I got another Cockatiel, and now my handfed 1 year old is biting me!?

Question

He has NEVER bitten me, and he drew blood today after I put in another tiel I got from one of the group homes I work at! I only took this other bird because it was in horrible circumstances, i.e. clients pulling out her feathers, no one cleaning her cage regularly (except me when I'm there of course), and she was pulling out her feathers and I felt I needed to get it out of that situation. But now my tame hand fed 1 year old cockatiel is hissing and biting at me and actually bit my finger when I went to pet him! Whats up with this? Is he being protective of the other bird or is it something that will pass? What do I do? They seem to be getting along fine and I don't want to take the new bird back there, so I don't know what to do! Please help me!

Answer 1

if your tiel is bonded to you he will be upset with you for paying attention to another bird :( mine was furious with me when i got another budgie, it lasted for about two weeks then slowly went away..gooduck  oh check out http://parrotcentral.net/cockatiels.htm for good tiel info

Answer 2

Birds are really possesive & jealous. Hopefully it'll pass. You should try finding it a good home if it doesn't.

Answer 3

Lauren,

I used to have a cockatiel and then I got an orange breasted conure under similar circumstances to your own. First, do you know what s*x both birds are? That could be the reason, perhaps it sees you as competition? Try singing and whistling to them everyday and give them treats. Give them time, I'm sure it will all work out--just be careful in the mean time! Good luck!