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Nesting behavior?

Valentines

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Hey, my female lovebird is acting kinda strange. First she is tearing paper and sticking it into her back tail feathers, I thought that was pretty normal since she's been doing it for a long time. But recently she's been puffed up a bit, she sits low to the ground then she lifts her back tail feathers up for a minute or so, is this normal? Today I was adjusting her toy ladder when she hopped to the ground and put her head down and stretched out her wings, then made a knocking noise or clicking? Is this mating behavior?
I just put a small cardboard box and put shredded paper in it for her in her cage. She loves it so far, is this nesting behavior? She's a little over a year now. Should I I get her a mate? If so what gender? Sorry for a lot of questions, thanks.
 

Zara

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Welcome to the Avenue :)

Yes, a female will spread her wings out, point her tail up in the air and make a airy/clicky noise to signal she wants someone to mate her.
Be sure you aren´t touching her anywhere apart from her head.
The shredding is nesting behaviour.

She will do this at various times throughout the year and is normal, we can reduce this by removing shreddables and dark hidey spots, controlling daylight hours, rearranging the cage, not touching her body etc however you can´t stop it 100%.

Bringing home a friend for her is hit or miss. It would be nice if she is your only bird to have a friend, even if they don´t hit it off and live together she will still enjoy a birds company in the same room. There is no guarantee she will like the new bird.

edit; normally, eggs will follow suit. If your girl has made a nest and is tending to them, you can leave them with her. If she has no nest and is not interested then you can just remove them. Remember if she does sit on the eggs, that she still needs to get out of the cage to fly, so coax her out with some millet to help her out ;)
 

Sodapop&Co.

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I don't know much about lovebirds but everything you're saying says she wants to make babies... @Zara, who I see here already, :) can help you more.

edit: and she has :p
 

Valentines

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Is this with age because she's never done this before, thanks!
And she has shown interest in playing with my sister's two budgies, not so much for them .. So does this mean she will be alright with another lovebird?
 
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Zara

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Is this with age because she's never done this before, thanks!
This can start anywhere from 5 months old. (I have read that a hen can do this from 4 months old, but I would rather quote my own experience and one of my hens was mating at 5 months old).

And she has shown interest in playing with my sister's two budgies, not so much for them .. So does this mean she will be alright with another lovebird?
It is impossible to know. A bird has their own mind, and they will decide if they like another bird or not. You won´t know until you introduce them.
Also, be careful allowing your lovebird to interact with budgies. Lovebirds are bullies and a hen can kill another bird if they want to.
 

Valentines

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Yes, she is a sweet birdie, but has shown biting and aggression when it comes to her territory. Should I keep the nest in there? She seems to love it. And takes all the shredded paper she keeps in her feathers up there and is decorating!
 

Leih

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My female lovebird laid her first clutch (sterile) in September. It was pretty confusing for me! But we got through and she's been just fine. She was also kind of mean, and possessive of me (she'd try to dive bomb my cats if one was on me, so you see, they're fearless :banghead:) but I increased her dark time and gave her a variety of foraging and rearranged her cage often which helped immensely. She's a single lovebird but I have 3 other birds who are her flock, but she's a bully to them.
 

Momo & Mido

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Welcome to the avanue!

Since I’m a mom of two lovebird boys I’m not very known to this, but @Zara and @Leih shouldn’t you add something to their diet so the egg production will be good? And the eggshells will be healthy?

I recently brought home our second lovebird. There goes a lot into it. But if you are willing to get a second cage, monitor them when they are out together and don’t expect them to bond but just be friends in the future. I think it could definitely something to consider. I’m very happy I did.
 

Zara

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shouldn’t you add something to their diet so the egg production will be good?
Hens need calcium for when they lay.
So it is important that aside from lots of exercise, they are eating healthy seeds, (pellets), and dark leafy greens; kale, broccoli, bok choy, chard, carrot tops, green beans...
 

DoubleTake

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Hens need calcium with magnesium. Calcium alone will not help so not just cuttlebone. The greens Zara has listed are good. Does your female show any bulging in the bum? In the future I would remove any nest like material to help curb the hormones. This will only help, not stop.
 

Zara

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I forgot to say earlier that birds need vitamin D3 to be able to actually absorb the calcium.
Some further reading: Vitamin D3 for Our Birds
 

Valentines

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I was thinking about getting her a male, I have a spare cage. I thought if I got a boy I shouldn't put him in her cage right away. how should I go about introducing them of I get a boy? Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!
 

Zara

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I thought if I got a boy I shouldn't put him in her cage right away.
Remember, you may never be able to house them together.
I brought home a friend for my first lovebird and they never did bond. Same happened to @Sunny&Mars and @Momo & Mido. The birds all seem to be friendly with each other but can´t be housed together.
Hopefully they do bond, but it is impossible to know and so this should be thought about before bringing home a second bird.

how should I go about introducing them of I get a boy?
First you will need to put the new bird in the second cage in a separate room. You must minimize contact between the birds for at least 1 month. If you touch the new bird, was hands and change clothes before touching your current bird.
You can take advantage of this quarantine time using it to take the new bird for a vet checkup, and also spending some one on one time with the new bird, getting to know them, building trust - you can do this by sitting by the cage, feeding millet through the bars and talking or singing to them.
When quarantine is over and you have clean bill of health from the vet (no infectious diseases) you can move the cages and put them in the same room. If you can put them both in a new room, best. Start by putting them on opposite sides of the room. See how they react. Over the following days, move the cages closer together. Remember to always leave a good 10-15 cm between the cages. Set up some perches so that they can sit in their own cage, and be parallel with each other.
During any out of cage time, be sure no bird lands on the others cage.
Eventually when the two birds are happy being in their cages next to each other, hopefully showing interest in each other, allow them some out of cage time together and see how you get on. Be close by to ensure everyones safety.
 

Valentines

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Thanks! Of course I will not be getting a boy soon, as she still has a few things we need to work on (for example biting and she is territorial) but this is a great help, Thank you.
 
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