Love bird pair not getting along, help

[Jollene]

Hello,

My husband and I bought two lovebirds we bought a Peach-face that we were told is a girl by the pet shop and a masked which is supposed to be a male. We were told that the two different species would be fine together because we we unsure about by two different kinds rather then two colour variations of the same kind.

The female peach face does not seem to like the male masked. She has a bit of a go at him every time he is close or if she want to go to a particular perch she chases him off.

We have only had them a week. But I am concerned that they should be together in the same cage and am wondering if I should:

A) get another cage and have the cages next to each other but the birds separated?

B) leave them longer and see if they get along?

If I go with option A) should I get two new birds of the same species (I.e a peach-face and a masked) so they are not alone in their cages or would the two current birds be enough company is separate cages side by side even though they aren’t friends?

Any advice would be great!

Thanks

P.s the whole reason we got two birds is because my husband and I can’t always spend tons of time with them, although we do make a special effort to spend time with them every day, and we don’t want them to be lonely.

 

[LaManuka]

There is never any guarantee that any two birds will get along, whether they’re the same species or not. If you get more birds you may only end up complicating the relationships.

Unless you are wanting to breed them (which is a whole ‘nother issue!) you’d probably be best advised to get another cage so they can each have some personal space. My two guys have separate cages because they’re not crazy about each other, my lorikeet is completely hyperactive whereas my more mature cockatiel likes his peace and quiet.

Eventually when things settle down in your household you may find they are more accepting of each other, but in case that doesn’t happen they will each have their place of safety to retreat to.

 

[LordTriggs]

much like said above, some birds just don't like each other all that much. Especially with the upset of being moved to a new home they could be in a bit of a tantrum right now.

I'd also advise keeping them both in cages on their own, that way if they don't ever get on they can avoid any bickering and in case they decide to REALLY GET ALONG you don't end up with 2 grumpy parents who want nothing to do with you and a load of little babies you suddenly have to help care for.

I wouldn't get another pair to go with them, I'm going to assume you've been informed of the classic "Lovebirds need to be in pairs or they die!". Well to quell your fears this is hokum, baloney, male cow dung, whatever word you'd like to use for it. Lovebirds do fine without a cage mate and can be perfectly happy as the only bird in the house, you're their friend now after all! With 2 in separate cages they will do just fine

 

[SilverSage]

As stated, please separate them right away for their own safety (lovebirds won’t hesitate to kill each other if the mood strikes) and I do not recommend adding additional birds. Are they tame? If so, allow them to Interact outside the cage if they want. If they decide to bind, it will be 100% obvious.


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[Jollene]

Thanks everyone for your advise. I will get another cage and seperate them right away.

I was concerned they would be lonely without another bird in their cage because yes I’d been fed the lie they need another or they’d be really unhappy.

They aren’t tame yet but I’m working on it super slowly it’s only been a week so for now I just sit next to their cage and talk to them but hopefully in the future I’ll be able to get them out and interact with them.

Thanks!!!

 

[DoubleTake]

Glad you are separating them. You can leave the cages side by side so they can get use to them but I would advised against ever putting them together if they are really male and female. They are different species of lovebirds and lovebird hybrids are not good. Hybrids can make good pets but can develop health issues, also eye ring with peach face can create a bird who cannot spawn offspring. If you do create hybrids please keep them or state that they are hybrids so people know NOT to breed them.

 

[tootsietoots]

I know that lovebirds in general can be aggressive and territorial to any other birds they're not immediately bonded to, so I would put those two into 2 separate cages for now and let them at least get used to each other.

Then maybe after a couple of weeks you can try putting them together if they won't kill each other and actually like each other? If it never works, then it should probably stay like that, with each lovebird in their own cage. I wouldn't get another partner for each lovebird because the same situation could happen again and you probably don't want to end up with 4 different cages with just one bird in each one? Your lovebirds should be good alone in individual cages as long as they're near each other, and the myth that a lovebird will die of depression if deprived of a partner fortunately isn't true. [emoji2]

I hope this helps at all! [emoji177]

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[ChristaNL]

aaaand the "lovebird-myth" strikes again.

Great you are getting some real information (here ) and I love it that you are completely willing to get them a cage each.

Wishing you happy-parrot-days to come.

 

[Jollene]

Update

I seperated my two lovebirds into their own cages which are next to each other. They keep trying to chew through their cage as if they want to be together again, which seemed super weird as when they were together they didn’t pay any attention to each other except when the female was chasing the male away from a perch and squawking/ hissing at him.

Does this mean they should be together or do they need to just get used to being apart????

 

[ChristaNL]

The females can be quite 'persistent' when they want/ do not want a male (sometimes even leading to the death of said male) so I do not think you are being cruel or anything like that to keep them seperated for their own safety.


Getting them DNA-tested would a great idea (there are cheap and reliable tests for sale online where you just send in a few plucked chestfeathers, or you vet can cut in the vein of the nail for a drop of blood/ which I think is barbaric and needlessly painfull, but is the norm in the USA appearently).
It is always easier to *really* know what you are dealing with.
(Behaviour- and healthwise)


You can let them out together (supervised) for some playtime outside the cage and see how they behave...

 

[DoubleTake]

Update

I seperated my two lovebirds into their own cages which are next to each other. They keep trying to chew through their cage as if they want to be together again, which seemed super weird as when they were together they didn’t pay any attention to each other except when the female was chasing the male away from a perch and squawking/ hissing at him.

Does this mean they should be together or do they need to just get used to being apart????

As stated above, get them DNA tested. If they are both males. You can think about putting them together. If they are both females, then maybe, but females have been known to kill each other when hormonal. If they are female and male, i would not advise you put them together because no one should be wanting to buy a hybrid baby. Not fair for the chick and not fair to the future owner.

 

[SilverSage]

Typically bar chewing indicates lack of enough mental stimulation. Instead of assuming they are trying to get to each other, consider adding enrichment


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[brighterdaysaviary]

Hi!

Can you tell us how big their cages are? Lovebirds are very active little ones and need a large cage with a lot of toys they can chew on.

Bar chewing normally means they want out because of boredom.

I would recommend getting them DNA sexed to make sure they are a male and a female bird. However, form your description of one of the bird's chasing the other and being more dominant that little big bird does sound like she is a female.

If they will be separated permanently (which does sound like a good idea since one is clearly getting bullied) then they will need two large cages, lots of toys and mental stimulation and lots of outside cage time each day in order to be happy and healthy.

Let us know how everything goes!

 

[EllenD]

I agree, they are not chewing at the bars because they want to be together (and no, do not put them back together again unsupervised), they are chewing the bars because they have nothing to do now...Their entertainment before was probably chasing each other around and being aggressive towards each other, as weird as that sounds...Now they don't have that to do either...

They need lots of different TYPES of toys, one for shredding, one for chewing, one for beaking/banging around one that has a bell and makes noise, etc. And then also you need to creat some "captive foraging" activities for them, where they have to dig through a box full of crumpled-up paper for Sunflower Seeds, or where you hide them inside of toys they have to open up, etc..They have the intelligence of a 3 year-old child, and in the wild they spend 8-10 hours every day just foraging for their food, which also includes 10 miles of flying a day to find it...Captive birds have a bowl of nutrient-dense food 3 steps away from them at all times, and they get bored...

 

[Betrisher]

I'm surprised you were sold a Masked Lovebird and a Peachface together. Masks are well-known to be rather more aggressive than Peachies and are quite species-protective (that is, they'll dominate the Peachfaces in the cage to protect what's theirs).

In my ignorance, I bought my son two pairs each of Masks and Peachies and they all got along famously with nary an issue. Then, some mongrel came in the night and stole them all (except for Pineapple, who is still with us). Some very generous people heard of the tragedy and replaced Matt's birds for him, giving him two pair of blue Masks. We added a little Peachy friend for Pineapple and *thought* things would eventually be OK again.

Nup!

The Masks (which were only black-beaked chicks at the time) went for the Peachies mercilessly and we had to separate them almost immediately. That was the beginning a long and awful situation concerning the pair of Peachies, but the point I make is that largely, it's not usually possible to house different species of Lovebird together. As I also pointed out, *some*times you can get lucky. *Some*times not. But you need to be prepared that they won't get along and cater for that if it happens.

It shouldn't affect the way *you* relate to each of your birds and it could probably be that they'll be very friendly with each other in two separate cages.

Hope this is useful at some level.