Can I separate the male cockatiel from the babies yet?

Question

I have cockatiels that just had 3 babies. It has been a month since the first one hatched. Two of the three have already come out of the nesting box but I dont think have started eating on their own yet... can I separate the father from them yet and leave them with their mother or should I wait a little longer...if so how much longer??

---the male cockatiel is aggressive with the female (and me) and i don't want the babies to be like that...I know it's genetic but if the babies see that he is being like that toward us, then it is as if the babies think it is okay for them to be like that.

Answer 1

ask a vet  

Answer 2

Generally the mother and father play a big role in feeding the chicks all the way until they're fully weaned. If the chicks are still not on their way to being weaned I'd leave the father in there to help now. Mom can get overwhelmed if she suddenly has all the large chicks to feed all the time by herself. Most chicks will start to come out and explore around roughly 5 weeks, they're not fully weaned until 8-10 weeks though.

As for the male being aggressive and the chicks, it's not a genetic thing, it's a learned behavior. By this point if they're already coming out of the nest box, they've learned the behavior. If you have been interacting with the chicks since they were around 2 weeks, (taking them out for short periods of time, gradually increasing it as they get older), they should be used to people by now. If you've just left them with the parents full time up to now, the chicks won't be tame, even if your female is.

It sounds to me like you're pretty much too late in having fully tame babies now. It's something that has to be worked at from the very start, not once the chicks are finally coming out of the nest box to explore. You can of course still work with them, and eventually have a tame bird, but it's going to take more time and effort now. It's easier to tame down a young chick, but it's still a taming process now.