i need some major advice

[sredmayne92]

I have owned my lovebird, Jordan, for about 5 months now. I've moved once since owning her. I have done my research on her after I got her. My problems are, since I've owned her, she will not let my hand get anywhere close to her cage or her. I've placed my hand on her cage numerous times and even tried to coax her through millet seed, but she still won't let my hand touch her. She's very anti social and won't play with any of her toys in the cage. When she does come out, all she does is sit there. it's as if she's still afraid of me. She chirps at me when I come home from work and I sit beside her. But she doesn't like me touching her cage. I need some help

 

[Birdman666]

I honestly have had zero luck with lovebirds. Even tame friendly ones bit the crap outta me. I don't know why.

I'd much rather handle an aggressive macaw. And I mean that in all sincerity.

 

[Allee]

Hi, Welcome to the forums!

I have no lovebird specific advice to offer either. Hopefully some of our members who have more experience will be able to help.

 

[walterbyrd]

I had my last Lovebird for 3.5 years. I don't know how old she was.

In all that time, I could not get her to accept my hand. I tried everything. We even bought training DVDs.

She loved our company. She loved sitting on my shoulder. She loved sleeping on us, and eating with us. But she would never accept our hands.

 

[Doublete]

My lovebird is not hand tame either.
I tried. I gave up.

No help here

 

[MikeyTN]

Lovebirds are not easy to tame down. They take A LOT of patience and a VERY long time. They give a very nasty bite too. When I tamed the lovebirds before when I used to raise them is by taking them out and go into the bathroom and shut the door. Slowly get them used to the idea. Or some just eventually accepted me on their own in their own time. Brambles likes the attention and for us to talk to him and mouth back at us, it's quite cute actually acting like he's trying to talk moving his beak constantly. I take him out into the bathroom and let him fly free, he no longer bites and will land on my head, his favorite place. Unless they were handfed tamed to begin with, it's not easy to tame them. My first Lovebird baby would fly to me on command, I handfed him myself. They're even worse if they have a mate.

 

[Sucre]

I really believe it depends on the environment they are hand raised in, as well.

I got all of mine when they got down to 2 hand feedings a day, that way I could use the time weaning them to bond with them, but they would be off to a good start at being tame.

My oldest is 10 weeks, she is a sweetheart and will step up as soon as you offer your hand. She's very cuddly and loves to snuggle next to your neck. I have wild and crazy curly hair and she loves to get in it and burrow around. She was initially hand fed by a sweet heart of a lady who had one clutch of babies to deal with, and lots of time to give them attention. She loves to be near me, my husband and even my little 4 year old grandson. She will nibble but never really bite.

My other 3 lovebirds like to play hard to get. 2 men hand fed them before I got them - they have a huge aviary with over 500 birds. I don't think they spent much time with them and just scooped them up to feed and put them right back in the cage. They are still a little leery of my hand, but I can easily pick them up and none of them bite at this point in time, but they are only 6 - 7 weeks old. They also like to cuddle. They don't come to me willingly yet, but seem very content once I force interaction.

I still have my oldest one in a separate cage - we're trying to introduce them over time. I let her out every night while I handle the younger 3. She jumps all over the place and occasionally tries to peck the younger ones, but I just put my hand between them and she stops. I am hoping to cage them together soon, but will do it slowly, by putting her in the cage with them for a few minutes at a time.

 

[Mallory]

We looked after a pair of lovebirds for awhile. I expected them to be more like parakeets, skittish but eventually coming around to handling. Ours were very bonded to each other and loved tearing up small toys and millet spray but they never came around. I tried letting them out of the cage a few times but it just led to a frantic bird trying to fly around the house. I tried millet in hand or just sitting and talking to them but they never lost their fear of me. I second what others have said - their bites hurt!

Honestly, having worked with a lot of wild birds and having owned finches in the past, lovebird personalities remind me a lot more of songbirds/finches than parrots. I've seen people hand raise zebra finches and others and end up with very confident birds, but you would have almost no luck trying to build a relationship with an adult parent-raised zebra finch. I think lovebirds are about the same. That said, watching a lovebird pair is adorable and I think they can be happy as cage birds without any human interaction.

 

[Mango7218]

This will probably be helpful for you im actually working on it with Mango and its actually working.

I have a way to get Mango used to hands and not be afraid.You can try this with your birds if they are not yet tame.If your bird takes treats from you then you don't need to leave the room as a reward you can just use treats when your bird calms down.

Items needed:Clicker,A bird,Patience

Step 1: Show the bird that good things come when they hear the click this could be leaving the room.

Step 2:Find out how far you can go into your birds cage until it goes mad.

Step 3ut your hand near the cage and wait for the bird to calm down and click and leave the room.Do this for about 5-10 minutes each day until you get closer and closer to the bird that he is no longer scared of your hands

 

[jbail1026]

My lovebird is not a fan of my hand or fingers, but sweetly hops on my arm or shoulder if I offer it (and she feels like it). She's done very well with trick training. Does your lovie like millet? I would get a clicker and a chopstick and some millet and start with some simple tricks. This is a great way to interact, treat, bond with your lovebird. I know mine would never be happy as a full-time caged bird. She LOVES to be out and flying around (supervised) and happily lands on me and rides around. And she loves trick training. She'll sit on the counter where we train and look at me expectantly. She may not like my hands (though she will "step up" on my finger as part of training, just not any other time), and she may not like scritches or pets, but we have a good bond and a nice time. Don't give up!