How often do lovies try to ‘mate’?

[Birdie Mama]

hello,

I am new here but have had birds before but cannot remember one trying to mate like my Kiwi. He ( I assume ) is a single bird, and is just 14 months old, he keeps humping his one perch type donut multiple times a day, sometimes non stop for 10 minutes or so at a time. When he comes out, he tries to do it to my husband’s hand who is NOT impressed!! Does not do it to me at all. Yet he spends lots of time with me. This has been happening for the last 10 days or so. Would a female hump like that steady? I know sometimes a female might but this is excessive. The only 2 females we had never did at all and only one laid an egg once.

How long do they normally do this? My other birds over the last 40 years, I do not remember any of the males acting like that. One had a mate, but the other ones would hump their toys now and again but not steady like Kiwi. I do not want to remove his toy if I can help it and he stops if we distract him or give him a spritz of water but goes back to it

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas how long this will go on..going camping on the 12th for 10 days so hoping a change of scenery will put him over the urges! Maybe the wild birds in the trees will change his mind.

Thanks everyone, Birdie Mama

 

[Momo & Mido]

Momo does this too, daily on her blue tunnel. I have the feeling sometimes she does it to release some energy. If I let her fly more during the day she does it a lot less. But that's just my observation.

 

[Zara]

I´d love for you to meet my bird Sydney, I do not know the sex, but s/he is a machine! Humped that boing 4 times yesterday! And that´s just what I saw. He´s been in a relationship with that boing for a solid 3 years now. He does not try to mate with humans though, we do not allow that. He regurgitates for the duck or the wooden toy.

Leave Kiwi to hump his toy, and try to put him off doing bad things to your husband. He is happy and releasing sexual tension in the same way a single human does. Don´t spray him with water, or distract him. By not allowing his to hump the toy it could lead to the frustration building and result in stress related behaviours; biting, screaming, plucking etc.

You are taking Kiwi camping? That´s so cool! I´d love to read about your trip together when you are back

 

[Momo & Mido]

Isn't it nice when people take their birds out on trips! I would love to see some pictures of that!

 

[Leih]

@Birdie Mama have you taken your bird camping before? I might be going for an overnight later this month and was thinking about taking my conure. I'm just not sure of all the details about that.

 

[Birdie Mama]

Hello, we just got back tonight so will try to post a couple of pics of kiwi’s trip. He became Lord Suck Up as he spent more time out of the cage inside the tent trailer than he did in it. Had tons of rain so too cool to sit outside except for yesterday but he seemed to enjoy himself. He sucked up real good as soon as the cover came off to come out and would go straight to my sweater and climb in and go back to sleep. Threw kisses if he thought we were not taking him out fast enough. We are going again mid August and again mid September for 10 days each time.

 

[Birdie Mama]

Will post a bit more of what we do in case it can help you on your trip. Back in a day or so

 

[Birdie Mama]

 

[Zara]

Wow, a beautiful location!! I´m sure Kiwi had a great time!! Thankyou for sharing your photographs with us I love seeing birds outdoors safely

 

[Birdie Mama]

Leih

Hi again! So basically when we go camping we keep it simple but familiar for the birds.

For travelling, I have a hamster cage with a perch, food bowls, swing and a toy in it. I always make sure there is spray millet for the trip as well as usual food. Some water but not too much as it get slopped out and messes the cage should he want to go walk on the bottom. I have bottled water for his bowl, that I just refill as we go...our drive is usually about 5 hours each way.

For the campsite, I have the bigger cage from the pictures, plus I bring his favourite toys, 3-4, his swing, his fresh sprouts, and as we always take fresh vegs and fruit and hard boiled eggs that he is all familiar with and he also has his usual seeds. I try to bring a special treat such as a cinnamon stick broken into pieces as he loves to chew on that, or a honey stick etc...I only feed the cinnamon stick in pieces, and only one little piece every few days or so. I do not have the Ceylon kind so I limit his use of the Cassia cinnamon. At home he may only get a piece every couple of weeks. He does not actually eat it but he likes to break it up in tiny slivers/bits.

I make sure that I have a blanket to cover him with and in our case as we are in a tent trailer, always the heat ready in case it gets chilly due to rain. Such as this trip, it rained most of the time so our time outside was limited, and felt damp in the trailer, but I have a Mr. Buddy heater that is hooked up to a propane tank. I would have it on with only the pilot flame on, so it does not overheat the trailer as it is July but it is just enough to take the chill out of the air. If needed I turn it on to heat for a half hour or so and then back onto the pilot flame.

Normally I do not need to worry about this till the trip in Sept but this time around was real lousy weather and i wanted to make sure he did not catch a chill. Plus I’m a woose and I felt chilly so figured he might. When sitting outside, I have a clear plastic that i wrap the cage on 3 sides so he is always shielded from the wind and if not windy i just push the plastic down. He is in the sunshine, with always part of the top covered so he has shade if he wants. I also take a saucer plate from the bottom of a plant pot, that I can fill for his bath water. I take a ceramic one with the inside part glazed, so it is waterproof and heavy so he cannot tip it over, and as you can tell from one of the pic, he enjoyed it. Whenever we are inside the trailer he is loose, so he still has lots of free flight time and opportunities to get into trouble like at home. We try to keep the same basic routine as home, and for the drive itself, we always talk away with him. He is with us in between the two seats on top of the console so he can see outside as we drive.

This was his first camping trip and he seemed as comfortable with it all as if he was at home. Our other lovebird that was 17 years old when he passed often came camping with us as well as my parrotlets. Always only one bird though. We had the parrotlets at different times...When we had the two cockatiels, the original love bird would sometime stay home with them as we always have people come in to look after the garden on the balcony. But we never ever leave only one bird alone at home unless its only for two days max.

Now you will not need anything quite this big as I think you mentioned you are only going for one night or two? And depending on your traveling arrangements, bringing two cages maybe a hassle and your baby may be fine in the smaller cage for that period of time, but as we go for 10 days each time, is why we take the two size cages, and then he has a twice as big a cage for home that is way to big to bring along. Just make sure you he has favourite and familiar things along and talk to him lots on the drive so he can feel the calmness in your voice and he should be fine. Kiwi really enjoyed talking to the wild sparrows, and watching the hummingbirds come to the feeder we always set up for them. I think his favourite part was calling out and getting the echo back from his voice traveling across the lake, hit the cliff face and come back at him. The chipmunks even checked him out and he just stared at them as they ran around the campsite and the cage.

So hope this helps you feel more comfortable taking him along and I am sure he will enjoy it as much as you. Let us know how you make out and sorry for the long story! Just realized how much I wrote!!