male aggression to female after she has laid eggs

Question
Dear Chrys,

My female cockatiel has laid three eggs in the past week or so and I am worried about my male cockatiel. He has been very moody and constantly kicks out the female from her nest and wants to sit on the eggs. During this time he is very violent towards the female, barely letting her back into the cage and he often flies to attack her if she is not near by.

He is so aggressive that I am worried that he will hurt her.  He does not behave like this all the time but when he does we are scared to leave our female alone.

We have had our female bird for almost two years and the male for a year and a half. The female is very people-friendly whereas the male will barely let us pet him.

Any information and help will be great.

Thanks!!!

Answer
Hi, Sana.

Is the male drawing blood on the female?  You need to realize that this behavior might be normal for this bird.  Your female, being tame, obviously doesn't defend herself with this male.  Also, does the male act this way mainly when people are around?  If so, this may be why he is acting like he does, since he is not tame.  You may have to ensure people avoid the area around the birds until all this is over.  

I recommend you leave them together until you see the male actually hurting the female (drawing blood, biting her visciously, etc.).  This may just be normal behavior for the male considering he's not tame.  The eggs and eventual babies need both parents, so separating them should be a last resort.  However, if he becomes too aggressive/viscious, separate him out and leave the female with the eggs.  If you do have to separate them, you'll most likely need to step in and help the female with the babies if/when they hatch.  You'll need to help her feed these babies, so start learning all you can about this.  My website can help:  www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Normally, the male tiel incubates eggs during the day, the female at night.  You may need to separate the male during certain times.  How you handle this situation depends on the individual birds involved and what they are doing daily.  You'll need to judge what to do since you can see what's going on.  What concerns me is that this behavior MIGHT continue once the babies arrive.  You'll need to keep close watch on the situation and be prepared to separate the male out if/when necessary.  

Chrys