I only have a 8 months old female love bird shes kinda lonely so i was thinking to get her a friend
If i bring a new male 5 months old love bird will they bond i dont care about breeding i just want them to be with each other and happy
Hi,
If this bird is tame, I do not recommend getting another bird to put in the same cage. When birds share a cage, they tend to bond and no longer want to be handled. While you aren’t interested in breeding, getting a lovebird of the opposite sex is going to result in breeding behavior at some point. Are you sure you have a female? Do you have a blood test showing she is female or did the pet store or breeder just say she’s a female? Without a blood test, there is no way to know the bird’s sex unless she lays eggs. Lovebirds are not old enough to breed until they are at least 2 years old. While they may mate or lay eggs at a younger age, this is not good to encourage. Young females are at a higher risk of becoming egg bound and dying. Males are often more interested in mating than caring for eggs or chicks. Even if you don’t plan to give them a nest box, you still don’t want the female to lay eggs too soon or become a chronic egg layer. So if this is a female, it’s not a good idea to introduce a male until both birds are 2 years old. Then you need to be OOK with throwing away the eggs when she lays eggs, or make changes to stop her from laying if she won’t stop. With many chronic egg layers, you have to take her to the vet for expensive hormone treatments.
Adding a bird “as a friend” often backfires in other ways. In the wild they choose a mate. So when we force a roommate on them, there is no guarantee they will get along. Lovebirds are definitely misnamed. LOL They can be very aggressive, and they can be vicious to a new bird in their cage if they don’t accept it. A territorial lovebird can literally kill another lovebird in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately it isn’t simple to add another bird. You first need to be sure what sex your bird is. If you actually have a male, that’s ideal because two males are more likely to get along than two females, and you do not have the issue of egg laying. Regardless of what a seller tells you, do not believe the sex of a lovebird unless they have the DNA test results proving the sex. And once again, if this is a tame bird you handle, just get her/him some more toys and handle the bird when you can – another bird isn’t the solution.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
