New lovies!!

[awillett]

Okay so it been some weeks since getting my lovebird pair and I have about a million and one questions!!

They are not hand tame but we are working slowly on gaining eachothers trust

I talked to the lady I got them from and they appear to be around a year old. Not sure of the sex but seems like they are male (blue) and female(yellow). The yellow one ( I also know nothing of species/mutations) seems bossier and displays nesting behavior such as tearing paper and the blue one just sits and listens. They have never layed eggs.

1. Do you use happy huts with your lovies? My conure LOVES his and couldnt live without it. They perch on a toy at night and it seems so uncomfortable. I want to get them a hut but worry that it would encourage nesting? Would a fleece swing be better?

2. Since they are not hand tamed.....how do they bath? I put a bowl of water in couple times but they didnt touch it.

3. I left cage door open to see if they would venture out....they did and they seemed scared to death! Its obvious they have lived cage bound because they act as though they dont even know how to fly. They are not clipped. Should I continue to let them out?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lovebird57]

All I can tell you is my limited experience. Each of my lovebirds has a separate cage--I just got the female in Dec. He does not like her. Anyway, they both like to sleep on the highest perch in their cage.. I have one for Mango that's in the back right hand corner. Kito I got a flat wood perch she Loves! It is also in the back upper area. She's so hormonal that the hut lasted a day. She became way too aggressive.

 

[Featherpaws]

mine like sleeping tubes that i made.... im a new lovie owner too
i made these tubes.

i use a very thick empty toilet paper roll (boyfriend brings them from work) and line it with fleece. my two love them. thats my mango in the tube. he loves it. they both sleep in them at night and nap during the day in them.

 

[Lolle]

I bought a tent from TLA it now contains 5 babies.. Thank god its big enough for both parents and babies

Also my birds bath in their water bowl.. Sometimes they will get near a deep plate with water.. but only if its standing high and been standing out every day for them to get used to it..

And about having them flying free, every new home needs getting used too.. I just made sure they have a "safe" place to go to.. A tent over their cage, or play net.. So they would be out of my reach and could relax abit..

 

[Enna]

I don't recommend any type of tent for a lovie. Females will try very hard to nest in them. Perhaps one that doesn't have a bottom might work such as the peekaboo ones from this site

Bird Tents, Peekaboo Perch Tents, Parrot Snuggle Sleepers, Soft Fleece Tent for Birds

I used one for my conure.

Im sure if the lovies wanted to bath and their water dish was big enough they would in there. Try getting a dish big enough for them. As soon as you put some fresh water in flick a few drops at them. This use to get my guys on the go.

Its your choice if you wish to let them out or not. If not i recommend a really large cage for them to play in. It will take some time for them to get use to their new place. Cover all windows and mirrors.

 

[Christina71]

My Lovies are not tame either. Here's my experience...

I haven't tried a happy hut or anything like that yet, I bought material to make one but haven't gotten around to it yet. They used to prefer sleeping on a little rotatable mirror toy but I think it was because I had it up in a corner of the cage. I now have a comfy perch in the top right corner and they sleep there or on another rope perch that extends across the cage.

I tried a bowl at the bottom of their cage for bathing but they didn't seem interested, so I used to mist them with a spray bottle. Then they began bathing in their water dishes, and that seems to be their preference.

I do let them out and have somehow managed to train the parents to go back in by kind of motioning with my hand or putting my hand behind them to direct them back. I think the very first time or two I ended up having to towel them (the birds and I both hated that), so I learned to be more patient and started trying to get them back in earlier and they seemed to learn my cues. Also, sometimes they do better if I use food, millet or a toy to coax them back in.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

I was terrified of my first lovebirds; three peach faced thugs. I had a bad experience with a green parrot when I was six and was afraid of green birds. The lovebirds were my room mates and she did not take them with her when she moved out. The lovebirds were not hand tame and bit me at every opportunity. When I first started letting them out of their cage (cause I read I should let them out), I had to buy a net to get them back in the cage. They taught themselves that when I got out the net and said "Bed Time", they would cage themselves. Much later on, I had them DNA sexed and it turned out the larger and bossier of them was a female and the other two were males (they were siblings). Katie never laid any eggs and I was relieved I didn't have little avian thugs to deal with. Later on I got a hand fed cockatiel and my attitude toward the avian thugs changed and they got a much better life. Over the years they slowly died off until Katie, the female, was the only one left. I got her someone to keep her company in the last years of her life and she died at age 24. I still have Harley, her companion, and he has decided he wants a cockatiel girlfriend. He has wooed Gracie, my oldest cockatiel and the two of them sit around grooming each other and snuggling. Interesting couple. I was going to get Harley his own mate, but he seems really happy with Gracie, so, OK. You can chill the eggs if your birds decide to mate and produce eggs; that will keep them from hatching, but making sure they have no place to brood the eggs is easier. The female may still lay the fertile eggs, but without a physical place to brood the eggs, she will ignore them and they won't hatch. Your decision.

 

[Babybreau]

My lovie (male) absolutely loves his sleep tent. It's a homemade one I got on eBay. Cotton on the outside and fleece inside. He sleeps in it every night. It's just big enough for him and him alone. He's never pooped on or on it.

My male lovie and female cockatiel are boyfriend and girlfriend. They will bathe in their water dish and in a silver dog dish I got just for bathing. The tiel jumps right in and splashes around. The lovie just dunks and splashes. Sometimes he hardly gets wet, other times he gets soaked.
Some say to use plastic dishes as birds do not like the shiny reflective surfaces of metal bowls. I dunno, mine have always used the dog dish

About them coming out, time and patience. That's my best advice.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[love4birds]

My lovies had a tent when they were younger, but Leyla got so territorial of it and I didn't want to encourage nesting, so I removed it. Instead they have a wooden platform perch with a 3-way mirror up against it and a preening toy. They snuggle up together against the mirror during naptime and overnight Rigs sleeps on his pedicure perch, it's his favourite and he's not too fond of platforms or tents.

My lovies love bathing in their Lixit bird bath. Leyla and Nin will also bathe in my hands under a thin stream of water, but that wouldn't work for untame birds lol. Rigby sticks to the bird bath!

I would definitely contine to let them out. They'll get used to their surroundings and coming out and I'll bet they'll start using their wings soon too When I brought Kermit home, he had been living in a very tiny cage but I don't know if they ever let him out (doubt it). He took a while to finally venture out, but soon enough he did start exploring and then flying around. Rigby took a little while to really be comfortable with exploring too.