# Male cockatiel wont let the female near the nest box.



## Sops1306 (Oct 13, 2021)

Hi I was wondering if anyone could help me, for some reason my male cockatiel (leo) won't let the female cockatiel (crystal) any where near the nest box.
They have been housed together for nearly 2 year ago now and Leo is usually plasid, in fact it's normally crystal that bully's him, I.e jumps on him, moves him out the way of the food untill she's eating, follows him around, now the past couple of weeks she's been showing a lot of interest in the next box, in and out ect and doing the mating call to him, however a few days ago I caught him in there for the first time and she was not happy about it, however since then he's completely took over it and won't let her any where near it. He comes out and charges at her if she's anywhere near, I can hear him scurrying around nibbling the inside but I've never seen him this aggressive before, they share treats but don't preen each other and he's quite a lot older than her. She's always been more interested in him than he has with her,
I know I need to keep an eye on them and they havnt actually been fighting as she moves out the way of him but he's awfully protective of that box. 
This will be there second attempt at eggs and he was not interested the very first time ( for both of them ) it was unsuccessful as they wernt fertile.
Do I need to be worried. Is this normal behaviour, will he just let her in once he feels its ready for her? I've done a lot of research and if it carrys on I will split the cage in 2 and put him on the bottom but I don't want to do that. As it's a very big cage with ample room.


----------



## Friday (Sep 23, 2021)

He's probably being teritorial. My birbs are like that too


----------



## Sops1306 (Oct 13, 2021)

Friday said:


> He's probably being teritorial. My birbs are like that too


Thing is though there's nothing in the box to protect


----------



## Friday (Sep 23, 2021)

Sops1306 said:


> Thing is though there's nothing in the box to protect


It doesn't mean he's protecting something in the box, it means he probably claimed the box as his territory. How often does he go in his box?


----------



## Sops1306 (Oct 13, 2021)

Hes in the quite a lot during the say however he dose not sleep in it, you say your cockatiel dose the same? Dose he snap out of it? And let her in eventually? Also it may be worth noting that he's humping his perch quite often.


----------



## Sops1306 (Oct 13, 2021)

Update I don't know if I have done the right thing but sometine either last night or today the female laid an egg. However the male cockatiel was displaying the same behaviour and not letting the female in the box. So tonight I took the decision to split the cage in 2 and have the male at the bottom, I just didn't want them fighting inside and smashing the eggs, has anyone experienced this? Have I done the right thing? Should I let him back up with her in the next few days?


----------



## Melissasueart1968 (Dec 20, 2020)

Sops1306 said:


> Update I don't know if I have done the right thing but sometine either last night or today the female laid an egg. However the male cockatiel was displaying the same behaviour and not letting the female in the box. So tonight I took the decision to split the cage in 2 and have the male at the bottom, I just didn't want them fighting inside and smashing the eggs, has anyone experienced this? Have I done the right thing? Should I let him back up with her in the next few days?


Hi,
I'm wondering if there is a possibility that you actually have 2 female birds..?
I had a similar situation with two birds that I was told were a male lutino and female whiteface. 
Turned out the lutino was a female. The whiteface was chasing him out of the nest box and being aggressive towards him. This was after living together for 6 years in my home. 
They were my sons birds. My son moved out and left the birds for me...
I separated them. One day "he" laid an egg on my shoulder! Color me surprised! It was no wonder all "their" eggs never hatched! Lol!


----------



## Sops1306 (Oct 13, 2021)

Melissasueart1968 said:


> Hi,
> I'm wondering if there is a possibility that you actually have 2 female birds..?
> I had a similar situation with two birds that I was told were a male lutino and female whiteface.
> Turned out the lutino was a female. The whiteface was chasing him out of the nest box and being aggressive towards him. This was after living together for 6 years in my home.
> ...


No they are definitely both male and female I have had my male sexed and he's quite a lot older. The female is now laying eggs and she had the marks on her tail, and the male is very vocal. He likes to swear a lot. I've got the cage split in 2 now. I'm not sure wether to keep them like that while she is laying or not. I've bought an incubator in case she abandons the eggs also.


----------



## Melissasueart1968 (Dec 20, 2020)

Wow. I'm sorry this is happening. It's so strange. Sounds like you are preparing well. I would separate them too if it were me. There are always these strange situations that are hard to understand...
Please let us know how this pans out.
Good luck!


----------



## Sops1306 (Oct 13, 2021)

I will keep you updated. He's not happy cause he's at the bottom however if he wasn't such a little bugger he would be with her she's laid 2 eggs and more coming but I doubt they will be fertile as he dosnt really seem interested in her, but I will keep you all updated thankyou for your replys. Make shift bird cage he keeps spitting seed every where out of spite lol


----------

