Mate Aggression in Cockatiels

It is rare that I see extreme forms of mate aggression in my cockatiel pairs. Since cockatiels are flocking animals and form bonds with many birds in their flock, they normally will pair up with a mate and be content to live in a smaller cage for breeding. I have witnessed a couple of birds that have more aggression problems but I will see this crop in the aviary atmosphere long before I put pull them for breeding.

What to look for in your aviary:

• The male cock bird that consistantly follows any hen around the aviary. Once he looses interest in one hen, he'll move on to another. This male needs to be kept in a separate flight and monitored for aggression towards other males. He is often the first one to eat and the dominant bird in the aviary. Sometimes this aggression is seen in yearling cocks and the aggression subsides with age and with breeding.
• The male that consistantly chases other males. I see this as an even more of an aggressive bird than the one described above. This is a male that is trying to establish a dominance in the aviary and fights can break out when the established dominant birds try to put him "in his place". The mixed sex flight aviary is a dynamic group of birds. Birds gain and loose dominance in the aviary. There is a constant and necessary struggle that occurs between the aviary residents. I find myself watching the flock and notice several groups of birds that I will give my "term" to later.
• The male that is territorial to the food dishes (by either keeping others from eating or consistantly "singing" to the dish). This is another trail of the above birds and this trait, if not taken to the extreme is exhibited in many cocks at once. I watch these birds but if they will let others eat after they finish, I find that these birds can safely live with others in a flock atmosphere.
• Hens. While I rarely see hens being aggressive to each other, some of their aggression will come with pulling crests off other birds and hissing. Hissing of hens seems to tell other birds to leave them alone. They can pull out their wings and puff themselves up to keep other hens away from their spot in the aviary. Again, this seems like a functional way for the aviary to exist.

I have seen in my breeding cages only a few cases of a cock having extreme aggression. One case recently was one of a cock who would not let his egg laying hen out of the nestbox. I took the hen out of the nestbox and put her in the cage to see what the cock was doing. He drove her aggressively back into the nestbox and stood by the opening. My only resort was to remove the hen and put her back in the aviary and remove the cock to his own cage. When the cock was released at a later date to the aviary setting, he again displayed signs of aggression to both hens and cocks. This cock is still by himself until I can learn how to successfully control his aggression. I am hoping that age will mellow his personality and that future trips to the aviary will make him more comfortable in an aviary setting. All future breedings with this cock will be suspended until I can see a marked improvement. Overall, this bird is not aggressive to me. He is a nice bird but I would guess he is very hormonal at this time.

My Flock

As I mentioned above, I have some definate groups of birds in my aviary. I will try to describe each group.

The first one is my favorite its the "Batchelor Group". I have a group of unmated "batchelors" who act as a team and spend alot of their time together. You will see these cocks sitting together, eating together and being very communal as a group. The group is normally 5-6 cocks and there seems to be no hierarchy among them. My aviary usually sways around 30-35 birds. So, they are a small part of the aviary

The second group is not really a group at all. They are pairs. Bonded pairs of birds often like to stay bonded in the aviary. You will see previously set up birds living with their mates in the aviary. The cocks will preen the hens, make sure that they eat and follow them around. They spend a lot of their time just perching with each other. This is makes up quite a bit of my aviary. Mates that are bonded to another bird will often go back to their original mate even if they have been previously mated with another. These are very strong bonds that I see mate excellent pairings. Obviously, jealousy is not an issue as it is with humans as the females readily take cocks back and vice versa.

The group I have to watch out for are the "lone bandits". These are the aggressive birds that are constantly harassing other birds. There are no "gangs" in these guys and they are often removed from the flock to lessen the stress of the aviary.

The next group are single birds. Often you will see that these birds are trying to find mates. They look for single hens and court them. They flock with a variety of birds. Cocks that are not as dominant often join the ever so famous "batchelor group" if their attempts at finding a hen are fruitless.

I have smaller flights for "problem birds", yearlings, and just weaned birds. They will not enter an aviary setting until I see that they have been successful in the smaller flights. I will introduce them to the aviary in pairs or trios to lessen their stress and will watch them cautiously for a few weeks to make sure they have figured out the setup of their new surroundings. Some birds will have difficulting finding and getting to the water source (three water bottles) and I will have to return them to their smaller flight until they mature and can defend themselves.