I lost my mother last September and inherited her two keets Beauty and Frankie. She had a nesting box in with them hoping that they would mate and although she had them 3 years there was never a single egg. Six weeks after she passed and I took them Beauty laid 6 eggs but none of them were fertilized.
The last couple of days we saw Frankie trying to mount her so put the nesting box back in their cage. Tonight they were both in the box and i was sitting 3 feet away. All of a sudden there was a bunch of squawking like I've never heard them do and when I checked on them Beauty was dead. I am heartbroken. It was my responsibility to take care of them for my mom and I don't have any idea what happened. I took out the nesting box to get her out and now poor Frankie is looking around for the box and for her and chattering and ruffling his feathers and smoothing them out and I don't know how to help him. Should I put the box back in with him so that he can see that she isn't in it anymore?? I want to hold him but my mom never tamed them and even though he will jump to the side of the cage when I put my face against it like he is trying to get a close up view or smell me, he flies away when I reach my hand up to him. She would never do that. I feel like I've let my mom down so now I HAVE to make sure that nothing happens to him..PLEASE HELP ME!! I have my Parakeet book which is my bible but I have no real experience with birds of any kind.


SueDH

I am so sorry that you have experienced this. I know what it is like to have a connection like this to a loved one. First, let me just say that what I am about to tell you is speculation. To really confirm what I think, I would have to see a picture of Frankie and get a description of his cere. It would be highly unusual for a male to just up and kill a nesting female. Beauty probably started laying eggs, because of a change in lighting. More daylight causes them to go into breeding mode. That is a little deceptive, because they can breed any time even when the female cere is not brown. The female cere (where the nose holes are located) turns brown over time as they mature. The males, depending on the coloring of their feathers, tend to be dark blue. Some types are light purple if they are male. I think it is possible that you had two females. Beauty laid eggs and the other female was displaying the breeding mounting which some females can do. I think it is possible that your two females fought over the nest and eggs. If this is true, it is not your fault and nothing you could have known would happen. If you can post pictures it will help to confirm one way or the other. If frankie is a boy and did kill his mate, I would not get another female.

Thank you for responding to me! Beauty's cere was brown and she was a white keet with some blue on her. Frankie is blue with a dark blue cere. When my mom got them the pet store told her that he was a male so I guess we assumed that he is. I wondered about the possibility of her next getting her neck broken against the side of the box.It is about 6 inches by 6 inches and about 10 inches tall. They sold it to my mom at petsmart and told her that it was a good one. She was really shaky acting last night before she went into the box but was like that before she laid eggs last time and I had made a vet appt but when I went to get her out to take her she had laid an egg and so I assumed that they became shaky during breeding or right before egg laying. I was going to keep the box out of the cage so that she wouldn't lay eggs since I don't feel qualified to be a baby bird nanny but when she started acting like last time I was afraid she'd lay an egg from the perch and it would drop to the bottom of the cage and break. I guess even though I didn't really want babies I also didn't want to not provide what she needed. The squawking that one of them did last night didn't last more than 30 seconds. He is so distraught this morning - calling loudly for her I'm sure. Only calms down when I am talking softly to him. He won't die of a broken heart will he?? Should I get him a new partner?

It sounds like he tried to rouse her when she died. I will come back on when I get back and talk to you. I have someplace I have to be right now. Sorry. We will talk about him. I think he will be ok, but he probably would like another bird to help him through his grieving. I am sorry this happened.

Sorry to hear about this. I certainly don't see how it could possibly be your fault -- really.

I think getting him a buddy (in a separate cage at first) would probably be a good idea. Introduce them slowly and see how it goes...

like jo im inclined to think they were both females... some females ceres can be blue if they arent in mating mode.... otherwise i would recommend getting frankig a buddy in a week or so, keep them separate though and post pictures, if frankie is male getting him a male partner would be best...

Is there any way you could post pictures of Frankie? I agree with the other posts. If Frankie is a boy, it might be better to get a male. Even if it was a little older so you know for sure that it is male. He is grieving but any companion will do. He will not die of a broken heart. Even if you didn't get another keet you could talk to him and spend time with him and he would probably be fine. It will just make it easier on him. If it wasn't a prolonged fight, it is possible as I said, that he was trying to rouse her and she was already dead. The shaky thing you described, doesn't sound like she was ok. It wasn't anything anyone could have forseen.