Ask Lafeber

Lovebird health

I have a 6 months old male peach faced lovebird who only weighs 42grams. From what I’ve read, he’s on the small side. He is very active and playful, but he doesn’t eat as much much as his cage mate. I feed them a high quality seed mix along with daily chops. Although not emaciated, he is much skinnier than his cage mate and I’m wondering if weighing in at 42g at 6 months of age is something I should be concerned about?

The same male peach faced lovebird has a tendency to dry sneeze a lot throughout the day. I don’t see any nasal discharge or signs of lethargy, but the dry sneezing persists all day, everyday. This is the same bird that only weighs 42g. Is this something I should be worried about?

Hi Jennifer,

It wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and take him for a Vet check. Birds of the same species can very greatly in size, but if he has a cagemate of the same size and he still seems to be too thin, a Vet can better determine if this is the case and if he has an underlying cause.  When you have a baby bird that doesn’t seem to be thriving, it’s a good idea to test for viruses like polyoma and avian bornavirus. Some birds do have allergies, but they can also harbor things in the nasal cavity that can cause the dry sneezes. Another possible cause of the sneezing can be the dust in seed mixes. No matter how high quality a seed mix is, it is still loose seeds and in general, seeds in mixes like that are not fresh enough to retain their nutrients. Any added vitamins are lost when the bird hulls the seed. Seed eater do very well on our foraging foods. Our Nutri-Berries, Avi-Cakes and Pellet-Berries are nutritionally balanced the same as a pellet, but they are not ground up. They contain  whole, hulled seeds along with other nutritious ingredients. So they should be fed instead of a loose seed mix, and they can be fed as the primary diet or along with pellets, with the chop foods as no more than 20% of the diet.

Bird Food Guide

Thank you for attending the webinar!

Brenda