Ask Lafeber

Why do my lovebirds not get along?

So I have had my male lovebird Chester for about 6 months and recently I got a female lovebird mar. But mar and Chester share this big African grey cage, but mar chirps and talks all day long and Chester seems very scared. He won’t go near her and Chester is not hand tamed but he will go out his cage and come to you. Mar is not friendly to us and has already bit me (blood) Chesters bite are soft and doesn’t intend to hurt. But if mar comes near him, he gets scared and runs to another part of the cage. When he was alone he would talk and talk but now he doesn’t he’s very quiet what can I do ?

Hi Arely,

It’s probably best to separate them for now. Not all birds get along, and Lovebirds do not live up to their name. They can be very aggressive towards other birds, and even aggressive to their mate. Female lovebirds are usually much more aggressive and territorial than the males. The males are often gentle and quiet and much less likely to bite.

First, are both birds the same species? There are many species of lovebirds, and different color mutations within each species. If you try to cage a Peach faced lovebird with a Fischer’s, for example, the Peach Faced is likely to bully and attack and even kill the Fischer’s. There can even be temperament differences with color mutations. A normal colored green Peach Faced lovebird is often louder and more aggressive than a lutino or dutch blue. If you aren’t sure, you can email photos to [email protected] and ask them to forward the photos to me.

Do you know the age of the birds? If both birds are under 2 years old, then they really should not be together yet, because they are male and female and they are too young to be breeding. Even if you don’t plan to breed them, they may still bond and mate, and the female may even lay eggs on the cage floor. If she is older than him, this may explain her attitude towards him. She is looking for a mate, and he isn’t ready to be a mate yet. The aggression is likely to get worse in that case, so again, they need to be separated.

When you introduce a new bird, it really needs to be a gradual process. First, the new bird should be quarantined in a different room for at least 45 days in case it has any diseases. The next step is to put the birds in cages that are side by side, so they can get used to each other. If they show interest in each other and start spending time close to each other, then you can try putting them together in the same cage. It’s best for this to be a 3^rd, neutral cage. If you don’t have a 3^rd cage, then put the female in the male’s cage. It is more dangerous to put the male in her cage because she might attack him since it’s her territory. Then you have to observe them. If she continues to bully and scare him, I would say these birds aren’t compatible and you should separate them and not put them back together. Birds choose their own mate in the wild, and often they do not get along with the mate we choose for them.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda