# Love Triangle



## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Well, many of you have probably seen I have ALOT of questions. Sorry about that, but I have another one.

I have a breeding pair of cockatiels, an extra male and an extra female. Well they are all in their cage happy and everything. But, there is one problem. The extra male is deeply in love with the paired female. He follows her around everywhere. Sometimes she will even feed him or rub beaks. The two males will show off to each other and the paired male usually wins. 

I want to help the extra male so he will stop chasing married women. hahaha. He's not interested in my extra female, so should I buy a new female? Or seperate him? (I really don't want to do that). Please help.


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## Cheryl (Dec 27, 2008)

Can you separate the "extra" male and "extra" female into another cage together away from the two bonded birds?


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

I already tried that. He kept chasing and hissing at her. I'm guessing he didn't like a forced match.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Hmmmm...you might want to just give your first hen the new male and see how that works, since he has an interest in her. And see if your old male likes the new female.


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

I could try that. But I don't think the previous owner would like me seperating her babies like that. Plus I'm not very fond of the idea of seperating a happy couple. I will try to see if I can find another female to help out the new (extra) male. If you have any other suggestions that will be good to.

Sorry I call him extra. He is not really an extra or new. I'm just now sure if y'all would understand who is who with their names.

Do you think this will escalate hostility between the males? I'll keep a watch on them just in case if there is no definite answer.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Yes...maybe an extra female might work. Later on when you have all of them in a larger or rest flight you can see if the pairs stay together or divorce and pick new mates.


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Ok. I will do that! Thank you so much!


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

If you get an extra female make sure she is as closley matched looks wise to the male. I find (most of the time) that Cockatiels will pair up with a mate that is most similar looking to them.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

Incidently I do have a cock bird that has to wives, they have rasied chicks together with both hens sitting in the box at night. I've also had the reverse situation 1 hen two males, only mates with the mate but the other male would often sit with the chicks when the parents start leaving the chicks for a while.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Yes...I have had many threesome pairs in the past and they have done well sharing incubating and feeding the babies.

Did this pair also come with eggs? if so you could have fostered (meaning put under) those eggs to your pair that is sitting. Thgis way if they are fertile it will give your hen expereience if hers are not good.


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

No they didn't come with eggs. But now the pair has started laying again. 

The other female broke her eggs last night during a night fright. (my parents came into the room too late and too fast).

I have another question. I know you are supposed to separate pairs when they start laying. But what if there are other birds in the cage? I'm really scared on taking them out of the cage. It makes me nervous trying to take them since most of them are not very friendly to me, and I get nervous that I might hold them wrong.

It is a huge cage and enough room for like 6 or 7 cockatiels, but there are only 4. If you deem it necessary I will figure a way of getting the other two out and back to the other cage.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

If the birds aren't disturbing the breeding pair it's okay.


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

The birds are fine together. I changed the setting of the cage too. When I introduced the other two birds to the pair, the pair was very protective. They had been in the cage about 2 days before. But now that the cage has been changed, they are doing much better and aren't arguing over territory as much as they used to.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

How large is your cage?


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

I'm sorry it took me so long to respond. The cage is 4 feet (wide) x 5 feet (tall) x about 3 feet back. It is a large cage as you can see. They seem to be doing fine so far. 

The non-paired male (Isaac) is always peeking into the box. Jagger (the paired male) is always scaring away from the entrance, but then runs back into the box. I removed the fake eggs I was using previously for this pair. (I wanted to know if they were good parents or not and if they would care for their eggs.) 

So now, I am waiting for them to lay. The male and female have been hanging out in their alot, so I am crossing my fingers to see some babies!

I'm hoping Jagger and Grace do as good as they did with their first batch! The babies came out so beautifully. I'm not sure what they were, and I don't have any pictures. 

The father is pied, but not sure as to what pied he is. He has a pink nail, so that's how I know. He is grey with a few white spots on his back and Grace is a very yellow lutino with a small bald spot. If you coud help me identify what their babes will be that will be great!


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Ok. I was not at home when I gave those estimates for the cage. It is really 3 ft in width x 4th tall by 1 1/2 ft back! Sorry if I confused anyone!


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## Karine (May 28, 2010)

I posted a few posts about that when I owned the pair.....It seems like Jagger is Normal Grey Split to Pied and Grace is Lutino Pearl Pied.

They had 3 baby Pied (one of them was Light Pied and male) and 1 baby Normal Grey(female).


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Thank you Ms. Karine!


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Well, the pair is doing great. Grace hasn't laid yet, but she looks like she's getting ready. They have made an indent in the middle of the box.

I removed the other birds, even though it was sad doing so. They like the large flight cage. hahaha


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## tielmom (Aug 4, 2010)

Good luck...I hope to hear you have found eggs soon


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Thanks, I'll definitely make sure I tell y'all!


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## tielmom (Aug 4, 2010)

Hey...by the way, did you get my last email?


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

No, I didn't get any emails. Could you send it again?


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Well, the "happy couple" is not very happy with me near their nest box anymore. hahaha. They have pretty much become so protective of their box, they don't want anyone even a foot near the cage unless its me (and even I have a limit when it comes to being near the nest box). Still no eggs, but I think because the cold is starting to come in is affecting whether or not they even want to lay....

I also noticed that when I allow the birds out to play, they will visit each others cage and look around. I also noticed that Amber has been very "friendly" with Jagger, but Jagger is staying true to Grace. Also, Amber keeps visiting their box when they are somewhere else in the room. She will go in there until she gets kicked out of the cage. Is that normal for her to want to go in another bird's nest box and sit where they are preparing to lay?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

She might be trying to take over the box...I had this happen, I even had two boxes up and my one girl still got evicted. Just makes sure they don't hurt each other when kicking her out.


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Well, yesterday took the cage with Isaac and Amber out of the room where Jagger and Grace are. The funny thing is, as soon I did so, not 10 minutes later, Jagger was on top of Grace. So now I definetly know they have mated and now I'm awaiting the arrival of some eggs.


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Well, again they mated last night. (they did it twice too!) Just wanted to update y'all on theie progress.


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Well, of all birds to lay, Amber did. She had a really nice and clean egg at the bottom of her cage. I was suprised because she was just laying only a month ago. Is it possible she mated with Jagger?

When she was in the same cage, she was very interested in the nesting box, but Grace and Jagger would always kick her out. So I'm just waiting to find out whether or not this is going to be more infertile eggs or an actual fertile one.

For Grace and Jagger, they have found a new spot in the middle of the box where they have made a perfect circular indent. So, maybe they just like playing nest or they are still undecisive if they want to lay. I don't know. hahaha


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

It may take a while...hopefully Amber's egg is good!!!


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

I hope it is! Her last nest was infertile.


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Today, Amber began laying on her egg undernieth the newspaper. I don't want to move the egg, because last time I did that she began ignoring them. SHe is also very protective of this egg. Before she would ignore them, but now she will hiss and snap if I even get to close to the cage. Is it normal for them to lay on the eggs so early? She is due for another egg today, but because she has already started sitting on it I'm not sure if she will continue....


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

Never mind, false alarm. She was just checking on her egg. So, still expecting....


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## mpayjr (Aug 16, 2010)

UPDATE:

Amber layed another egg and she's been actually taking more care of these than her first nest.

And Grace and Jagger were just mating.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

She'll still lay even if she's already taking care of the other one.


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