hey ppl!anyone tell me a problem you have with ur bird.I can handle any biting,sick,or aggresive birds.I have all kinds and I'm a biologist on birds.Thank You

We got 2 parakeets about 2 weeks ago. I don't know if they are male or female??? They still bite when we try to handle them. Also if 1 is amale and 1 is a female what should I expect as far as babies??? I know absolutely nothing about them yet!!!

You need to do some research

Male from female....easy enough...look at the cere, thats the area where the nostrals are. If it's blue, then it's a boy. If it's brown, it's a girl. But if they're too young, you won't be able to tell. Babies' ceres will be a light tan, almost skin color.

If you truely want your birds to be tame and to be able to handle them, then you need to seperate them. Trying to tame 2 at once when they're living together is extremely difficult to do, even for an experienced bird person. You want them to bond to you, not each other. Also, when you seperate them, they have nobody to interact with but you and because they're social birds, they crave interaction. That will make it easier too. I can give a step by step run down on how to tame your birds, but only if you decide to seperate them, otherwise I don't want to waste my time typing it out when it won't work.

And breeding....typically parakeets/budgies breed best in a flock, not just a pair. You may or may not have babies if they're male and female. I've had males and females together in a pair for years and never even had an egg. A friend of mine had a male/female pair together and after a few years, the female laid some eggs, but never in the nestbox.

I have a 1 1/2 year old parakeet. I have tried multiple times to become friends with her. but every time she bites me very hard. over time I have just given up. I know this is wrong, but I don't know what to do. Please help!!!

Animl_lvur111:

Bird taming can be a long process. I can give you a few tips on how to tame your bird.

First, things that you do NOT want to do

Don't stare directly at the bird. Predators, or other animals that would eat your bird, will stare them down. You don't want your bird to think your going to eat him, so avoid staring at her. Look away from her and just glance at her every once in a while. If you look at her and she's looking back at you, immediatly look away. This will give her more confidence

Don't move your hand towards her. Again, this is what predators do, they will come after her. Instead, you want to find ways to entice her to come to you.

Now, in order to get her to come to you, get a treat thats irristable. I've found that most parakeets can't resist those yellow millet sprays/trees.

So have your treat, go to the side of the cage and shove a small bit between the bars right on top of a perch. Keep your hand near it for about 30 seconds, then walk off. Do this over and over again until she starts to take it from your hand. Next, do the same thing, but have the treat in your hand and put your hand in the cage. Stay there for 30 seconds, put the treat in the dish and walk off. Eventually your bird will start to take the food from your hand. Now you want to get her to hop onto your hand. Open the cage door, put one hand in and have the other right behind it holding the treat so the only way she can get the treat is to hop on your hand. When she hops on your hand, thats when you can start gradually bringing her out of the cage.

Another thing you may want to do is just to open the cage door, and put some treats just outside so she can come out and explore on her own time.

If you need to know how to clip her wings, let me know and I'll tell you.

Thank you soooo much!!!! It really will help!!!!!

OK just 1 question. Do I do this over a period of time, or all at once?

Over a period of time. It will take a while to earn your birds trust.

Just be sure to move at her pace, don't go further than she's comfortable going and don't try to rush things. It will probably take a few months, so just be patient.

Sugarbird. Is your screen name after that type of bird? I lived in St. Croix on and off growing up and we would open the windows in the morning and feed the sugarbirds there. St. Croix has sugar canes and they attract sugarbirds.

Nope, it's not really named after anything. I just kind of came up with it randomly lol.

Well, I have had my Senegal for nearly six years now. He was hand reared, and never seemed really aggresive, he bit, but not hard or anything. But about two years ago, he began to bite hard, and has drawn blood many times, also removing chunks of my skin. Every time I try to take him out, he growls, and lunges at me, I really don't get it. I got him at six weeks, and have always taken him out to play for at least two hours a day, but not all at oncwe because he is nervous. Now, everyone dislikes him, and wants nothing to do with him, he bit my friends extremely hard and she woudln't stop bleeding. None of these people were strangers either, he has known them all of his life. I just don't know what to do anymore, he has toys, treats, food, water, a big cage, anything a bird could want. Please Help!!!Dark Red

Ok, well I guess I'm taking over as the advice chief for this thread lol.

Kyon-kyon, have you cut back on handling him at all since the last two years? Birds can get like that when they they aren't receiving enough attention. You cut back or not handle them for a day and they will get ticked off and be sure to let you know.

Has his cage been moved recently?

The other thing I'm thinking about is that he possibly has reached maturity. I'm not particularly familiar with Senegals, I'm a conure person, so I'm not sure what age they reach maturity at. I'll look that up and come back to you. If it is maturity that is causing the sudden territorialness, then I can give advice on how to fix it and retame him. Although I can give that advice regardless, I think it's best to find out the root of the problem and exactly why he started behaving that way.

Ok, just looked it up and it was what I was expecting, 2 to 3 years is when they reach maturity.

So nearly 6 years, meaning 5 almost 6, and two years ago he would have been about 3. So it's a possibility he hit maturity and his mild aggression and territorialness from that was never delt with properly and it escalated.

Hi I am attempting to breed my cockatiels for the first time. My cock is a grey pearl and my hen is a lutino. My husband built a flight for them and a nest box all up to specs. My cock is behaving like he is interested in breeding but my hen is not right now....I have in the past seen her present but she seems not too interested right now....I have done everything (par research) to encourage breeding to happen. ie. longer light periods, extra water, soft foods, cuttle bone and crushed oyster shells, 12 (square) nest box, spray showers. My male in morning and evening is in and out of the nest box like crazy, singing and banging from the inside. He will show off by flying around and singing from the outside. My hen will occassionaly go to him to be preened and they sleep next to eachother...but I havent seen her go into the nest box or present herself since we have put it up...am I missing something? or do I just need to be more patient?

asl_terp, are you 100% positive that you have a male and female? How old is the female? Has she always been with the male? How long have you had her? Did you recently get the male? Or did you have the male first and recently got the female?

Some birds just won't breed. I've had 2 cockatiels together for 4 years and only got one clutch of fertile eggs but she stopped sitting on them the last week of incubation.

Also, what kind of nest box do you have?
I've noticed that some birds are picky. Some won't use an enclosed type box, while others won't use an open one.

kyon-kyon, will he only bite if he's around the cage or if you stick your hand in the cage? Once you get him to step up on a perch to get him out, is he completely tame and friendly for the most part?

If thats the case, then he's just being territorial, which i've heard senegals are well known for. Alot of people are under the mindset that the bird cannot "own" the cage and the cage must belong to you, but that's dog psychology, not bird psychology. Birds don't follow a flock leader and you shouldn't be "dominant" over him. Just respect his personal space as trying to convince him that the cage is yours will only stress him out and escalate the aggression. If he's ok once you get him out, then thats all that matters. Just work on teaching him to get on a perch on command.

If he bites you after you get him out, put him on the floor as long as he's not in any danger of being hurt by a dog, cat or child. Most birds hate being on the floor because they feel vulnerable so he'll quickly learn that in order to avoid being stuck on the floor, he must be nice and not bite. If he's ok with being on the floor, have a medium to large cardboard box and put him in it as a time out.

I'm also going to emphasize that if he bites you when you have your hand in the cage, do NOT take your hand away. That's only reinforcing the behavior and encouraging him to bite more. After all, he got his way once through biting, surely it will work next time.

My cockatiel having seziurs and my blue and gold maccow sometimes screams for no reason. Cockatiel seziurs are always at night. Can something be triggering this? Blue and gold use to scream a lot, but is very loud and annoying when she still does it. She also screams repeatedly everytime I leave the house. I think she has seperation issues, having been in many homes. Is there any way to deal with this? Please help. My hubby at wits end with the blue and gold, and really worried about my cockatiel even though has been going on for awhile. Thank you

Hi...I am sure they are male and female...I have had the female from a breeder for over a year now...she is almost 2...the male I bought at a pet store (I know its bad but he melted my heart) he is also over a year...I got them both about the same time and they have been together since. I recently added two more birds to my flock(one from breeder one rescued) but they are in the basement to keep them separate from my two that I want to breed. I have a large flight for them in my living room and I caught my male trying to mount the wrong female so I separated them. Now my lutino (female) is acting a little different...she is sleeping, preening and eating more than before. I also noticed that you can see her vent where before her feathers would cover it. I haven't seen them mate nor has the female entered the nest box but the male is in there all the time and sings his little head off the nest box is 12x12x12 (square)...wood with recycled paper shavings (got from pet store) that they love in there...it has a perch and the top sits a little open to allow more light in.

any thoughts?

Well, it sounds as though your doing everything you can to encourage them to breed, the only thing left to do now is wait and hope you get some eggs. There's not much mroe you can do.

Her vent being visible now is a good sign, so they've probably mated.

Keep an eye on her abdomem area, it's right above the vent in the pelvic area. When she gets ready to lay, you might notice it gets a little swollen or you may see a lump which would be the egg. She may also be sleeping and eating more because her body may be trying to produce an egg. Continue to provide her with that extra calcium.

Just watch out for eggbinding. You'll know she is eggbound when she has that lump in her pelvic area and she sits on the bottom of the cage or in the nest box with her feathers fluffed out and kind of panting or breathing oddly. Now this is typical when she first starts to pass the egg, but if she remains like that for more than 6 to 8 hours, then it's something to be concerned about. If this does by chance happen, get some heavy mineral oil or olive oil on a Q-tip and put some on her vent and feed her some with an eyedropper. Continue doing that every hour until the egg hopefully passes.

Do you have her on a pelleted diet or seeds?

Sugarbird: thank you so much for your help I have bird mentors and do a lot of research (my husband says I am becoming obsessive haha) but it is always great to get other opinions from different background and experiences.

The food I give: seeds, pellets, sprouts (grow myself from their unused seeds) apple, broccoli, parsley, egg, cooked corn, carrots, rice...really I try to give them a variety of everything so that I cover all the bases. I also always have a cuttle bone and crushed oyster shells on hand. And always fresh water...my husband went as far as to hook up a filter system to our tap in kitchen so the water is even cleaner (and he calls me obsessed haha)

Good news (I think) yesterday when I got home from work my male was in nest box and female was half in (her tail end was sticking out) just no egg yet but still hoping

So my question would be all this activity is pointing to them preparing to lay...how long should that be?

thanks again