Taming 2 Galahs at once?

[Wolf]

I really don't think that trying to rotate their feeding will work. First of all because eating together with their mate and flock in ingrained in them and the act of eating together is both a bonding behavior and a social event. Perhaps you could mount a food and water dish on the free standing perch and let one of them out to eat while the other one eats inside of the cage. With the perch placed near the cage they will still be able to see each other and dine together in that manner.

I strongly suggest that you find or order a separate cage so that you can separate them, before the male injures the female. Check with the breeder and see if he has one that you can borrow until you can get one of your own. It is not all that uncommon for the male to get hostile towards the female, especially if the cage is too small for both of them, which is very easy to do. Most of the people that I know of with this problem eliminate the cage altogether and use a bird room approach to prevent this type of aggression.

Please understand that I am not a breeder, but this type of aggression, although fairly common with captive birds, is not a normal behavior and it is totally caused by our manner od breeding birds, and it is more common with cockatoos than with other species of parrots. The aggression part, not our poor practices which cause it.

Based upon my research into this, it is caused by our deciding to mate these birds by introducing them and putting them together to breed and then most of the time separating them after breeding, they would still be placed next to each other, and although they might breed they are not truly a mated pair, which is why the aggression. I believe that this problem would not exist if we simply allowed them to choose their own mates.

This strongly suggests to me that although you may indeed have a breeding pair that you do not have a mated pair. The difference is that with a breeding pair, we made the choice without the birds agreement and with a mated pair the birds choose their own mates.

These are my own thoughts about this and others may hold a different opinion than this.

Regardless of how you choose to proceed with this, either a cage free approach or separate cages, you really can't afford to wait around to see what will happen as the aggression is more likely to continue to increase and become more and more violent until you have a seriously injured or dead bird. I can't say how quickly it will get worse as it could be very quick or you may have some time, but I would not count on having any time and suggest that you act quickly before it gets worse.

[na-cho-cheese]

Thats really worring and it does too make more sense, thanks wolf.
Buying another cage is not an option for me at the moment so i will give the cage free approach a shot or i may have to give one in. I dont want to risk her being injured she looks abused and uncomfortable already i cant imagine it getting any worse then this.

They act well together and protect each other and stick together but then when when they even stood outside on the perch stand he was pushing her off, and on top of the cage. I dont think its just a cage thing

Maybe he just wants his own space and to be dominant about everything in and out of the cage

[Wolf]

Parrots have a social structure that is based of willful cooperation and do not have a dominance based society, nor do they have a flock leader. They do however have a strong drive to defend their nesting area from any and all intruders. Which often plays a part in the type of aggression that you are describing wherein the birds are used for breeding purposes and become a breeding pair but are not actually a mated pair. It should also be noted that the behavior is often eliminated when they are removed from living in cages.

As I stated earlier, I am not a breeder, although I do talk to some breeders as well as other people that have multiple cockatoos of both sexes that have experienced this very behavior. So I am basically just passing on what they have told me about it and the solutions that worked for them. Please let me know how this works out for you and your birds.

[na-cho-cheese]

Thanks Wolf,
I was able to clean out my office for them to give them all the exploring and in Cleo's case escaping they need. Also got my father to attach a food and water bowl to the perch stand like you suggested. I have them placed across each other and Cleo in the cage, Kai on the stand.

Will try to let Cleo out during the day too, just for now letting her get comfy in the cage on her own.
Keeping in mind of how i would get them in and out, and if i will be letting Kai sleep in the cage or just let him sleep out on his stand.

Taming side of things, Kai is really surprising me as he went from being scared and runs to the corner to actually approaching and taking little sunflower seeds from me. Still in an aggressive manner, and i dont want to get too close because i can still see hes scared and that scares me haha because i could get bit. Also as he is free in the room he is exploring everything and walking everywhere and walking close to everyone. Cleo on the other hand is much more gentle when she comes to take a treat and it takes a while for her to take a few steps, shes doesn't like any hands near the cage when shes in.

Please let me know of what you think of this change, im hoping for the best. i think its a matter of juggling between them both for when its okay to start training.

thank you all for your advice, truly appreciate it

[Wolf]

I can only hope that it works for all of you. I do hope that in fixing this space that there are no electrical cords that they can get to and chew on. also I would add a few perches in different places for them to perch on. Let me know how things work out, I think that it will help them a lot.

[na-cho-cheese]

Hi there,

Just an update on Cleo and Kai ever since moving them to the office, switching between whos turn to sleep in the cage and the other on top of the cage both dont use the perch stand for some reason. It has definitely reduced the attacks on Cleo although he still pushes her around at times.

I started target training 3 days ago and they both got the hang of it, sometimes we train when one is in the cage and one on top or both on top. I seem to be taking one step forward and two steps back, Cleo approaches me first and i lay my hand ontop of the cage so she steps on to reach the treat but then runs off and when Kai is there they both back off. I cant think of a way to work with them both and even harder because they wont leave the top of the cage.

I tried keeping one of them in the cage and removing that cage from the room so its the perch stand only but they ignore and dont focus and they are both flighted and just get away from me. So i dont know how to approach this

With their diet, 3 years of their life on a seed mix
They refuse to touch any of the fresh food and wont eat till their seed mix for dinner. Ive tried putting the fresh food in different forms and different places. They peck at them and rarely see them eat
Any tips on that?

Thank you

[Pajarita]

You need to make them used to the new food gradually. Cook some whole grains al dente (soft on the outside but still hard inside -usually, it takes about 30 minutes of soft boiling for grains like wheat, barley, oats, etc) and mix a little bit of seed with them before you put them in their bowls. They will start by only eating the seeds but, eventually, they will start eating the grains and, when you see they've been doing this for 5 days in a row (you will find empty white 'skins' from the eaten grains), eliminate the seeds and add cooked white beans (only white ones and thoroughly cooked at a high boil for 30 minutes, at least -beans contain a toxin that needs to be nullified with the hard boiling - you can buy the ones in cans but rinse them under warm running water thoroughly to get rid of the salt). Then slowly and gradually start adding veggies to this mix. Start with fresh corn, then peas, then diced carrots (you can use the cans but get the ones without salt), then sweet potatoes (you can bake them or boil them in the skin, then peel and cut in small cubes). Once they are eating this food (it's called gloop), you can start making it in large batches and use frozen veggies (they are more nutritious than canned and even fresh). Always accompany the gloop with fresh produce: one fruit, one veggie, one leafy green. Eat the fruit with them every morning always repeating the same words because, this way, eventually, they will associate the words with the meaning "This is food and good to eat" Parrots learn to eat from their parents and other parrots so now it falls on your shoulders to teach them.

As to one of them been on top of the only cage while the other one is inside... I have to tell you that this is never recommended because parrots tend to bite the toes of other parrots perched on their cages. You should either get two cages or take the cage out of the room and provide two separate perches for them to stand on. Don't rush the training. If they are flying away from you, they are not ready. Allow them to learn to trust you implicitly first and to look to you for good things (like treats given for no good reason) before you start the training. It doesn't do to rush things with parrots, they are very intelligent and can put 2 + 2 together, they are master of the body language and can figure out when we are trying to fool them, they also have long lives and long memories so you are always better of doing things slowly and surely than rushing.

[Wolf]

Also the way to get them to eat their fruits and vegetables is to eat it in front of them without offering any of it to them. They will get curious and then they will start asking for some. Still you don't share it. Then they will begin to beg for it, ignore them, but make certain that you make it easy for them to steal some because that is what they will do next, they will try to take it from you and you want them to succeed in stealing it from you. That is how the parent birds do it, so this pattern is ingrained in them, use it to your advantage whenever you can.