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ljvp54 · by **ljvp54** on Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:39 pm

Hi, I have 3 GCC's, a father and 2 of his offspring...one male(I think) and one female(DNA'd). I have them in a cage that has adequate space for living but is small enough to discourage breeding. I made the mistake of putting paper in the bottom of the cage, recently and, of course, the father began shredding for a nest and "calling" the female when the cage was covered. This morning the fighting started....two ganging up on one, who was being chased around the cage, cornered and pecked at. I tried, unsuccessfully, to keep things at bay...but every time I left the room it started again. I emptied the cage of any remnants of shredded paper, too. I finally removed the father, who was exhausted and hungry by this time. I prepared a smaller cage (budgie sized) and placed him in there. The poor guy gobbled down some food, took a drink and proceeded to snuggle in a corner and go to sleep. The brother and sister left in the cage went back to normal behavior.

The really unusual thing was that none of them were calling to each other, which is what usually happens when I have separated any of them from the flock before. About an hour later there was an unattended egg at the bottom of the cage(which I removed) My questions are as follows:
1)am I correct in assuming this was nesting behavior and not dominance behavior?
2)What would cause the female about to lay and her sibling to gang up on the father?
3)will I be able to go back to caging them together again?
4) is there anything I can do to discourage nesting?

Any input wouuld be helpful...I live in a studio apartment and don't have room for individual cages. The cage they were together in is 20"x20"x28" and they seemed well adjusted and happy in that space for 2 years.

Thanks, LVP

Yogi · by **Yogi** on Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:21 am

Have you thought about stacking cages? With two males and one female you are going to have constant squabbles which could lead to serious injuries. The removal of eggs encourages egglaying. Eggs should be addled(shaken till the yolk breaks )returned to the cage ,or replaced with dummy eggs until they get sick of sitting.Breeding birds are seldom good pets. Have you thought about rehoming your extra bird?

Most conures reach sexual maturity at about 2 years which seems to be what happened here. When birds bond either to each other or to a special person it is considered first priority to protect their mate from any interlopers or perceived enemies. Whether you can house them together remains to be seen. You are taking a chance one of your birds will be injured.------Yogi

ljvp54 · by **ljvp54** on Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:22 pm

Hi Yogi.....thanks for the input! Well, it seems that there is definitely a "dominant male" situation happening b/c when I let the father out of his cage and he attempted to connect with the other 2 birds thru their cage a battle began right away.....The feml seems to be an unwilling participant, here, b/c she lays and runs...leaving the egg behind, unattended....the strange thing is that the other bird in the cage w/ the female (her clutchmate) seems to have no connection or interest in the egg either....HOWEVER, after being seperated for 2 days, the female laid again...I addled that one and left it in the cage but no one seems interested in that one either. I've worked with breeding pairs before and also had a 'Teil who was an obsessive egg layer...and this is truly odd...do you think I should try caging the FEMALE alone and putting the 2 males together?...I, right now, have 2 cages stacked but that's all the room I have....and I love my babies SSSOOO much! I'd hate to have to give one of them up....
Hugs, LVP

Yogi · by **Yogi** on Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:32 pm

The only thing you can do is try it, No guarantee the two males will get along and no guarantee the female will stop laying with the stimulus of nearby males and hormones raging.In fact some females just lay for the sake of laying with no outside stimulus needed. I know of several cases where the females had to be given lupron (hormone shots) to stop the laying . It usually works but not always. Make sure your birds have cuttlebone or mineral blocks to help replace the calcium lost at this stressful time for them.----Yogi

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