Lovebird Aggression

[Elliot Blossom]

Hello everyone,
I am new here and am wondering if anyone has some advice about what to do to help my lovebird's aggression. She is 8 nearly 9 months old. I hand-raised her and there is no other words for it then she HATES me. She LOVES my mum and is very territorial over her cage. We did give her a little 'nest' like cave. We have now stripped her cage of her nest, toys and left her perches, food and water. I know it seems mean, but her aggression is SO bad now I don't know what to do and stripping her cage has helped. I can't even ask her to step up without being attacked and she bites so hard she gets her wings involved. She loves to bite, drink the blood and then try and peel more skin off to drink more blood. I don't know what to do and the aggression is mainly towards me. Please help.

 

[nu2birds]

Well........taking the "nest like cave" out was definitely the best idea. I think you have a ripe hormonal female Lovebird on your hands, it's Spring!! Don't take all of her toys out, she's not being a bad girl, she's just acting out her hormones. Others will hopefully chime in and give some more advice. How many hours of light are you giving her at this point? It's a combination of things that make her so incorrigible right now. Firstly she is probably hormonal, longer daylight hours and plentiful food supply all contribute to hormonal behavior. So one thing you can do is cut back on her daylight hours. When she is like this don't push her, just give her her space..........this will pass or at least get better, hormones do calm down they are cyclical. Lovebirds are by nature cantankerous and moody, but they are also sweet and endearing. Good luck with your little girl. BTW........this is why I have two boys, LOL. I didn't want to deal with all of that.

 

[Elliot Blossom]

Thank you, for all your help. Definetely fits her behaviour. At the moment she is getting sunlight from when I wake up about 6:00 am and when the sun goes down, so basically all day. I will definetely try and cut down on her daylight hours. I have only taken her toys away for a day now and am gradually giving them back as she becomes less hostile. Thanks again for your help and I will definetely try what you said

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the forum Bill,

Best to put your bird on an 11-13 (11 hours awake, 13 covered).

Give her all her toys back. If she gets bored she will be frustrated and will make up her own games that involves biting.
Be careful which toys you give her though, any with shreddable parts are a no no. And definitely not the nesty cave thing, you may as well toss that.

Do you provide any foraging activities? I feel this is super important to keep the bird busy and entertained when not out flying.

Also, rearrange the cage every week; perches, toys, everything. Move the food bowl too. I like to leave water in the same place.

What size is the cage? The bigger the cage, the happier the bird.

 

[Elliot Blossom]

Thank you for your help. OKay I will definetely try the 11-13. It is hard to re-arrange her toys when she is so aggressive as I can hardly get near her cage, but nevertheless I will give it a go. She has a medium sized cage and at the moment I am working on building her a large cage. I will definitely try some foraging activities for her. Do you think once she settles down a bit maybe to get her a friend? I have been thinking of this and am not sure if it is a good idea or not. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Zara]

It is hard to re-arrange her toys when she is so aggressive as I can hardly get near her cage,

I have the same issue, so I do it when she´s out.
I have a 30x18x36, I can do some quick toy changes and clean up, but not my favourite thing to do whilst she´s in there, that´s for sure!

I will definitely try some foraging activities for her

You can buy toys or create your own, that way you can keep switching up the activity to keep it interesting.

Here´s a link to some foraging toys suited to your bird Foraging Toys Go for wooden or plastic toys and try to avoid ones with lots of paper type parts - you can contact the owner if you need help.

Do you think once she settles down a bit maybe to get her a friend?

I feel this is a roll of the dice.
Before bringing home a birdy friend, be prepared for worst case scenario, which is, they won´t get along. It will mean two cages, two sets of toys, possible separate flight times depending on how bad their relationship is.
I brought home Jaime to be a buddy to my single lovebird Sydney... They get on, but it´s not love.
Two birds need to be completely bonded (for at least a week or so) to be housed together. You will know if they are bonded, they will eat together, nap together, play together, fly together, preen each other, bathe together etc.

 

[Elliot Blossom]

Thank you so much! This was so helpful. Yes I definetely would be prepared for the worse, I think she would really like a buddy and let's face it, I would love to have another bird as well. Gives me a few things to think about. Just thought I would let you know I gave her back all her toys back, rearranged her cage and got rid of her nest. I am also going to try the 11-13 this week. I can already see the difference, I put my hand in her cage and she stepped up nicely with only a gentle nip, still agressive at times but at least I get a bit of love. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Zara]

I think she would really like a buddy and let's face it, I would love to have another bird as well.

If you get a male, be prepared to switch up the eggs - boil, cool and replace, or use dummy eggs.


I´m glad things are getting back to normal for your bird

 

[Elliot Blossom]

Okay, thank you

 

[Monica]

I would recommend target training and station training through the cage bars.

Free Training Resources | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

 

[Elliot Blossom]

@Monica
Thank you, I will look into it and give it a go

 

[Leih]

My female lovebird will be 1 May first and she's not been as bad as all this, she has been a jerk. I rearranged the cage, moved up to 13 hrs dark, offered more veggies and less nutriberries, and also started doing a foraging bowl that Zara Recommended. After a week she has improved. I'm still on 13 hrs, but I'll try to go back to 12 in a few more weeks. Oh and she's been absolutely destroying her toys! Which is a good thing but I laugh when I see them because they are such an indicator of her frustration! I've also heard that the first mating season is usually the worst.

 

[Zara]

Oh and she's been absolutely destroying her toys!

I have temporarily renamed Aldora, The Destroyer. 2 cotton perches down. about 6 toys wood and plastic, a plastic water bowl, and she has now started on her last cotton boing perch I ordered more stuff and perches but I can´t keep up, she will end up in an empty cage if this carries on!

 

[Leih]

I have temporarily renamed Aldora, The Destroyer. 2 cotton perches down. about 6 toys wood and plastic, a plastic water bowl, and she has now started on her last cotton boing perch I ordered more stuff and perches but I can´t keep up, she will end up in an empty cage if this carries on!

Hahhaa I was calling Aoife The Destroyer too! I have a ridiculous quantity of toy parts so I have so far been able to keep up. She has slowed down a bit and thankfully she leaves her perches alone!

 

[Zara]

You can reuse those two nibbled pieces there in a foraging bowl

 

[Elliot Blossom]

@Leih
That's so good! Elliot destroys anything she is able to put in her feathers... We have had to 'discuss' not to chew my books! She is very funny though

 

[Elliot Blossom]

Just thought I would give an update on Elliot...
I have tried all of the things recommended by all you lovely people on here. I think the main issue is she has bonded with my Mum and sees me as a 'threat'. As Lovebirds are a one person bird mainly, or so I have heard. I am not sure what to do. This has happened before with my Cockatiel, Willow, I thought it might be different this time, but it turns out my Mum is just to appealing! Everything she does is amazing to Elliot, no matter what it is.
Elliot has learnt to 'behave' herself when my Mum is watching and will only give gentle nips if my Mum is close by, though if she turns her head away, Elliot expresses just how much she dislikes me. She forgets about the evidents she leaves on my fingers with all the bite marks and bleeding. Hopefully she will get better, so we will give it time. Thank you everyone for all your help

 

[Leih]

That's no good! Does she allow you to handle her? Sounds like not really since she bites ... Maybe try building a new relationship with her, starting with target training and no touching. Target training is awesome, they learn how to do it in literally 5 minutes and then you can use it for all kinds of things. My lovebird has had a habit of biting my hand when I ask her to step up, so I've been reinforcing the no bite by using a target. Also, learning how to tell when she's going to bite to stop her from biting before she does it. When they are horizontal they're going for a bite. It seems like she should be able to learn to accept you at least....

 

[Elliot Blossom]

@Leih
No, she doesn't let me handle her, only occassionally pets if her chosen person (my mum) is holding her so I can pet her. Okay, I will definetely give target training a try. Hopefully she will settle down soon with working new strategies out to help her. Yes I can tell when she is going to bite, but as soon as I pull away she launches and gets me! Every time without fail, she's just too quick