Break aggressive behavior?

[Mary Whisnant]

I took this baby lovebird away from the parents at 2 weeks old and have been hand feeding it ever since. She is almost 4 weeks old now. Everytime I go to handle or feed her she puffs up and snaps at me. I assume it's a female because of the attitude. Is there any advise on how to break her of this behavior? She is the only one of the 3 babies that does this.

 

[msplantladi]

I am going to go out on a limp here & take the chance of getting banned from this site-IMHO taking any baby bird or otherwise from its mother to soon is depriving it of a bonding period. Yes I know the belief in doing so is to have the bird bond with the human better-sorry I disagree.

 

[JLcribber]

I took this baby lovebird away from the parents at 2 weeks old

Everytime I go to handle or feed her she puffs up and snaps at me.

Go figure eH! I would not expect anything less. The problem is not the bird.

 

[Brittany0208]

I took this baby lovebird away from the parents at 2 weeks old

Right there is where you made your mistake. Why did you take the baby away?

 

[Mary Whisnant]

Both parents are highly aggressive and are unable to be handled. Any breeder website I visited said to take the baby away from the parents around 2 weeks or when their eyes start to open if you want the bird to bond with you. All I want is a bird that I can handle and love. I feel like if I would have left it with the parents any longer then it would have picked up on their aggressive traits, or maybe that has already happened.

 

[Brittany0208]

Both parents are highly aggressive and are unable to be handled. Any breeder website I visited said to take the baby away from the parents around 2 weeks or when their eyes start to open if you want the bird to bond with you. All I want is a bird that I can handle and love. I feel like if I would have left it with the parents any longer then it would have picked up on their aggressive traits, or maybe that has already happened.

Are they aggressive with you or the baby? Also, is this your first time breeding?

 

[Mary Whisnant]

The parents are aggressive to me. I have tried for over a year and a half to work with them and handle them daily to try and tame them but all I've ended up with is bloody fingers. I figured that since they started laying eggs I would let them hatch a clutch and I would keep one for myself that would be tame and bond with me. I'm only allowing them to breed this one time.

 

[Brittany0208]

The parents are aggressive to me. I have tried for over a year and a half to work with them and handle them daily to try and tame them but all I've ended up with is bloody fingers. I figured that since they started laying eggs I would let them hatch a clutch and I would keep one for myself that would be tame and bond with me. I'm only allowing them to breed this one time.

They may not like human contact, and the fact that you don't know what you're doing is scary. I would put the baby back and let the parents raise it, or contact a professional breeder and let them help you. Most birds don't like to be handled, and removing a baby from the nest doesn't mean it will bond to you. It means you are depriving it of learning to be a bird. If the parents are not aggressive with the baby, put it back and leave it there. Also, please don't breed your birds if you have no clue what you're doing. Things can go south very quickly! If you want an animal to bond with you, a dog or a cat are better options, and most don't mind being cuddled.

 

[msplantladi]

Ok couple questions...did you purposely get the two original birds for breeding? Have you been successful at bird raising in the past? 9 x's out of 10 as long as two birds live in the same cage they will bond with each other and not a human-yes there are exceptions to every situation but if these birds have always lived together the chances of getting them to bond to you are slim unless they are young and you house them separately. The subject of breeding is a very controversial one-you have ask people & you are going to get several different opinions. I highly suggest for your sake & any bird you have to please read and soak up all the information you can. You have to decide do you want a pet bird or a breeding bird? But once again i stand by my belief the baby bird shouldn't have been taken from the parents-you can watch and observe when they are done parenting. Then you will need to learn the whole trust issue to have a bird become a pet. Keeping birds can be complicating but not if you educate yourself.

 

[msplantladi]

↑
The parents are aggressive to me. I have tried for over a year and a half to work with them and handle them daily to try and tame them but all I've ended up with is bloody fingers. I figured that since they started laying eggs I would let them hatch a clutch and I would keep one for myself that would be tame and bond with me. I'm only allowing them to breed this one time.
........what are your plans for the bonded pair after they raise this baby? How have you tried to bond w/ the pair? what methods are you doing? A bird has to need/want something from you-your hands are big & scary to them...you need to build trust with them before even attempting to hold them. My fear is you are going to get very frustrated with this situation because I am assuming ( & oh I hate to assume) you lack experience & that's not a bad thing , we all started somewhere but you have chosen a hard way to start. I have both lovebirds & cockitiels -bonded pairs-they will never be cuddly pets, I have accepted them for that and they live a very happy life here. We all I am sure would be thrilled to help but its you that has to decide what you want and be willing to be open to all advise-I wish you the best and truly hope you don't feel like we have ganged up on you but we as bird lovers see this time and time again and since animals don't have a voice we are their voices

 

[Mary Whisnant]

When I was 10 years old my parents bought me a baby lovebird from a breeder. I spent days with the breeder learning how to successfully hand feed it. It was the most loving, cuddly bird. Not long after that, I also got a quaker, same thing. They both lived a long, great life. Now, as a middle aged adult, I wanted to get back into birds. I "adopted" the lovebirds from a person that was unable to care for them. I was told they were still young, so I figured I would try and work with them to see what I could do. I tried slowly to get them to trust me by talking to them constantly, opening the door to their cage to explore on their own, treat training, bath tub training ect. You name it, I tried it on a daily basis.
This has gone on for a year and a half and still, the only thing I get are bloody fingers and ears! I have accepted the fact that I will only be able to enjoy looking at them.
In the meantime, I also bought a baby green cheek conure from a breeder that I hand raised and is now the sweetest thing!
When the lovebirds started breeding, I figured I would let them hatch one clutch and I could keep one of the babies. They had 3 babies and the only one that is showing aggressiveness is the oldest. I'm just trying to figure out why.
I plan on keeping the parents, but, as I am not a breeder, I will have to take their eggs so that I don't accumulate a lovebird farm.

 

[msplantladi]

Ok to be honest i feel better knowing you have some bird experience. I would for sure let the parent finish feeding him and let him have that bonding. I believe at 6-8 weeks and please someone correct if i am off, I would then house him in a cage of his own away from the parents, you are going to go through the typical crying and separation anxiety just like a baby . If you know how to properly fill his crop while feeding you could try that for bonding. All this is going to take lots of time & patience's.

 

[Mary Whisnant]

She loves her Mama now! My sweet girl!