Ask Lafeber

Strange New Behavior

Hello. I have this 5 year old Fischer’s Lovebird at my room. Its gender remains unknown( but has traits of typical male) and it used to be the tamest and boldest in my flock family of three other lovebirds of same species. This month I noticed it was nervous and startled easily. It doesn’t perch on my arm anymore and looked exhausted.I suspected that the others are not letting it have its meal so I put it in separate cage because the others are aggressive and hurt it. It flies at short distances and tire easily. Now it got better, but still jumpy and flies away at any sound and movement. It’s as if it forgot me. However it can perform its taught tricks and lets me hold it. How can I cope with this and make my bird more comfortable? (I don’t have vets of any kind in my country and can’t afford one)

Hi Lillium,

Were you keeping all 4 lovebirds in the same cage? Generally lovebirds do not do well when kept in groups, unless it is a very large aviary and no breeding is allowed. Lovebirds tend to be very aggressive to other lovebirds – even their own mate at times. Fischer’s are known for being more even tempered, but they still have certain instincts. When birds are caged together, they typically do not stay tame. It sounds like this little guy is the exception, but by being tame with you, he may have made the others jealous. You definitely need to keep him separate now, because the others could kill him. He may be nervous because he was attacked. I would move him to a different room and see if that makes a difference. If you have 3 left together, that is also a problem. When you have an odd number of birds together, they will form pairs, even if they are the same sex, and the odd bird out ends up being bullied. If you notice 2 of your birds seem to be bonded, I would separate the 3^rd bird.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda