Lovebird "inconsistencies"

[Harrybasford]

Hey, posting this while a bit confused.
My lovebird is very different to my cockatiel. My cockatiel is very expresive, with wings and crests and cheeck feathers and lots more. But the lovebirds only means of comunication seems to be through a nip.
I give her wood toys to play with and play gyms that she destroyes and any number of bamboo/pine sticks for her to destroy portably. The door of the cage she is in is both held open and closed by two plastic cloths pegs.
As I was getting her out this morning, she gave me a good bite as I was pinning the door open. So I put her back in her cage, my bird was on top(because it was on my shoulder when I got her out) and the lovebird lunged for its feet through the cage after traveling a cages distance to get to him. I covered him up as a punishment and spent some time with tiel. Opened him back up and the same thing happened, he nipped me as i was putting the pegs in. So I put her back away again.

The lovebird tends to take a dislike to quite a few things. He seems to show agression towards balls (like cat balls) and loves to play with them, but the game looks too aggresive, I dont leave her playing with it for long, and I purposely havent bought one since she broke it, because it seems to bring out aggressive play in her.

There is also a noisy bag, which I use quite frequently for a few things, and she doesnt like that atall. Will bite my hands, ears or chin that is closest to it (right ear/chin if in right hand.) I always discourage it and use some kind of negative reinfocement (putting her on the floor to the side of my sofa/sometimes the cage but usually for more disruptive things. Thing about the biteing is i can put the bag down and touch her straight away with no consequences.

She doesnt step up either like my other bird does and I am trying to train them this. He seems to live for love and hates being in its cage. I only feed him in his cage now despite him being out alot.

If you look at a lovebird they are almost all beak, so I can see why he is using it so much. Has anyone else come across this problem with lovebirds? The lovebird is my dad's (even though I train it and spend most of the day with it, so I cant be as strict with him as I was with my cockatiel. With my cockatiel i was VERY easy to show him what I wanted him to do and act like, and to this day he is soo low maintenance and is out all day long. Since then I've whistled more to him and tough him to be noisier now (but its a quiet call and not very often, i only whistle back to wolf whistles and puppy power whistles)

Its not like he is scared or anything, he will go on his back, sleep on his back, do bat impressions (upside down from feet). I extend his wings out, kiss his beak, he is very affectionate, its just this nipping thing.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[kitt]

Lovebirds can be very stubborn but so loveable too.

It almost sounds to me like your bird is cage aggressive. My lovebird does not like to step up anymore...she will nip if I open her cage and ask her to step up. So now, I just open the door and wait for her to come out on her own thus avoiding a bite. Once she is out and on top of her cage, she lets me pick her up without any problem.
When I clean her cage, she has to be on her playgym...she DOES NOT like me touching her things. If she is in the cage when I am rearranging things or taking her tent out to wash it, she will bite me several times. I just make sure she is on her playgym first.... again, avoiding the bites. In fact I can't remember the last time she bit me. You can read the signals your bird is giving to avoid being bit.

When I tend to do things on Ava's (lovebird) terms, she is so completely loveable...she loves to sit on my shoulder and go about the house with me...she loves to give kisses and rub her beak on my cheek.

Oh and she also thinks she is ten feet tall and bullet proof....she hates my caique and tries to go after him. Lovebirds are quite the little critters but you can't help but love that big personality in a little body.

 

[Pearl]

Sounds like normal lovebird behavior to me. A lovies behavior cant really be compared to a 'tiel. Theyre such different birds. Theyre stubborn and independent and they play rough. Butter throws those cat balls around like they insulted her mother, and she loves it.

 

[beckybird]

Your lovebird sounds very normal to me. Someone else posted that your lovebird sounds "cage territorial" and that seems about right. My lovebird Karma was cage territorial as well. The suggestion of opening the cage door and letting him come out on his own will work- no bite for your fingers I used to be so excited to pick up my lovebird that I'd often reach in his cage and get bitten. That was something that I just put up with- he would not step up. When I didn't want the inevitable nip, I just opened his cage and out he'd come as calmly as could be.

The nipping of the cockatiel feet is normal too. Just watch out for your cockatiel and take it off the lovebird's cage when it starts its perilous venture into Lovebird Territory. When a bird is walking over the bars of the cage, a lovebird (or any other bird) may take that opportunity to nip the feet of the "offender." My 4 birds do that to each other on occasion. My poor little senegal Buzzy has learned that he must not walk on the cage of my 3 conures. They nip his toes when he walks on their cage, so I have to be vigilant. It's like saying, "You Do Not Belong On My House-- Get Off!" You could think of it as the stereotypical grumpy old man shouting at the neighborhood kids for playing on his lawn

The rough play with the toys is probably a good thing. When your lovebird breaks a toy, he is probably letting off some steam and getting out his aggression on an inanimate object- this is better than getting his aggression out on your cockatiel or your fingers...So I would continue letting your lovebird be aggressive with toys. My lovebird used to have a bell with a key attached to it that he'd beat up when he got angry. When he was done, he'd sit calmly like a little Buddha on top of his cage as though nothing had happened. I encouraged that. If he was extremely angry about something he'd even scream "T-birrrrrrrrrd" while beating up his bell.

Just think of the little lovebird as James Cagney in a mobster movie: Rough. Tough. Small. Grumpy. In charge. Lovebirds can be that way- they think they're Big Tough Guys but they have tiny little bodies- many lovebirds have a Napoleon complex. My lovebird was a grouchy "mini Jack Nicholson". And you know what? I wouldn't have wanted him any other way. I still miss my little Jack Nicholson.

 

[sssaucey]

Def sounds like a normal lovebird lol, my lovebird Jewels doesn't like if I stick my fingers through the bars, but it's fine if I open her door an put my whole hand in, and one toy of hers she hates when I touch it, but if it's any other toy she seems to think it's hilarious that I'm touching them.

 

[Ange]

I'm so glad this question was posted, along with all the responses. My male is doing the same thing, so I figured I would start to simply allow him to come out of his house on his own. He definitely doesn't like my hand in there or when I put my fingers through the bars.

 

[HalfInsane]

Yeah, lovies can be handfuls at times.

There's no harm in her playing with the cat balls aggressively. That's just how lovebirds play. My lovebird's idea of playing usually involved violently throwing anything she could get a hold of on the desk (pens, erasers, papers clips) on to the floor in the most angry way possible, and then cackling when they hit the floor. That or just plain old attacking things. She had a toy she'd viciously slam in to to side of her cage, and she just had a grand time doing it.

There are a few subtle warning signs my lovebird gave if she was feeling cranky and was going to bite. Most obviously, she'd always growl (kind of a gurgling noise for lack of a better description): if you hear it, it means back off.

They'll also lower their bodies parallel to the floor, flatten the feathers on their body, and fluff up the feathers on the back of the neck a bit. Somewhat like a dog raising it's scruff; once again, this is bird speak for back off.

It also sounds like your bird is cage territorial; my lovebird was, too. I would usually distract her or put her in another room if I needed to quickly change something in her cage. For cleaning, etc I'd place her transport cage. For taking her out of the cage, I'd just wait with my arm about half a foot from the door and she'd hop on no problem.

 

[lene1949]

Just have a look at how other animals play: with each other, with a toy... It's just a natural part of their development.... and most looks very aggressive.

Lovebirds probably need to be a bit aggressive in the wild, because of their small size...

Relax... if he does 'kill' it, give him another one.

 

[Remy]

When a bird destoys a toy, it means it was a good toy. :-D