Hi Lillium,
I’m glad you were able to get Veterinary care for the bird. I would agree that he has been in a stressful environment. Lovebirds are almost impossible to keep in groups in the same cage, unless you have the large walk-in type aviary, and even then it may or may not work out. Lovebirds are very territorial, and once their hormones and instincts kick in, the trouble begins. A lot of owners make the mistake of getting several young birds, and keeping them together, thinking they will always be a friendly group. But once they are sexually mature, they want to choose a mate and only be with that bird. In the wild, young birds interact in the flock, but bonded pairs keep to themselves. Once the young birds are old enough, they find a mate and bond. Once that happens, the birds they were happily playing with one day, are now rivals and are not welcome to interact anymore. Once breeding season begins, each pair will distance themselves from the main flock, and establish a territory to build a nest. If other flock members get too close, the pair will chase them away, or attack if the bird does not leave the area. By trying to cage more than two lovebirds together, it creates a lot of stress because the birds are fighting over mates, and are frustrated that they can’t establish a territory and get away from the other birds, or keep the other birds away. Your only option is to either cage them in pairs, or separately. You can try allowing interaction when they are out of the cage. Lovebirds are not always obvious about fighting. They often use intimidation by stalking another lovebird. A more dominant bird will simply follow another around relentlessly; making it move each time it gets settled. This is probably more stressful than direct attacks, because the stalked bird has to be on alert all the time. The dominant bird might wait for the other one to settle down to eat, and then it flies over and makes the bird leave the food. Sometimes it’s very subtle – just a look or vocalization. If you see one bird following another around the cage, you might think this is because it wants to mate, but more likely it’s a case of stalking.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
