Aggressive Cockatiel

[NikkarrNinja]

Hi,

I have a Male cockatiel called Coco, he's around 2 years old now.
He's normally a lovely chap, always following me around, watching what I'm doing whatever room I'm in and the occasional scritches. He loves to play peekaboo and shout Pretty Pretty Coco at the top of his lungs.
He's a little terror from time to time, but never anything bad just trying to steal food and jigsaw pieces.

But this morning, he's changed into a little demon. I went to feed him breakfast, like normal, he climbed up onto my shoulder, thought nothing of it. Till the next minute he was clinging to my upper lip, by his beak, to the point I had no choice to pry his beak open, as he just wouldn't let go. He even managed to draw blood, in the year and a half I've had the little one, hes never attacked me in such a violent manner before.
He had a shower last night , which he seemed to enjoy, and I changed his cage around. Just replaced the toys he had in, to some different ones.
I've been in the house a bit more than usual, along with my partner, due to the quarantine. But other than that, nothings changed in the house or his environment
I can't even go near his cage, without him lunging for me.
I'm a little scared of him, after what happened.
I was just wondering if theres anyway of me helping calm him down, and if he'll return (even if its just a few minutes/hours) to the lovely bird he was before all this

 

[SailBoat]

Several possibilities, and likely a blend of a couple.

With Amazons that I have years of experience, it's called Spring Time Hormonal Season. You're two year old male is likely experiencing his first hormonal surge. And if true, it is likely as confusing to your Tiel as it is to you. It is important to remember that they have zero control over the flow, which can be a dribble to a wash.

With Amazons, we tend to place even more attention to our Parrots prior to handling them. I'm no Tiel expert, so I will reframe from providing specific signs or actions regarding Tiel's and how they respond to Hormonal Season.

 

[Txcockatielguy]

I have a three year old male (Kiwi) that looks very similar to your Coco. Of or nine other tiels, Kiwi has always been the dominant male and we've had our share of hormonal problems with him. about 5 months ago he fathered our first clutch of 4 babies. Sadly the mother passed while they were still feeding the chicks. Kiwi did his very best to take over the situation and continue on without the mother until my wife and I started hand feeding. Well.....a few months after the babies were grown enough to take care of themselves, Kiwi took to chasing Dacey's (the mother that dieds) cage mate! The problem was, she was 2 months shy of being old enough to breed according to our avian vet. To make a long story short, we've had hell keeping Kiwi and his new chosen mate separated for two LONG months!!! The time has finally come and they are now in the same cage with a nest box! As you can imagine, Kiwi is a changed bird and happy as a clam! So YES, I'm suspecting that your problem is hormonal because I've seen it make completely lovable birds do some pretty strange things.

 

[NikkarrNinja]

Thank you both for your views on the little terror.
TxCockatielguy, I'm sorry for your loss, and congratulations to the new little bubbies

He seemed a bit better last night, I managed to give him a treat, and play a little game with him for a bit before bed.
With how well he was last night I thought it would be a good idea to let him out for a bit today. Unfortunately that didn't last very long, probably about 10 mins. As he decided to attack me when I walked by his cage, and then attacked my partner, and bit his hand

 

[Txcockatielguy]

So sorry to hear Coco is still being a little turd. I've never had any of mine actually attack me .......unless I went to them trying to get them in there cage for bedtime. Thank god Kiwi doesn't have that problem now that he's shacked up with his girl friend and they are both working on being parents! Aside from hormonal issues which I suspect with Coco. Is he getting enough sleep at night? At least 10 hours or more? Sometimes any less can make them cranky!

 

[NikkarrNinja]

All I wanted to do was close his cage door haha. It was open for hours and nearly his bed time, he never actually came out. Till I decided to close it, and he wanted none of it. Hes never liked bed time though, hes afraid of missing too much.

Coco gets about 12 hours sleep, sometimes more. I usually cover him about 9PM, and uncover him between 9am and 10 am

 

[LaManuka]

Have there been recent changes in your household routine? Such as someone being home all day where they weren’t previously?? What’s going on with your Coco may be the result of him reaching puberty right around the same time as someone perhaps spending more time around the house than usual in these unusual circumstances in which we now find ourselves.

My Fang went through a phase of quite violent aggression towards our then beautiful female cockatiel called Twinkle a number of years ago. He would chase her around the house to the point of exhaustion and then would attack me when I intervened. He has recovered his composure now and although he has never quite reverted to the sweet baby he used to be, he still sings his show tunes and wants his head scratched in the evenings. Not saying yours won’t, but your baby boy is growing up!

Stick with your usual routines with Coco because, as a wise man (Sailboat) once said “This too shall pass.”

 

[NikkarrNinja]

LaManuka,we had all just got into a new routine for about 2 months. Both me and my partner got new jobs, so we was both out of the house for around 6 hours a day. We kept pretty much the same time he got his breakfast and dinner. Along with letting him out in the evenings, and whenever I had days off (usually 2/3 days a week) he'd be out most of the day.

Unfortunately cause of the Coronavirus, we've now both been at home every day, for coming up to a month now. I've still fed him at the same times, and let him out in the evenings, just not last night, that attempt failed haha.
He seems to have moments, where his normal self comes through, chatting away to me, and his toys. But as soon as you pay attention to him, and say Hello, it's like a switch, and he turns into a grumpy bird. Every now and then he'll ask for attention when he's not getting any, but he'll just snap at you when you give him the attention.

I feel sorry for the little man, it must be really hard for him. He'll always be my little baby though. I've had him from when he was about 5 months old, and loved every minute with him. I still do now, even though he's a grump