• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Question about lovebirds living together/breeding.

Birbman9

Walking the driveway
Joined
4/23/21
Messages
190
Location
South Africa
Real Name
David Oeschger
I got a little lovie baby at 2 weeks old a year ago and shes grown into a beautiful lovebird, I have another forum with pics of her. Anyways, Im hopefully getting another 2 week old one next week, and im hoping its a boy, so that i can hopefully breed them, which is why im posting this thread. I want to know if it will work when he is grown up and sexually mature, i would be able to breed them? Or wont my other birdie accept that he's younger? I know for sure that Solo is a female because i felt her pelvic ones and theyre wider than a males, but not sure if the baby will be male or female, hopefully male, but if its a she, will they still be able to live in the same cage and be friends? Sorry for the long post. :)
 

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,366
Location
Reino de España
i would be able to breed them?
Lots of factors to consider.
1. will the birds be the same species? Lovebird is not a species, it´s a genus.
2. what mutation are the birds? Some are not compatible (not recommended to breed together)

You will also have to be prepared for incompatibilities.

It is not guaranteed your birds will be a male/female pair.

If by chance they are, it is not guaranteed they will mate.

Even if they do, it is not guaranteed they will produce offspring.

It is also possible the birds, regardless of their sex, dislike each others company, or worse, they ¨hate¨ each other to the point one chases the other around.
So no matter what happens, or what sex they end up being, remember to only ever keep one bonded lovebird pair per cage. If the birds don´t bond, house them seperately until they either do, or indefinitely. Sometimes bonds are quick forming, other times it can take a long time. One of my pairs bonded in a matter or days, another bonded in over 6 months.

Frankly, I think that 2 week old lovebirds should be in their nest, and it is cruel to remove them at that age unless for their own safety/wellbeing (ie, parents not feeding them/attacking them).
3.5 - 4 weeks old is much more appropriate.
It is good for the chicks to spend time in the nest and be with their parents to recognise that they are birds, and to have their behaviours ingrained. Especially if your desire is to breed them, it is better they get more time with their parents at that young crucial age.

If you do go ahead bringing home this 2 week old chick, you will need to quarantine the chick in a separate room, as far away from your bird as possible for a minimum of 4 weeks, and also be sure you have the negative test results back from your vet before introducing the birds, even if the quarantine period is up.
Given the young age, I don´t think they can be tested as it requires a blood draw. So you may have to wait until the bird is old enough. I would think that 8 weeks old would be ok to be tested. So that means 6 weeks in quarantine, plus the time after that until the test results come back.
**When bringing home a lovebird, it is important to have them tested for PBFD, Psittacosis and Polyoma by your avian vet.

I know for sure that Solo is a female because i felt her pelvic ones and theyre wider than a males
Pelvic bones are a good guesstimate. But never 100% concrete.
My youngest is 2 years a and a few months old. His pelvic bones feel female, but he shows all male behaviours and zero female behaviour and so my money is on my bird being male, even though the bones are a little wider than my other boys.
I also sexed one of my other birds as male via pelvic bones, but later they moved and I felt they had widened. Eventually it was confirmed via egg she was indeed female.
If you are serious about breeding, a DNA test would be a good idea.

I think I covered everything. Let me know if I missed something or you have another question :tup:
 
Last edited:

Birbman9

Walking the driveway
Joined
4/23/21
Messages
190
Location
South Africa
Real Name
David Oeschger
Thanks for the replies, that should be all.
If anyone else has something else they'd like to suggest please do. I think @Zara Has experience with lovebirds?
 

DoubleTake

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
5/31/17
Messages
1,744
Location
Mission Viejo, CA
Real Name
Brian
As part of the quarantine, I would wash your hands and probably change clothes as part of the procedure before interacting with your existing bird, probably vice versa as well. At least till tests come back. My suggestion comes from personal experience trying to bring home a love bird when I already had birds in the house. I had to buy 5 different love birds from different breeders/pet stores as the first 4 tested positive for one of the mentioned diseases. Granted. They could have been false positives but that was not a risk I was willing to take. False positives, you would have to wait a bit and retest all while the bird would potentially already be in your house.
 
Top