Lovebird siblings living together

JonC

New member
Aug 19, 2021
6
4
Parrots
Lovebirds
Hi, I have a pair of masked lovebirds who I purchased from jolley's back in December 2020.
About a month or so ago I purchased a small nest box, as jolley's personnel recommended something they can cuddle up in and also keep warm in the winter months if the room isn't to their comfort temperature.
Since adding the nest box I noticed a big change in behaviour, the female being more moody towards the male and both fighting giving each other black eyes and the female even drew blood from the male. Fortunately black eyes and battle wounds have seem to of healed up nicely but with them still having the odd tussle every now and then. I also noticed the female spent a lot of time in the nest box and not allowing the male near the food or water when she was out of the box. Though the male was also feeding her at this time too.
Not long after there was a egg in the box and then over the following week the female laid another 3 eggs. 4 in total. Whilst the female was sitting on the eggs in the box the male was always outside, if he made a noise near the box the female would come out and chase him away. A few times I had to do a little shout "Oi", she would stop and go straight back in the box again.
A couple of days ago the first egg hatched, and today the 2nd has hatched. I know there is still a long way to go for their little fight for survival so still the possibility of them not making it to fully fledged.
But mainly my question is, can all the offspring and parents live together in a new much bigger cage or if keeping the parents in their original cage can the siblings go in another cage together? Assuming all 4 survive to fully fledged?
Many thanks in advance for any advice.

Now I know a nest box in the cage promotes hormonal behaviour from the female as well as egg laying. The nest box will be removed from the parents cage immediately after the hatchlings fled the nest. Or if ok to go into a much bigger cage with offspring then a nest won't be introduced.

The nest box is up high in the parents cage currently, will the offspring be ok leaving the nest? Would they fall?

Also since the first egg hatched the male has been allowed in the nest box much more. Though they still have the odd tussle in which again I give a little shout of "oi" and they stop. There hasn't been any blood drawn since the first time.

Just one more thing lol, am I ok to pick the hatchlings up after a certain amount of time before they are fully fledged. So they get use to being touched/picked up before they become completely independent? I would be too scared to pick them up at this minute with them being so fragile, just wouldn't even attempt it lol
I understand its roughly 8 weeks before they leave the nest and begin to fly, so like after 4 weeks say. Would it be ok to pick them up for a few minutes each day or would mummy reject them with doing this?
Again many thanks in advance.
 
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Kitekeeper

Well-known member
Jun 19, 2021
263
701
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Parrots
Budgerigar (Bud), Pacific Parrotlet (Sam), Roseicollis lovebird (BJ and Turq), Linneolated parakeet (Charlie and Emma)
Welcome Jon,

Lovebirds are some of my favourite parrots. There was little chance they would see the nest as some place to just sleep. The nestbox triggered their mating and during their sexual hormone peak, females tend to be aggressive.

Congratulations with the success reproducing them, it is not always that easy. There is no problem keeping siblings and parents together, given the space is enough for them and that there is no nestbox whatsoever. You can keep them warm covering the cage with a blanket during the winter nights.

Regarding the youngsters falling the nest, it depends if the nest is too high. If not, an eventual fall will not hurt them.
 
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JonC

JonC

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Aug 19, 2021
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4
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Lovebirds
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Just a few pics up my beautiful parents and their set up, the male is the lighter blue of the two with the female being darker. As you can see the male had a nice little shiner, with the female having a slight little cut on the white between eye and beak which bruised slightly after the pic was taken. But as mentioned previously they have healed up ok.

The male does have a bit of a patchy chest, as after the first 2 weeks of bringing him home he just wouldn't stop plucking his chest and his chest went practically bald. I live on my own and work normal week day hours so no one home most of the day to stimulate them hence why having two instead of the one.
I introduced more toys and the top part of the cage, giving them more space for toys etc. I spray them both with a mist spray bottle with fresh warm water every couple of days though I haven't really done this since they started nesting. And I now leave music playing when I got to work in the week days.
All this seems to have stopped his major plucking and is no longer bald chested, given a little more time hopefully he won't be patchy anymore. He does still pluck the odd feather but nothing like he first did. Though the female has always looked prestene, she grooms a fair bit but hardly ever pulls feathers.

Also they have a variety of different foods to choose from, if you can make out in the pic with the cage. The bottom has normal lovebird seed mixture sprinkled with bird grit and water in the round dishes then the top white dishes one usually has a dried fruit, nut and seed mix and the other has spinach leaves. I have tried them with an assortment of fresh fruit and veg but it usually just ends up on the floor, they are so fussy. But spinach leaves they love, they also love the egg and grass seed sticks too which is kind of like a treat. But they always have one in the cage as I'm led to believe egg is very good for them. Also they always have ago on their cuttlefish but they don't really touch the iodine bar. Water is changed atleast 2x a day if no droppings end up in it. With also having the odd bit of millet spray or shelless sunflower seed every now and then.

The nest box is attached to the outside but the birds have access inside the cage. I attached it outside so wouldn't take up room inside.

The bottom tray just has kitchen roll laid down on it with the bars removed that usually go just above the bottom tray. I did this as I found the bars just accumulates droppings make it a pain to keep clean. This way I can remove the tray and tip the mess straight into the bin and then just lay more kitchen roll down. Which I've found much more hygienic for the birds aswell as much easier to keep clean for myself lol
 

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JonC

JonC

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Aug 19, 2021
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Lovebirds
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Welcome Jon,

Lovebirds are some of my favourite parrots. There was little chance they would see the nest as some place to just sleep. The nestbox triggered their mating and during their sexual hormone peak, females tend to be aggressive.

Congratulations with the success reproducing them, it is not always that easy. There is no problem keeping siblings and parents together, given the space is enough for them and that there is no nestbox whatsoever. You can keep them warm covering the cage with a blanket during the winter nights.

Regarding the youngsters falling the nest, it depends if the nest is too high. If not, an eventual fall will not hurt them.

Would this be a suitable size for parents and offspring?
 

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Kitekeeper

Well-known member
Jun 19, 2021
263
701
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Parrots
Budgerigar (Bud), Pacific Parrotlet (Sam), Roseicollis lovebird (BJ and Turq), Linneolated parakeet (Charlie and Emma)
Thank you for the pictures, they are indeed really beautiful!! The blue/green mutation is quite hard to find here.

Thanks for the well put description, you are very attentive with your birds. :)

How do you observe they use the space in their current cage? Although lovebirds are climbers as all parrots, usually they prefer to stay in the higher perches. So a more wide cage than a tall one could be better to accommodate 4 to 6 birds. This way all birds can be at the higher perches at the same time. A narrow tall cage might produce conflict with more than 3 birds as their personal space will be too close to one another.

Lovely to see those little baby lovebirds, please keep us posted.
 
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JonC

JonC

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Aug 19, 2021
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Lovebirds
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Thank you for the pictures, they are indeed really beautiful!! The blue/green mutation is quite hard to find here.

Thanks for the well put description, you are very attentive with your birds. :)

How do you observe they use the space in their current cage? Although lovebirds are climbers as all parrots, usually they prefer to stay in the higher perches. So a more wide cage than a tall one could be better to accommodate 4 to 6 birds. This way all birds can be at the higher perches at the same time. A narrow tall cage might produce conflict with more than 3 birds as their personal space will be too close to one another.

Lovely to see those little baby lovebirds, please keep us posted.

Many thanks for the advice will definitely look into get something much wider. Though majority of cages are tall from what I've seen.
There is the odd wider cage I have come across though while looking, what would be an ideal width for 6 lovebirds in your opinion?

Just worried about them fighting and hurting each other as have read alot about lovebirds can be very aggressive to other lovebirds to the point where they kill. Obviously this is the last thing I would want.
But then I have also read that lovebirds are very social and can do well with multiple lovebirds as long as they all have a bonded friend?

Ideally I would love for them to all live together as one happy flock but obviously their safety and well being is most important than anything else. So it's knowing whether to get a much bigger cage for them all or to have 3 separate cages, one cage for 2 lovebirds?

In regards of the parents moving about their current cage.
They are constantly up and down climbing the bars and toys. But yes they do generally chill at the top perches and come down to play with the toys or for the seed and water.

They do have space to fly about in the cage also, they can easily fly through the gap between top and bottom. They generally have 2 to 3 hours out of the cage time each day when I get home from work also.

Though since the nesting they haven't been out as much, still nearly every day but for much less time. Mainly because the male seems to wynde the female up, repeatedly calling her out the nest and then flying off as she comes out.
So I close the cage up when he starts to do this. He probably only wants her to come out with him but she doesn't like it lol
 
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JonC

JonC

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I believe I have found the perfect cage 😊
 

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Kitekeeper

Well-known member
Jun 19, 2021
263
701
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Parrots
Budgerigar (Bud), Pacific Parrotlet (Sam), Roseicollis lovebird (BJ and Turq), Linneolated parakeet (Charlie and Emma)
believe I have found the perfect cage
Just PERFECT!!

Exactly my choice if I would put 6 lovebirds together.

I´ve said if, because a flock of lovebirds can be very loud. In my current residence it would be impossible as there is no escape route for their sound.

Regarding aggressiveness in lovebirds, I don´t think it is something you will experience with your birds. Lovebirds aggressive behaviour is more often linked to reproductive hormones. Females tend to be more aggressive than males. During nesting and baby raising I would not put two or more couples together unless I had a very big aviary (20 cubic meters).

A. fisheri and A. personata (which is your species) are less aggressive than A. roseicollis.

As your flock will be formed by siblings plus their parents living in a cage without nestboxes (that could trigger reproductive behaviour), I am optimistic you will not have problems.
 
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JonC

JonC

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Aug 19, 2021
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Lovebirds
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Just PERFECT!!

Exactly my choice if I would put 6 lovebirds together.

I´ve said if, because a flock of lovebirds can be very loud. In my current residence it would be impossible as there is no escape route for their sound.

Regarding aggressiveness in lovebirds, I don´t think it is something you will experience with your birds. Lovebirds aggressive behaviour is more often linked to reproductive hormones. Females tend to be more aggressive than males. During nesting and baby raising I would not put two or more couples together unless I had a very big aviary (20 cubic meters).

A. fisheri and A. personata (which is your species) are less aggressive than A. roseicollis.

As your flock will be formed by siblings plus their parents living in a cage without nestboxes (that could trigger reproductive behaviour), I am optimistic you will not have problems.

Yes I was thinking what the noise could be like if there was many? Lol

The male, his name is Chirpie as he chirps a lot. The female, named Misty, she is pretty quiet.
Though Chirpie is more vocal, his chirping is quite quiet majority of the time.
Other times it's louder but tolerable, though he does do the odd pitch that rings your ear drums lol
But that is usually when he can hear the wild birds singing in the trees outside.

Hopefully if the siblings only hear Chirpie, he'll teach them to chirp as quietly as he does.
Though since all the nesting and egg drama, the only time I've really heard them is when they are fighting or Chirpie is repeatedly calling Misty out when the cage door is open.

But I am hearing new sounds from the nest box, little hatchlings trying to find there voice already. So cute! Lol
 

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