PIonus in Big Trouble

[Megpiesmom]

Hi, I am new to the forum come looking for help. I have a pair of maxi pionus set up for breeding. The male has always been mean too me trying to bite every chance he gets. The thing is when the hen come out of the nest box to eat or whatever the male attacked her and run her back into the nest box. I was able to divert his attention. It wasn't 2 minutes later he went into the nest box and attacked her again. I had to go into back entry and literally pull him out. As I was pulling him out the hen went into the caged area exhausted. I put the male in a seperate cage and then checked on the hen. she was bleeding from one of her nostrils. I did a visual the best I could didn't see any bleeding but I did notice how thin she was which I took she hadn't been eating so I just kept an eye on her through the night. The thing is she was sitting on 3 eggs. About 4 in the mornin she went back to her eggs. How can I feed her without disrupting her. She is on Zupreem Natural. I thought maybe if I soaked some pellets in water and put in the nest box that she could eat. But I am worried I will upset her and her leave her eggs so I set it by her feed dish. I don't have an iincubator. And noone else setting eggs. Should I just sit back and watch her? She is in the sunroom and
i can see her thru a window.

 

[Echo]

Now that the male is out of her cage, I would let her be and she will come out and feed herself. You can also put a string of millet in the box but no wet food. Just keep the male away from her and the nest. Make sure that the bleeding around her nostrils has stopped.

 

[Megpiesmom]

Thank you for the advice I needed someone to re-enforce what I already knew. Makes me feel better. She is no longer The soaked pellet is right beside her regular feed dish. The male is several rooms away.
The males actions.... is this normal or bad breeding? I will never let him near her again. I have had several pairs of Maxi and BH in the past and have never seen this type of behavior. He will go out of his way to biteya. I know..... he has caught me a couple of times in the past.

 

[Megpiesmom]

meant to say she had stopped bleeding

 

[Echo]

I own 2 Pionus, however, they are not a breeding pair so I am not familiar with your male's behavior. Have you seen them mating? Are they bonded?

 

[Megpiesmom]

They have been mating for 2 weeks but, other than that she would always sit on a different perch. I had my suspicion but after about a week after putting up the nest box she started checkin it out. I do believe the eggs are fertile. I just hope they made it after her thrashing and staying out of the next box. It is also possible she has laid another egg since night before last even though I know they only lay 3-4 eggs per clutch. Right now I don't trust checking the nestbox. I will just have to wait and see if I can hear her feeding a baby starting on Sept 9.

 

[Remy]

Poor hen. He should have been feeding her or taking turns with her so she could eat. I think you did the right thing.

 

[Echo]

If the eggs are fertile and hatch it's going to be a lot of work for one bird. Shame that the male is mistreating her

If they have been mating, it is not normal that the male is reacting that way with her.

 

[Megpiesmom]

Thank you I appreciate your input.

 

[Megpiesmom]

I can handfeed the babies if she has hatches any from day one but I want the hen if possible to feed them for at least a week and then depending on how many there are. 25 yrs ago the male would have been put down. It is called culling. He is not pet worthy and certainly not good for breeding. I have to wonder if the previous owner had the very same problem and just put an extra female with him and sold them as a proven pair. If anyone walks buy his cage he will lunge at ya. Yesterday I went to get his water dish after he made soup with his pellets, I used a towel to keep him at bay so that I could reach in and get it. Just as I was pulling it out he went thru the towel and bit my forearm. I ended up droping the water dish pulling my arm away. So now I use a mouse mat to hold him at bay so that I can get the dish. I cannot in good faith sell him nor could I even give him away. I have never encountered a bird as mean as this bird and I used to tame import birds years ago and they weren't even close to his caliber. Imports bit out of fear while he bites outa meaness. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

If it were me.... I would keep him separate and experiment with his diet to see if you can curb his aggression. I have a few pionus, but I mostly deal with aggressive 'toos. First thing I will admit is that pionus here never get pellets... they get fresh food and a limited amount of seed. I would add tofu to his diet and cut out seed altogether for a while. If that didn't help I.would put him on avicalm while I decided what to do. The truth is if I ever honestly believed a bird was a mate killer it would not leave here.... ever. I would either retire it here alone or have it euthanized... but I am very picky about what I use for breedi g stock and will only use what I believe best represents a breed in size, color, health, and disposition. (I mean when I decided I wanted greenwing macaws I couldn't find adults I liked, so I bought unrelated handfed babies that were the size of hyacinths with color to kill for.... good stock is always worth the wait and we want to leave aviculture better off than it was when we started. If it turns out not to be diet, I would be sure never to pair him, and never to let him out into mainstream aviculture and risk hens in the future. (Just my opinion)

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

Unfortunately someone has to make those tough decisions or the world will be full of mate killing male birds that are repeat offenders after multiple failures to be tamed. We need to aim to make sure that babies we produce will not only be good representatoons of their species, but also that they are emotionally sound to be pets, and were socialized with other birds of the same type in youth so that they acclimate better in the distant future to be quality breeders for new generations of aviculturists.

 

[Adinafloyd]

I agree, the male is only in tis situation because he was put there. Something has made this bird so angry and hurt. There has got to be another solution besides killing this poor fella.