December 2, 2021
Lovebird Bred.
My lovebirds not laying egg. I have a small colony of lovebirds. I provide all vegetables, fruits and seeds. Also I give vitamin and calcium. But they are not laying eggs. Is their any solution.
Question:
Answer:
Hi Samaresh,
If all of the lovebirds are together in one cage, you should not be trying to breed them. Lovebirds are a very aggressive parrot. They can sometimes live in a colony in captivity if the cage is very large – such as a walk-in type aviary, and if you do not provide nest boxes or encourage besting or breeding. Lovebirds are extremely territorial. If they do begin to nest, they will all start fighting. They will attack and kill each other, raid the other nests, and destroy any eggs or kill any chicks. Even if you do not allow breeding, lovebirds in a colony do not always work out. They can begin to bully certain individuals or fight with each other. It’s actually not a good idea to colony breed any species of parrot because you have no control over which birds breed, and generally you will end up with a couple of males that breed with all of the females, so all of the chicks will end up being related.
If you want to breed your birds, you can only have one pair per cage. The birds should be at least 2 years old. They need a nest box which should be attached to the outside of the cage as high as possible. You have to remove the nest box in between each clutch, and rest each pair for 6 months before you let them nest again. They should only be given the nest box twice a year, with a 6 month rest in between.
As for diet, seeds are not going to provide the nutrition they need, even though you give them vitamins. Whether you put the vitamins in the water or on food, they generally will not get enough vitamins. They need a nutritionally balanced food like pellets. You should still also give them the fruits and vegetables and dark leafy greens. When they are nesting, you should provide an egg food. This can be a cooked egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg, or a commercial dry egg food. They need this from breeding until all chicks are weaned.
If you can’t separate your birds into separate cages, please do not give them nest boxes or anything to make nests. You will end up with a very bad situation with injured or dead birds because they will start to fight.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
