New Lovebird Mom!

[Lysh87]

Hi everyone, I have just purchased two female baby lovebirds (they get along just fine as they were raised in the same home). My question is has anyone successfully been able to have their lovebirds bond with them when they have two lovebirds? I’ve heard they will bond with each other and be aggressive/uninterested in their owner I want them both to bond with me.

 

[Flboy]

Yes, it does happen. But! Lovebirds are skittish by nature, so it may be a tough ride!
Welcome to you!

 

[Lysh87]

Yes, it does happen. But! Lovebirds are skittish by nature, so it may be a tough ride!
Welcome to you!

Well that’s not encouraging haha. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Kitekeeper]

Welcome to the forum and to lovebirds Lysh!

Lovebirds are some of my favourite parrot species! They are REALLY clever, albeit very few come to talk words.

Yes, they can be skittish as Flboy said, but that depends a lot on the bird personality and the species. Which species are yours from? Masked lovebirds are a little bit more shy than the peachfaced lovebirds.

I have had a few and all of them had different personalities. At least twice I had adult female that bonded with me with little effort from me. They just had that curious personalities and seemed to like to have me around. Sometimes I felt they would rather being alone and have my full attention than share a cage with another lovebird

Having two birds is always a situation where they can be enough to each other and you will be left out most of the time. There is no guarantee this will happen however. Try to observe if one of your females is interested in you, if she looks you in the eyes and follow your eyes movement. That´s a promising sign of a bird that wants more from you than food and shelter. Building trust however is a long path with lovebirds, but entirely doable. Talk to them all the time with a sweet voice and find out what they LOVE to eat.

Handfed babies are the best approach to have a tamed lovebird, but that´s not your case. Another good activity to create bonding is to allow a pair of birds to reproduce and provide assistance during the whole process. Reproduction triggers a lot of mature attitudes in the birds, including became more pragmatic to your presence and learn to depend more on you.

 

[Lysh87]

Welcome to the forum and to lovebirds Lysh!

Lovebirds are some of my favourite parrot species! They are REALLY clever, albeit very few come to talk words.

Yes, they can be skittish as Flboy said, but that depends a lot on the bird personality and the species. Which species are yours from? Masked lovebirds are a little bit more shy than the peachfaced lovebirds.

I have had a few and all of them had different personalities. At least twice I had adult female that bonded with me with little effort from me. They just had that curious personalities and seemed to like to have me around. Sometimes I felt they would rather being alone and have my full attention than share a cage with another lovebird

Having two birds is always a situation where they can be enough to each other and you will be left out most of the time. There is no guarantee this will happen however. Try to observe if one of your females is interested in you, if she looks you in the eyes and follow your eyes movement. That´s a promising sign of a bird that wants more from you than food and shelter. Building trust however is a long path with lovebirds, but entirely doable. Talk to them all the time with a sweet voice and find out what they LOVE to eat.

Handfed babies are the best approach to have a tamed lovebird, but that´s not your case. Another good activity to create bonding is to allow a pair of birds to reproduce and provide assistance during the whole process. Reproduction triggers a lot of mature attitudes in the birds, including became more pragmatic to your presence and learn to depend more on you.

Thank you. They are Fischer black-masked. Both are girls. They have been hand fed

 

[Kitekeeper]

They have been hand fed

That´s great!! There are many threads in this forum that will teach you how to bond with them, good luck!

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you and your pair of lovebirds! Check this thread for helpful bonding/building trust ideas!
https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/tips-for-bonding-and-building-trust.49144/

 

[parrotbob]

We have had many lovebirds come through our shelter. "Typically," the ones that come in pairs are unsocialized, while the singles tend to be much more likely to be somewhat or fully socialized. I have come to believe it is all about the foundation you build. We currently have four peachfaced lovebirds that came into the shelter when they were not quite two weeks old. The mother was stressed beyond belief and abandoned them as soon as they arrived. We successfully weaned all four of them and they have become permanent residents here. They are about one year old now. They love to be out of their cage and get into all sorts of mischief, but they are very interactive and sweet -- will land on and hang out with anyone in the room. In their cage they will jostle for a front-row view of whoever is nearest and will nibble playfully on fingers and give kisses. They have never shown any signs of aggression and have remained socialized so far with very little "work" to keep them that way.

Realizing this isn't going to be the case for every other group of lovebirds out there, it has shown us that if you can get to a level of socialization and keep the birds there, things tend to work out well. But if you lose interest or some other twinkly object gets in the way, they can turn inward and revert to their natural, feral state.

 

[Mikey&Levi]

Thank you. They are Fischer black-masked. Both are girls. They have been hand fed

Nono if you're never planning on breeding them in the far future, seperare them, they will bond like crazy and eventually mate even though they're females, females are known to be territorial when older they will reject any other bird, males will mean nothing to them and they will only interact with each other, so you should separate them or introduce a male chick to break the lesbian bond lol.

 

[deemarie]

Hi everyone, I have just purchased two female baby lovebirds (they get along just fine as they were raised in the same home). My question is has anyone successfully been able to have their lovebirds bond with them when they have two lovebirds? I’ve heard they will bond with each other and be aggressive/uninterested in their owner I want them both to bond with me.

I have a lovebird, he is 5 years old and one of the greatest pets I have had. It took me approximately 3 months to train him and now he is cuddly and loving. It takes patience and time alone, I read taking them in your room on your bed wings clipped and handle them alot. I had my lovebird's wings clipped twice in the beginning and now he has free flight, it made for easier handling. As for two, I have heard they will do exactly what you referenced. I am happy with just one, he is the best. He is not skittish.

 

[Lysh87]

I have a lovebird, he is 5 years old and one of the greatest pets I have had. It took me approximately 3 months to train him and now he is cuddly and loving. It takes patience and time alone, I read taking them in your room on your bed wings clipped and handle them alot. I had my lovebird's wings clipped twice in the beginning and now he has free flight, it made for easier handling. As for two, I have heard they will do exactly what you referenced. I am happy with just one, he is the best. He is not skittish.

Oh this is so helpful!! Thank you!! I will be patient. They are always wanting to be on me but now they have started biting. Trying to figure out how to stop that.