my male and female Eclectus fight

[puvida]

Hi,

I have a male and a female Eclectus. They are maybe 15-20 years old. I did not have them when they were younger. They have been leaving in the same room but different cages for more than 10 years. Every time I let them together, they fight with each other. So I have to separate them. The male has been plucking his feather for sometime. I think he wants mate, but his is aggressive toward the female parrot and pick on her all the time. The female eclectus is passive. I wish they could mate. How do I make them like each other and start mating? By the way, there are other 4 parrots living in the same room. Thank you.

 

[Enjru]

I haven't tested the following method out myself, but the theory should be sound:

1) Teach the male bird to string together the following sequence of behaviors - pick a foot toy up, take it to the target, and then drop the foot toy.
2) Find out what the female bird's favorite foot toy is. Remove this foot toy from the female bird.
3) Hang a small target prop on the female bird.
4) Out of the female bird's sight, place the female bird's favorite foot toy in front of the male bird and cue the male bird to pick this foot toy up, then take it to the target (which the female bird is wearing) and then drop the foot toy in front of the female bird.
5) Reward the male bird for successful completion of behavior sequence.
6) When the female bird has finished playing with this foot toy, take it away from her.
7) Repeat Steps 4 to 7 regularly.

If the female bird doesn't have any favorite foot toys yet, you can try using a selection of tanzanite engagement rings (make sure the metal part is non-toxic).

One should be able to teach the two birds to like each other using this method, but to get them to actually mate might require a separate post.

 

[Enjru]

Maybe you can show your female bird this video so that she knows what to expect:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fu3r6pQcPIg"]Daniel and Annie Eclectus mating.AVI - YouTube[/ame]

Your male bird sounds horny enough already, so there's no need to excite him anymore by showing him this parrot porn.

 

[Pedro]

Hi,

I have a male and a female Eclectus. They are maybe 15-20 years old. I did not have them when they were younger. They have been leaving in the same room but different cages for more than 10 years. Every time I let them together, they fight with each other. So I have to separate them. The male has been plucking his feather for sometime. I think he wants mate, but his is aggressive toward the female parrot and pick on her all the time. The female eclectus is passive. I wish they could mate. How do I make them like each other and start mating? By the way, there are other 4 parrots living in the same room. Thank you.

One of my males is very bossy when it comes to breeding, he is always growling at the poor hen but his bark is worse than his bite. They are my best breeding pair.

I guess having your birds in separate cages has caused some of the aggression & maybe you have misunderstood them.

Have you ever offered a nestbox, that will tell you one way or another if they are compatible. I would leave them sort it out themselves & only intervene should the squabbling get to serious.

Honestly the only time you really know if a pair is compatable is if the hen lays fertile eggs.