an older mannikin being agressive toward new waxbills

[robin311]

hello, i know this is not a NEW issue for anyone but i was wondering if someone can offer some suggestions. i had a pair of bronze mannikins for about 6 years, got a pair or cordon bleus about 6 months ago w an easy transition, the male mannikin died in march and now i have added a pair of red eared waxbills to the cage and the female mannikin is being rather agressive toward them. as soon as i had them all together she ruffled her feathers and started to pick on them, so i isolated her but didn't really want to do that, as she has never been agressive in the past. the 2 cordons and the 2 new waxbills seem to be completely at peace together now but i hate to have the mannikin isolated. any suggestions?

[Sally]

Do you think she may have bonded somewhat with the CBs, so now she resents the newcomers? Any time you add new birds to a cage, there can be territorial problems, too. There are some good suggestions for dealing with aggression at the Finch Information Center at left, such as taking all birds out, rearranging everything in the cage, then putting them all back in at once, breaking the territorial issues a little.

[robin311]

that could be, she doesn't have her mate any longeer but she had the cordons before he died so she may have bonded with them somewhat and resents the newcomers. that makes sense. for now i have her back in w the cordons (she was about to kill herself trying to get from her isolation cage next to the big cage to get back in) and put the waxbills in the other cage, next to everyone else. now of course they are trying to get together with the rest but i may leave it for a day or two and see how it looks, then maybe even put her in with them in the isolation cage, rearrange the big cage as you suggested and give that another try. i would hate to see her really harm the waxbills, as they are young and actually smaller than her (if anything can possibly be smaller than a mannikin!) and cannot stand to see that kind of thing. in your experience does this usually fade, this agressive behavior?