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I have a beautiful pair of breeding Leadbeater's that have been together for years. The hen has always been overly affectionate to the male (and the male to her) and just a few days ago I came home to find her up in the corner of the cage, keeping as far away from the male as possible. Everytime he comes close to her she will bat her wings and scramble. He's a real sweet male... maybe he's making advances out of season? Any similar situations guys? I haven't seen this is type of behavior in my other hens before.

Thanks much,

beth_dunlap@hotmail.com

Unexpected mate aggression does happen.
I hope that you separated the birds, if your report is true.
I am surprised that you did not recognize this behavior.
I just checked out one of your previous posts about your greys,
and I was just as impatient then !
I expect that you have not stated all the necessary facts. again.

This is what I think happened:
You were told that the birds might have been together for several years,
but you have no way of being sure. since you acquired them recently.
Sometimes mate aggression occurs when a pair is bought/sold/moved,
and the male feels unsafe. He wants the female to leave the area, so he attacks her.
Since they are contained in the cage with nowhere to go, he continues to attack.
The female's intense cuddling behavior leads me to suspect that this is the case,
as she was trying to calm the male.

The same behavior can happen if the male is in breeding condition, and the hen is not.
She is not going to get into breeding condition if she is being attacked.

Some folks feel that some males are just not safe as breeders, and there might be some truth there.

Alhee, please don't reply to my posts if you want to ignore the facts I stated, it's very unhelpful.

What he posted is exactly the case!

I've seen this my entire life. Hey, there is no women's lib in the bird world. Attacked hens usually get the worst end of the stick when it comes to this type of behavior. You have asked a question and Alhee provided a very correct answer. Most of the time people post a question here with not enough facts so "most of us" go back into the history of posters and try to gleam additional background of the person or breeder to get to the point (or decide to answer in the first place.) He obviously put in some time with his reply and thought an answer was warranted (for you, OR ANY OTHER PERSON WHO MIGHT READ IT AND HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM.) This list-server is not your private question and answer session! If you want that may I suggest • Kgb• ChaCha • Weegy


This is a good answer provided by him, and I know sometimes it hurts when answers are not what we would consider typical or what we want to hear. His reply was first in caution to the hen (as all good breeders would do) and secondly in education. Just because you separate the pair for a few days/months doesn't mean you can not bring them back together again. Safety is "OUR" first concern. My next step would be to have the hen evaluated by a Avian Vet. She may have an egg impacted or "mummified" hence she displays this behavior. Again something best left to separate first and evaluate next.