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Help! My Lovie is a Terror

Tiff_the_Lovie

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Anne Coulter
I adopted my very first bird, a peach-faced lovebird, from a local pet store 3 years ago. (My lovie, Tiff, was brought into the pet store by a lady who no longer wanted her.) At first she was shy but friendly. After a few months she began biting and it has gotten progressively worse since then. I'm so tired of dealing with her and I don't know what to do. Most days I can't even get her out of her cage because she draws blood. I feel so bad leaving her in her cage everyday.
 

Garet

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How do you get her out of her cage? My lady lovies would rip my hand off if I tried to force them out, even if they're very sweet on me and sleep in my shirt and come to me for cuddles and love. Just leave the cage door open and allow her to come out if she wants. If you set up a fun area outside the cage, she'll come out.

Also you have to listen to her warnings. Most of the time, my lovebirds do give warnings before they bite (I'd say about 80% of the time, I get an obvious warning and no bite compared to the 20% of the time I get a bite and no warning). Yours may not because she may no longer trust you to listen to her warnings. You gotta build that trust back up.
 

nu2birds

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My birds do like to come out of their cage..........so if I have to catch them for any reason......or if I simply want to let them out, I just open the cage door and go about my business. They will eventually come out on their own, it may take 10 minutes or so.

You have had her for three years now........is there a pattern? Do you think she is hormonal because it is Spring and the days are getting longer. I was wondering if she had done this in previous years and then got over it?
 

sunnysmom

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I fostered a lovie for awhile and he was pretty cage territorial. Can you work with her outside of the cage? As suggested, let her come out on her own?
 

Tiff_the_Lovie

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Anne Coulter
Thanks for the feedback guys!

@Garet I usually try getting her out of her cage with my hands. She doesn't like to come out willingly. When I open the cage doors she will sit on the door but as soon as anyone comes near she heads straight back inside. I have tried using perches and towels to take her out as well but I always end up bitten. I feel like a horrible bird owner for letting her stay in the cage all the time.

@nu2birds She has been like this for the past 2 and a half years. About 6 months she had a shift in her temperament. She became very aggressive and started biting people for no reason. It has gotten to the point where no one trust her anymore (I'm the only one who takes her out of her cage. She seems to be super territorial and hormonal all times of the year (Even in the winter). She is also a chronic layer. Once every 1 to 2 months she lays a clutch of 4-6 eggs. The aggressiveness and biting gets worse before her eggs, when she starts nesting, and seems to die down a little bit afterwards.

@sunnysmom I've tried working with her outside the cage but she doesn't seem to have interest in anything. When I take her downstairs (Her cage is in my bedroom upstairs) she just flies back to the stairs and goes to her cage.
 

Anfsurfer

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Open her door and let her be. As Garet said, any of my birds would freak if I stuck my hands in and tried to grab them! Of 28 Lovebirds I have...only 1 will step up when I put my hand in their cage. My Lutino Opaline hen and she's the queen bee of the entire flock. Go figure.
Don't feel sorry for her not coming out of her cage. It's what she wants and feels comfortable with obviously. Let her be, and maybe you'll be surprised and some changes down the line.
 

LunaLovebird

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As others have said, let her be when you open the cage. If she wants to come out she will. Forcing her will just result in bites, as you are experiencing. Does she bite outside the cage or just when you are getting her out? My hen Luna can be an absolute nightmare sometimes, so she ends up spending more time in her cage than Ani (who is essentially cage free). We have her trained to step up so if she is being a pest she is easily removed or returned to her cage. It’s also a convenient tool for gently separating her beak from skin without simply transferring it to other bits of skin.
 

MahaSarah

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Poor little bird.

My two female Lovebirds were biters and I worked with them day and night to get them to stop biting and now they don't really bite! Only when I bother them, & if they had enough of me they bite lol.

I would like to point out that personality of a bird has a lot to do with genetics. The parents of the two Lovebirds were biters and once I realized that the female babies were nippers I immediately stopped breeding the parents. (They had two clutches before I realized there was a pattern here) I rehomed the parents to someone who has a large beautiful outdoor aviary where they wouldn't be breed.

Changing the built-in personality in a Lovebird can be done but it can be very difficult. In this situation, it sounds like your lovebird has made up her mind that she would rather try to be a mother than interact with people.

I may suggest for the wellbeing of your bird to maybe rehome her (since she is in a cage most of the time like you say) to someone who has a large aviary with other birds she can mingle with because it seems like she doesn't really like human contact.

Good luck for you and your little one!
 

Porter

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Cage rotation and structured times and a schedule to follow often helps with cage aggression and hormonal tendencies

Get her another small cage for downstairs and move her down to it for five to seven hours a day.

Feed her in this cage but only her favorite things. Take away anything she can use to build a nest and adjust her sleep schedule accordingly.

This has helped with all cage aggressive birds I've worked with.
 

lisaraby

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If it makes you feel any better, I had a peach-face for 24 years and (stupidly) we didn't know how to parent a bird so he didn't get half as much outside cage time as he needed. And he lived to be 24! If she wants to be in her cage, that's not the end of the world. However, I would suggest that you remove whatever she's nesting with. She seems to be nesty ALL THE TIME if she lays every month. To get her hormones to reduce, I would take out whatever is prompting her to lay eggs. Nesting material, boxes, any and everything. Give her toys that she can't nest with and foraging toys to give her something to do when she's in her cage. Additionally, make coming out of her cage fun and rewarding - maybe move a favourite toy outside, on a little stand, with a treat? Regardless - good luck!!
 

Nancy B

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I had a female peach faced, we got her soon after she was weaned and wanted her as a friend to our Fischer lovebird, Rascal. Rascal was 3 yrs old when Olivia came to us, he was fully tame. Too tame, he wanted to be with me every minute all day and night, so decided a friend would be great. Olivia and Rascal had a clutch of 3 babies and I kept the whole family. The only female was Olivia, the babies were all boys. All the babies had their dad's wonderful temperament. Olivia would never hand tame for as long as we had her. Then I discovered the reason was control. She always had to have the upper hand. I would take her out on a wooden dowel rod, she would climb on it, twirl around on it, fly around the room and come when I called her. She was great but no touching. Some just don't like being touched. So we respected that. For a little while I tried and tried to get her to accept touching but decided it wasn't worth it. She hated that kind of interaction. The other four boys liked it, I have two brothers left now, they are 14, I lost their mom when she was 11 due to an aneurysm, she had blood coming out of her cyres. Rascal died at 16, one of the babies choked on a bead from a toy. I guess the point is, don't force it, you can still interact with her, get a dowel rod from a craft store and do something fun with her. :)
 
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