New Lovebird, advice please

[Rainer1]

A little back story, I keep budgies because I had 15 at one point I've gotten a bit of a rep as a bird man. Anyway I was handed a lovebird to watch (for about a month) a year ago. As I now have a lovebird I was hoping for some advice and suggestions for reading material to brush up on lovebirds. Oscar (The lovebird) has been living with my budgies for about the last 10 months and I've been treating him like a budgie.

He was plucking, sitting on the bottom of the cage and not not eating so I put him in the flight cage with the budgies since he seemed to perk up alot when they where out near him. But I don't really know what to do with a lovebird other then adding a dish of lovebird food.

How do you determine a lovebirds gender? When I got Oscar I was told he was a boy but she seems to have paired with one of my male budgies and claimed one of the food dishes as a nest.

 

[metalstitcher]

They need toys. They need things to tear up and shred. Also you will want to try and switch him/her to a pellet diet if you can. Toys are a big thing for them though. When they get bored they pluck or lonely. Do you have any photos of your lovie by chance? The flight cage is a good change they need space as for the food dish turned into a nesting area @Fluffyparrot might more info on this. My two are in separate cages and bonded to two different people so my situation is different.

 

[Lady Jane]

Hello Lovebird parent. Its very true Lovies love things they can get their beaks into like balsa wood and anything made of paper like cardboard packing material or old egg cartons. Sounds like you have a female. I just did a DNA not long ago and also have a female. They can do bites at times. Very active birds so out of cage time is good for them. I think Lovebirds love your attention but on "their own" terms. They are smart little birds with a touch of mischief every now and then.

 

[JLcribber]

If he's already living, interacting and part of the flock then most of the work is done. What they really want is companionship and a sense of belonging. He has that. What do all these birds live in?

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome to the forum! It's usually hard to visually sex lovebirds. We might be able to tell you what mutation he is if you can post a picture.

 

[expressmailtome]

Unless a sex-linked mutation is involved, or he/she is a Madagascar lovebird, Abyssinian lovebird, or red-faced lovebird, then you can not tell visually.

 

[Lady Jane]

Matt where did you get all your Lovebird knowledge. You are out go to person here for Lovies.

 

[expressmailtome]

Matt where did you get all your Lovebird knowledge. You are out go to person here for Lovies.

I do quite a bit of reading both in books, and online. I find it fascinating that there are so many possibilities.

 

[Rainer1]

This is roughly what (s)he looks like but it's from google. (s)he keeps flying away when I walk up with my iPhone.


http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p292/birds8/morgjansm90.jpg


As for what Oscar lives in currently. (s)he is sharing a double flight cage with 3 Budgies.


This is photo is also from google and is the approximate of the cage. I added a better lock to the doors due to escape issues.


http://www.discountparrotsupplies.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/sonnylouiedoubleflight1.jpg


The Sofa had to go to fit it in the living room.

 

[Anfsurfer]

The bird in the picture is a Blackmasked Lovebird. The mutation is DD Blue. (The D's stand for Dark Factors). That bird carries two, which turns the birds color from Blue to Grey.
FYI: You cannot sex a Lovebird by Sex-linked mutations without knowing which of the parents carried the mutation. And if both parents are visuals of the sex-link mutation, then all babies are visuals. So it's not always possible to even do.

 

[JulieAnn]

I wouldn't trust a lovebird with budgies. They are too too aggressive. But that's just my opinion. You can either keep male and female, or two males. Females together aren't a good thing they will fight to the death. Becareful parakeets should not be caged with a lovebird. First let them out together see how they get along. Watch them at all times if you insist on caging them together.