Female is aggressive towards male

Hello guys,

I would like to hear some experienced answer about my issue.
In May I bought a female Kakariki (red fronted, green), right now she is 8 months old. It should be emphasized that 3 days ago I bought another male one, which is 5 months old.

I would like them to breed, but female kakariki is aggressive towards male, biting and chasing him. What can be a solution here? Maybe just some more time?

Thanks

Hello and welcome!

There is never a guarantee that two birds of the same species will take to each other. Same goes for any species.

I hope they are not sharing a cage and are kept separated for now, as this is dangerous to both birds. If they are indeed sharing a cage right now I can see why the female is being aggressive towards him -- you just plopped an intruder into her space. Putting two birds in the same cage without proper introduction first is just asking for one or both birds to get hurt.

Breeding them should be put on the back burner for a couple years until they mature. Right now they need to establish a bond. Let me know if you have them in separate cages and we can go from there.

Parrots are as choosy about mates as humans are. They aren't animals who mate with whatever bird is closest and move on, they form a lifelong, monogamous bond with their chosen mate. If someone plunked you in a room with a person you never met and expected you to start having children with them ASAP, how would you feel? That's probably a whole lot how your female is feeling. Most of the time, this kind of arrangement doesn't work.

Even if you do manage to get them to produce young, are you prepared to hand rear those young if the parents can't or won't? Domesticated parrots often make terrible parents and require humans to step in. Chicks need round the clock care, as much if not more than a human newborn. Is that something your up for? Have you ever hand fed a chick before? Do you have an incubator to keep a chick the right temperature? Do you have an avian vet on standby if a chick becomes ill? These are important things every *responsible and reputable* parrot breeder has covered long before they start trying to breed birds.

Kiwibird said:

Parrots are as choosy about mates as humans are. They aren't animals who mate with whatever bird is closest and move on, they form a lifelong, monogamous bond with their chosen mate. If someone plunked you in a room with a person you never met and expected you to start having children with them ASAP, how would you feel? That's probably a whole lot how your female is feeling. Most of the time, this kind of arrangement doesn't work.

Even if you do manage to get them to produce young, are you prepared to hand rear those young if the parents can't or won't? Domesticated parrots often make terrible parents and require humans to step in. Chicks need round the clock care, as much if not more than a human newborn. Is that something your up for? Have you ever hand fed a chick before? Do you have an incubator to keep a chick the right temperature? Do you have an avian vet on standby if a chick becomes ill? These are important things every *responsible and reputable* parrot breeder has covered long before they start trying to breed birds.

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Such great points made here. My cockatiels had babies last spring, but one baby was picked on by the rest and absolutely would have died if I had not taken him out and hand-fed him to weaning. Poor thing, mom was plucking its feathers and if I had let her continue to do so, would've killed this baby. Luckily though, I weaned him to be healthy and strong and he was adopted to a great home!

itzjbean said:

Hello and welcome!

There is never a guarantee that two birds of the same species will take to each other. Same goes for any species.

I hope they are not sharing a cage and are kept separated for now, as this is dangerous to both birds. If they are indeed sharing a cage right now I can see why the female is being aggressive towards him -- you just plopped an intruder into her space. Putting two birds in the same cage without proper introduction first is just asking for one or both birds to get hurt.

Breeding them should be put on the back burner for a couple years until they mature. Right now they need to establish a bond. Let me know if you have them in separate cages and we can go from there.

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Hey my friend,

Thank you for this information. Yes unfortunately they are sharing one cage, but now its 5th day and they are kinda okay. Sleeping next to each other, eating together and etc... but sometimes female keeps chasing him. I think in few days/weeks they should be able to peacefully live together.

As for you second point that they need a couple of years, its not true. I have read many articles about Kakariki. They start to breed very early, after they reach 5 months. My female one is already horny several times a day and male just needs to do his job. So right now my issue is time I think and the fact that male kakariki is only 4 months old. He needs few more months to start breeding.

Kiwibird said:

Parrots are as choosy about mates as humans are. They aren't animals who mate with whatever bird is closest and move on, they form a lifelong, monogamous bond with their chosen mate. If someone plunked you in a room with a person you never met and expected you to start having children with them ASAP, how would you feel? That's probably a whole lot how your female is feeling. Most of the time, this kind of arrangement doesn't work.

Even if you do manage to get them to produce young, are you prepared to hand rear those young if the parents can't or won't? Domesticated parrots often make terrible parents and require humans to step in. Chicks need round the clock care, as much if not more than a human newborn. Is that something your up for? Have you ever hand fed a chick before? Do you have an incubator to keep a chick the right temperature? Do you have an avian vet on standby if a chick becomes ill? These are important things every *responsible and reputable* parrot breeder has covered long before they start trying to breed birds.

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Hello, Thanks for your feedback. Please lets don't generalize all parrots, as Kakariki's case is a little bit different. They breed easily and start mating as soon as they reach 5 months. Right now my issue is how to help my female to get used to her male partner. I hardly disagree to compare humans and parrots. They are not that choosy.

As for you second concern, yes I am ready to take care of chicks if parents can't and I have already done this several years ago. As for incubator, I don't consider that as important. I have constructed special nest for my kakariki's and room temperature is suitable for eggs as well.

just dumping a bird in a cage and expecting babies isn't the way to go about things, if it was that easy everyone would breed birds. You're lucky one or both isn't dead. Did you do a month long quarantine on the new one? They can carry disease without showing any symptoms so you could be infecting your previous bird. As for sexual maturity yes at 5 months they can go through the teens so to speak. But a baby shouldn't be expected until they're about a year or so old. That's like expecting 12 year old humans to have children.

Brooder, whilst yes you have got one constructed there isn't a definitive temperature you can rely on which is why a proper built brooder is recommended. As for hand-feeding have you ever been shown how to hand-feed before? To put it simply it's safer to walk through a mine-field, and even then if you know how to you can run into a situation where you spend several times the bird's "cost" to treat them, unless you were planning on not bothering if any got sick to which I'm sure people here would have some very certain words for you.

Also where abouts in the world are you? Depending on your location you may need expensive licensing to breed and sell birds. Best to research

LordTriggs said:

just dumping a bird in a cage and expecting babies isn't the way to go about things, if it was that easy everyone would breed birds. You're lucky one or both isn't dead. Did you do a month long quarantine on the new one? They can carry disease without showing any symptoms so you could be infecting your previous bird. As for sexual maturity yes at 5 months they can go through the teens so to speak. But a baby shouldn't be expected until they're about a year or so old. That's like expecting 12 year old humans to have children.

Brooder, whilst yes you have got one constructed there isn't a definitive temperature you can rely on which is why a proper built brooder is recommended. As for hand-feeding have you ever been shown how to hand-feed before? To put it simply it's safer to walk through a mine-field, and even then if you know how to you can run into a situation where you spend several times the bird's "cost" to treat them, unless you were planning on not bothering if any got sick to which I'm sure people here would have some very certain words for you.

Also where abouts in the world are you? Depending on your location you may need expensive licensing to breed and sell birds. Best to research

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Both were bought in pet shop, where they had all necessary conditions and atmosphere. I haven't done any month long quarantine. Hmm interesting on this forum everyone is very careful with all small details, which is counted as not very important in EU.

No one has shown me a hand-feed, but I have personally done it with with budgies several years ago. When I had no incubator and nothing. All chicks were grown healthy and happy.

I am from Czech Republic. No license is required to sell birds here. By the way I don't plan to sell anything, just as a gifts for my friends. Thats all

Bachana said:

LordTriggs said:

just dumping a bird in a cage and expecting babies isn't the way to go about things, if it was that easy everyone would breed birds. You're lucky one or both isn't dead. Did you do a month long quarantine on the new one? They can carry disease without showing any symptoms so you could be infecting your previous bird. As for sexual maturity yes at 5 months they can go through the teens so to speak. But a baby shouldn't be expected until they're about a year or so old. That's like expecting 12 year old humans to have children.

Brooder, whilst yes you have got one constructed there isn't a definitive temperature you can rely on which is why a proper built brooder is recommended. As for hand-feeding have you ever been shown how to hand-feed before? To put it simply it's safer to walk through a mine-field, and even then if you know how to you can run into a situation where you spend several times the bird's "cost" to treat them, unless you were planning on not bothering if any got sick to which I'm sure people here would have some very certain words for you.

Also where abouts in the world are you? Depending on your location you may need expensive licensing to breed and sell birds. Best to research

Click to expand...

Both were bought in pet shop, where they had all necessary conditions and atmosphere. I haven't done any month long quarantine. Hmm interesting on this forum everyone is very careful with all small details, which is counted as not very important in EU.

No one has shown me a hand-feed, but I have personally done it with with budgies several years ago. When I had no incubator and nothing. All chicks were grown healthy and happy.

I am from Czech Republic. No license is required to sell birds here. By the way I don't plan to sell anything, just as a gifts for my friends. Thats all

Click to expand...

necessary conditions aren't the big thing for a couple to get along, if they don't want to they don't want to, that's the majesty of a living creature. I can tell you I'm EU until whenever that article 50 thing kicks off and it's still important, it's for their well-being and to raise healthy and happy birds, they're far more complicated mentally than most people think.

Wow that was very lucky that there were no tragedies, I would still advise getting the stuff if you do plan on breeding.

Your friends specifically want baby birds raised by you and you're prepared to go through all the costs associated just for that? When your friends could easily go to a pet shop and get a bird in a day? Sorry but I'm not buying that, either way no you don't need a license in the EU but make sure you get closed rings for them and check if they're on appendix 1 of the CITES list, if they are you need to get documentation for them

I did do some research into Kakariki, and from what I found, they are pair bond birds like virtually all other parrots (meaning choose one mate for life/until their mate dies), especially in captivity. They do breed more frequently with their mate than other species, but that doesn't mean a new mate each clutch or breeding season. You need to separate them for now, before one or both gets hurt.

Another consideration if both these birds came from the same source- do they have the same parents? Inbreeding closely related parrots has just as devastating of results as inbreeding any other creature. Usually a pet shop will get their birds from a single breeder who may or may not have multiple pairs or track which pair produced which chicks. Your birds may not like each other because they are brother and sister. I am unsure of a parrots awareness of familial relations, but it is possible they can tell by scent, sight or some other marker if they are too closely related to another bird to produce viable, healthy young.

There are a lot of considerations to take into account before you should even consider breeding birds. One of the bigger ones is the possibility of egg binding in the female, especially because she's so young, there's a reason that breeders wait a while before even considering birds for breeding, usually not until they're well over a year old, sometimes two or more depending on species. In the wild, birds have their choice of partners among many, so it's unrealistic to stick two birds together and expect them to be compatible.

You need to take into consideration things like diet, environment, and overall health (do you have an avian vet to examine them?) and be prepared to care for these birds for the rest of their lives, especially if they produce babies and need a home. Birds are not gifts, they are living things.

As for permits, yes you do need them in the Czech Republic, all of EU complies with CITES, and there are permits for breeding as well. It's not waved even if you're keeping them and not selling them. There is paperwork that you should have gotten when you purchased them.
CITES - Ministerstvo ?ivotního prost?edí

What you might consider to be small details, are very important to the health and well being of our birds, as they are our families. We're also an international forum and have many members from all over the world. My family in Slovakia, one of your neighbors, has had many birds in the past and all take excellent care of them, so I can't agree with you that it's not important in the EU.

LordTriggs

I am prepared to do everything to raise little chicks, but Its not the main aim to breed them. The fact is that I have a couple in a big cage with Nest. If they would like, they can breed. So that I am prepared for it. Yes we also put closed rings, so it will be done. no problem.

Kiwibird

They are already fine yesterday they were kissing each other. It was so cute and female was horny as well, but male is too young to do it now.
Nope they don't have same parents. They are from different shop and different age.

Aquila

I am not planning anything. It might happen itself as they are a couple.

I know many examples that male and female become couples. It just needs some time. Maybe you are talking about some specific bird, but this case is different.

As for other concerns, why are you asking such questions? Obviously I am making sure them to be healthy, eat everything whats good for them. I am prepared to take care of them always. Being a living creature doesn't exclude to be a gift.

Sorry but people here generally don't do such permits. Maybe they do who would like to sell and use it as business, but others no. No one controls it and in my opinion its useless.


All in all, Thanks everyone for your advice. Some of them were out of topic.
I just wanted to know why the female was aggressive, but now this problem is already solved. They like each other.

Ladies and gentlemen.
Here is the result of my parrots love story:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U5Wp7nLB2k"]My Kakariki's egg is Fertile - YouTube[/ame]

They seem to be best parents ever!
No question, just wanted to update you that everything is fine!

Have a nice day