Advice lovebird

[OghuzHan36]

Hi all,

I have a Lovebird 4.5 years old very tame and an attention seeker He has always been alone never bites us or anything like that.. He does always pleasure himself in his cage so I thought I get him a woman to make babies with :P

So I bought another lovie around 8 months old who apparently had a partner who flew off.. But her owner said she doesnt want to be alone. So I bought her with her own cage and toys. I put her next to my 4.5 year old and hoped for a bond!

after a day I put the birds on the ground (They cant fly) and my Bibis(4.5 year old) is scared when she gets near.. It doesnt look like she is attacking or something. She follows him everywhere he goes but he never looks back at her. On the couch when I make an pyramide nest from pillows she immediately tries to get in there and attacks anyone who gets near her including me.. when I make another nest from pillows for my 4.5 year old she als tries to get under there so he cant get in.. She is also like this in her cage when I or my mother touches the cage she immediately jumps and bites us..

My Bibis only bites her when she gets to close. also bites at her feet.

So I sold her to someone who also had lovies and they brought it back after a few weeks because she stressed the birds by going after them.. now she is back with us..

She is not really tame but when on the ground she does jump on our fingers and when on our shoulder she doesnt bite either. She is actually really sweet when you look behind her aggressiveness.

I dont want to bring her to an Animal Center because she looks so insecure and fragile I have the feeling when she goes after the other birds the caretaker will isolate here somewhere and she will die unhappy and alone


Any advice or tips on this matter?

[linda040899]

Hi and welcome to Lovebirds Plus Community! We are happy to have you with us.

First question I have for you is are you sure your 4.5 yr old is a male? Self pleasuring is normally a male behavior thing but I've seen females do it, too..... Keep DNA sexing in the back of your mind as a course of action should the rest of my suggestions not work out well.

Between male and female lovebirds, the females are the aggressive ones. It sounds like the major problem you are having with your approximately 8 month old is simply the fact that she is a she. Hens are very protective of their nests (or anything perceived to be a nest), as well as their cages. Biting, lunging is not unusual when hens are around their cages/nests. If an owner (human slave) does not want to pay the price of a bite, then either use a perch when she is in those areas or let her come to you.

As for introductions, keep them in side by side cages until they appear to be getting along between the cage bars. You will see them sitting next to each other, on their own side of the bars, of course. They may try to feed each other (sign of affection). Once you see this, then try letting them out together, say, on a common play area. If that goes OK, you can try putting them together in a cage, but either use a neutral one or use his. Her cage will always be hers and hens don't share well!!

There's always another possibility. Your male may not want a female companion. He may like self pleasuring by himself over playing with a female. One thing I've learned about lovebird breeding. Lovebirds make excellent parents and once they start breeding, you can find yourself with a lot of babies (not quite as many as with finches) within a year. Are these 2 both the same species, i.e. Peachfaced, Masked, Fischer's? I would love to see a picture of them if you care to share. In order to share pictures here, you need to upload them to an online storage site such as Imgur and then copy/paste the image URL here.

[OghuzHan36]

Hi thanks for helping me

I have put the female (Cicis) in the cage of Bibis she immediately went to his sleeping bag and started claiming it (its also the place where my Bibis plays with himself). they don't fight in the cage so thats a good thing!
The only thing I want is them to at least get along with each other.

My Bibis also tries to feed me when I point my finger at near his face.. he starts to nod his head and gives me carefully his slimy stomach food :P does this mean he like likes me

The male is the green one and the female the greenish/white

[linda040899]

does this mean he like likes me?

Yup..... That's how parrots show affection. I have a male macaw who would feed me all day long, given the chance. He's my baby (at 29 yrs old!) but I can feed myself, thank you!!

As you can see, it doesn't take long for a hen to claim any space that she feels should belong to her! When pairs nest, the hen does the building. It's the job of the male to guard the nest and make sure she has food while she's incubating the eggs. Males do not help with incubation as other species, such as Cockatiels, do. You actually have a very nice breeding pair. It's good that one of them is what's call "wild" color or green. Males can have all sorts of split genetics and you won't know what's there until they have a clutch or two of chicks. The fact that one of them is green will ensure the babies are stronger than if both were mutations. They are both Peachfaced Lovebirds.

If you keep them in the same cage, just be watchful until they really get to know each other.

[OghuzHan36]

But should I be worried about the mental health of my Bibis? even if she shakes her feather he looks coutious/scared at her.

[linda040899]

There's always a possibility that they are just incompatible, even though they seemingly get along. I was given a pair of African Grey Parrots about 15 years ago, simply because the breeder wanted babies but the male was so aggressive that the female was terrified of him. She literally plucked most of her feathering so the breeder figured they would be better off as pets. Well, there was no way I had room to separate them as pets so I had to re-home the female just for her mental health. I still have the male and he's still very aggressive to handle, even as a pet. Your male may get used to being around her, but he also may not. This now becomes wait and see what happens.