Cockatiel with suspected polyuria? Hormones? Any advice/help appreciated!

[Impeckable]

Hi all, I've once again returned in humble need of some advice please. Apologies in advance as this'll be a long one (and apologies if I'm in the wrong forum for these q's!).

For some context, I have two rescued cockatiels, Coral (2 yr old male) and Tilly (about 8 month old female). I've had Coco for about 1.5 years now and Tilly for just under 6 months. We've had both of them checked at the vet about a month ago and they each got a clean bill of health, and I've got an appointment booked this upcoming week for Coco because he loves to give me dramatic health scares - any advice on whether anyone here knows what's going on/has had the same thing happen with their feathery children would be most appreciated! One is a health question, the others are more behavioral questions that I'm trying to learn how to navigate.

• Coco's poop has been extra watery the past two weeks. Very watery, but still formed feces in the middle somewhere. Usually like thin, tubular strands of poop. He's eating normally, drinking normally, still very active, not injured in any way. There hasn't been a dramatic change of environment or diet change, and he isn't eating any more more veggies than he normally would. Could this be polyuria? Has anyone experienced this / should I be worried?

Now, the behavioral bits. Coco and Tilly have a strange dynamic at the moment. For context, they have separate cages and are never left unsupervised when out of their cages.

• When they're both out, Coco will slowly/sneakily get closer to her until he can peck at her, or he'll raise his wings slightly (which I've learned is a sign he wants to mate?). Tilly just follows him everywhere; if she gets pecked at, she'll run away for a few seconds then just go back to following him, but I try to keep them from getting too close to avoid his pecks from hurting her as she's still well below ok-to-mate age!
• Sometimes Tilly will go in her cage by herself as she knows her food/water is in there. So, when Coco's out of his cage and Tilly's in hers, he'll also go and stand on top of her cage, hissing and biting at anyone who walks near him, and either stares at her from above or will try pecking at the cage near the space she's at. He'll sometimes circle around her cage and chase/bite anyone who walks near him.
• At the moment whenever he bites, he gets put in a short timeout back in his cage with a few firm "NO's" said. Is there anything else I should be doing or can do to help? Is this normal male territorial behavior? Should I be separating them more or would that cause them to be lonely as they seem a bit attached already?

Thanks so much!

 

[LaManuka61]

Hi all, I've once again returned in humble need of some advice please. Apologies in advance as this'll be a long one (and apologies if I'm in the wrong forum for these q's!).

For some context, I have two rescued cockatiels, Coral (2 yr old male) and Tilly (about 8 month old female). I've had Coco for about 1.5 years now and Tilly for just under 6 months. We've had both of them checked at the vet about a month ago and they each got a clean bill of health, and I've got an appointment booked this upcoming week for Coco because he loves to give me dramatic health scares - any advice on whether anyone here knows what's going on/has had the same thing happen with their feathery children would be most appreciated! One is a health question, the others are more behavioral questions that I'm trying to learn how to navigate.

• Coco's poop has been extra watery the past two weeks. Very watery, but still formed feces in the middle somewhere. Usually like thin, tubular strands of poop. He's eating normally, drinking normally, still very active, not injured in any way. There hasn't been a dramatic change of environment or diet change, and he isn't eating any more more veggies than he normally would. Could this be polyuria? Has anyone experienced this / should I be worried?

Now, the behavioral bits. Coco and Tilly have a strange dynamic at the moment. For context, they have separate cages and are never left unsupervised when out of their cages.

• When they're both out, Coco will slowly/sneakily get closer to her until he can peck at her, or he'll raise his wings slightly (which I've learned is a sign he wants to mate?). Tilly just follows him everywhere; if she gets pecked at, she'll run away for a few seconds then just go back to following him, but I try to keep them from getting too close to avoid his pecks from hurting her as she's still well below ok-to-mate age!
• Sometimes Tilly will go in her cage by herself as she knows her food/water is in there. So, when Coco's out of his cage and Tilly's in hers, he'll also go and stand on top of her cage, hissing and biting at anyone who walks near him, and either stares at her from above or will try pecking at the cage near the space she's at. He'll sometimes circle around her cage and chase/bite anyone who walks near him.
• At the moment whenever he bites, he gets put in a short timeout back in his cage with a few firm "NO's" said. Is there anything else I should be doing or can do to help? Is this normal male territorial behavior? Should I be separating them more or would that cause them to be lonely as they seem a bit attached already?

Thanks so much!

Re the polyuria, wait until you've seen the vet, hopefully an avian specialist, so they can diagnose a medical condition if Coco actually does have one, as your vet may prescribe antibiotics or some other medication for it. If they can't find any particular cause, you could try what I use which is apple cider vinegar. I have a cockatiel whose poop gets watery every now and then, and his (most excellent!) avian vet was not able to establish any particular cause. I treat him with apple cider vinegar, 5 millilitres diluted in 500 millilitres of water, for three days and it generally clears it up for quite a while. It's important to use a brand like Bragg which contains the mother culture, give it to him in the morning, discard it after about 6 hours and replace it with fresh water for the rest of the day. It works by helping to balance gut flora, so it won't hurt your other birds if they happen to drink it too. This is the brand I use...

Re the behaviour - it sounds pretty normal! Some years ago I had a beautiful cockatiel hen called Twinkle, along with the rooster I still have whose name is Fang. Fang was much younger at the time and Twinkle would've been at least 8 years old when this all started - I was never sure how old Twinkle actually was since she was an escapee from elsewhere who I picked up literally off the street. Anyway once Fang reach sexual maturity he fell MADLY in love with her and sadly loved her just a little too much because he would chase her around and around the house, to the point where she'd crash exhausted to the floor and I'd have to swoop in and rescue her from him, and then he'd attack ME for coming between them! I'd pop Twinkle into her cage - they always had separate cages - so she could get a bit of a break from him until he calmed down. In your case your pair do not appear to be exhibiting such extremes in behaviour but yes, do keep an eye on them because the behaviours can change pretty rapidly where hormones are involved!