Training two lovebirds separately?

[Jollifish]

Hi, I have gotten a 7 weeks old lovebird (gender unknown) to keep company for my older female lovebird (age unknown). They are housed in separate cages.

For their one to one training, I?ve placed both in the same room and let one out by its own while the other in its cage. The female one doesn?t have issues with training. But my younger one would always be distracted and kept looking for the female or fly to the female cage.

If I keep the female away in other parts of the room, she will be looking and pacing in the cage because she wanted the millets I used for training.

I have tried placing the female in a different room but the younger one still got distracted once she starts calling.

Any suggestions on how to train the younger lovebird?

Also when they are in their own cage, they would sometimes pace at the bottom looking for the other. But I?m not keen to put both of them out together yet because I noticed the female one would place the younger?s toe into its beak when the younger one gets onto her cage or vice versa.

[linda040899]

Lovebirds are very social parrots and enjoy the company of other lovebirds. This is why the younger one is so attracted to your older female. You didn't mention how you acquired the younger one, but it most likely had companions and those companions are what are missing. Do you happen to know if the 7 week old is male or female? It will matter if you try to house them together. Older females need males if they live together, as pairs of females normally do not get along. I've had it happen occasionally, but that's the exception rather than the rule. If the younger one is also a female, living arrangements will most likely be separate cages with outside of cage playtime, strictly supervised.

When you say training, are you talking about taming the younger one? Food is always a good thing to use and millet is fine. You can also use small seeds or anything else the baby may seem to like. Plain Cheerios may work, as they can be eaten or seen as a toy to play with. To have the baby tame will just take time and attention. You want to build a trust relationship and there are no shortcuts. Spend time with the baby, talk to it and just generally let it see that you mean it no harm. Parrots learn trust by experience. With birds being prey animals, this one has no idea that you don't intend to make it your next meal.

Hope this is helpful.

[Jollifish]

Hi Linda,

Thanks for the advise! I didn't know cheerios could be used. They love millets the most and currently using it for both training and taming. My young one was previously from a breeder, it was housed together with its siblings and like what you said, it's most likely attracted to the female because of that. We have not DNA the young one, would probably get it done soon. I noticed my female will put the younger's toe/feet into its beak (I'm afraid its going to hurt the little one). Maybe I would wait for the DNA and when they know each other better.

During the taming process, the problem I had was, the younger one is always distracted by looking for the female one. Eg. If I bring the young one out of the cage, it would fly to the female's cage and result in the female putting the younger's toe/feet into its beak.

I have also tried placing the female cage in another part of the room away from the young one but the female would pace in its cage when I bring out the millet. Other method I tried was to bring the female cage out of the room, but the female will start to call and the young one would be distracted again.

So I was just wondering how should I tame the young one in such situation? Or should I ignore the calls of the older one and tame the young one in its cage?

[linda040899]

The calls between the 2 lovebirds are contact calls. They may not know each other up close and personal, but they know another lovebird is in the same house. To work with the younger one, take it somewhere where the older one cannot hear the younger one. Small rooms, such as bathrooms, usually make great training places. Just make sure toilet lids are closed and there's nothing dangerous that the little one can get into. Small rooms are good because there's only so far that a bird can go.

DNA or some kind of sexing needs to be done before letting the 2 lovebirds together. The older female could easily hurt the younger one. I've seen older lovebirds actually kill younger ones simply because the younger one was not accepted as part of the flock. Lovebirds are very territorial and there are specific ways to house them. When putting 2 that have not lived together previously, you need to put them together in a cage that neither has lived in. Females will protect their cages against any "intruder" and that's how your older hen sees the younger one. It's pretty much "stay off my cage or you get your toes bitten." Keeping 2 females in 1 cage usually doesn't work because hens are too aggressive to live together. Two males are happy campers but not so with the opposite gender. If your younger bird turns out to be a male, I would keep him away from her for at least 6 months. Most hens have breeding on their minds and a younger male is not sexually mature until about 6 months so he can't do what an older female wants. That could get him hurt.

Again, I hope this is helpful.

[Jollifish]

Thanks again! This information is very helpful. I will try out the method and see if it works.