male cockatiel

[pajg]

today my family came into possession of two cockatiels one male and one female which have been living together in an aviary.
we keep them in a large cage with toys etc to keep them active and stimulated.
The male is quite noisy and a big show off and the female seems very quiet and timid.
over the last few hours since we got them i have noticed that the male keeps pecking the female whenever she goes anywhere near him, is this normal or should i be worried?
i am a newbie to cockatiels so i'm not sure what to do.
thanks in advance for any advice.

[Billie]

Hi Pajg

I have kept budgies forever but not teils, showing of would be normal for a male hoping for some action. As for aggression, how many food water dishes are there. If there are two sets of each in different locations it would prevent bulling for available resources.

Could be wanting more space, if they have been used to an aviary they would have had plenty of space to fly and get out of each others way. It could be a territory thing, ones defending 'his' perch. Do you have a safe space where they could get some time out of the cage, this would a tire them out so make them less grumpy with each other. Keep an eye on it.

Try to work out what was happening just before the aggressive behavior. My budgies can get into battles but if you watch them, quite often its like young kids, 'I wanted the swing', 'Thats my perch' type squabbling. Just sorting out a hierarchie.

Space is very important. Can they actually fly in their new cage. Imagine if instead of being able to go anywhere, someone locked you in a space the size of a loo. Thats what it probably feels like to them right now, especially if they don't have room to spread their wings and have a good flap. They should settle in time, but the bigger the better is definately the rule of thumb for cages.

I'm sure Orange will be on in the morning and she has had teils. Good luck. If they are having trouble settling tonight maybe leave a low watt light on in the room, so if they come off their perches in the night they can see to get back on to them.

Billie

[Berserka]

G'day Pajg, I've never had tiels so I can't offer advice. Billie's advice sounds quite good to me.

If you would like to talk to tiel experts try "that forum" forum, there are alot of experienced tiel breeders there who can answer any question you pose, I have never met a more knowledgable bunch especially where tiels are concerned. Here is the link: http://"that forum".proboards33.com/index.cgi

I hope you decide to stay and maybe join our little group. We would welcome following the progress you make with your new fids - we also love photo's!

[a11ycat]

Hi,
I have some experience of tiels, and the first question I would first ask is how long the pair have been together? I had two tiels together for over 9 months, and they still would not tolerate each other being too close even after all that time. After 9 months, they could sit within 10cm of each other without one threatening to peck, and the male started offering his head to be preened to the female, though as far as I am aware the female never responded to that. The rest of the time they would just keep out of each other's way, though at the same time they always had to know where the other was, and given the choice tended to sit nearer each other than further away. So I would suggest that unless the male is actually injuring the female, that it might be perfectly normal behaviour, and that it will probably settle down in time. The fact that you have only recently acquired them also suggests to me that they may both be still fairly stressed from the changes, and so that might be causing them to be short tempered with each other. I would definately keep an eye on it, but unless they are hurting each other or attacking each other, I would leave them to settle down themselves. Also if they were used to living in an aviary and now they are in a cage, the amount of room that they were used to is diminished substantially and so it will take them time to get used to not living on top of each other.
Feel free to ask any more questions, I hope this helped!

[pajg]

thanks for the advice everyone, it seems that you may be right and it's just the change of home as the male which is now called Jimmy has stopped pecking her as much as the first day, we bought another food dish for the female which is now called Jess and this also seems to help.jess now hisses at him and he backs off. by the way Jimmy is a grey cockatiel and Jess is a pied just so you know.
while i am writing i just wondered if anyone could tell me how to help settle Jess she seems a lot more nervous and shakes quite a lot could this be part of the moving homes thing?
we don't know their ages but i would guess that jess is a lot younger than jimmy.
once again thanks for all the advice.

[Billie]

Two thoughts, talk quietly and move slowly when you are around them. Can you position the cage so one side of it is against the wall so they feel safe. You could try covering a section of the cage or posibly the top, then if she wants to 'hide' she can.

Putting a cloth just on the roof of the cage may replicate the solid roof of the aivery they were previously in. If I have a nervous bird or their cage is somewhere that people walk past, cover it so they get a much smaller view and gradually increase their view over a week, so they can get used to their surroundings a bit at a time.

Its probably the shock of moving. My female budgie took about 2 months to settle now she's solid as a rock and quite bold.