Vicious Jardine's?

[colubrinus]

A friend of mine has had a young Jardine's for about a year now, and lately she's had some issues with the little girl having vindictive jealous fits, and trying to take it out on her other birds.

Unfortunately, this culminated last night. She was folding laundry in another room when she heard a loud shriek coming from the bird room. She just purchased a young lutino 'tiel Tuesday as a companion for her older piebald 'tiel. Apparently the Jardine's was feeling jealous of the attention the 'tiel was getting over the past two days(it's a baby, just weaned), and when my friend left her bird room for just a few to do the laundry, the Jardine's opened her cage(it wasn't locked because my friend was going to be back shortly), immediately went over to the 'tiel's cage, opened that, got inside, and tore the baby 'tiel's beak off. Probably took less than a couple minutes, from what Judy(my friend) stated.

I've never before heard of a young bird(the Jardine's is only about 16 months old) being that aggressive/jealous towards new birds. I'm wondering if this is a common problem with Jardine's. The bird was/is well socialized by most standards, as my friend has quite a bit of experience with both larger and smaller birds. The Jardine's was the first bird she got after she lost all but the piebald 'tiel in a house fire, and shortly after she purchased a Congo Gray, and a U2. Everyone else gets along fairly well, although nobody is allowed to interact unsupervised, as I understand.

[Alika]

Poi's are a bit famous for overbonding and jealousy issues. Mine has similar problems that I assumed were the result of living in a bad home before he came to us. Now I'm starting to understand that this is very common amongst poicephalus.

The viscious attack on the tiel... been there. Mine was reversed a bit, though. Thank goodness my birds don't know how to open cages! Anyway, about this time last year I was preparing birdy breakfast in the kitchen. My cockatiel was clipped at the time, and was loose on her playstand.

She likes to flutter about between bird cages and playtops. That is why here wings were clipped in the first place; Beeper has attacked her before for going on his playtop, and I was trying to prevent this by having her wings clipped.

Unfortunately, it backfired. She tried for his playtop, missed (because her wings were clipped) and landed on the front of his cage. Beeper, my sennie, was inside. I saw her land and I was only feet away, already moving towards her to grab her, but it was too late. She was attacked visciously by Beeper, who grabbed her toe and only let go when part of the toe came off.

Of course, she was rushed to the vet. To make a dreadfully long story short, we avoided surgery, but part of her toe ended up dying and falling off and now she only has half a toe.

Less severe than a beak injury, but I have no doubt that if he could have gotten a hold of her beak, he would have.

My vet assures me that such accidents are not uncommon in multi-bird households. However, it was unacceptable to me that it had ever happened at all.

We have taken precautions to avoid this happening again. I allowed my cockatiel's wings to grow out so that if she flies between cages, she always lands on the playtop where it is safe. I make sure it is safe, because Beeper is never allowed to play freely on his playtop when Cami is playing freely on hers. They alternate time out of cage, or else Beeper is sitting right with me where I can keep some kind of control over him.

In your friend's situation, I'd start putting locks on cages.

I have to warn, though, that if she hasn't already seen this behavior towards humans, it could very well start. My sennie chases and attacks my husband whenever he gets a chance... particularly during breeding season (he is over bonded to me... something I have tried to prevent and reverse with little succeess).

[Montys Mommy]

I agree with Alika,
I can't let Monty around any of my birds, she attacked my tiel and pulled the tail feather out of on eof budgies when she escaped from her cage. I have to keep her cage locked when i'm not around or else she gets out.
I'd tell your friend to do separate playtimes and yes, be on the look out for agression towards other humans, Monty is only bonded to me, she does okay when the other person has a treat in their hand and has never attacked someone so to speak but has bitten.

[Tiki]

OMG, that poor little tiel! Will he be OK? Did you take him to the AV?

[colubrinus]

She got the tiel into the emergency AV late that night. It took a while because the AV on call decided to go to the movies and turned his beeper/cell whatever off. The tiel can't really eat on its own, so it'll have to be handfed again, but they're hopeful that the beak will regrow, there doesn't seem to be too much damage to the underlying tissue.

The problem with the cage opening started while the Jardine's was in a birdie kennel(or whatever you'd call a temporary paid shelter for a bird) after my friend's housefire. The apartment she had afterward wouldn't allow the remaining two birds, so she kenneled them until her house was rebuilt. The insurance paid for all of it, and she visited them like crazy of course, but the Jardine's picked up some bad habits there, watching other birds open things and the like. Apparently she started opening all the cages and letting everybody out when no one was looking.

Like I said, my friend has her in a cage with a locking mechanism of some sort, but she didn't think to lock it for the little time she'd be out of the room. I feel for her, if that happened to any of my birds I'd be beside myself.

[sweetie&meli]

I personally dont agree with poi's being the jealous type , im not saying they arrent but in my expierence wiht them i havent had a problem , my male jadine is just over a year old and has passed his mean stage , he is okay with ohter birds he has played wiht my 2 budgies with no problem , but then again thta all depends how how they were brought up, mine was socialized with alot of other birds a green cheek was his best freind until i brought him home from the petstore , hes a good lil guy with some attitude ,:)

im so sorry about your friends bird i hope he gets better , and lives a long happy life with no encounters with more jardines lol. they can be quite a hand full, i wish someone would have told me they werent exactly the best first bird to get , lots of patience and work , but it all pays off :)

i hope your friend has learned a valuble lesson not to leave any bird unattended not even for a slpit second , not the best way to learn though. i feel for her deeply