Why does my cockatiel male keep trying to feed(?) a baby that's not his?

[chinensis8]

Does the question make sense? I've adopted an adult male cockatiel (Miu), he's very sweet and tame. We've had him for a few years now.

Recently my mom brought home a 3 week old cockatiel chick, Miu is very interested and always observes me feeding the baby.

Whenever he gets close to the baby, he goes for the mouth straight away as though he is feeding the baby, but I don't see any food coming out.

I always take him away because I'm worried that the baby could get sick or the baby's crop is going to be too full if by chance he is actually feeding him. Is this normal behaviour? It's as though he's fostering the baby, but he's bad at it (maybe lol)xD.

 

[Txcockatielguy]

Perhaps at one time Miu was a father bird to his own clutch and remembers this. I don't think he is in any way trying to hurt the baby but for safety, I would keep a close eye on the two. Look at it this way, I would trust a bird with it's on kind over human evolvement.

 

[Amsterdam]

this is the male cockatiel instinct to feed the young however i would advice if you keep them close monitor the behaviour of the older one you dont want him to gets aggresive towards the younger one

 

[noodles123]

Additionally, they could end up mating once this baby is sexually mature even though he is acting this way right now.

 

[itzjbean]

Sounds like he wants to help!

He has great instincts, I say let him help feed the baby! There is nothing in his crop that will make baby sick, as it is the food they eat too! It turns into liquid in their crop and that's what they end up regurgitating to feed.

I've observed my male feeding my female many times after they were given a nestbox and allowed to breed. It's an instinctual behavior and to me is harmless. I'm a breeder myself so there's nothing to worry about. You don't have to take him away when he tries it, it is a good sign that he's just trying to help and bond with the baby.

It's not a sexual thing at all right now as the baby is so young and your male is only doing what he knows to do! It's a good thing, because he is comfortable around the baby enough to try to feed it. That's great parenting/socializing instincts right there. Good boy for helping baby!