Hi I have recently gotten a male love bird , due to the fact I have a older female lovebird that has been laying eggs over the last couple of years. I thought she could use a mate. But since I put him in the cage she wont even let him eat . Should I put the food dishes up higher in the cage?
I bought him from a recent bird show thinking I was doing her a good thing Thank you for any advise
Hi,
The first thing to do is remove the male before she kills him. Female lovebirds are extremely territorial, especially one that has been laying eggs. She has no use for a young male. He needs to be at least 2 years old before putting them together, and even then, she may not accept him. Lovebirds are definitely mis-named because they can be so aggressive towards each other. To her, a young male has nothing to offer her and stands in the way of a potential mature male. She would choose a mate in the wild and would never choose an immature bird. Anytime you are trying to introduce birds to each other, they should be close to the same age. If it is a male and female, both birds should be old enough to breed. The new bird should be kept in a separate room for at least 30 days in case it is sick. Pet birds can carry diseases and look perfectly healthy, but stress can cause the disease to take over. Coming from a bird mart, there is also the chance the bird could have caught something from another bird. After the quarantine period, then you put the birds in cages side by side to give them time to get used to each other. If they start to spend their time sitting close to each other and calling to each other, you can try putting them in the same cage. You always need as many food and water cups as birds, on opposite sides of the cage. This keeps one bird from keeping the other from eating or drinking. You have to supervise them closely once together, and separate them if any chasing or fighting goes on. Then wait a few more days and try again. Since she has been laying eggs, to her, the cage is one big nest, so she might not accept this bird even if he is old enough. In that case, it can help to switch cages and let the new bird get used to her cage first. Since these are lovebirds, what proof did the seller provide that the new bird is a male? You know you have one female, but unless the seller provided a blood test result, there is no way to know the sex of the new bird – it is literally a 50/50 guess no matter what they told you. I know this is all bad news for you, but it’s better to know than finding him dead.
So if this bird is young and you will have to wait for it to get old enough, I would recommend having a vet send off a DNA test to find out the gender. Meanwhile, you need to make some changes to discourage the female from laying eggs for now. It’s very hard on her system to lay eggs. In the wild, they only breed once a year. So they were never intended to lay eggs all the time like a chicken. Because we provide such a stable environment, they don’t get the environmental signals to stop breeding until the next breeding season. The owner has to make changes to keep a female from laying eggs to the point that it kills her. Sorry, more bad news. But the changes aren’t difficult and usually work. If they don’t, then you need to take her to the Vet for a hormone implant. Even down the line if they successfully breed, you have to rest the pair between every clutch and not allow them to breed over and over again.
You need to do all of these things to discourage egg laying. Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. Your goal is to reverse these conditions.
Limit her light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening
Do not give her anything to use as a nest – no bird huts or tents, no box, bowl, etc. If she decides to sit in a food bowl, remove it and replace with smaller cups.
Do not give her anything to shred such as paper or cardboard.
Rearrange the toys in the cage frequently.
Move the cage to a different place in the room. Move the cage about once a week, or whenever she shows signs of nesting – settling on the cage floor for example. This disrupts her idea of having a stable place to lay eggs and raise chicks.
If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering any for a couple of weeks, and then only offer them in small amounts about 2 or 3 times a week. You can resume normal feeding later when the birds aren’t being hormonal.
When she is let out of the cage, do not let her get in any dark cozy places and don’t give her free roam.
When you handle her, limit any petting to only her head and neck – do not pet her on the body. Only a bonded mate is allowed to groom the body. We can’t be a mate, so touching the body is off limits.
If there is no metal floor grate, then do not use any bedding or paper in the cage tray – leave it bare and clean it daily.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
