Yeah, I thought a green tiel sounded a bit *different*...I have yet to see 
the picture. Anyway, I have a couple of questions about my birds that you 
might be able to answer.
I have 3 birds, a peach-fronted conure(not sure if male or female), albino 
male cockatiel and female lutino cocketiel. The tiels will be 2-years-old in 
June and the conure will be 2 in October.
The male tiel plucks his female's feathers, we've (once again) seperated the 
two, by keeping one locked up while the other is out (all birds are out of 
their cages when my mom wakes up in a.m. until I go to bed at night--mother 
is doesn't work-usually home) The female screams and screams for her mate and 
sometimes goes into a frenzy -- at times, it's heart-breaking to keep them 
seperated! Is their anything else that can be done? WHY does he pluck her?
Another problem with the tiels is that every couple of months (sometimes 
sooner), they lay eggs. When their babies hatch, the tiels hiss loudly and 
bite their young and throw them out of the nestbox. Sometimes after a couple 
of days/weeks they'll abandon all their eggs. The same guy who said he had a 
green tiel, told me that tiels NEVER feed their babies--he says he has about 
80, they started off with a pair and after hand-feeding the babies, his 
mother can't give them away! I know this isn't 100% true, but could it be 
possible for the cockatiels who are kept solely as pets and not for breeding 
purposes?
I have hand-fed my tiel's offspring and it wasn't fun, especially since my 
life started to revolve around them--which I wouldn't mind at all if were 
summer break, but with college/work/essays/exams, it got too hectic. One live 
to be 47-days-old w/o any feathers, eyes closed and standing up he was 
probabely the size of your pinky finger. Anyway I'm getting off-topic...
Before buying any of these birds, I researched all of them, and I knew that 
tiels do sometimes tend to lay eggs more often than other birds -- but this 
really is ridiculous! I don't want my female to weaken her body and die. The 
tiels are seperated for now.
Will the male ever stop plucking his mate? Do the tiels need to mature 
further in order to feed and care for their babies? -- This sounds like 
commentary for a soap opera! 
Any help or insight will be *greatly* appreciated!
ttyl,
Aysha.
--- Maximus 3.01
---------------