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Hi everyone - I know it's been a while. Dino is fine for the most part, lately he has is moments of being VERY aggressive towards me!! In the cage, both day and bed cages, even if he comes to me! I'm not talking about the beakiness when giving scritches on his head then he changes his mind and he'll quickly move his head and snap a bit - if he makes contact it doesn't hurt. What I'm talking about is he actually lunges at me with his beak open and if he makes contact - OUCH!!!

I noticed he is starting to molt, and last week he had very strange poop for a few hours - red and very mushy like a blob, not a formed stool that coils. He eats a variety of fresh foods, eggs, seed and pellets.

Any ideas?

PS The little snot drew blood!!! I brought some food to him and he attacked me while holding the plate of food!!!!
One thing I forgot to mention -- he will be 2 in October. Could it be hormonal???? Luna NEVER got like this.

Molting can make them cranky, my little tame budgie gets agro, not sure about the weird poo though
Wonder what caused that......

I think it may also be hormonal - last night I saw him "relieving himself" with his perch! I must say I heard of the boys doing it, but wasn't sure what it would look like -
now I know I guess boys will be boys.

Jo

When the boys become hormonal, you can increase their dark hours, just like you would do with a hen. This will help kick them out of the need to breed cycle.

Agression will also increase if he has something he sees as a nest, I have seen this several times when my boys find a paper bag or covered area.

He always gets 12-12 minimum just like we did with Luna. I must say I am surprised how vocal he is with his perch!! Very cute sounds - little chirps, squeaks and clicks I thought Luna was so cute with her mating stance and little chirps and squeaks - I'm not sure which I like better. Luna never got aggressive so I guess the girls win in that department..

Should I try to discourage him with the perch? I'm not sure how to accomplish that since I do have things to do around the house and I need him to be at the cage.

As for anything that resembles a nest? NO!!! not in his day cage. It's all open and nothing to hide in. I do have a "bed" cage for him. It's the same one I used for Luna, sized for a budgie, a perch, some food and water.

Jo

Don't bother trying to discourage masturbation, it will only make you both frustrated. 12 hours of light is perfect for the beginning of breeding season, hence triggering hormones. When the boys get bad here, I make sleep time 13-15 hours of quiet then dark time. It calms them down. While masturbation isn't a problem, the aggression can be, you may want to play with things to figure out what calms him down some.

Thanks Christie, I'll try increasing his sleep time. My partner said he masturbated all day! Not that much tonight - I can tell by his cute little chirps when he does it

Jo

The cute chirps are even worse with a hen in the cage, she adds to the noise! I allow the birds to have "fun sex" but as soon as they act broody, the blanket comes out for longer nights.

I was wondering if they perform a duet! Individually they are the cutest sounds and I could listen to it for hours - I guess together is a different story.

I'll take your work for it. I don't have any plans to find out for myself

Jo

I did the same thing with Luna, 12 hours give or take. She would do her mating song and stance throughout the year, but it would be sporadic and just for a few minutes and if she was on the back of a chair. Another difference is Luna's personality didn't change - Dino gets aggressive!!

For example: If I bring food to the cage to put in his dish, or even a new dish of food, he will charge my hand with beak open and attack!! When I bring him to bed - he'll attack my hand when I reach for him from my shoulder. After I put him in bed, he will charge the cage and peck at it violently.

If anyone has suggestions about this behavior, I'm listening.

So far my solutions are - if he is at the cage when I bring food, I will bring a long dowel (perch from a cage) with me to block him - he is also a bit skittish around it. For bed, I will towel him at the day cage and then release him into his night cage and remove my hands very quickly!!!

Thanks for replies!!

Jo

I still say he needs more sleep. 12 hours is the beginning of mating season for cockatiels. Did you increase his sleep time? How much? When he is out of the cage, completely rearrange it, toys, perches, even location of food and water. Is he only agressive with the sleep cage? He may think that is his nesting site.

The olympic ring toys with a piece of millet strung through will give him something constructive to do, and when the millet is gone, give him something to take the frustration out on.

It sounds like he is protecting his cage like he would a nest, and until he is pulled out of the breeding mode, he will be frustrated.

Or, conversly, if you want to allow him to get the mating frustration out, you can buy a washable stuffed animal for him to masturbate out of the cage on. While this won't cut down on the agression, it will help with some of his frustration.

While he does not need a mate, you have to realize that he is completely different than Luna was. Males have a strong drive to mate, and it comes earlier in the season than egg laying since they have to get the nest ready and then entice their chosen mate to it.

Sorry I didn't reply about the poo before, does he have red pellets, a toy with red dye, or eat red fresh foods? That is more than likely where it comes from.

Here is a photo of the olympic ring toy, they are cheap but effective.

Wow.....my little Woody has never gotten like this, he's never grumpy. He has his Boss girl, but they don't mate all the time. Every once in a while it seems they'll go at it every day for about a week, I can always tell because Woody sings happily alot more and especially in the morning. It's been a while though since I've seen any signs of them mating, but nobirdy ever gets grumpy! Oh.....and if you think tiels are bad for masturbating....be happy that you don't have a lovebird!.....they are way worse, and the males will hump anything and everything and some even regurgitate.....the first thing Pip does every morning is go to Ivy's swing and hump it!

Hey Jo,

I see that Dino is a 'big boy' now. He is going to be two... that time flew by.....

My experience is to compare my birds ( Family Room birds) and Sam's (Travelers). Most things Sam did, I don't.

When I picked up the birds from Sam, I asked for girls as I had all boys except for one girl. Sam foisted nine males on me. Lots of chirping in the van while driving back. The 'Big T' running rampant.

You know Sam ran his bird room like a military base. Up at 6:30 and bed before sundown. The 3:30 pick-up, change papers, vacuum, water and feed. Birds were safe, fed and challenged. Heaven on Earth.. What is left to do? Have babies!

The Travelers have learned in the year they have been here that I may forget to put their light on ( they are in a west facing room ) for a bit after I get up, I may not feed them at night but give a snack in afternoon instead, I may move swings etc from one cage to another or I may just change the birds. No military base here.

As far as sleep-- lol.... the rule is ... when I feel like it. I am in a cycle right now where I go to bed about 3 AM so I am up for the day at 10 AM. TV on all night. The Travelers, as the Family Room birds did, have learned to catch naps in the afternoon like pet store birds. The rest of the time both groups chat with each other but I can block the 'noise' as most people can block ads on TV.

The beautiful thing is the disruptions have prevented plucking, bullying and being a 'big boy !! It didn't happen overnight, but we no longer have night frights or frights (thunder overhead or fireworks) and they are very loud announcing a car motor sound that belongs with my son - learned from the Family Room birds. FR birds have learned songs from the Travelers.

Not saying one way is better than the other, Jo, just that they adapt if you need to make changes......worth a try.

Smiles

Rhodie your story made me laugh, thanks for sharing
It is good to read a post from you really, it's been a while!
I am not so active on this forum anymore either as I also participate on an Ozzie bird forum but I do "visit" here about once a week/fortnight.