Ask Lafeber

Female lovebird lost her mate after laying eggs

My lovebird laid eggs then her mate died. She is in the nest most of the time, coming out only for eating. Should I get her another male? And what about the eggs?

Hi,

Do not get her another mate while she has eggs – she will kill him. It will be hard for her to take care of eggs and chicks by herself. You can discard the eggs and remove the nest box, or let her try. But she may not feed the chicks. It’s also possible that the male had a disease if you don’t know why he died. Are you feeding a good diet, or only seeds? Seeds will not provide the nutrition they need. You should be feeding them a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets – not a seed diet. Also offer leafy greens, veggies & some fruit. They also need an egg food – either a dry commercial egg food or cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the eggs. Nesting birds eat a lot, especially if the eggs hatch. The female needs the extra nutrients because of forming and laying eggs. It’s up to you as to whether to keep the eggs. You are taking the risk that she may get too exhausted to care for chicks and then they would die unless you hand feed them.

As for a new mate, she needs to rest after all of this and you can consider another mate in a few months. But you can’t just put a male in the cage. They need to be in cages, side by side, while they get to know each other. You need to get a male with a DNA test proving it is a male, and one around the same age as her and of course it must be the same species of lovebird.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda