Ask Lafeber

Love birds not mating

I have a male and female love bird for 2 years now. I bought them speratly and I know the are male and female. The female love bird seems to keep making nests and seems intersted in the male love bird. The male sometimes does also give the same intrest to her. Although I also have a male cockatiel and everytime I give attention to him the male love bird starts screaming. Sometimes when I let all the birds out of there cages the male love bird seems to feed the male cockatiel as if it were a baby. Both birds are grown and the female love bird gets stressed because of it. Sometimes the female love bird does mateing dances. The male love bird does them aswell. I do know for a fact that they are female and male and if the male wasnet intersted in her then why does he cuddle with her and give her attention. They get along very well. I dont understand why dont they mate and why does my male love bird feed my cockatiel. I am pretty sure my cockatiel is older than the male love bird as well.

Hi Luna,

If you want your lovebirds to breed, you need to separate them from the cockatiel. They need to be in a large cage with a nest box attached to the outside of the cage, as high as possible. The cage needs to be in a private place in the house and you can’t interact with the birds or let them out while they are set up for breeding. This is the only way they will focus on breeding. Right now the lovebird and cockatiel seem to have a bond, so breeding is not going to happen as long as he is in the same room as the lovebirds.

Once they are separated from the cockatiel, if the lovebirds do not act like a pair, then they may simply not be compatible. Unless you have had them DNA sexed, you can’t possibly know for sure you have a male and female. Two males or two females will act like a pair. If neither bird has laid eggs in two years, you very possibly have two males. From the behavior you describe, it sounds a lot like two males. A female lovebird tends to be territorial and aggressive. She would be likely to attack anyone who gets close to the cage, and she would be likely to attack the male after he hangs out with the cockatiel. You mentioned the “female” making nests, but the males usually bring the nesting material and work on the nest. Also, they will not build a nest – they need a wooden nest box that is made for lovebirds. So before setting them up with a nest box, you might get them DNA sexed to be sure you do have a male and female.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda