Update!
I got their a&e flight cage and transferred them into it with no nest box and a nice blanket over the back but there was a problem I should have seen coming - no food doors! Asha HATED it and went into a full panic whenever I had to feed/water or pull toys and perches for cleaning and rotation. I was very afraid she’d hurt herself again so I moved them back into a smaller cage without the nest box. But somehow a damage had been done. Posha (DNA’d female!) was doing very well and really coming along but Asha was deteriorating. She started plucking and then fighting with Posha. I didn’t know what to do but what I was doing wasn’t working.
Around this time as I was thinking I was just failing them both miserably, a friend and neighbor of mine (Addy) who had two PFLs contacted me very upset because she’d discovered her two “girls” had had a chick and two eggs! She’d not had birds before and thought all birds need a nest box to sleep in. To her credit, this chick is the quietest lovebird I have ever known so was large and quiet feathered by the time s/he was discovered. Addy wanted exactly and only two lovebirds and wanted girls, my girls needed help and so did her lovebirds. I asked if she wouldn’t mind conducting an experiment with me, I’d take her family and she’d take my Asha and Posha.
I wanted to know if Asha would be happier in a household without other birds. Maybe being in that crowded aviary she grew up in traumatized her in a way I couldn’t heal with my flock around. I told her about the blanket and not to ever use a nest box. I explained Asha was skittish and would need time to come around, the nest box would only worsen her fear. Addy was happy to help them and to have someone take over the unexpected male and chick fiasco!
I want to say I hated to let them go, but Asha stopped plucking! She stopped fighting Posha completely and actually lets Addy stick her hands in the cage without disintegrating into a flurry of panic! Maybe she likes Addy more haha but maybe it was the dog, the birds, the noise and bustle of my house that Addy doesn’t have or want. I am positive that entering a calm and quiet house with a very sweet retired mom who wants and loves them exactly as they are made all the difference in the world. Before I moved I asked Addy if she would keep them and she cried she was so happy, and a little afraid I would take them back now that Asha has improved. I know a family when I see it and they have so clearly become one. I’m thrilled! Not only are
her girls loved, they are so happy with Addy! I know they are home, with their mom, exactly where they are supposed to be. I would love to visit them, but I want to give them time first, just in case Asha associates me with any trauma that echoed from her past into her time with me. Obviously it doesn’t hurt that I inherited a family of lovies in need too, but this is a happy ending that for a moment, I feared I wouldn’t see.
Two survivors indeed! I am so proud of them!!
