Coco has a dirty face
- Thread starter ctwo
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How often does she bathe? My cockatiels will hardly bathe on their own without encouragement or getting soaked, willingly of course, with a misting spray bottle.And I noticed a discoloration at the tip of her beak. Usually she is clean but this has been going on for a month. It seemed better a couple weeks ago but is grungy again.
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ctwo
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- May 16, 2019
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- Parrots
- Mango the Indian Ringneck and Peach the Cockatiel; Kiwi found a new home
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Yeah, she rarely bathes. Maybe once a month. I have an 18" shallow bowl always on top of their cage. My IRN uses it several times a week. They don't seem to enjoy being sprayed, even a very light mist. Maybe I'll give her some drizzle when I get home. I'll just have to get prepared because if I do anything with her, Mango will come running to protect her, and sometime that means grabbing her leg and tossing her to the ground.
I'm just not sure where she is picking anything up because I don't see her going for any of the fresh foods. Maybe she's nibbling on the apple when I'm not looking. She's very skittish so I don't get to see too much. Also, Mango has been trying to mate with her, and she seems happy with that.
I'm just not sure where she is picking anything up because I don't see her going for any of the fresh foods. Maybe she's nibbling on the apple when I'm not looking. She's very skittish so I don't get to see too much. Also, Mango has been trying to mate with her, and she seems happy with that.
Could Mango be regurgitating to her? Getting her face all dirty and stuff.
DonnaBudgie
Well-known member
Are you trying to breed them?
DonnaBudgie
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So Mango isn't a cockatiel?
DonnaBudgie
Well-known member
I was a bit confused. It seems pretty harmless for a cockatiel and an IRN to have a "relationship" like this for you because at least you won't have baby birds, but I do wonder if this behavior will trigger her to nest and start laying infertile eggs and that's not good for her at all! How are you planning to deal with this potential problem?
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ctwo
Active member
- May 16, 2019
- 250
- 147
- Parrots
- Mango the Indian Ringneck and Peach the Cockatiel; Kiwi found a new home
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- #11
They've been together for about 10 years and I haven't seen any of that, but they could always be separated if needed. I let them out of their cage quite a bit, every day and have perches in different rooms so there is a decent change in scenery. Their cage doesn't have any nesting material so I gather a steel wire corner is the best nest she could do, and she's probably past her egg laying days.
I tell you, Mango is very protective of his mate and what I think about more is when she passes, which she is very likely to do before him, and he'll be sad for a while. But I've also read that IRN's do not necessarily mate for life like some birds.
I tell you, Mango is very protective of his mate and what I think about more is when she passes, which she is very likely to do before him, and he'll be sad for a while. But I've also read that IRN's do not necessarily mate for life like some birds.
DonnaBudgie
Well-known member
My understanding of birds that mate for life is that they are loyal to their mate for the life of the mate, grieve if and when one dies, but are willing to "remarry" eventually. I've also read that a lot of wild supposedly monogamous birds cheat on their mates! The females get in a little side action when their mates are off getting food, etc and the males get in a little of their own when they are out foraging. Scientists have studied the paternity of nesting eastern bluebirds in the US and one clutch often had more than one daddy bird! The male spouse doesn't know and raises all babies as if they are his own. I have NO idea if any of this applies to wild parrots but I think what the scientists at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY is very interesting and credible. It would have been so cool to go to Cornell and study Ornithology, wouldn't it?
DonnaBudgie
Well-known member
After ten years it would seem that your girl tiel would have laid eggs by now if she was so inclined so it may never happen. I have two girl budgies that are healthy and even share nest free cages with males for three years now and they have never laid any eggs. I only had one male budgie, Buddy, that was determined to start a family with his female cagemate, first with Skye, a young but mature girl he lived with several years ago. She died of egg binding several years ago. Buddy loved his next girlfriend Frenchy, too, mated with her and took great care of her, but she never laid any eggs (vet said she was likely sterile) and it was a perfect situation because I didn't want baby birds. After she died after a long illness I got Buddy a new girlfriend, a big beautiful female English budgie retire showbird, Lilibelle. She had successfully raised five clutches of chicks over the past four years (she was five when I got her). I thought she was too old to breed but she and Buddy has their own ideas and that's how I ended up with my girlie Rocky! Lilibelle is no longer sharing her home with any boys because any further egg laying would be too dangerous for her. Buddy died at six years old when his daughter Rocky was only three weeks old.
Anyway, egg laying for a female is not a forgone conclusion at all even when they live with or near males. It would certainly be a sad situation for the girls if it was.
