Love Bird Information.

Hi Guys
I posted on here not long ago about my female peach face biting my male.
They seem to be over their little tiff, but if anyone has any information about Peach Faces (love birds) it would be much appreciated.
I know I can look on Google but I would rather get any information from the members on here as it would be first had information.
Thank youz

STEVE85 said:

Hi Guys
I posted on here not long ago about my female peach face biting my male.
They seem to be over their little tiff, but if anyone has any information about Peach Faces (love birds) it would be much appreciated.
I know I can look on Google but I would rather get any information from the members on here as it would be first had information.
Thank youz

Click to expand...

I just posted on your other thread.

I used to keep Latino Peach Faced Lovebirds. I found them to be a very interesting bird to keep. They mate for life and wow, they do EVERYTHING together! LOL Should one of them pass be prepared to become the remaining ones mate!! LOL

Anything in particular you would like to know?

Hi TwoCrows.
Good news is that the bating has ceased.
They still nibble but they are constantly sitting on each other and grooming each other.
They seem happy.
I have them in a fair sized cage until I do some repairs to an aviary I have for them.
What do I want to know ?
Whatever you can tell me would be much appreciated.
I have a male and a female that I am told are only relatively young(a couple of months maybe)
I am feeding them Trill small parrot mix.
It has seeds, peanuts and cranberries.
They are very vocal, they are twittering and such all day, I have them in a nice cool spot next to a window looking out to a verandah so they are out of the heat, I live in Bathurst and we have been having 40 degree days. So I believe it is an ideal spot.
Yeah I knew they mate for life so I am hoping I have them for a long time.
Whatever info you can give me would be great.
I have had cockatiels in the past but Love Birds I beleive are in a league of there own.

Thanks

Aww....they do sound adorable! I love getting them as youngsters and you get to watch them grow.

While a lot of people do feed strictly seeds as their primary diet, parrots need more. They love veggies cooked and raw, pasta, fruits, nuts, greens, etc... I preferred to feed my parrots a formulated mix just for parrots so they get all the necessary nutrients needed for life, although they did enjoy a nice seed snack on the side! Seeds are not a good balance of vitamins and minerals and can lead to malnutrition, fatty liver disease and other ailments due to weak immune systems. I was always a fan of Kaytee foods, but there are many other brands of formulated diets out there. Here is a wonderful website that I used to get all my bird stuff from, but it's totally up to you as to what you wish to feed them.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/bird-supplies/pr/c/5059

Here is the food/diet section too. I tried the Rainbow Kaytee but they preferred the plain Cockatiel diet for some reason....

http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith.com/search?w=kaytee exact

And especially once the female begins laying eggs, she will need a good diet so she is not tapping into her organs and bones for all that is needed to lay eggs. All the building blocks of life are in an egg and if they can't get this from the diet, they draw off their bodies. They don't lay like chickens do every day but they do have a breeding season and will lay and want to set on eggs. If you keep taking away the eggs, the female will continue to lay each day to form a clutch of eggs. This practice can over stress the female leading to egg binding eventually. So if you aren't interested in baby Lovebirds, LOL you might use dummy eggs, she sets on them, gives up and the breeding season is over for a spell. She is none worse for the wear. She will also need ground oystershell so she can put a hard shell on her eggs too.

Yes, Lovebirds are very vocal and they to a lot of chatting all day long! I really do miss my Lovebirds. Especially one female that lost her mate at a very young age. They will pine away and die if they don't have a mate, honestly. Hence the name Lovebirds. LOL Anyway, my little "Skeebie" became the love of my life and pretty much lived on my shoulder the rest of her days. Since females rule the roost, she was very bossy and had to eat off my plate, rest on my wrist as I did the sweeping and such. Of course screaming at me when she felt I didn't do something right. LOL She was a real character and she and I got very close.

Anyway...do you have any pictures?? I would LOVE to see them!!! I hope they are doing well today. What are their names?

They can be kept without a mate, you just have to be VERY involved! We rescued a baby a few years ago that had been blown out of her nest in a palm tree (we have feral ones here in AZ) and hand-raised her. Her name is "Jeffrey" as we didn't know she was a girl until she started laying eggs! Haha anyway, she does not have a mate but is very interactive. When not being carried around on someone's shoulder, she lives in a large cage on the back porch and enjoys teasing the dog and having conversations with the chickens.

Mostly you've got to keep them entertained. Change up the arrangement of the perches and toys. We rotate out toys and introduce new ones regularly. Jeffrey also likes to sleep in a "sock hammock" -a sock with the toe cut off, threaded over a rope like a hammock. If you do not introduce new objects regularly then they might get frightened (I'm talking about in the actual aviary or cage, where they expect everything to be familiar). But if you do it often, it will be a fun game! Treats are great -Jeffrey loves unsalted sunflower seeds, peanuts, and millet still on the plant. She likes veggies, too, although a little less -and she LOVES figs. Limit seeds, as they will stuff themselves and get fat!

If your lady bird does want to lay/set on eggs, be sure you still handle her lots! My Jeffrey is a majorly moody when she's about to or has just laid an egg. Don't let her boss you around! And lovebirds WILL try!

Thanks chippy/TwoCrows
A lot of this is knew information, when I got the birds I did a fair bit of reading to make sure I wasn't going to prison and I read not to feed the "just seed" so I was off to a good start.
I have been putting a bit of apple in and bits of carrots, they don't seem like they have been touched though so I am guessing that they will get around to it if I stick with it.
They are a still an it sketch at the moment especially at the end of the day, I am guessing that's because no one has been home all day.Thanks Twocrows for the web links. I will read through that and take it all on board.
Are their more popular veggies I should use that Love Birds prefer, I understand that they are individual but they may have majority taste if you get my drift.
What sort of birds do you have TwoCrows and Chippy?
I have attached a couple of pics of Harold And Tina, they arnt the best pics but you get the idea.[/IMG]
I hope you get them.

Aw, they are adorable! And still young, the black on the beak goes away when they become adults. I dunno if you already knew that. You want to handle them a lot when they are young especially, so they'll be used to you as adults.

I like that you did research "to make sure you weren't going to prison." I definitely wondered if it was legal for me to raise Jeffrey after we found her! They're not native, though, so it didn't matter.

My Jeffrey is a peach-faced lovebird, wild type (the green with pink face and blue tail). She really likes figs, as stated, and berries. Also apricots and peaches, with the pits taken out. And green leafy veggies, she likes "hole-punching" them with her beak. I don't know if that's what most lovebirds prefer or if it's just her. They are always a bit wary of new foods, they just need time to explore. Do take the raw foods like that away at the end of the day, because they'll spoil or attract bugs.

One other thing, it looks like their wings are not clipped. Some people do, some people don't, but if you're going to keep them like that, especially if they're a bit antsy (I don't know how tame they are), be very careful opening the cage. They'll love having unclipped wings in an aviary but once loose inside the house, it can lead to some nasty collisions with windows.

Just cause I'm curious, which is Harold and which is Tina?

Yeah they are beautiful Birds, they were going off their chops this afternoon, they were really vocal, making all sorts of whistles and chirps, hanging off the side of the cage and their swings.
Your right, their wings are not clipped, I am looking at transferring them into a larger aviary so I didn't want to clip them because I didn't want to rob the of their flight because of the fact I was putting them in an aviary.
Yeah I totally understand about being careful opening the cage, one face plant into a window and it could be all over for the poor little bugger.
I named the green one Harrold and the grey one Tina.
I am pretty sure that the green is a male bile cause his tail is longer and narrow compared to "Tina" who's tail is a bit more stumpy, does that sound about right ?
Any other tips on differing the two?
In a lot of birds the male has the brighter colours but that is not entirely true with Peach faces, is that correct ?
Do you have any pics of Jeffery ?
Where abouts are you from ?

STEVE85 said:

Thanks chippy/TwoCrows
A lot of this is knew information, when I got the birds I did a fair bit of reading to make sure I wasn't going to prison and I read not to feed the "just seed" so I was off to a good start.
I have been putting a bit of apple in and bits of carrots, they don't seem like they have been touched though so I am guessing that they will get around to it if I stick with it.
They are a still an it sketch at the moment especially at the end of the day, I am guessing that's because no one has been home all day.Thanks Twocrows for the web links. I will read through that and take it all on board.
Are their more popular veggies I should use that Love Birds prefer, I understand that they are individual but they may have majority taste if you get my drift.
What sort of birds do you have TwoCrows and Chippy?
I have attached a couple of pics of Harold And Tina, they arnt the best pics but you get the idea.

[/URL]
I hope you get them.

Click to expand...

I don't keep Lovebirds anymore but did so for about 20 years. I also used to keep Cockatiels as well. I kept the Latino, a color mutation of the Peach Faced....

Skeebie the Lovebird....


Peep the Cockatiel....



It takes them a while to try new foods, especially young birds. It is built in to eat today what you ate yesterday to stay alive. LOL So keep offering those side veggies and fruits and eventually they will eat them. The above Latino Lovebird ate pretty much everything I ate. LOL She had lost her mate and I took her mate's place. This bird insisted on eating right off my plate. Ha!

Once you get your birds settled and they become relaxed the are less likely to fly into things although start early in life and give them out of cage time so they aren't so afraid. If you never bring them out, they will be terrified to come out and when they do, they are more likely to fly into windows and such. I never had trouble with any of my birds, although I did trim wings just in case. However yes, if you are going to use an aviary, it will be nice to be able to fly.

Handle your birds as much as you can. You want them to be tame, not afraid of you and if you do need to move them or work with them, they need to know the "step up" command. You put your finger up under their breasts near their feet and say "up". It can take a bit of work, but it is VERY helpful if you need them up in any emergency or what have you, that you can get them on your finger at any time. Do the "climb the stairs" with your finger, have them get on one finger, then another and so on. Once they learn, they never forget. So that any time, from anyone, someone puts their finger under their breasts, they will step onto your finger. This also builds trust in you as well. You don't want them to be afraid of you at any time.