Lovebird family

[HotSauce]

I have a family of 4 lovebirds. Mommy, Daddy, Daughter, and Son. Mommy and Daddy were (obviously) a bonded pair, and Daughter and Son also seemed to bond although they were only kept together for the first few months of their lives. I have a 2x2 cage which is 2 sections on top with a divider between them, and 2 sections on bottom with no divider (so the bottom is like one long cage). The girls are in the top cages (separated because they are aggressive toward each other), and the boys are on the bottom. The boys are cool with each other so we don't use the divider.

We separated them like this because Mommy got really insanely aggressive from being hormonal and we were hoping that keeping her apart from Daddy would cool her off a bit (partially successful). Also we didn't want Daughter getting hormonal or worse trying to breed with Son.

Now my question is, is it OK to keep them like this? We let them have free flight time every day (boys first, then the girls) and they always "visit" their bonded partner through the cage bars. Please let me know if there is a better approach...

 

[HotSauce]

Adding: Daughter and Son are both 1 year old

 

[TikiMyn]

Personally I would try what happens when caging the bonded pairs together. How did the aggression manifest? There are a lot of things that can be done to decrease hormones, like adjusting sleeping times, taking cavities away etc, but not sure if you already tried that. Being hormonal all the time isn’t healthy either so you have to figure out a good way for you and your birds. If they breed again you could replace the eggs with fakes

 

[HotSauce]

>>>Personally I would try what happens when caging the bonded pairs together.

Mommy gets super aggressive, she will attack anything, bite fingers and any bit of exposed flesh hard enough to draw blood, can't even change her food or water because she will bite the dish if we try to remove it. She can't be handled at all in this state (which she was in for a long long time). Daddy is very skittish when housed with Mommy, he is more relaxed when housed with Son. Daughter didn't get totally hormonal because we separated them young, but she was starting to get very bitey also and territorial, and doing the butt up mating dance.

>>>How did the aggression manifest?

Se above.

>>>There are a lot of things that can be done to decrease hormones, like adjusting sleeping times, taking cavities away etc, but not sure if you already tried that. Being hormonal all the time isn’t healthy either so you have to figure out a good way for you and your birds.

We give them 12 hours of dark every day, low fat / low seed diet, pellets and fresh chop mainly, and there are no cavities/tents/coverings in their cages.

>>>If they breed again you could replace the eggs with fakes

We did this when Mommy was at her worst and making eggs frequently. It helped her to stop laying but didn't do anything for her aggression problems. After 6 months separated from Daddy she is just starting to cool off a bit but is still pretty scary.

We made a lot of mistakes with Mommy. She was our first Lovebird. We had no idea about hormones. We gave a seed/millet diet, natural daylight hours, lots of "cute" coconuts and tents for her to hide in, and let her fraternize with male budgies all day. Basically everything wrong, and we ended up making a SUPER crazy hormonal terror lovebird. Trying to fix it now but it is a slow process for sure.

 

[WillowQ]

That fraternizing with male budgies will always get ya…

 

[Zara]

We give them 12 hours of dark every day

And is the "light' hours nice bright light?
If you live in a non sunny place, you may want to invest in a nice bright LED lamp to put near the cage to brighten the area. If the room isn't bright enough, then it won't matter how much "darkness" they have, it won't work.

2 sections on top with a divider between them, and 2 sections on bottom with no divider

So why not put the parents on top with the divider? They are a bonded pair. So it would be nice for them to see each other. I have done this with one of my pairs in the past for a few weeks while she calmed down and settled.

Also we didn't want Daughter getting hormonal or worse trying to breed with Son.

Well, if they were bonded I would leave them together. They cannot breed if you are responsible, and given that you have dummy eggs and have already thought about this, shows that you are. I have a bonded same clutch sibling pair, and they are bonded. They mate, but I won't allow breeding.

Another tip, is to take a look at your toys. While the birds are hormonal (both male and female), go for toys that pick off in little bits over toys that shred. So opt for mahogany, sola, cork, chippy pine and avoid paper, cardboard, popsicle sticks, raffia, fine pine that shreds into strips. You can introduce some SS toys - bells and jangle toys, that can't be destroyed to play with.
Toys do contribute a lot to the birds being nesty. You may find that making your own toy with toy parts works better to help avoid those shreddable items.

Also, when housing pairs, have a very large water bowl, or multiple normal bowls. You can also add in extra food bowls to help keep the peace.

 

[WillowQ]

Shredding of a nest lining is very hormonal Lu stimulating for many pet birds. That’s why you block access to paper if you have this concern. As poster above mentioned.

 

[Anfsurfer]

It's Cruel to separate a bonded pair. Dealing with hormones is a part of owning parrots. You can try changing their scenery, or moving their perches around to put them out of their comfort zone, but as I said...to separate them is cruel. These birds mate for life. I can tell you personally that there is the odd bird out that will tramp over it's mate and will want a different bird after having a clutch, but I have seen some amazing acts of dedication and affection between these birds that could melt the hearts of the strongest man.
My advice is get the parents back together and just deal with the hormones. The offspring should have never been allowed to pair up in the first place. But if they're bonded now I guess they'll have to stay together as well as long as you don't allow any eggs to hatch.

 

[WillowQ]

why not house mom and dad together; and bro and sis together, and shake any eggs resulting from bro and sis?

I’d also remove anything nest cavity like and use a cage grate so they can’t shred paper. Paper shredding is a big turn-on for many little parrots. Zara’s advice about toys is spot-on.

increase dark time up to 14 hr a night.

since you’ve already got cage dividers, I would keep one pair separate from the other to avoid competition/ aggression for the best perch, for food and water access, etc.