# Urgent help cockatiel male attacking female



## alfalahi

hello there

a month ago i took 2 cockatiel from my brother , he got new baby a boy and he is sick so he wanted to move them birds away from baby , anyway i got the birds and took care of them for a month , they were 2 old eggs in nesting box and i removed them.
female alot friendly than male , when i open the cage door and she gets out and eats from my hand but she wont let me touch her 
2 weeks a go i saw 2 new eggs then 2 days later 2 more eggs , 4 of them now , she got very sick she barely walk and i read on net to give her some vitamins and calcium and for 3 days i was take caring with her , now the male become agrrosive and start attacking the female he wont let her near the nest box wont let her take care of eggs , and start attacking her till she is out of the cage , so i read around and someone said to spreat them so i did , now male is screaming all the time , he can see her from the other cage

i have no idea what to do , he went mental and moving non stop in his cage

how long do i spreat them for? any advice?

sorry for my english , 2nd language


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## tielfan

Does it seem like he's screaming because he's angry that she is nearby, or is he screaming because he wants to be in the same cage with her? Which bird is taking care of the eggs, and are they sitting on the eggs almost all the time?

With cockatiels, the male and female usually share the duty of sitting on the eggs. The most common pattern is for the male to sit during the daytime and the female to sit at night. He might be fighting with her because he doesn't really like her very much and wants to have the eggs all to himself; or he might be fighting with her because she wanted to sit on the eggs when he thought it should be his turn.

If he still wants to fight with her, one possible solution is to have them take turns taking care of the eggs by having only one bird in the breeding cage at a time, and periodically taking one bird out and putting the other bird in. It's normal for both parents to take care of the babies, and if all the eggs hatch it might be difficult for one bird to take care of four babies. So it's good to get the parent birds used to the idea of sharing, so that maybe they will work together peacefully when the babies hatch.


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## MeanneyFids

2 eggs every 2 days? i wonder, are you sure you have a male and a female? you could have two females and now one is kicking the other from the nest...

however, i would personally remove the nest box since you are a beginner bird owner  it is very dangerous to breed birds (for the birds) when you are not sure what you are doing so far. 


feel free to read our stickies in the sticky library so you can learn up on anything you need to know


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## alfalahi

i know she put egg after 48 hours , what im saying the first 2 eggs i didnt know when she got them , when i checked and found them i believe she lay another egg after that and or after i left them , and after 2 days i found 4th egg.

the male in another cage if i open the cages he rushs in the nest and start attacking female till she is out of the cage , he is screaming because she is on the eggs and he could see her

about the nest box , my brother told me he bought it when the cage , it always there and i think the ages of these birds are 2 years +

i know i have 1 female and 1 male they were making love when im using the PC

strange if i turn the light off ( room isnt dark at all ) the male become very quiet and sleepy , saw him taking care of his feathers , eat and drink


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## srtiels

Ok....some thoughts. can you post some pix's of your birds? this way we can see if they are definitely a male and female. Please note....even if they are a male and female that does not guarantee successful breeding. there are two types of pairings. Bonded and Bondage.

A Bonded pair will be compatible with each other, do mutual preening, and when one eats it will invite the mate to share the food dish with it. when they go to nest they will share incubating duties of the eggs, and when the babies hatch they tend to be good parents.

A Bondage pair is a pair that had no choice in being together and have no interest in each other. They may be seen mating, but this is simply hormones, and aside from that they have no interest in sharing duties, which leads to an unsuccessful breeding experience for the owner. these type of pairings, if the eggs do successfully hatch may later become very abusive parents and/or might haphazardly feed the babies, and losses are higher in the nest.

Which type of pairing do you feel you have?


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## bjknight93

> she got very sick she barely walk and i read on net to giveher some vitamins and calcium and for 3 days i was take caring with her


Did she lay another egg after this? Is she still "sick"?


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## srtiels

*Did she lay another egg after this? Is she still "sick"?*

Good question! How is she doing now? another concern with all the fighting and movment is if she is prevented from laying the yolk can get diverted to the abdomen and contribute to peritonitis.


If her abdomen looks real swollen like the bird on the perch this can be an early alert to a problem.










Another concern could be softshelled and malformed eggs, so you will need to check to see that the shells look normal on the eggs layed...


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## alfalahi

i talked to my brother , he says everytime she lay eggs she become very sick/weak he thought she ganna die frist time .

he woned these birds for 2 years + and they never fight before , only when i got them , male might be jealous of me? taking care of female after she got sick
she is doing fine now .

yes when she got sick she layed the 4th egg , huge pop then after 15 mins she layed it

im going to remove the nest box whenever these eggs hatch or after 2 weeks from now

question how long do i seprated them for? 2 weeks?

i will get pics asap


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## tielfan

The hen shouldn't be having major problems every time she lays an egg. The most common reason for egg-laying problems is calcium deficiency and/or deficiency in vitamin D3, which is essential for calcium absorption. Vitamin D deficiency can be cured by letting the birds have direct sunlight (no window glass or screens between the sun and the birds) for at least 30 minutes a day. This sets off a biochemical reaction that creates vitamin D in the body. She'll have to get the calcium from dietary sources. What is her diet like?

After the eggs have been incubated for 5 days you can candle them for signs of fertility. If the eggs are fertile and you want to let them hatch, you will have to leave the nestbox up for a couple of months (about 3 weeks for the eggs to hatch and another month for the babies to reach fledging age. 

If the eggs are not fertile or you don't want to let them hatch, you have more options. The thread at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330 has information on hormone control for both male and female (which will make them stop wanting to breed) as well as how to deal with unwanted egg laying.

Since the hen is having so much difficulty with egg laying, you definitely don't want her to have another clutch until her diet and health have been greatly improved. There's information on diet at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=27479 and information on egg laying problems related to calcium deficiency at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=19866


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## alfalahi

hey there

i let the female out of the cage and let the male in , the male started defending the nest box for a while and chase her a bit when she tried to get to next , she came out and look for water , good thing is she started to BATH after i put bowl of water for her first time , and then after that she got on my hand for first time too, everything seems to be ok for now , im watching them if they going to start a fight or not and keeping the cage open so she can get escape if im not around / sleep next room

diet is 2nd pic of the top left http://www.delinature.com/vogels/productcat.asp?lt=4&pc=4&SId=1 
Milletseeds 32%, white sunflower seeds 15%, striped sunflower seeds 15%, canaryseed 9%, cardy 8%, peeled oats 7%, buckwheat 3%, linseed 3%, hempseed 3%, paddy rice 2,5% and nigerseed 2%

with some veggie like broccoli i tired some boil egg and they eat it for protein , male like lettuce alot
im in area where i cant get anything for birds in middle of desert and nearest city like 160m away i have no idea how to get calcuim for them could i get calcuim from pharmacy (powder) and mix with water?
male started signing now


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## MeanneyFids

if these birds are attacking eachother like this, it is not a good idea to breed them.

separate the male from the cage, let the female finish laying eggs, then boil the eggs. let her sit on the boiled eggs so she doesnt lay more... let her give up on them. then take away the box


this is NOT a good pair to breed because there is a high risk they can kill the babies or injure eachother.


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## alfalahi

i really dont understand whats going on here

now they are lovers , they both in the box no fighting i saw what look like kissing

can someone explain to me whats going on?


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## bjknight93

They are a bondage pair..they will breed together because you are making them by giving them a nestbox, but they do not like each other and do not make good parents with each other. This results in them attacking each other; or one parent not letting the other nest. When babies hatch, they do not feed them as well and there are higher amounts of death of chicks. 

Please separate the male and let the female do her own thing. Take the nest box out once the females loses interest in them and *do not* put one back because this will likely happen all over again.


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## tielfan

Cooked egg is a good source of calcium and also D3, and it's OK to give breeding birds a small amount every day. When the birds are not breeding they should only get cooked egg once or twice a week, because the levels of cholesterol, fat and protein are too high under ordinary conditions.

Many dark green leafy vegetables are high in calcium. I don't know what vegetables you have available, but any leafy vegetable that's safe for humans to eat should be safe for birds too. 

Cuttlebone is a conventional source of calcium for birds but it might not be available where you live. Calcium products for humans could be used as long as iron and zinc hasn't been added - birds need less of these minerals than humans do. But it would be hard to control the dosage with calcium powder, and too much isn't good. It would be best to provide calcium through cooked egg and vegetables if she will eat them. But if you think she's not getting enough and you need to use the calcium powder, it would be better to sprinkle a little bit on some moist food (so the birds can choose how much they want to eat) instead of mixing it into the water where the only way to control the amount is to avoid drinking.

I have mixed feelings on the question of whether to separate the birds right now. They're getting along at the moment, but violence could break out again at any time. If you don't want to separate them, it might be better to have only one bird at a time in the breeding cage when you're not around, and allow them to be together when you're in the room and can intervene if there's a problem. 

If the male screams when they're in separate cages, it might be helpful to cover one side of one cage to block his view of the female.


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## roxy culver

There's really no need to boil the eggs. If they're fertile, the male can easily raise the clutch himself. This would give the hen time to rest and recover after all this turmoil.


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## alfalahi

update guys

last night my friend come visit me and he saw the birds so he called his daughters in to see the birds and they love it , the birds got out of the cage and seems to be happy to see kids around

no fight at all for now , although the male always peek at me from the box and always watching me , today morning i took the cage outside in the direct sun about 7am for 30+ min to clean my room , i think i did mistake here the male looked scared and female was ok

thanks for everyone in this website i know alot more than before about these birds now

my biggest mistake i did is giving them too much food , cage always have 3 food cans ( not sure from the name ) which make them breed

i need a bigger cage and i will have to travel far to buy on or ask someone of my friends to get me one

i love this website thats A+++ for me

thank you all


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## roxy culver

> today morning i took the cage outside in the direct sun about 7am for 30+ min to clean my room , i think i did mistake here the male looked scared and female was ok


This was not a good idea, you changed their environment and there was a good chance they could've abandoned the eggs. So I wouldn't do that again.


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## tielfan

> This was not a good idea, you changed their environment and there was a good chance they could've abandoned the eggs. So I wouldn't do that again.


There is a dilemma here though. The hen had a lot of difficulty with egg laying and needs the vitamin D. It isn't easy to get supplies and supplements. We don't know yet whether the eggs are viable, but if they do hatch the parents will need to be as healthy as possible in order to feed the babies well. 

But there are two cages available, so it's possible to get direct sunshine for the parents without taking the nest outside, by putting one parent outside in the extra cage and leaving the other parent inside with the breeding cage. The temporary separation might cause some anxiety and screaming though. We could use some opinions about the best option.


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## roxy culver

Maybe place them outside right near the window of the room the other tiel would be in so they could call to each other and would be screaming?


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## srtiels

Or rather than take them outside you can go to a large hardware store that sells light bulbs and fixtures and see if they have full spectrum light bulbs and the fixtures. if not, then the bulbs used to grow plants...or put out natural sunlight....such as shown in the illustration below.


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## tielfan

> you can go to a large hardware store that sells light bulbs and fixtures


They're in a remote location where supplies that are easily available in the US are hard to get, so FSL probably isn't an option. But your advice is always VERY valuable Susanne, so what would you recommend as the best option using natural sunlight?


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## paulinefisher24

My birds are fighting one is a girl we been told she only 11 months what happling to them?


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