How to deal with alarming attachment behavior? (one bird to another)

[whiskey]

Hello!

this is my 1st post here but I am a frequent visitor of this site.

I have a total of 3 cockatiels at this time. 2 older females (Whiskey = 4years , Milkey = 7years) and a new addition to the flock, A male cockatiel called Cheese (approximately 1 year old).

I got Cheese around a month and a half ago and he is showing really severe attachment to one of the females, Whiskey.

He showed immediate interest in the girls but week by week it got worse and he has become attached to whiskey. The girls/whiskey arent interested in pairing at all but he has attachment and behavior has grown regardless of their disinterest.

Its at the stage where I place whiskey on-top of the cage, he would start to pace around, slap his wings and call for her. to the point where he can hurt himself. I can't even stand 1 meter away from the cage with whiskey without him acting like this. (if i open the cage, he instantly goes next to her and harasses her. she isnt interested and she gets increasable annoyed at him)


Whiskey does occasionally do her mating call and i have seen mounting behavior. I dont encourage it and stop them.

The only thing that calms cheese down is keeping Whiskey out of his sight.
I have had male cockatiels around females before and I have never observed behavior like this before.

Im not sure is this is just general severe separation anxiety as this is a new environment or if this is attachment due to him thinking they are paired. (again Ive never experience a male act like this when his pair is less than a meter away.)

 

[Pie]

i don't comment often and mainly came to check has my own post received any comments, but i feel like we are in a similar situation.
my male is obsessed with my female. it eventually got so bad he was basically an abusive boyfriend, he denied her any interactions with me and she eventually got so depressed she didn't want to move.
my situation ended up so dire i had to buy a new cage that can be split so the male can have his own side and the females can be on the other. they can still touch and interact, but only on the consent of the female. luckily the male has been ok with this setup for 2? years now and has not plucked or shown signs of depression, or at least a severe one.

i think it is a good idea to try and discourage hormonal behavior by limiting their hours awake and changing their food and rearranging the cages every now and then. if you feed them seeds, get a mix with no sunflower seeds. great if you already have that though.
he is still very young, so it could be he might grow out of this (sadly unlike my male who is around 13). i think he is still a teenager, cockatiels reach sexual maturity at around two years.
you didn't give a clear picture of your setup, but i assume he is separated from the females and gets to interact with them when you let him? it could be a good idea to limit the interaction with the females to a minimum if it drives him up the wall that bad until he is done maturing.
i hope this is just a case of "horny teenager" and he will grow up into a fine gentleman i have never owned a young male, only a young female so i sadly do not have a load of experience with teenager boys.

 

[whiskey]

Hello!
I really appreciate your response. I already have them separated during the day but they sleep in the same cage at night (time where they are calm due to being sleepy so it seems fine). I have also already limited sunflower seeds as one of my girls is actually allergic.

Im curious if i should limit time visually as well because he calms down when he doesnt see her (he even sleeps on the side of the cage nearest to her if she is outside). Hopefully its just teen years but i'll definitely look out.

 

[Pie]

Im curious if i should limit time visually as well because he calms down when he doesnt see her (he even sleeps on the side of the cage nearest to her if she is outside). Hopefully its just teen years but i'll definitely look out.

could be a good idea. the less he is stimulated, the better! just make sure you monitor his mental health to make sure it doesn't upset him too much.