2 Birds 1 Cage (Cockatiels)

[healthyaddict]

I could use some advice... or maybe just a piece of mind.

I've had my first tiel in March, Doctor, who is about 1. Things are great, he's hand tame, and very social with people. About 3 months ago, we adopted a second tiel, Cooper, who is about 10. Not as social, very hand shy, and scared all the time. After quarantine, we moved their cages to the same room where they could see each other, and slowly moved their cages next to one another.

When either bird spent time outside their cage, they were curious, climbing all over the others cage, and even sometimes inside. They'd vocalize, and seem to get along. Finally, about three weeks ago I moved them into a flight cage together.

Things are ok I suppose, but Doctor likes to chase Cooper around the cage. Cooper will be eating, Doctor will come over, and Cooper will move as not to be bothered. This continues for a few minutes around the cage until eventually they get into a beak fight, and Doctor stops. This cycle repeats several times a day. Something relatively new to this as well Doctor will randomly nip at Cooper's tail feathers (not plucking -- seems to just be to get him to move).

So my question is -- is this normal behavior for two tiel's just getting used to one another? Is this some weird dominance thing from Doctor since he's lived with me longer? Or is there more to worry about?

[cml]

Sounds quite normal, but watch out for it not to escalate. The birds will probably find a balance, but if they dont, they might have to have separate cages.

Birds will fight, make up, preen, and be randomly goofy. Cockatiels are supposed to be quite easy to have in the same cage are they not?

Also, most of their fights look worse than they are, I know its difficult, but try to keep cool (not saying that you should never interfere, you know the situation best, but try to see what really happens, not just how it looks).