male budgie turns hostile on mate

[crimson]

I'm in my bird room today to give them their daily vegetables and fruits. I have 4 large flight cages in there, and serve my english budgies first, they are currently raising 2 babies, now 3.5-4 weeks of age.

I put their dish in their cage and closed the door, I go onto the next cage and give them their veggies etc...
All of a sudden I hear screeching and this flutter of panic, I turn around to see my male budgie going all out chasing after my female... for seconds he chased her around in the cage until he finally caught up with her and pinned her down and was biting her very aggressively. he had her on her back and was biting her neck
I quickly grabbed a glove, and pulled him out,he was so into the zone he was biting my glove so hard that I could feel it right thru the leather.

I put him into another cage, and looked in on her to make sure she wasn't injured.

she was a little nervous, but fine otherwise.

I noticed the other day when I served 'the good food' they started fighting then, but didn't think much of it, as it was over in seconds, today I'm certain he was going to harm her. It was much more intense today.
I have no idea why he would do this, they have been together for 3 years, and this is the first time I have ever seen him show any kind of aggression towards her.They've had 3 clutches together and have never seen this type of behaviour before...any ideas why?

At this point I will not be returning him to his original cage with her until she has finished raising the babies.

 

[DannyA93]

Im sorry this happened! i cant give no advice but i know its frustrating and sad when they just change their behavior negatively my budgie's started picking at eachother lately but i think my female just gets annoyed sometimes because he's still young and he likes to bug her lol but when i see them bickering i say no fighting! and give the "evil eye" and they usually knock it off. good luck and i hope this is just a phase and they get along again!

 

[crimson]

thanks Danny, I am the type of person who needs to know the behaviour patterns in my animals so I can understand them better, they are monkeys aren't they?

 

[DannyA93]

Ya but thats why we love them isn't it lol! i even put another bowl and they still picked at eachother then they finally realized they each get there own bowl! I dont think a person with no patience could handle birds lol its the key to ANY bird problem X)

 

[MikeyTN]

It's usually the females that would get aggressive, that's rare for a male to get so aggressive like that. He might be overly stressed on feeding her and the chicks. It's a good thing you removed him cause he can attack the chicks. I had a female that would kill her mates, she killed two....

 

[Birdlover11]

Agree, they are like monkeys ! when they are sweet, like cuddling, preening eachover, snuggling/sleeping with eachover i call them mummys little munchkins. But when they are bickering with eachover , nipping, chasing eacover off their favorite perches i call them the old couple ( just to know they are boys, little awkward ) i agree with mikey, it little rare to find the male fighting instead of female. dont know much but just keep an eye on the. Maybe you could ask a local breeder or a vet ?

 

[crimson]

I totally agree that this is unusual. they started bickering over food last week, when I gave them their seed, then it seemed to escalate when I brought in the veggies and fruits for some reason.

Since the babies are older now she's not in the nesting box as much.
He's had the food dish all to himself for over a month now. Now that she is out, I'm wondering if she's wanting to eat first and then he's correcting her...I don't know, it's just a guess. Although I can't see that being the problem.
I know my female lovebird always gets food first, and if the male tries to eat first she corrects him with a little nip or chases him off.
I was thankful I was in there at the time this happened.

 

[MonicaMc]

Are you feeding in one dish or in two?

If only one, it might help to have two separate food dishes for them and have the dishes placed at opposite ends of the cage?


Otherwise, I agree, it may be best to keep the male out of the cage until the hen is done raising the chicks and you've separate them.

 

[LoveMyParrots]

Have you suddenly changed their diet, or anything like that? Sudden changes (specially for the smaller birds) in the diet, their cages, etc, can become stressful for birds. A aggressive bird can hurt or kill anther bird, so its good that you remove the male. See how you goes for the next day or two, if it is still like that or it has gotten worse, you can go see your avian vet. Sometime when birds doesn't feel well or is sick, they can become aggressive. So if this goes on for a long time, and you're seening unusual behavior, I recommend you go see a vet. Other than that, I'm not too sure about it.

Hope it helped.

 

[crimson]

they have 2 dishes both with seed and good food. I haven't changed any foods at all.
I'm not going to put him back in with her, until she is finished raising them.
If I put him back in with her and I'm not there to separate them next time, it would be disastrous!!! I'm not risking the babies or the hen, she is doing fine on her own and I am checking on them through out the day. He is fine as well. thank you!

 

[LoveMyParrots]

Good to hear that the female and the babies are well.