my males gets a little pushy at nesting but he tries to keep her IN the box. He does spend more time in the box than my other males. I'm sure every male is a little different but not to allow the hen near her eggs is a bit extreme. I would separate him if I was you. Sounds like he's a danger to your girl at this point. My bad boy seems to calm down and his hen seems to know how to handle him.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

When Buster and Shodu were breeding, Buster wanted to sit on the eggs all the time too although he wasn't as aggressive as your bird. I solved the problem by putting him in a different cage at night so Shodu could sleep in the nest without interference. It was dark so he was quiet! If there were problems in the daytime I'd also take one parent out of the breeding cage for a while. 

So I'd recommend letting your birds have the breeding cage in shifts - when one parent is in the cage the other parent is somewhere else. Dad taking the day shift and Mom the night shift is OK, this is the most common natural pattern, but it isn't carved in stone and you can do it a different way if that seems better.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

P.S. The overt aggression ended when the chicks hatched, although there were some very subdued little arguments over who was going to sit in the nestbox with the babies. After about a week the chicks didn't need any more brooding but they did need a lot of feeding, so the arguing ended and the parents took care of the chicks together.


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## taxlady58 (Sep 16, 2008)

Thank all of you for your input. Today seems better. She was in the nest all night and he took over this morning with no aggression. Maybe he just had a couple bad days for some reason. Thanks again!


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