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Thread: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

  1. #1

    Default Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    Hi all! So my Berry has turned 6 weeks old and has started flying though he mostly sticks to me like velcro. I have been trying to get my 3 older lovebirds (around 3 to 4 mos age) to get to know him. I started placing Berry in a cage beside the others last week in the hopes that they would get to know each other. I would also let Berry have some one on one time with each of the older ones every day. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any progress. The others are still mean towards him and would try to attack him whenever they can. Coco actually flew from my shoulder to the hand Berry was on and tried to bite him. Even Lemon who used to be the only one nice to him has started bullying him. No biting but Lemon would try to "ride" his back all the time.

    Is there hope? Is there anything I can do? I would really like for all of them to get along and be together in the big flight cage. I feel bad for Berry being all alone in his cage.

    Any advise would be appreciated.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    Berry is still very much a baby and needs time to mature before you introduce him/her to the rest of the flock. He is vulnerable and they take advantage of that. Best thing to do is let him fly and have the others locked up when he's out. They can seriously injure him so you need to be careful.
    Linda L.
    There are no bad birds, just misunderstood ones.



  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    Quote Originally Posted by linda040899 View Post
    Berry is still very much a baby and needs time to mature before you introduce him/her to the rest of the flock. He is vulnerable and they take advantage of that. Best thing to do is let him fly and have the others locked up when he's out. They can seriously injure him so you need to be careful.
    What would be the proper age of a baby to be introduced to an older lovie? As we wrote in another topic, we bought an 8 weeks baby as a friend for our lovie Bella which is 7 years old.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    Many female lovebirds can be aggressive with younger lovebirds because younger ones need to mature. If the youngster is a male, he may not realize how to satisfy Bella's female needs so she can turn around on possibly even injure him seriously. A lot depends on the individual birds. In a flock situation, the youngster needs to learn how to fit in and that's just time and experience. You are going to have to watch to see how Bella reacts to the new one. She may really crave the company and warm right up to him. Don't leave them together unsupervised, at least initially.
    Linda L.
    There are no bad birds, just misunderstood ones.



  5. #5
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    Default Re: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    Hi Linda,

    I know that the name is miss-confusing, Bella is actually a male. We were told that the new baby is a girl, but we are not sure.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    If Bella is a male, many males are very accepting of younger lovebirds, male or female. Just make sure the younger one is healthy and I would try introducing them. Males, unlike their female counterparts, are much more laid back. I, personally, find females endearing because of those fiesty personalities!
    Linda L.
    There are no bad birds, just misunderstood ones.



  7. #7
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    Default Re: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    The younger one which is almost 10 weeks seems very healthy: the feathers are looking good, he or she is eating, playing, chirping. We just bought him/her from a local breeder.

    They are sitting in different cages in the same room, but when trying to get them in the same cage, Bella became quite violent I would say.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    If you put the youngster into Bella's cage, you are looking at cage aggression. Try putting Bella in the youngster's cage and see what kind of reaction you get. If not, put cages side by side so they can meet each other through the safety of cage bars.
    Linda L.
    There are no bad birds, just misunderstood ones.



  9. #9
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    Default Re: Introducing youg lovebird to older ones

    The youngster is in an old cage of Bella, sometimes when she's flying, Bella goes on top of the youngster's cage (we named her Wilma, hopefully it's a girl as we were told) and acts again aggressively.

    We are trying to let them both fly in the room, as I write, Bella is flying in our bedroom while Wilma stays in the cage and chirping to Bella. Wilma can also get outside of her cage now, but either doesn't know how, or doesn't want.
    Last edited by droppy; 06-13-2018 at 12:31 PM.

  10. #10

    Default re:handfed baby lovebirds

    i have 3 babies i handfed. only one is nice and tame. i usually spends a great deal of time with the babies as they grow but I've got a sick husband and sick dog I'm caring for. so that took away some of my time unfortunately. how do i get the 2 babies to be tamer. i have tried stepping up my time with them but they aren't improving. can some lovebirds be just naturally not interested in bonding with humans?

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