Aggressive Female Lovebird

[scirensnow]

Hello everyone, I have a 9 month female lovebird who has progressively gotten more and more aggressive and bitey over the 3 months I’ve had her. I’ve tried to work on trying to get her to step up but she bites my finger or does these weird head movements which to me seem like a sign to step away and let her cool off. She has a male mate who is also 9 months and he is the complete opposite, very kind and never bites. I just want to be able to train her to step up and do recall training at least. She’s very active out of the cage and loves spending time with her mate. I can occasionally give her scratches when she’s in the right mood but it’s usually me trying to dodge her beak. Does anyone have any tips for a very territorial and aggressive female lovebird? I just want to bond with her and do what I can but I feel so stuck.. attached is a picture of both of my lovies just for cuteness sake. Any advice would be helpful!!!

 

[Ria.345]

Sounds like midst of puberty for your lovebird plus it’s close to spring so hormonal fluxes will inevitably rage during this change in season.
As for how to ease the territorial behaviors and aggression, it’s best to step away when she gets bitey and come back later until cooled off which is what you’re doing now.
Typical of lovebirds but when territorial and potentially trying to protect her mate, step away when biting or you can try to do a stern but gentle verbal “no” and with a pointed finger to sort of keep your ground.
Sometimes it really does work.
Or give a 10-15 minute time out in their cage and let out when much calmer.
Target training is amazing. If aggression and naughty behavior is continuing, try to do some 5-10 minute target training sessions (many tutorials on YouTube) to redirect such behavior.
But remember that parrots are wild animals and prey animals as well. They will bite to defend their territory, protect their mate, show u that they don’t want to do something, or out of instinct.
So they will bite at any point and when they want to and it gets annoying during puberty and the spring months especially. But definitely follow above suggestions for minimizing the behavior.

 

[scirensnow]

Sounds like midst of puberty for your lovebird plus it’s close to spring so hormonal fluxes will inevitably rage during this change in season.
As for how to ease the territorial behaviors and aggression, it’s best to step away when she gets bitey and come back later until cooled off which is what you’re doing now.
Typical of lovebirds but when territorial and potentially trying to protect her mate, step away when biting or you can try to do a stern but gentle verbal “no” and with a pointed finger to sort of keep your ground.
Sometimes it really does work.
Or give a 10-15 minute time out in their cage and let out when much calmer.
Target training is amazing. If aggression and naughty behavior is continuing, try to do some 5-10 minute target training sessions (many tutorials on YouTube) to redirect such behavior.
But remember that parrots are wild animals and prey animals as well. They will bite to defend their territory, protect their mate, show u that they don’t want to do something, or out of instinct.
So they will bite at any point and when they want to and it gets annoying during puberty and the spring months especially. But definitely follow above suggestions for minimizing the behavior.

Thank you so much!! This is great advice. I figured I’d see an influx of hormonal/territorial behavior around this time but wanted to be sure it wasn’t something I was doing that was angering her. I will look up some recall training videos and try them out on her. Again, thank you!