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Anyone own(ed) Lovebirds?



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MrsDash




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 17 2013, 2:31 pm
I'm looking to buy a pair of lovebirds, but I've never owned one before. I've owned many other species of birds (macaws, quakers, conures, amazons, parakeets, eclectics, geese, crows, doves, etc...) but never lovebirds. Can someone tell me a bit about them? Their mannerisms, personality, socially, lifespan, care, and other helpful info?

Thanks! Smile
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chani8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 17 2013, 2:48 pm
How very fun to get to talk about my love birds. I've recently become a love bird fanatic.

Let me tell you how that happened, first of all.

About 10 minutes before Shabbat (Chanuka, and we needed to light the menorah and the shobbos candles), we heard a chirping coming from the front door. So we opened the door and in ran a love bird. Yes, a love bird ran into my house. Not fast enough, because our dog chased it, caught it in his mouth, and B"H, when I yelled, "No, Scooby!" he dropped the bird, who ran as fast as his tiny little legs would take him, sliding under a table like he was making a home run. I was able to block the dog, trap the bird, and yell for the only thing I could think of, the (empty, dry) fish tank. So I scooped up the little peach face and tossed him in the tank, and ran to light.

On Sunday, I called the vet who gave me a cell number of a bird expert at the Beer Sheva Zoo, who told me that my love bird did not migrate, it was most definitely someone's pet. So later that evening, in an effort to 'return a lost object' my DH went to a house nearby (down a very long block!) that has a large outdoor bird cage. Sure enough, they had lost one of their love birds. But they said that they did not want it back, because it's mate had died. So we kept it, named it "Rainbow" and bought it a huge cage (second hand and cheap), and we, especially me, totally bonded with it. I can't believe how sweet love birds are. For years my DH has wanted me to get a bird. I totally thought it was cruel to cage birds and resisted, and over the years we tried fish, a lot, and they never thrived by us.

So back to Rainbow. The next Shobbos in shul, the previous owner tells my DH that he made a mistake, that it wasn't the mate that had died, it was another male, and this one was his only male, and would we please bring him back. So of course, we did, and got the mitzva of returning the lost object.

And I tried to be brave but really, I felt the loss. By the end of that next week, I was desperate. So DH and I went to three pet stores, just 'to look'. And came home with the most beautiful pair of love birds I've ever seen.
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chani8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 17 2013, 3:10 pm
But that next Sunday, I was saying, "Take them back!"

What happened? They are screechers. They make ugly noises. They are pretty, but not very friendly.

And thus began my research. I wanted to know everything about love birds. I had to figure out what went wrong.

So what went wrong was, these two birds are a hybrid. A mixture of two kinds of love birds that are not in the same family. They are shockingly beautiful, but their parents should not have been mated. And what happens when you mix two family types, you get beautiful, but not the nicest tempered love birds. And that's what we got.

There are three types of love birds that you need to know about. The Peach Faced breed. The Black Masked (black headed) breed. And the Fischer breed. The Black Masked and Fischers both have white rings around the eyes. My two birds are a mix of the Black Masked and the Fischer.

In all my learning about love birds since then, I now know that the peach faced ones are the friendliest. NOw, I have 3 more love birds, all peach faced. The smartest and friendliest of those three, is the standard peach faced male. He's smart, interested in connecting with us, sweet and fun.

Our other two peach faced birds include a pale yellow female who seems older and has a lovely voice, and a sea green female who is bright and is currently being trained to sit on our hands.

After that first pair, we learned our lesson, and we picked the next three out carefully. The yellow one we bought because she is kind of rare. Then we got her the peach faced male to be a mate. Then we got the sea green because she looked trainable.

I totally recommend you find the youngest Peach Faced Male that you can get.

So I know you are going to ask, how can we tell gender. Well, I've done a lot of reading, and on the love birds, there are actually some signs. It seems the females have wider hips (and don't seem to sleep on one foot), and they also have blunter tails. The males have sharper, pointer tales.

If you can find a 'hand fed' or already tamed love bird, it will be so worth the extra money.
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PAMOM




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 17 2013, 3:10 pm
Another bird person!! Fun!! Lovebirds are fun but very very good problem-solvers. I had to put locks on all openings because he can open all cage gates. They also tend to be 1-person birds. They dont shreik and dont toss food (much).
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chani8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 17 2013, 3:12 pm
They also don't have the dusty feathers problem that some birds have, so they don't bother people with allergies.
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chani8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 17 2013, 3:19 pm
This website has pretty pics. The three main photos look like my birds!

http://www.parrotparrot.com/sp.....irds/
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MrsDash




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 17 2013, 4:58 pm
Thanks for all the info (and cute stories Smile )! I'm looking at a hand fed fischer lovebird. I can't believe I've never owned one before. I never even thought about it until I found out about this baby fischer. Are they able to be in the same cage as cockatiels and parakeets? I'm not sure what aggression level they have.
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MimiMommy




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 17 2013, 5:57 pm
We had lovebirds for a while. Their name is hilariously deceiving ( unless our birds just had issues - pet psychologist, anyone?). The female was constantly abusing the male. The feathers on his back were all pecked up and some were missing because of her perpetual pecking. She would stand in front of the food dish sometimes when he wanted to eat and just peck his back, painfully, not allowing him to eat. We tried separating them but believe it or not they spent the entire time apart gazing at each other and trying to get to the other's cage. Weird. Plus they SCREECH. Anyway they are beautiful birds but I read that it's common for the "wife" to abuse the male. We ended up selling them after a year or so.
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chani8




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jan 18 2013, 2:55 am
MrsDash wrote:
Thanks for all the info (and cute stories Smile )! I'm looking at a hand fed fischer lovebird. I can't believe I've never owned one before. I never even thought about it until I found out about this baby fischer. Are they able to be in the same cage as cockatiels and parakeets? I'm not sure what aggression level they have.


I think a hand fed Fischer baby is an excellent choice.

There is a lot of discussion about sets of love birds. The general consensus is, if you can spend a lot of time with your pet, you really don't need to get a pair. But if you can't resist, and do get a set, make sure they get about 12 hours of sleep every day, to prevent aggression (and mating). Mine go to bed (cover their cage) at 7pm every night. Otherwise they act like cranky 2 year olds!!
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MrsDash




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2013, 9:22 pm
I decided on a baby cockatiel instead. He is adorable! Like a little puppy Smile

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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2013, 9:56 pm
I had a cockatiel when I was a kid! They're adorable.
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studying_torah




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2013, 10:27 pm
he is sooo cute!
I am severely allergic to birds, but I love to admire them from afar.
njoy!
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chani8




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jan 23 2013, 2:02 am
Mazal tov! He's just the cutest little ball of feathers!!

Did you name him yet? Do you know for sure he is a he?

Enjoy!!!!
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MrsDash




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jan 23 2013, 8:12 pm
The other owners named him "Presto" so I just kept it as that. As for the gender.. they told me it's a male, but "he" kind of strikes me as a female. The tale feathers have those bars on them, which I always thought meant female. He/She is a sweetie. Cuddles, little tweets, kisses, and isn't capable of biting. He is seriously such a baby.
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chani8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 24 2013, 6:10 am
If the bars are on the underside of the tail, then my reading agrees with you, that it's a she not a he. But the name Presto works for either gender. Very, very cute bird!!! Flower
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MrsDash




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 24 2013, 8:58 am
Thanks! It's funny as sweet and docile as this bird is when the cat came to say "hello" Presto hissed at her and scared the cat away.
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MrsDash




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 16 2014, 10:57 am
**UPDATE**

The parents have been having babies left and right. I tried taking out the nest box, but she laid fertile eggs on the bottom of the cage. I tried separating the parents, but they just cried all day. So, together they remain Very Happy

I think because they were over-producing for a while there, they had a couple babies with disabilities. One had something called splayed legs. In fact, he had such a terrible case of splayed legs, he could barely walk or stand. So I splinted his legs using a cosmetic sponge, and a couple weeks ago, he was adopted by a loving family, and you would have never known he had any issues. He looks beautiful now. Here's a picture of that little guy.



Unfortunately, there was another baby that had some mental disabilities. He was never capable on weaning on his own. He eventually succumbed to his disabilities. He was sweet as can be though, and lived for nearly 3 months. Here he is after one of his feedings.



And here are my most recent babies. They will be up for adoption in a few weeks.

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bnm




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 16 2014, 12:10 pm
aww I was wondering what happened to the little guy Sad
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amother


 

Post Thu, Jan 16 2014, 6:48 pm
Two things from a former breeder:

Splayed legs is not all that uncommon, and splinting is absolutely the right thing to do! I'm sorry to hear about the other bird with disabilities; I had one like that once, and tried so hard, but she didn't make it more than a few months. It was so upsetting, and I still feel a pang of sadness and guilt when I think about her because I wish I could have done something.

Female lovebirds are notorious for being like you described, and it's common to joke about "love"birds. I like to think that the phrase "hen-pecked" came from lovebird females! They'll also breed like crazy. Some people like to give them marbles or fake eggs to keep them from making more babies, even pulling out their real eggs and replacing them. I don't know if there's a halachic issue with that; I wasn't frum at the time.

I love 'em, but I think cockatiels are a better all-around pet. They're great!
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