my male cockatile who has been raising (4) 1 month old babies with the female very well. Feeding them laying on the eggs, EX.. But now he is pulling the little frathers out of the babies and its bothersum to me. and the babies dont like it much either. my husband says he knows whats hes doing maybe a mite is on them or something. well thats not satisfying me. he does it to much. so is this normal or is it his time to fly the coop
2006-10-05 02:50:21 · 8 answers · asked by sugerglaze28 3 in Pets ➔ Birds
the birds are in a large room. so i took dad out and let him run the room the mom and babies are in the large cage i think this is better.he can no longer attack them. and i feel better.
2006-10-05 12:50:10 · update #1
This is normal behavior in a not so good parent. Not only is it bothersome to you, it weakens the babies who have to use up a lot of protein to replace the missing feathers he pulls. Also he could permanently damage the follicle that produces the feather, leaving you with permanently bald babies.
I had a male who abused his "wife" and children whenever I tried to leave him contained in his cage. It was 3' square or more, and he was fine in it when he was not breeding. Clearly though, he psychologically needed more room when he had a nest to take care of. He would attack the female brutally, and pull feathers and bite the toenails off the babies.
To solve the problem, I just locked the door of his cage open so he could fly around through the room. He was the perfect father after that.
I think that the stress of breeding caused him to need to exapnd his territory. This may be the case with your bird. If you can safely allow him the run of the house or the room, you could try it.
The mom needs him, though, to help her raise the babies. It is even more important now that the babies need more food every feeding. Dad plays a very important part in that process.
Another option would be for you to pull the babies and hand feed them. I used to do that routinely for my 'tiel babies, but I pulled mine at 2 weeks. Four weeks old will just make the process easier for you, though the babies might not end up QUITE as tame as if they had been pulled at two weeks.
There are many recipes for homemade handfeeding formula. Mine was used by a woman who bred show quality cockatiels. I raised hundreds on it successfully. It is tiring work but rewarding and you'll be guaranteed that there will be not more child abuse....
2006-10-05 03:13:05 · answer #1 · answered by Robin D 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you are wanting friendly birds you need to remove the chicks and hand feed them as Gail said. And the Male will kill the male chicks too. He might even kill the female. If you take daddy bird out of the cage you will have one pissed off bird. He will troop from side to side. Moma bird will not miss the chicks and she could even be put with the chicks from time to time just to see what she will do.
2006-10-05 03:03:20 · answer #2 · answered by Don K 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Feather pulling is not normal. If there were mites he would just preen them without pulling out the feathers. Its time to either remove the babies and finish hand raising or remove the male. I would remove the babies.
2006-10-05 02:55:28 · answer #3 · answered by Gail 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm thinking it may be time to seperate poppa from the babies, i had parakeets that layed eggs and the male fed the female while she was on eggs, but never sat on them, after chicks were born and female started feeding herself and the babies i moved male because he was getting aggressive....but you may want to check in the phone book for expert opinion...good luck to you
2006-10-05 02:54:55 · answer #4 · answered by Marvin C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
woah I also have a cockatail too. make useful it doesnt bleed too plenty or that's going to die! that took place to mine as quickly because it will probable bypass away on its on enless its extreme. he wont permit you sparkling it because of the fact hes scared or he does unlike human beings. properly in case you pulled the feather it does influence the bleeding and so does the clipping so its the two the clipping or the feather fell off some how.
2016-12-26 10:19:45 · answer #5 · answered by louder 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well sometimes the father gets like that in some cases they mighe even kill them as what ive read sparate them try not to let the fathet be around them too much
2006-10-05 06:46:27 · answer #6 · answered by ~*dis girl*~ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Finches do the same thing, and sometimes they do kill their young. but do not fly the coop, they need him around. Parents do groom their young, so give it some time.
2006-10-05 02:54:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
call the vet......any vet and a tech or something will tell you what to do. if there no help call a perfect parrot in oregon, IL. look there # up on net......they breed birds alot and are very good........
2006-10-05 02:53:04 · answer #8 · answered by crazyami 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋