Separate bonded siblings?

hi,
I'm recently a new lovebird owner and I currently have 3 lovebirbs in a big cage. 2 of them I purchased recently from another person and they are both about 6 months old . however they are siblings and bonded as well.The seller didn't know what sex they were but I feel like it's a male and female since one of them displays female like behaviour and has a much wider pelvic bone than my other male lovie. I'm well aware that once they get older breeding will become a problem because they are siblings. however I really don't want to separate them because they are closely bonded and the female gets really anxious when separated . Especially if I put her with the other male lovie who is about 3 months old. I tried putting her with my other male lovie but she just bullies him. is there anyway I can get her to bond with my other male. I know its a very difficult choice but I don't want them to inbreed once they get older. furthermore the seller told me that the siblings have been handfed but she didn't do any interaction with them besides changing their food.I have tried holding them in my hand and the female is the only one who really freaks out . please share your opinions with me and give me advice on what to do. thanks

DNA testing is the only way to be 100% sure

What I would personally do in your situation is give each bird their own cage to avoid any breeding issues and to stop any fights breaking out when you're not able to supervise them. Lovebirds can be vicious when they want.

Keeping all the cages near to each other (with a little gap between to avoid mating through bars) lets them interact with one another whilst having their own space and then you can let them out and let them play together whilst keeping an eye on them for fighting or mating

Lovebirds typically don’t stay sweet and tame if you have more than one.

Breeding isn’t really the issue, actually reproducing is. I would suggest strict hormone regulation, and boiling any eggs that do show up. I’ll link my hormone control article.

http://www.silversageaviaries.com/handlinghormones/


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Exactly my thoughts, Lovebirds who are kept together with other Lovebirds unfortunately do not typically stay tame, regardless of whether they were hand-raised/hand-fed or not. So no matter how you pair them up, if you want tame "pets", then the best thing you can do is put each of them in their own cage ASAP...Otherwise, you're probably going to end-up with at least 2 Lovebirds that are not at all tame or able to be handled. That's a decision you have to make...Keep in-mind that if you separate each bird into their own cage because you want them to be "pets"/bonded to you, they aren't going to "get lonely" or be "depressed" as long as you are spending adequate time with each one every day, the idea being that you become bonded to each one, replacing the bond that they had with the other Lovebird.

**As far as breeding them goes, or as SilverSage said allowing any fertile eggs to hatch, obviously you cannot allow inbreeding, so if you do decide to keep the brother/sister together and allow them to stay bonded to each other instead of to you, they are going to breed/mate, and they will lay fertile eggs, so you must not allow those eggs to hatch. However, if you simply remove eggs from the hen, she will most-likely continue to keep laying more and more eggs. So as SilverSage mentioned, you must remove any eggs that are laid and either boil them or freeze them overnight, and then put them back in with the hen. She'll eventually stop laying on them when she realizes that they are not going to hatch, and then you can toss them. Or you can buy fake eggs and switch them out for the real ones. Either way, please don't allow inbred baby chicks to hatch.

And if you were to put the female in with the other male that is not a sibling, there is no way to guarantee that they will bond with each other at all, nor can you force them to. They may hate each other and be violent and aggressive with each other, in which case you must separate them, or they may bond with each other, but this too will most-likely result in them breeding/mating and laying fertile eggs, as well as neither of them being bonded with you or able to be handled, etc. So the bottom line is you need to figure-out what you want from your birds, what type of birds you want them to be...If you want them to be pets that you can handle and spend time with in a personal way, then you need to separate them asap, each into their own cage as Triggs already mentioned.

This is actually probably the best thing you can do, as I don't think you have much, if any breeding/hand-feeding experience, do you? Did you buy them to breed, or did you buy them to be pets? If you got them to be pets and become close to you, then my best advice is to keep each of them in their own cage with their own toys, etc., and spend ample time with each of them daily...

hey guys thanks for the replies
here are a few pics of them:
http://imgur.com/gallery/OQ8DcR2
http://imgur.com/gallery/lATgA8s

imo, I think it would be cruel to separate them because like I said they really are close. they pretty much do everything together whether that's eating, sleeping or playing. however their colors are really different. it makes me doubt whether they truly are siblings. I'm also worried about keeping my 3rd lovie with them. he sometimes gets bullied and from his behaviour I can tell that he fears the siblings. but I only have 2 cages atm and the other one I use for my budgies. I guess when the time comes I will just replace the eggs with fake ones if they happen to breed. but that's in the future. they are still young(less than 6 months old) and I got them last week. I am not really worried about bonding with them as they are bonded with each other. however what I want to know is if keeping the siblings with my younger lovebird will effect my bond with the younger one who is about 3 months. he doesn't really get along with the siblings as they scare him a lot. because if that Is the case Id rather cage him with the budgies as he doesn't know how to bite(lol, all he does is nibble). however only problem with keeping him with my budgies is that he tries to nibble my budgies feet and just doesn't stop. i know for a fact that all he does is nibble their feet but the budgies really get annoyed. I'm home for a large amount of time so I always supervise them.

Of course he may get bullied by the siblings, the new bird wasn't their clutch mate. New birds also need to be quarantined for ~30 days for the safety of your existing birds. Was each individual bird tested for diseases? The new lovie should definately get its own cage. Throwing it into the budgies cage and hope for the best is not the right approach. As far as the siblings go, I'm sure if the cages are side by side they will get used to it.

YIKES!
Quarantine is a MUST especially with lovebirds!!

And by outing 3 together like that, you are asking for a dead one. You need a new cage immediately.


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Silversage speaks the truth about quarantining lovebirds.... i just bought my 4th lovebird today because I had to back out on the previous 3 due to positive results on disease testing. 3 lovebirds from 3 different locations.... i am praying the 4th one is clean

also as a side note I would remove that little house/hut thing from the cage as that will send their hormones into over-drive and will get them mating laying and fighting

Dang, I didn't think about quarantining them. I have had the 3 of them caged for about a week now. the younger one I have had for 3 months. It's the older ones that I recently got. Is it too late to quarantine? I can probably still separate them. I'm also thinking about purchasing a new cage. However, won't the siblings accept the younger one as part of the flock. I want them to stay in a group.

No, they will probably kill him. You need to separate them!

And get those disease tests in ASAP!


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With birds, you will learn that getting what you want isn't what you are going to get. You can't control them, there is a 50/50 chance they may never get along. I think you rushed into this too fast, I hope it works out in the end.

Update: I Separated the younger one from the siblings. I will try to get a Disease Test asap. Thanks for the great advice!! my top priority is to keep my birbs safe. On a side note, will the siblings keep bullying him regardless of how much time passes or will they after a certain point accept him into the flock if I were to keep him close to their cage. just curious, I'm not going to put him back in unless I know he is safe.

I hope you heed our advice, no, they probably will not ever get along, and you cannot force them to do-so. You cannot risk the life of the single bird because you thought they could be a group, you know that...But the good part of separating him is that at least you can bond closely with him, as he is not a part of a bonded-pair. As we already told you, and I know you said you're "worried about bonding with them", it's going to be extremely difficult to do with the pair. But that's your choice, if you don't want to separate them then just please, be a responsible owner and remove ANY AND ALL EGGS from the cage, freeze them overnight or boil them immediately, and then put them back. You are right on the brink of starting a Lovebird in-breeding situation allowing a bonded pair of opposite-sex siblings breed at all...

Good luck with your lovebirds! I agree with everyone else that you should separate your little baby from the other two. When it's two against one it almost always ends up badly.

Lovebirds are very territorial, the females specifically, so you made a good choice in separating them. And I am also happy you did not decide to separate the two lovebirds, I am sure they would be heartbroken if they are already bonded like you say that are.

EllenD said:

I hope you heed our advice, no, they probably will not ever get along, and you cannot force them to do-so. You cannot risk the life of the single bird because you thought they could be a group, you know that...But the good part of separating him is that at least you can bond closely with him, as he is not a part of a bonded-pair. As we already told you, and I know you said you're "worried about bonding with them", it's going to be extremely difficult to do with the pair. But that's your choice, if you don't want to separate them then just please, be a responsible owner and remove ANY AND ALL EGGS from the cage, freeze them overnight or boil them immediately, and then put them back. You are right on the brink of starting a Lovebird in-breeding situation allowing a bonded pair of opposite-sex siblings breed at all...

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hello everyone. I think I have realized I should have been more prepared, however I have heeded to everyone's advice. I have separated the little fluff ball from the 2 meanies. like I said I couldn't bring myself to separating the siblings. I did try to separate them but after watching them cry for each other I put them back. they truly are bonded. also after observing them I sometimes see the siblings squabble and it's mainly the male who I feel like is making whining noises and the female who gets really clingy and starts chasing him. is this normal for bonded lovies, maybe it's because I moved them into a really large cage. the seller had kept them in a really small cage so they might be really excited. I don't think their squabbles are serious because after a couple seconds they are back to being bonded lovies but the green male does make whining noises