# Male attacking chicks - why??



## Lovemybirdies (Jan 16, 2013)

I currently have two 11 day old babies, whom my male and female pair have been feeding and keeping warm so far. I noticed that other day that it appeared that the male was cleaning the babies - he was pecking at them with an open beak and using his tongue - I am not sure if this is normal or not. It wasn't until I took the babies from the nest yesterday that I noticed he is now drawing blood. I have had to pull them out for their safety and start hand feeding them.

Does anyone know why he would do this - does he feel threatened by them? The female doesn't try to defend the babies, and is pretty subservient to him. I would describe him as an alpha male bird!

Any comments or ideas would be appreciated. This was the 2nd clutch for these two. The last clutch only had one baby survive which also had to be pulled for the same reason. I had hoped that was an isolated incident and wouldn't happen with this clutch, but now it seems like it will be standard procedure.


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

One possibility is sodium deficiency, a parent can pluck a baby to get the sodium in their blood, Tielfan's website has some good info about sodium deficiency, http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/nutrition-tieldiet.html#breeders

Another possibility is that the pair may not be bonded, http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?p=340169#post340169


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## Lovemybirdies (Jan 16, 2013)

Thank you for the reply - after reading the article about bonded pairs, I now think my 2 older mating birds aren't life partners. While they sleep on the same perch in the same cage it seems to me that Solo, the male tiel cares more about Luna than she cares about him from their behavior. I have given him toast with butter and will get a salt lick for him, but still have to keep babies away from him.


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

I read somewhere that dominant and thereby territorial males oftentimes feel threatened by their chicks so they try to get rid of this percieved threat. Since he seems like he's bonded to your female (although it may not be the other way around), he could be trying to keep her all to himself. Either way, he is definitely not a suitable daddy.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

It could also be that he wants to start a new clutch and wants the babies to leave the nest to make room. That happens often.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> I read somewhere that dominant and thereby territorial males oftentimes feel threatened by their chicks so they try to get rid of this percieved threat.


Tiels aren't dominant in nature so this really isn't true. Some parents just want to have MORE babies and plucking gets the babies out of the nest faster. Daddy birds are more maternal than mommy birds in the tiel world and end up taking over full care of the babies once they leave the nest.


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## Erinsmom (Sep 7, 2012)

Plucking can also be a learned behavior. If he was plucked in the nest it can cause them to do the same to their young. As you can see there are a few possibilities. This is why breeding can be scary and we should always be prepared in advance. IMO if we breed whether we plan on handfeeding or not we should have a brooder....formula ....scale and proper utensils JUST IN CASE because baby birds can go from bad to worse quickly.

I have a male whom seems to have issue with Lutino offspring as about that age he plucks only the lutino so bad as to draw blood. ????? I pull at 14 days usually but with him now I know to pull any Lutino at about 10-12 days. I actually hoped they wouldn't have one this time even though they come out pearled and beautiful.

BEST of luck but it seems there are a few issues and maybe breeding this pr isn't for the best.


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