# Male nasty to hen



## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

I have a hen that has laid 3 eggs so far. Usually the male and the female exchange places with no problem. But two days ago, the male kept chasing the hen and biting her so hard thatbwe had to take the male out the entire day. Today we put him back in and he has been really nice to her. What happened?


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

hi and welcome to the forum 

are they a bonded pair or a bondage pair?

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?p=340169#post340169


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

They are a bonded pair. This is their third time. I did notice he was very neevous and overly aggressive. He seems fine today.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

can you go into more detail on their set up?

what is their diet like? cage set up? nest box set up?

has anything changed lately? has there been bad weather in the area? anything out of place you can think of that maybe set him off into being nervous?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Was he trying to make her go inside the nest or was he trying to keep her away from it? The first time Buster and Shodu had babies, she wouldn't immediately go in the nest when he came out for a break, and he would pursue her viciously until she went in the nest to get away from him. Now she automatically goes in when he comes out and there hasn't been any more fighting. If your hen wasn't going in the nest when he thought she should, that might have been the issue.

If he was trying to keep her away from the nest, I don't know what to make of the situation. That would be unusual behavior in an experienced bonded pair.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

Everytime he thinks there is danger, like a human approaching, he comes out and immediately goes after the hen. We have been careful notto go near the nest except tomchange water and food in the cage, and thingsbhave settled nbybthebway, she laid her third egg three days ago and no more. Does this mean she will only lay3 eggs? I am happy with that. Igive her the seed mx n the stores and green veggies and cuttlebone. There is a nest box attached to the cage.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

If she hasn't laid anymore and isn't acting eggbound, then three may be all she's going to lay. Hopefully he stays calm now that she's done laying.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> Everytime he thinks there is danger, like a human approaching, he comes out and immediately goes after the hen.


He's trying to keep her safe by chasing her out of the area. It's odd that he never did this before, and if anything has changed in the breeding area that might be the reason that he's extra vigilant now. You've taken the right approach by avoiding disruptions that make him go on the attack.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

That would explain his behavior. He is extremely vigilant of the area and quite a good father. Everything is running smoothly now and they keep trading places smoothly. The breeding area is still the same. Keeping distractions to a minium when he is in there is what is working best. I think he was chasing her out of the region but my, my in quite a brutal fashion. Something new learned. These two cockatiels are great.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I would guess that when he chases her off, he's planning to stay in the area himself to protect the nest. He's a brave boy, too bad it's so unnecessary lol.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

Great news. The hen has completely recovered from the male attack. She was limping at some point. Also, the male is now acting really sweet and they are cooperating rather well. For the first time in days the hen lay upside down like a bat and looks really happy!! Our separating them for long breaks did the job. Also not opening the nest box while he was in there also helped calm him down. He really is a great father cockatiel.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

Thanks for all your information. It has been really helpful. I will let you know when the 3 babies are born. It will be by the 2nd weekof July. 

Do I need to do anything whenthey are born? They have enough water, a mixture of seeds, cuttlebone which they love and some collard greens and lettuce.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

Any advice to a first time breeder would be appreciated.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

Thenhen is a pearl and the male is a pied.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

When the chicks hatch, just keep an eye on whether or not the parents are feeding them. This might not be easy to do with a super-protective daddy bird, but at least you should be able to hear the chicks cheeping while they're being fed. You can take the broken eggshells out whenever you get a chance - the eggshells have no further purpose, and there's a slight risk that a piece of broken egg could get stuck on an unhatched egg and interfere with that egg's hatching.

I have some info on diet including a section on breeding diet at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/nutrition-tieldiet.html If you can persuade them to eat pellets on short notice, that would be a very desirable addition to their diet. If you're in North America, you might have better luck convincing them to eat Nutriberries, which are nutritionally equivalent to pellets but look like seed balls. Unfortunately Nutriberries are a hard food, unlike pellets which soften up immediately when the parents drink water. But they will help provide extra nutrition for the babies. 

Soft foods are generally easier for the babies to digest than hard foods, so most parent birds crave soft foods. Organic whole-grain bread and homemade sprouted grains are a couple of other good baby foods that you can encourage the parents to eat. My birds go berserk for red chard when they're breeding.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

The hen laid 3 eggs. They are due this week and we noticed that one egg was broken and that the chick never developed. We took the egg out but are not sure if the others will hatch. Wll they abandon the eggs if they dont hatch?


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Yes they will but not right away
I hope they hatch


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Have you candled the eggs to see if they're fertile? It sounds like the damaged egg was infertile, and it's possible that they're all infertile.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

The broken egg had blood in it so we know they are fertile. How does one candle an egg? We noticed that one other egg now has a little dent in it as if it has been trying to peck its way out but we cant tell. We know that there are 3-6 days left before they all hatch.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

You can use a pen light to look at the eggs and see if there is anything inside them. If an egg is hatching you should be able to hear the baby cheeping. If its not, then the dent was probably made by one of the parents. Don't patch it, as it will be too hard for the baby to get out of at this point. 

How much bedding is in the bottom of the nest?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I have information on egg candling at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/breed-eggcandling.html


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

The hen reacts badly to bedding. She wont go in. So we took it out. The first round of eggs did not hatch. One had dents and the chick was malformed We took out that egg. She started laying eggs again. 3 out of the 4 look good. There is a really small one and a brownishncolored one. One egg has a dark ring on the corner. Could you please give me some advice.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

None of those eggs sound like they'll hatch. Brown means the baby has died in the egg. The ring in the other egg also means it has died. The small egg probably never contained a baby. Without the bedding, the eggs are very unlikely to ever hatch as they don't have anything to cushion them or help them maintain moisture in the nest. She's going to have to get used to the bedding (and it may take a couple days before she'll go back in the nest after you add it, you have to be more stubborn than her) otherwise she'll never get babies.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

srtiels has a candling article at http://www.internationalcockatielresource.com/candling-eggs.html that includes excellent pictures of viable eggs and infertile/dead eggs to give you an idea of what to look for. This section begins in the middle of the article.

Sometimes it's hard for an inexperienced person to tell the difference between a viable egg and a dead egg, so follow the "better safe than sorry" principle if you have any doubts about whether an egg is good or not. If it reaches the point where you're absolutely certain that none of the eggs are viable, you can add bedding to the nestbox BEFORE she starts a new clutch so she'll have time to get used to it before she starts laying again. Bedding is REALLY desirable - some birds can manage to hatch their eggs without it, but the babies are at high risk for splay leg. If any of the eggs in this clutch actually do hatch you'll have to watch out for this problem. Do you think it might work if you gradually added small amounts of bedding to the nest so it wouldn't be a big change all at once?


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

I will try adding small amounts. But at this time she ismding such a fine job that I dont want to disturb her. What is splay leg?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Its an issue seen in babies that didn't have enough bedding to support their legs...their legs end up splayed out away from the body and it makes it hard for them to develop properly. It can be corrected but its best to prevent it in the first place.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

My tiel finally accepted the bedding but it is now day 19 and the hen barely goes in to warm up the eggs only the male. Do the parents leave the eggsas they are about to hatch or do they always warm them up until they hatch? I dont know if they have abandoned the eggs or its a natural thing that they lay less on them?


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

Should I throw the eggs out?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

An egg that is about to hatch is allowed to cool down somewhat. I don't remember the reason for it offhand, but it facilitates that hatching process somehow. I don't know if that's what your hen is doing, or if she has abandoned the clutch. 

The decision on whether to throw the eggs out depends on what you know about their condition. If you're sure that they're not viable, you can get rid of them. If you think there's a chance that they could hatch it's best to wait a few more days. Parents don't always start incubating right away, and some will fool you by sitting in the nest with the eggs right from the start but they wait a while before they actually start sitting ON the eggs.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

All four eggs were DIS. The parents mever quite came back to sit on them. I dont know if they knew they were DIS or whether they are not good parents. Three were fertilized because there was blood in them. This makes 2 failed attempts. I have removed the box nest now and mixed all my cockatiels together. I dont want the hen to put more eggs as she became somewhat weak. I am happy with my 5 tiels. I really dont know what happened.


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

I just learned that the previous owner had the hen laying eggs non stop all last year. Could this be the cause of the bad eggs?


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## hstavisky (Jun 22, 2013)

Any recommendations?


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## Camtaro (Oct 19, 2012)

If your bird lays all year long it has chronic egg laying syndrome. I suggest reading this entire page for assistance in this matter. Also, Pitch black cover for the majority of the day everyday.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> If your bird lays all year long it has chronic egg laying syndrome.


Some breeders will intentionally get as many clutches as possible out of their birds because making money means more to them than the health of the bird. If the hen stops laying eggs now that the nestbox is gone, she might not be a chronic egg layer. If she keeps it up then yes, that's probably what she is.

The eggs were fertile so it probably wasn't the eggs themselves that were bad. It's more likely that the parents didn't take proper care of them due to physical exhaustion from overbreeding. Give them a year to rest and rebuild themsleves and you might have better luck next time. Make sure that both of them (especially the hen) get good-quality nutrition.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Also, if she is a chronic egg layer then it is a bad idea to breed her. Babies inherit their parents characteristics so female chicks produced by her are likely to be chronic egg layers too.


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