Parakeet suddenly attacking me inside & out of cage

by Lindz
(Bradenton, Florida)

Hi, I have 2 Parakeets, 1 male & 1 female. The female has always kind of nipped at me (not hard at all) when I would pet her in the cage, but my male parakeet never has. About a week or so ago, my male parakeet that never nipped at me, is now attacking my hand HARD all over when I went to pet him in the cage.

I figured, well thats his home, maybe since hes now the only male (had a male parakeet die a month or so ago), but today he has started attacking me outside the cage go. Hes so involved in biting me, that I cant even get him off to step up onto his perch, the only way for me to get him off is to shake my hand (not to hard) so he'll either fly/glide off my hand or fall off, which kills me because I love my birds... love my birds like some love their cats & dogs.

I don't know if it has to do with the fact like I said above that he is the only male now. A month or so ago, I came home & found one of my male parakeets dead on the bottom of the cage. When I left that morning he seemed fine. I did notice that there was dried stool on the bottome of the cage that had a mauve like color to it, but he NEVER got aggressive at all, just this one. Hopefully you can give me some insight on this issue. Thank you in advance for your time.
Thanks,
Lindz