Bad Birdie!

Well, for those of you who don't know the background on Gigi, here's the cliffnotes version:
He was trained as a fighter bird, and abused. Has had his toe bitten off, and beak busted apart by a Macaw in a *fight*. Was rescued last July and lived with a Conure. Became aggressive to humans in May and then came to live with me.

The previous owners of Gigi never mentioned anything about him being aggressive towards the conure, and he was in fact very protective of the little guy. Last night, my mom told me that while she was cooking dinner, she heard a screetch, and she looked over at the cages. She caught Gigi trying to *attack* Sisqo. They were both on top of Sisqo's cage, and Sisqo was trying to get in.

I haven't had any problems with them before about being aggressive with each other. They're not all lovey-dovey and preen each other, but they let each other climb on their cage and go inside and play with the toys without incident thus far.

Should I start keeping them off of each others cages, or let them sort this out on their own? I know birds can get into spats in stuff, but I just wanted some advice & insight.

Nicole what I think about this incident is that you should try not to remind Gigi what he has gone through back in his life with fights, accidents, pain, aggression e.t.c.
That means if you have to keep each one on his own cage and only then do it, so that you keep aggression levels low..Afterall you don't want Sisqo becoming aggressive and start battling with other birds or getting any of them hurt!
In my opinion they should be kept apart, not away from each other but so that they will not reach each other!
Gigi is not a bad bird for what he did last night, there were some bad people some time ago who made him act like that!

That's my two cents...

My first thought was let them fight it out if it was more of a spat BUT as pheobus said you don't want Gigi getting back into that old lifestyle. I think I would try and keep them to their own cages for the time being. I think I read somewhere that Sisqo is fully flighted? so if he should go on Gigi's cage at least he can get out of her way if she started on him, I would definately keep Gigi off Sisqo's cage. You don't want him feeling wary of his own cage.

That's true Peta. I told everyone last night that if they catch either one on the other's cage, to tell them to get back to their own. I especially wanted your opinion on this Peta because I know you have Bucc and Kito, and I was just wondering about their little disagreements.

On the whole Bucc and Kito have play fights and little spats, but just lately I have noticed that Kito insists on going inside Buccs cage Bucc will allow Kito to play ON his cage but he gets really mad when Kito goes inside. Yesterday Kito went in and Bucc got so mad he got Kito on the floor and was doing some serious damage My hands are straight in there and pulling Kito one way and Bucc the other, major bites on my hands but neither fid was seriously hurt thankfully. I am now keeping each of them off the others top hatch. My poor hands can't take much more of a battering but they got lots of kisses from the boys, Bucc of course blaming Kito.

On the whole Bucc and Kito have play fights and little spats, but just lately I have noticed that Kito insists on going inside Buccs cage Bucc will allow Kito to play ON his cage but he gets really mad when Kito goes inside. Yesterday Kito went in and Bucc got so mad he got Kito on the floor and was doing some serious damage My hands are straight in there and pulling Kito one way and Bucc the other, major bites on my hands but neither fid was seriously hurt thankfully. I am now keeping each of them off the others top hatch. My poor hands can't take much more of a battering but they got lots of kisses from the boys, Bucc of course blaming Kito.

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WHAT? They really fought?It must have been shoking for you since they only did it as a game!Good that you were near that moment!I'm sorry for your hands Peta! At least now you know and took precautions to avoid a next time...

Oh yeah really fought, Bucc has been very good about letting Kito ON his cage but WILL NOT have him in his home. Kito knows this but always has to try his luck so I'm always watching him.

Another little update:

Gigi has made a little game out of us telling him to get back on his cage. He'll hop over to Sisqo's cage and we'll get up, go over there and make him go back to his cage. When we sit back down, he'll hop back over to Sisqo's cage.

We've decided to move Gigi back to the other side of the room.

I'm so glad you got Gigi. I can't believe some people.. training parrots to fight each other. Makes me really sad to think of the world we live in.
Sorry you have to separate them, I guess safer is better. My Macaw and Amazon interact on a daily basis and they do have small fights from time to time and then long periods of time afterward where they are mad at each other and refuse to even sleep near to each other..lol They have never gotten very aggressive though, especially now with the little instigator, Tyler, gone from the room. They were never 'trained' to fight though, so it's just normal 'sibling rivalry'.
I imagine Gigi must be very confused when he sees another bird and no one encourages him to fight.
I'm not surprised he's invented a game, smart little brats that they are!
Good Luck!!

This may sound like an offbeat question - but how is Sisqo reacting to Gigi? Not just with the initial incident but when Gigi comes over to visit (on Sisqo's house)? What's Sisqo's reaction to Gigi?

Gigi's history is heartbreaking, but I'm curious about Sisqo's reaction to Gigi. While I don't want either of your fids to be hurt, if Sisqo's ok with Gigi on her house and doing the fid 'hangout' then why fight the visits? If Sisqo is freaked by Gigi that's a whole different story.

Again offbeat (maybe offbeak) but I'm curious as to Sisqo.

That's a great question Keupi.

IMO Sisqo is afraid of Gigi. It wasn't this way at first, but it's happened (even before the attempted 'attacks').

When we first brought Gigi home and he went on Sisqo's cage, they were both on top of his cage, but separate sides, both sitting at the highest part of the arch (it's a dometop).

NOW when Gigi goes on Sisqo's cage and Sisqo is sitting on top, Sisqo immediately goes to the edge of his cage (where it is lower), climbs onto the door, or gets off the cage and walks around the house.

I think this is a height-dominance thing. Gigi is higher, therefore he's dominant. Which is also why I think we have such a hard time keeping him off of Sisqo's cage to begin with b/c Sisqo's cage is approximately 6 inches taller than Gigi's

Oh I agree it's probably the height. Any chance of lowering one cage or raising the other so they can be even? at least that way maybe they'll both feel more comfortable.
I just put my Grey, Tyler's cage back on its original stand with wheels.. it raised him like 4 inches bringing him just a little taller then me and within a DAY he was back to acting dominant and trying to bite. I hate being short. My boyfriend and I are hopefully going to be able to make a shorter stand so Tyler stops being a little twerp
Hope your guys aren't driving you too nuts!!