Post by rpatchett on Feb 10, 2021 11:46:04 GMT 10
Hello! Our two 17-18w old baby cockatiels were hand-raised together (but from different clutches, same breeder). They have gotten along nicely so far but now that they are older, one of them is bullying and being downright nasty to the other one. This is strange because she is the one that is the most affectionate to the people in our family especially myself and my husband. We think she might be a girl due to barring under the tail and lighter coloured cheek patches but not 100%.
They are named Jasper and Skylah. We’ve had them since they were about 7-8 weeks old. We think Jasper is a boy because bright orange cheeks and no tail barring, plus he is very vocal and copies lots of sounds. He is curious and cheeky, friendly, but not as friendly to people as Skylah is but only because he is too busy exploring everything whereas Skylah just wants to hang out on a shoulder and have scratchies and nosies. They are clipped wings and good climbers, big cage but mostly out of it and on their playground or foraging on the floor or on a shoulder. They have never been apart from the other.
Anyway I’m concerned how much they are beginning to fight. Skylah never lets Jasper sit on a perch near her, she will aggressively push him out of the way to get to food or toys or whatever interests her. She squawks at him aggressively for no reason and she’ll actively come over to squawk at him or shove him even when he’s minding his own business. She will not let him sit on the shoulder of the same person she is sitting on, even if its the opposite shoulder - that is HER person.
I think this aggression and possessive behaviour is spiralling out of control quickly and needs to be nipped in the bud before it sets in as an adult bird. The reason why I say it’s affecting her but not Jasper is that it doesn’t really seem to affect Jasper, he’s so oblivious. He just goes, “righteo then, I’ll just do something else” and happy to explore.
She will now be a bit aggressive to me or hubby if we don’t “give into her” like if she needs to go into the cage because we are going out or if we don’t give her something like eg if she wants to play with a straw that I’m using to drink something toxic to her like coffee. She gets all mad. Is she turning into a spoilt princess??
If it’s just me and her and no one else and Jasper doing his own thing somewhere else, she is the most affectionate little thing but today she fully went psycho at Jasper because my Hubby had to put him on my shoulder so he could do something and she just went at him. So I took her off my shoulder and put her on the ground under the kitchen table (where they like to forage) and she sat there with her wings open and ready to attack with her mouth open and looking really stressed. As soon as we swapped over to Jasper on hubby again and Skylah on my shoulder she calmed down all fluffed up and grinding her beak and fell asleep. I just don’t understand - they were hand raised together and always gotten along together well until recently...
She has never bit me... yet... but she is still young. She’s getting too bossy and thinks she rules the roost. How can we teach her otherwise?
Thanks for any advice!
They are named Jasper and Skylah. We’ve had them since they were about 7-8 weeks old. We think Jasper is a boy because bright orange cheeks and no tail barring, plus he is very vocal and copies lots of sounds. He is curious and cheeky, friendly, but not as friendly to people as Skylah is but only because he is too busy exploring everything whereas Skylah just wants to hang out on a shoulder and have scratchies and nosies. They are clipped wings and good climbers, big cage but mostly out of it and on their playground or foraging on the floor or on a shoulder. They have never been apart from the other.
Anyway I’m concerned how much they are beginning to fight. Skylah never lets Jasper sit on a perch near her, she will aggressively push him out of the way to get to food or toys or whatever interests her. She squawks at him aggressively for no reason and she’ll actively come over to squawk at him or shove him even when he’s minding his own business. She will not let him sit on the shoulder of the same person she is sitting on, even if its the opposite shoulder - that is HER person.
I think this aggression and possessive behaviour is spiralling out of control quickly and needs to be nipped in the bud before it sets in as an adult bird. The reason why I say it’s affecting her but not Jasper is that it doesn’t really seem to affect Jasper, he’s so oblivious. He just goes, “righteo then, I’ll just do something else” and happy to explore.
She will now be a bit aggressive to me or hubby if we don’t “give into her” like if she needs to go into the cage because we are going out or if we don’t give her something like eg if she wants to play with a straw that I’m using to drink something toxic to her like coffee. She gets all mad. Is she turning into a spoilt princess??
If it’s just me and her and no one else and Jasper doing his own thing somewhere else, she is the most affectionate little thing but today she fully went psycho at Jasper because my Hubby had to put him on my shoulder so he could do something and she just went at him. So I took her off my shoulder and put her on the ground under the kitchen table (where they like to forage) and she sat there with her wings open and ready to attack with her mouth open and looking really stressed. As soon as we swapped over to Jasper on hubby again and Skylah on my shoulder she calmed down all fluffed up and grinding her beak and fell asleep. I just don’t understand - they were hand raised together and always gotten along together well until recently...
She has never bit me... yet... but she is still young. She’s getting too bossy and thinks she rules the roost. How can we teach her otherwise?
Thanks for any advice!