Nesting pair-- male is very aggressive!

[usamma]

I have been posting photos of my breeding pair and the babies. They are both great parents and are both feeding the babies now. The problem is that the male is becoming extremely aggressive towards the female. This started when he started to feed the babies last week for the first time. Now they both feed them. She still stays with them at night in the nest box but is spending more time outside the box and feeding herself as well as the babies.

He will stand guard over the nest box and when she comes out, he will attack her. Sometimes when she is about to enter the box he will jump in front of her and enter it instead and make sure he's first and she is second in. Today he bit her hard on the neck! I removed him from the cage and currently have him next to the cage with the mom/babies so he can still see them. He is trying to get back to his cage with his family, but I am just afraid that he is stressing the mama bird. If I keep them separated the female won't get the help she needs to feed all 7 babies, though. What to do?

He also will attack my hand when I put greens or food in the cage. He used to be a very timid bird towards humans until he had babies. He has always been aggressive towards all the birds except the one he's bonded to. That is one reason I had to separate my flock into two cages before they had babies.

[njaeanna]

He's doing what comes natural to him. It's at about this time he'll be wanting to get her to show less interest in the chicks so that he can mate with her again.

I recently had to split up a pair of birds as the mother got really nasty and plucked all of her chicks almost bare within a couple of hours. The dad managed everything perfectly well on his own with the 5.

I think you may have already seen the chicks in my other thread (the lutino, albinos and 1 blue) all looking perfectly fine and healthy.

I don't remember how old your youngest chicks are? Do you have hand rearing formula available in case you need to step in and top up the feeding a bit?

Unless he is actually pulling out feathers from the hen, and/or drawing blood, I would really try to leave him in there with them and try to give them as much peace as possible.

Good luck!

Anna

[usamma]

Okay, thanks! I will put him back in and watch carefully. He has not drawn blood. It's just shocking to see him treating her like that after they were so kind to each other for so long. I appreciate your experience.

[njaeanna]

Yeah, I do think they'll be fine, but be extra watchful just to be on the safe side

Anna

[usamma]

Well, he just attacked her again and she lost about 6 feathers and hid in her nest box until I removed him. :( I have some baby bird formula that I can give them if needed.

[njaeanna]

Aww I'm sorry to hear that, but at least it sounds like you're prepared.

There's a site here with some information on hand feeding chicks that you might find useful if you should ever need it.

Fingers crossed everything works out good though :)

Anna

[usamma]

Thank you! I will read it this evening. Maybe I can give them each some visitation time apart from each other. :( She is feeding the tiny ones and he is feeding the older ones.

[njaeanna]

Any updates on the parents today?

Anna

[usamma]

They are doing better today. In fact, he's making moves on her again, so you are right, he was just trying to get her mind back on him. He was feeding her, head bobbing, and all that. I am trying to figure out if (a) I should let them have another batch of chicks, and (b) if not, what is the next step? I want to see if I can easily find these current chicks homes before I turn into a part time breeder, know what I mean?

[njaeanna]

Aww I'm glad they're getting along better again :)

I know exactly what you mean about wanting to be able to re-home the youngsters before having more of them.

If you decide to not let them have another round your best bet would be to remove the nest box when the youngest chick is around 28-30 days old. You'd need a little safety box/shelter in place in the cage for the chicks to hide under (can be made from bits of wood or even an upturned plastic ice cream carton).

Still leave the chicks with the parents though, definitely until you see them all eating and drinking on their own. Best is not to remove them until they're 42 days old, gives them more chance to learn from their parents.

Good luck in whichever you decide :D

Anna