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New young lovebirds

AviMom

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My roommate got 2 young lovebirds about a month ago. I help out with his birds, and love all species of birds. I have no experience with lovebirds, but know these are peach faced love birds. They are young, brothers i think, not sure of their sex.
My roommate hasn't even named them....not sure why he wanted them. I have been taking time to let them settle in. Ive talked to them, i clean their cage, ive given them toys for their cage. I have placed my hand on the sides of the cage while talking to them, and now inside the cage, moving my hand to different spots, leaving it for a bit, then moving it to a different spot.
They no longer freak out, one seems more comfortable with this than the other.
The one who is more comfortable came to the front of the cage today as i talked to them. It was right infront of my face looking back at me. Hes done this several times before. I placed a finger thru the bars, and he placed his beak on my finger, as if thinking it was food. He did this twice, and then i touched his foot that was on the bar of the cage. He didnt fly away, so i kept talking to him, and touched his foot again.
My question is what is the next step? Offering him food from my hand thru the bars a few times? Then offering food (treats) with my hand inside the cage, and so on?
I get the feeling this one wants to be friends, i just dont want to ruin the trust already built.
I know lovebirds are small, but smart.
 

DoubleTake

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Are the flighted? If you leave the door open do they want to come out? Try playing chriping lovebird videos to get them curious and want to come over to you. If you can hold the bird like this and use your other hand to rub their hand and beak, it is a good way to hand tame them.

If they are in the same cage....personally if these birds are siblings, i would get them tested to make sure they aren't brother and sister since we don't them reproducing.
 

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Feather

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I disagree. The above is an okay way to hold a lovebird who is already very comfortable with you - albeit a little too intimate for a mature lovebird - but not a good way to tame a bird who isn't already comfortable being handled. That technique is called flooding, and it teaches learned helplessness, not trust.

It sounds like you've made great progress so far! Offer some food in your hand inside the cage and see if you can coax them to eat from your palm. Draw your hand further and further from the perch or cage bars to encourage him to stand on your hand instead of just reaching from wherever he is standing. Do this for a few days until he's stepping up readily and trusts being on your hands and you can slowly begin bringing him out of the cage from there.
 

AviMom

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Your baby is so cute!!! They were clipped when we got them...but i think can fly a little. I kinda figured these were the next steps. Just going slow, and not forcing anything to quickly. I wish i could move them in my room to open the door and just let them out, but theyre in the bird room with African gray, an Amazon, and conures. Im afraid the try that if theyre not skilled flyers. Just landing on another birds cage could be dangerous for them.
Thank you both for your great advice!!
 

BirdField

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I know @Monica has some very good information on step-up training, which could help you get them to step up onto hands or perches eventually. I agree with Feather's advice, you've done great so far and you just need to keep taking it at their pace. Be sure to always reward any progress, no matter how small or easy it may seem! :)
 

Monica

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I would honestly say that you are on the right path. Do start feeding them by hand so that they'll learn to associate good things with you.

You can always look into target training as well and sometimes it's easier to teach one bird to target if another one already knows how to do it. Not saying you need to separate them to teach, just, monkey see, monkey do.
 

AviMom

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I have done target training with several species of our birds. My problem is time. Between working in another city, and doing all the care/cleaning of all the birds here, plus house work, cooking, cleaning, blah, blah, blah....as we all do, i find it hard to really work with the birds enough on a schedule to be effective.
Making chop for this flock is an all day affair once a week with shopping included.
Im currently hand raising Noel, plus we have Yorkie puppies born Dec 18. My roommate just expanded the koi pond, and the 90 yo lady with Alzheimer's i care for just broke her hip. Im not complaining,....just a bit overwhelmed and stressed right now.
****Looking forward to summer****
@Monica id like to meet you one day, you are awesome
 

Monica

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I guess that's the great thing about training! You can be a lazy trainer, only have a few minutes here or there, and still work with the birds! :) I get it though, sometimes we get wrapped up in our lives that everything is overwhelming and you need a break to recoup.

You certainly have your hands full! I can't imagine the pain the elderly patient must be in from breaking her hip though... ouch!


And perhaps someday we will meet! :) It's always fun getting to meet people you may have known for years or even a short while over the internet and you share a common interest! :heart: I've met a few people that I've known and chatted with before and love it! I even adopted Charlie from another member of an older forum (BB) and we still keep in touch every now and then or I occasionally visit her when I'm in the area! I've had Charlie for over 12 years now, too! And I have adopted a bird through this forum, but didn't get to meet her foster mom. Sadly, her life wasn't meant to be long, but I'm glad I was able to be a part of it.
 

Zara

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From what you´re saying it seems that your room mate does nothing with or for the birds... I don´t understand why he got them, Seems a little irresponsible to me :(

Lucky you are around! You seem to be doing well.

I know Brian mentioned above, but I´d like to reiterate the importance of getting a DNA test done on both to make sure your dont have a brother and a sister as they may need splitting up and put in seperate cages.

Good luck :)
 

Monica

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AviMom

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My roommate will be 82 this month. He loves animals, and i know he doesn't do all the things i might, or you might do with or for his birds or other animals. He has macular degeneration, so his sight is very limited. Its hard for him to do as much as he'd like.
 

Zara

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My roommate will be 82 this month. He loves animals, and i know he doesn't do all the things i might, or you might do with or for his birds or other animals. He has macular degeneration, so his sight is very limited. Its hard for him to do as much as he'd like.
Ah :(
When I read roommate I assumed you were in college or something, that teaches me not to assume!

My boyfriends uncle is in his 80s and having a lot of health problems, he is in a similar boat, his wife has taken over the cleaning of his bird cages etc. He has about 7 birds I think.

Again, It´s nice that you´re around to help :)
 

AviMom

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@Monica now that's a well trained bird!!! Sometimes I think if I just had one or two birds, mine would be that we'll trained. But I get so much joy out of the small steps i make with some of mine like Jorah, or tonight when Linus actually stepped up on my arm. I at least know I'm making progress.
But wow ! That is one well trained cockatoo!!!
 

AviMom

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Well, ive gotten one of these lovies to come to my finger thru the cage. However, he likes to bite me, and even though it doesn't hurt, and i dont react, i feel I'm re-enforcing bad behavior. Is this a good thing that it isnt afraid of my finger, or am i starting a bad president?
I feel like hes testing the waters, to see if my finger is a safe thing, or something to fear. Being unfamiliar with love birds, im not sure of their behaviors. Ive tried giving him treats from my fingers, but he seems fearful of the treat, yet not of my finger.
I have not tried approaching him in the cage with my hand, but have put my hand in the cage, holding it against the sides, or resting it on perches, just to get them used to my hand.
 

Zara

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Lovebirds are territorial and you are approaching their land.
You may be better doing this outside the cage, maybe on a stand if you have one.

Not all of mine are like that but Aldora will bite hard (she´s untame) if i put my fingers near her cage, so I don´t do it. I approach her when she´s out of the cage and I have less bites. My man takes the approach you are taking, he lets her bite him without pulling away (Hell knows how because it hurts!!!!) and he´ll stay there, and she won´t bite a second time. When he approaches her cage and the rare occasion she doesn´t bite he gives her sunflower seeds.

Sydney (sex unknown, I´ll refer as male) is my little baby, I hand raised him, he´s so tame and will come when I call him (unless he´s found a new toy or something more interesting) but same thing, If I put my fingers through his cage he will attack me. If i put my hand in his cage it is not an issue, he will step right on it ready to go out to fly. I don´t take it personally, it´s his space. He has never bitten anyone apart from if someone put their fingers in his cage.
 

AviMom

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My main problem is the cage they're in is large and i can't get them in a safe room to let them out but I'd love to. The bird room has 11' ceilings, and African grays, amazons, and conures. Even in the cage, they will bite toes of another bird who lands on the cage. Its difficult to move easily around the cages to help a small bird if it were in trouble.
Its designed more toward the larger birds. Oliver, a quaker, is easy to bring in my room for free time. The conures hold their own against the ags, and zon. Would it be detrimental to towel the lovebirds to bring them into my room? Id think that would
destroy any trust. Maybe i should suggest to my roommate moving the lovebirds cage in my room for a while all together. :bpflb:
 

Monica

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I agree about avoiding bites although it's a good idea to figure out if a bird is being curious or looking to bite.

That said, I do highly recommend training around or in the cage to avoid cage aggression issues, so if you can interact with them in a manner that doesn't result in biting while in or on the cage, that's great! If possible, avoid forcing the bird away from the cage as forcing away from the cage can cause cage aggression. Target training can be beneficial for teaching a bird to come in or out of a cage.
 

AviMom

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Im trying to find a treat they like. Ive tried sunflower seeds, millet, bits of pineapple, bits of apple, and orange slices.
So far, they wont take anything from my hand. But one comes to just my hand. The bites are not hard, its more like testing, or tasting even.
My roommates birds are all eating chop now. Kind of a different topic, except the love birds have taken to it so quickly, Oliver too. I finally have all the birds on chop, fresh fruit for snacks, now to convince the roommate to get pellets again. It makes me happy when i walk in the bird room in the morning with chop, and the birds all go to their food dishes with excitement over fresh food.
 

Monica

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If they wont take it directly from your hand, just try leaving it in their cage each time that you go by. Then slowly work up to taking from your hand.
 

AviMom

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Recently i read you can give birds whole wheat toast. Im not real keen on this but wanted to see how the birds reacted to the new treat.
Long story short, the friendlier lovebird ate it from my hand!! First treat he has taken, so......progress, yay!!
 
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