[Vickitiel]

My poor sweetie Mabel has been badly bullied by her boyfriend (see her toes in the attached pics) so they’ve been separated and she’s hanging out with my partner and I for the next few days.

They have been getting along fine for the past few months but things took a turn for the worse the other day. I walked into the bird room and I saw blood droplets everywhere. My 1 year old male Shelby has been courting Mabel since he first laid eyes on her and they've recently started mating (he couldn't figure out what to do at first but to my surprise has gotten it correct) but the last time he was digging his talons into her back making her scream and pecking furiously at her while she was trying to break free of him.

It's that time of the year (spring in my country) where hormone levels are high and 'tiels that seemed to be best of friends are no longer. So cockatiel juggling and hormone control it is.

I highly recommend Medipulv antiseptic powder to stop bleeding. And also having a spare cage on hand for emergency situations (even though Mabel thinks she should be out and glued to my partner and I all day).

 

[Tx tielfan]

That is such a pretty girl you have there. So sorry to hear she was injured. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened between Pepper and Kiwi! Although we didn't see anything, she came up with what looked like a small sore near her ear. A few feathers were missing and it didn't look too good for a few days. Thankfully, she now seems to be healing. We too have separated them for the time being.

 

[Janalee]

Mabel

AW, so sorry Mabel got beat up by your male bird. Hope she is recovering well. That must have been frightening to come in and see the blood droplets! I hope the hormone control works with him.

 

[Barbara*]

Oh dear, I didn’t know cockatiels would attack each other’s feet. Sometimes my Ronan will snap at a budgie if he gets too flirty however no contact has been made. However lately I have seen beak fencing between Ronan and Peanut.

We had a bad infestation of deer mice (rats) over the past year or two and I have been trapping them so they didn’t continue too cause night fright and life threatening accidents with my cockatiels and budgies.

Man I hate rodents.

Just a thought maybe buy him some honey sticks too chew on that might help distract him from beating up on his mates or himself.

 

[Vickitiel]

Oh dear, I didn’t know cockatiels would attack each other’s feet. Sometimes my Ronan will snap at a budgie if he gets too flirty however no contact has been made. However lately I have seen beak fencing between Ronan and Peanut.

We had a bad infestation of deer mice (rats) over the past year or two and I have been trapping them so they didn’t continue too cause night fright and life threatening accidents with my cockatiels and budgies.

Man I hate rodents.

Just a thought maybe buy him some honey sticks too chew on that might help distract him from beating up on his mates or himself.

That's no good. Have you tried hormone control on your flock? They can get aggressive towards each other when hormonal. I'll link the Sticky article here.

We also have been dealing with a rodent problem that seems to be under control now. Just mice, thankfully no rats have made it inside. After seeing little rodent droppings and pee markings on top of our Indian Ringneck's playtop we set traps in the bird room overnight and caught a few mice last week but haven't caught any recently nor seen any more evidence which is promising. Despite rodent-proofing the room they still make it in there (probably under the door). The plastic traps seem to work better and always instant kill. We were finding that the wooden traps would either be set off with nothing caught or would only catch the mouse's leg and then my partner would have to put it out of its misery which is no fun for anyone.

 

[Vickitiel]

Update: I don't think it was actually Mabel's boyfriend (Shelby) who injured her feet. Today I trialed her back in the XL cage with her 4 cage mates. Shelby was singing his sweet nothings and cuddling up to her. While she was out on top of the cage she screamed and her toes had been bitten again, from underneath. I didn't actually see her getting bitten but my 'tiel Coco was underneath her on a perch. He has nipped one of my other hen's toes before. So we stopped the bleeding and put her back in the spare cage in our bedroom. I feel so bad about it but at least I have a better idea of what to do now.

Once Mabel's toes heal (again) I will relocate her back to the XL cage and separate Coco. He is my special needs 'tiel meaning he can't fly due to an injury he had as a baby and I constantly worry about him hurting himself when the rest of his flock mates are flying around and he gets frustrated that he can't join in and sometimes ends up on the floor. I set up ladders and perches outside the cage for him but he doesn't always use them. He gets very jealous whenever I'm giving my other 'tiels attention. He is definitely an outcast and prefers my company over theirs. He used to be mostly on his own with me 24/7 and is 100% a velcro-bird, extremely bonded to me so he will go into a temporary cage on his own in the room where we spend most of our time which I think will be so much better for him. I'll get him a more suitable cage in the near future. I had him in with 4 other 'tiels because I thought it would help him socialize, detach from me a little and calm down his possessiveness but I don't think it will work out long-term after this ordeal.

 

[Vickitiel]

Update #2: Mabel is back in the XL cage and is very pleased to have been reunited with her love Shelby. Her toes haven't been attacked again so the culprit definitely points to Coco.

Coco is all set up in his new Avi One 45cm(W)x 45cm(D)x 78cm(H) cage. We trimmed some branches from our eucalyptus tree to make some nice perches. This cage is bigger than it looks in the attached photo, he's got tons of room to climb around and he gladly sits on top of it during the day. He is stress free after being separated from the rest of the flock and happy to be the centre of attention once more.