Bonding or tolerating each other?

[OkiF]

Hello,

I am wondering if our two little birds are actually bonding or not. They are not DNA sexed, Botan is now about 15 months old and female from behaviour, Hani is nearly 8 months old and may be a male (humping our heads, trying to hump Botan, with a very few successful times when Botan welcomed him, regurgating to Botan a lot). However, Hani also likes to find potential "nests" (curtains are a big hit) and he can be quite territorial then...
They do sleep together on the plateform and, and when scared (vaccuum cleaner...) tend to stick together. So we would think they are quite bonding, however, very often Botan will chase him away from the platform during the day and she is clearly the dominant bird. Hani often fights back, often in a sneaky way (a quick bite at the feet/back and running/flying away). There are also a lot of "beak arguments" for the platform when Hani tries to get on, also surprisingly (I might misread their language), sometimes these arguments end up in Hani feeding Botan (before being chased away anyway).
since Botan was with us nearly 24/24 during her recovery, I feel she is mainly bonded with us and Hani is much much more independent. Hani was clearly very upset at the vet to be separated from Botan and putting them together for the return trip solved everything (Botan was super lovely and tender with Hani as long as she was still recovering form the narcosis for the X rays, and progressively found back her strong character).

Because we are not sure how really bonded birds behave, I am wondering if this is normal behaviour for a pair of lovebirds? Because Hani is still a kid (and to some extent Botan too) we keep an eye on the evolution of their relationship, but it would be nice to have some more experienced lovebird owner opinion.

[linda040899]

When it comes to parrots, it's very possible to have a male/female pair who really don't like each other. They are a pair at times and not a pair at others. They are tolerant. Has Botan ever laid eggs? It's probably been mentioned so refresh my memory if "she" has. I've seen males and females both hump objects. I've seen same sex pairs act just like true male/female pairs in every respect except egg laying and producing fertile eggs. At age 8 months, Hani is sexually mature and quite capable of satisfying a female. I would DNA sex both of them so you are sure of gender. If they are male/female, they may or may not work things out. I don't have a definite suggestion there.

Botan may also be bonded to you because of all the time spent when you were in life saving mode. Start with DNA sexing.