Ask Lafeber

lovebird false pregnancy

I have a male peach faced lovebird and a female Fischer’s lovebird. We had the male in his own cage, and the female was the last of a new baby Fischer’s clutch and we hand fed her and she is very tame and we decided to keep her.

We felt the male was lonely and even though they are different species of lovebird we decided to put the female Fischer in with the male peachface to see if they got along. Well they got along and are now a ‘bonded’ pair. I know it is not good to have mixed species lovebirds breed, it was never our intention. That said, we are now over a year later and they are well but recently the female has been eating more than usual, and she is regularly calling for the male to give her attention and wanting to feed each other, not sure which but i think the male is feeding the female. I feel she has put on a bit of weight and I don’t want to see her bloat such that it harms her overall health. I have researched a bit online and found indeed a female Fischer’s lovebird can have a ‘false pregnancy’. I had noticed a few months prior she was spreading her wings in the mating posture but we have never seen the male mate with her or any of the other males we have. In fact he will perch on my shoulder and hump my sweater while she watches and begs him for attention. She has this kind of loud screeching chirp she uses to get his attention. I think he is feeding her while she also eats on her own a lot. Lastly I would mention that we put a nest box in their cage to sleep as they did not seem to like the coconut shell. She has not made a nest in the box, likely because we have not provided her with nesting materials. She does go in the box at times to rest.

I am hoping her hormonal situation will settle down, but it’s been almost two weeks and I’m concerned about her weight as I don’t want her to have other possible internal issues resulting from weight/excessive eating. She has not laid any eggs, and does not appear to have one developed to be laid.

Do you know of this sort of false pregnancy in lovebirds? WIll it go away on its own and she will lose weight? Should I remove the nest box, I believe she wants it for safe shelter more than for breeding purposes. Should I separate them, as they are in my view a tightly bonded pair, I would fear she will get very anxious if I do that.

Thanks for any insight you may have.

Hi,

I’ll help you clear up some myths so that you can help your birds.

Birds cannot experience a false pregnancy, because birds do not get pregnant. Birds do not give live birth. They lay eggs, with or without a male present. Even with a male around, the eggs may not be fertile. When a female is getting ready to form and lay eggs, there are no physical signs that are visible. Most of the time, you will have no idea that she is going to lay an egg until she lays it. Gaining weight is not normal, bloating is not normal. If she is exhibiting these signs, you need to take her to an Avian vet as soon as possible to determine what is wrong with her. Eating more is not normal – a bird only over eats if their nutritional needs are not being met. If she is not on the right diet – such as if she eats seeds as the main diet – she will not be getting the nutrition needed to form and lay healthy eggs, so she might be overeating because she is deficient in what she needs. Even in captivity, a healthy bird on a nutritionally balanced diet will not get fat – birds get fat, again, because they eat too much trying to get satisfied. She will not get full of eggs unless she becomes egg bound, and usually she would die from one egg not passing. In some cases, she might last long enough for a second egg to get stuck. Each egg takes 48 hours to form and be laid, and she would only lay one egg, every other day.

Birds do not need a bed. They do not need a coconut shell, box, bird tent or hut or anything to get inside of. All of these things are bad for birds and should not be sold. Many small bird ingest the fibers from the bird tents and huts, and die. These “beds” are perceived as nests and cause hormonal issues. In the wild, birds only use a nest during breeding season, and only for nesting and raising chicks. Nests are abandoned at the end of breeding season. Birds do not naturally use a nest or anything similar as a bed. Yes, they will sleep in something in captivity because you gave it to them. But there are sadly many things sold for pet birds that are not good for them. While they may sleep in the provided bed to a point, eventually it causes the bird to become hormonal. Unless you plan to breed hybrid birds – and this is very much frowned upon by aviculturists – they do not need a nest box, so you can take that away. Provide them with a high perch to sleep on. No shelf or platform – these can also be perceived as a nest and cause hormonal issues.

There are changes you can make to try to discourage hormonal behavior and egg laying. She is barely old enough for egg laying. Lovebirds should be closer to 2 years old before you encourage breeding – younger birds are at a higher risk of egg binding.

You need to make all of these changes to discourage hormonal behavior.

Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The 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.

If 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 let them roam around, this mimics searching for a nesting site.

When you handle her, limit any petting to only the head and neck – do not pet a bird 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