Why would 2 of my parakeets peck the head of the third?

Question

This morning I watched one of my (3) parakeets chasing around the dominant one -- sort of fighting it out on the floor of the cage. I thought it was odd, but blew it off thinking that the dominant one must have deserved it as he's always pushing to get food first, etc. Anyway, when I came home from work, the little fellow's head was full of bald spots and the other 2 parakeets were still periodically pecking at him. I separated him immediately but have no idea what could have caused this. There hasn't been anything new entered into their environment with the exception of bedding. I just laid down cedar bedding last week for the first time. Why would this have happened? They've been together for more than 3 years without harming each other -- just the pushiness but nothing that ever caused injuries like this.

Answer 1

Separate  them.. They have become territorial.. They will end up killing  the one  that  is picked  on  if  you don't.

Try putting  them back  together  after  the injuries  have healed   or  feathers  and regrown..  Then keep a close eye  on them  to make sure  the aggressive behavior  doesn't start again.. If  it does  you'll have  to separate  them  for good.

Answer 2

When you place two birds of the same s*x in the cage they are fighting over turf so to speak. Females will fight with females and the same with males. Chances are that when you first got them they were young and not yet mature, and now that they are older they are sexually mature and territorial. You may want to separate them to stop this behavior.

Aggressive behavior may also mean it's mating season and hormones are raging. It should pass in a couple of months.

Make sure their diets are good, and call an avian specialist if needed. But for now, I suggest keeping them separated so that the dominate doesn't get injured.

Good Luck, I hope those two parakeets cool off soon!

Answer 3

two's company three's a crowd, especially in a cage