How to clip my lovebirds wings?

Before clipping the wings of your lovebirds, you ought to think is it necessary to clip the wings or not. Once you decided to clip lovebirds wings, beware that you should clip the flight feathers only.

Once you clipped the flight feathers, your lovebirds cannot fly for long distance within the cage. Don't think that your lovebirds can't fly if you clip wings- it can safely glide if she falls from a high place like a table top.

Although clipping lovebirds wings is touchy topic, I may choose both for my lovebirds. On the other hand the choice is yours- clipping the flight feathers or not...

If you want to see the pictures of clipping wings, please do visit this PARROT SITE....

Picking species for a tropical aquarium

Some of the lovebird owners prefer to rear fishes in their home along with the birds. The following post hep them to perform well with aquatic faunas.

If you want to set up an aquarium with tropical aquarium fish, there is a multitude of different species to choose among. There is of course the every so common neon tetra, platy, black molly, swordtail, and so on, but you don’t have to go for typical beginner species unless you want to.

As a beginner, you should focus on getting hardy species that will tolerate a mistake or two. It is also a good idea to stick to fairly peaceful species, since aggressive species require species knowledge in order to avoid excessive fighting in the aquarium.

If you are prepared to deal with at least a little aggression in the aquarium, there are many beautiful cichlids to choose among that will do fine even in the hands of a beginner. Be sure to visit a cichlid fact database, cichlid website or cichlid forum before you make a purchase, because many cichlids are not recommended for beginners.

They can for instance be too aggressive or grow really large and require huge aquarium. Another excellent choice for beginners is barbs, as long as you stick to some of the hardy species, e.g. rosy barb, cherry barb, gold barb, or tiger barb.

In the wild, a vast majority of the barbs live in large groups and they must therefore not be kept alone or in small groups in the aquarium. For most barb species, it is advisable to get at least five specimens, preferably more.

Choosing the right dog seller

You may be frowned why there is a need for such a topic in this blog. It is not a secret- just like that if you know how to find a right dog seller, it is more or less equal- choosing a right lovebird seller.

When purchasing a dog, it is important to do so from a reputable seller. You should for instance stay clear of puppy mills and unskilled backyard breeders, since such breeders frequently promote poor dog health in their puppies.

A puppy mill owner will for instance often refrain from spending any money on nutritious food and veterinary car for the dogs, since the aim of the puppy mill is to generate as much money as possible.

An unskilled backyard breeder might very well love her dogs, but without sufficient knowledge about dog health, hereditary dog disease and so on, it is easy to unknowingly promote poor dog health in the puppies, e.g. by using unsuitable dogs as parents. The risk of being offered a puppy from a puppy mill or backyard breeder is higher for some breeds than others.

If you wish to purchase a rare dog breed such as Ariégeois, Iceland shepherd or Hungarian Vizlsa, you are unlikely to be offered a puppy from a puppy mill since the owners of such establishments tend to focus on really popular breeds that are easy to sell.

If you on the other hand want to purchase some of the most popular breeds, e.g. Collie, German Shepherd or Golden Retriever, you are very likely to see adds and other forms of advertising from puppy mills.

In addition to these traditional breeds, the increased popularity of miniature dog breeds such as Chihuahua, Papillon and Pekingese have made tiny dogs a new and profitable target for puppy mill owners interested in making some quick and easy money.

Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease in Lovebirds

Do you know Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD) is resistant in adult Lovebirds? PBFD is a highly contagious viral infection in cockatoos. Some of the baby lovebirds will get affected with this disease. Asa lovebird owner you must take steps to protect the aviary and nursery from this dreadful airborne virus.

If you want to make your aviary free from PBFD, strict isolation techniques and screening of birds are highly solicited.

Most of the affected birds usually die within couple of days with anorexia and wasting disease.

Some species of lovebirds are really resistant to PBFD. But these lovebirds may have chronic infection.

These lovebirds will continuously shed the infection to the health young immature birds to make them suffer.

The PBFD virus is noticed in high numbers in infected birds and is noticed in the feather dust and other excretions. This will cause highly contagious nature of the disease and extensive environmental contamination. At this time, there is no vaccine or treatment to combat the Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease viral infection.

Do you know about Blue-Crowned Hanging Parrot?

Blue-Crowned Hanging Parrot would have a close resemblance to lovebirds. due to their sober markings and coloring, these birds are not likely to catch the eye at shows. Actually Blue-Crowned Hanging Parrot is widely distributed in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

The males of this species are recognizable by the blue mark on their heads and the red mark on their throats.

Social Characteristics

These birds, which belong to the hanging parrots group, are gregarious and enjoy the company of at least one other bird of the same species. It is unwise to keep solitary birds. They get on well with other birds provided there is sufficient room.

Albino Masked Lovebirds

Have you ever seen albino masked lovebirds? A variety of mutations exist. Similarly to Peach-faced Lovebirds there are light, dark, and olive green mutations as well as mauve, sky-blue and cobalt-blue mutations, some times in combination with pastel.

Lastly, there are also lutinos (yellow with red eyes) and albinos (white with red eyes).
These albino lovebirds are lively and active and make use of all areas of the aviary or cage. They love to bathe in water and their call can be very loud and piercing.

It is better not to try breeding these birds before they are one year old. A suitable nest box will have a surface area of 10 sq.inches (30 cm). They build a nest from all kinds of coarse materials. They will produce 3 or 4 eggs that the female will incubate for between approximately 18 and 20 days.

But it is not sure, an albino masked lovebirds will give birth to an young albino young one- It all depends on the probability of Genes...

Learn About Lovable Lovebirds! - Shari Carpenter

Lovebirds make wonderful pets. Their exquisite colors and animated personalities easily endear them to onlookers. While every bird has its own personality there are traits common to all Lovebirds which have made them a popular pet and a great choice for a first time bird owner.

Appearance

Lovebirds have perhaps the most varied coloration among the parrot species. Years of hybridizing by breeders have developed soft pastels or brilliant hues. You'll find Lovebirds in nearly any color imaginable - blues, yellows, purples, peaches and so on.

Lovebirds are also a pleasantly sized parrot for most people. They are only 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 inches and about 42-60 grams. Baby Lovebirds will be close to the size of an adult Lovebird.

Life Span

Like other parrots, Lovebirds have a long life span - although not as long as the larger species. They live 15-20 years, approximately the same life span as a cat. It is important to understand the commitment before purchasing a Lovebird.

Lovebirds Are Active Little Parrots

Lovebirds are very energetic and inquisitive. They will happily fly about or sit on your shoulder during daily activities. They are not nervous of usual activity and generally can integrate with a family of busy, noisy children with great enjoyment. Lovebirds love to play and are comical to watch whether they are playing alone splashing in their water dish or playing with your hair and sneaking into your collar.

Your best bet is to buy a hand-raised Lovebird which will be more tame than a parent-raised bird. While Lovebirds are quite fearless and should be supervised closely around other pets, they do enjoy playing with people. Gentle and consistent handling will help prevent nipping.

Lovebirds, like other birds, are born to live among a flock and so they will challenge authority for the dominant position. Sometimes headstrong, the owner of a Lovebird needs to be patient and firm. However, Lovebirds are not overly demanding in most respects and will learn to be well-behaved. They are also content to play alone for periods of time as long as they are given proper space and playthings.

Lovebirds are very intelligent and can even be 'potty' trained to go on a paper or in a trash container instead of around the house. This can make it much easier to allow your Lovebird to enjoy freedom outside the cage without the constant clean up.

Vocalizations

While Lovebirds will learn to mimic the sounds around them, including household noises and other birds, they are not known for mimicking human speech as well as other parrot species.

Despite this you will find your Lovebird to have a strong personality all its own and it will convey its moods and desires quite clearly.

Before buying your Lovebird be sure the owner or breeder can provide additional assistance in helping you settle your bird at home. You are likely to have other questions arise as a first time owner and should look for cooperation for properly learning to care for your pet Lovebird.

Permission is granted to reprint full article "as is" with author credit given below and a link back to http://www.birdwatchin.com. There are no private label resale rights available and the article cannot be modified or your name assigned to it.

Shari Carpenter is the owner of http://www.birdwatchin.com, a one-stop resource for people that love bird watching, backyard bird feeding and pet birds. http://www.birdwatchin.com covers a wide range of information, products and supplies, including the blog "Birdwatchin' Buzz Today!" It is also the place to subscribe to the free newsletter "David's Wild Bird News".

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shari_Carpenter

Normal Activities of Peach Faced Lovebird

Peach faced lovebirds are stocky and colorful birds with their short tails always seem to be busy doing something. They are lively and energetic and make use of all areas of the aviary or cage.

Cage birds like to have something to do, certainly if they are kept individually. There are plenty of toys which can be purchased from pet shops. You make sure that anything you buy is strong enough because these birds have very strong beaks.

Peach-faced love birds are fairly noisy and their call is piercing. They enjoy bathing and birds kept indoors must be given the opportunity to take a bath or be sprayed using a plant spray set to ultra-fine. Peach-Faced Lovebirds are competent flyers but also like to scramble around.

Breeding of Masked Lovebird

It is better not to try breeding masked lovebirds before they are one year old. a suitable nest box will have surface area of 10 sq. inches (25 sq. cm) and a height of 12 inches (30 cm) .

They build a nest from all kinds of coarse materials. They will produce 3 or 4 eggs that the female will incubate for between approximately 18 and 20 days.

Fledging occurs after 45 days. A couple of weeks after the young have left, the parents may start acting aggressively towards them so it is better to remove the young birds in good time. These birds may well produce a number of clutches per year, but you should be careful not to exhaust them by removing the nest box after the second clutch.

Cage Position For the Lovebirds

Regardless of the kind of material it has been made of, the birdcage should never be placed in direct sunlight or in a dark place. It is important for the birds well-being that it gets enough light.

A little morning sun usually does a bird a great deal of good. Most birds like to sit in a high place, from which they have a good view of what is going on around them. This tends to make them safer. You should, therefore, preferably place the cage on a stand or on a table rather than on or just above the ground.

Never place a cage in a draft or a place that might get a draft because of open windows and /or doors. Birds are extremely sensitive to this. A birdcage should never be placed in or near the kitchen.

Birds' lungs are extremely sensitive to poisonous substances. Bird lovers have known for some time that a number of gases are released when Teflon-coated nonstick pans heated and that these gases can kill birds fairly quickly, especially members of the budgerigar family. It is less generally known that this may also happen with pans made of other materials, nonstick ovens linings, and table grills.

It is for reason that a cage should never be placed in or near a kitchen. There have, however, also been a number of instances in which birds died even though they were a couple of rooms away from the kitchen. You, should, therefore, always be very careful.

Providing Baths for Lovebirds

You can buy ready-made baths, which you can hang inside the cage. These are perfect for smaller birds, such as lovebirds and Zebra finches.

But for bigger and stronger species of bird it is better to provide a different kind of bathing facility. This is because parrots and members of the stratling family can easily lift these baths or push them away, making it possible for them to escape.

Moreover, most of these ready-made baths tend to too small for these birds. For bigger species of bird, you would therefore be better off buying a glazed earthenware bowl instead.

Nesting Material: Perfect Way to Start Lovebird Breeding

Please make sure that there is always plenty of nesting material around that is suitable for the birds you breed. Suitable materials for nest building include dried grass, hay, plant roots, coconut fibers, and sisal twine, dried moss, leaves, animal hair (of rabbits, dogs, horses, and cattle) and little twigs.

Most members of the budgerigar family don't build nests. Place a layer of damp peat-moss or some rotten wood on the bottom of the nest box. This keeps the eggs slightly moist-dehydration is fatal- and also stops the eggs from rolling to the sides.

Destructive species of birds like to gnaw a lot, especially parrots, a large number of parakeets and cockatoos have a tendency to "remodel" their nest box with their sharp beaks. They do not always set about this in a clever way. They sometimes gnaw away the entrance hole to such an extent that it becomes a half-open nest box.

A lot of parent birds do not leave the bottom of the nest box alone, either. Extra protection, possibly with hardwood or with some metal strips, might help.

Always give these birds plenty of material to gnaw on during the breeding season, you could for example give them some fresh willow tree twigs.

Where Can You Best Buy Your Birds?

You can buy a bird from a pet shop, a trader in birds and sometimes even directly from bird shows, and from breeders of course.

Where you buy your birds will to some extent depend on the species of bird you are looking for and what you are planning to do with them. Common species, such as budgerigars, lovebirds, zebra finches, or canaries, can be bought at virtually any pet store.

If, however, you are looking for a somewhat rarer bird, a bird with a particular type of coloring or a particular type of characteristics, then your average pet shop will not be able to help you.

This will most certainly be the case if you want to use your birds for breeding purposes and want to enter them for shows.

The demands that are made in respect of a bird’s appearance at shows are very high and you will almost certainly not able to find birds you can enter in shows in your average pet shop.

In that case you had better contact your local bird association. The members of the secretariat can usually refer you to a breeder who has the birds you are looking for.

You could also pay a visit to one or more bird shows. At these events you can admire the different species and type of coloring and get in touch with the bird’s owners or breeders.

You can contact a local bird association or the national bird association to find out more about when and where these bird shows are to be held. Bird magazines, also provide useful information about these shows.

Lovebirds Behind Glass?

Most of the lovebirds owners are asking - shall I keep my lovebirds behind glasses? It is possible to buy cages made (partly) of glass or perspex, the so-called glass cages. These cages have two important advantages.

The first one is that you can observe the birds without being hampered by bars. The second one is that loose feathers, droppings, empty husks, and the like stay inside the cage.

There are number of disadvantages when your lovebirds behind glass, too, however. In hot weather, the temperature inside the glass cage may become excessive.

You can tell when a bird is hot as it will then keep its wings slightly away from its body and its beak open. As a result of the high temperature and the minimal amount of ventilation the bird may also start to experience breathing difficulties, it may even start to look a little "sweaty".

You can prevent this by placing the cage in a spot that does not get any direct sunlight or only gets the sun early in the morning.

Need of grit for lovebirds

Seed-eating birds like lovebird have a special digestive system. The seed is ground in the gizzard, making it easier for the bird to digest. The bird, however, needs sharp grit for this.

If there is no sharp grit in the gizzard, then the bird cannot grind the seed. Sharp grit does not stay in the gizzard permanently. Over the course of time, the sharp edges of the grit wear down and the bird secretes the grit. The bird will then have to eat some more sharp grit.

You have to make sure, therefore, that you always have some grit for your bird. You can buy special grit or a grit mix from the pet shop. The advantage of the latter is that it also contains digestible grit, among other things, charcoal. It is therefore always preferable to use a grit mix of this kind.

Your lovebird can then chose the substances it needs from the ingredients. It goes without saying that you should buy a mix that is geared to the size of your bird; mixes for small tropical birds are finer than mixes for lovebirds.

Care of Cage Bars in an Aviary (Part-I)

When buying a cage please make sure that the bars are strong enough for the species of birds you want to keep. It goes without saying that lovebirds need much thicker bars or wire mesh than canaries.

The gap between the bars or wire mesh is also something you should pay attention to. If the bars are too far apart from each other or if the wire mesh too coarse, then lovebird may try to wriggle itself out through the gaps and get its head struck .

It is for this reason that small tropical birds cannot be kept in a cage that has been specially designed for lovebirds, for example, and the latter cannot be kept in a parrot cage. Because of the strength of the wire mesh or the bars, a strong budgerigar or parrot should not be kept in a cage is spacious enough for the bird.

How to Identify Sick Lovebirds?

If you know your lovebirds well, you will be able to tell by their behavior and appearance whether or not they are feeling well. Healthy lovebirds are active and feathers are flat and sleek. Deviant behavior could include that there is some kind of problem, may be lovebird sickness.

The lovebird might start to become withdrawn, apathetic, start making stereotypical movements, start plucking its feathers or just generally becomes restless. One of the first signs of sickness is that the lovebird’s feathers are “fluffed up” rather than flat and sleek and that the bird is generally listless.

A lot of lovebirds will look like this when the ambient temperature is too low for them. By fluffing up their feathers they retain some body heat in the space between their feathers. An increase in temperature will generally improve things in these cases.

Other symptoms that tell you that there may be something wrong with lovebirds includes difficulty in breathing, “gasping” for air, diarrhea, loss of appetite, bald spots, feather loss, abundant molting, tum-ors on the bill, legs, and around the eyes, partial or full paralysis, a discharge from the nose or eyes, and swellings.

When you suspect sickness with your birds, you should never just wait and see how things develop, but take immediate action. If you keep in touch with experienced bird-keepers and breeders, then you will be able to present the problem to them.

Experienced bird-keepers know certain symptoms very well and often know exactly how you treat them. You could try and get in touch with experienced people via bird associations. In addition, you could try and contact your veterinary surgeon.

A simple examination of the lovebird’s droppings might be all that is needed to find out what is wrong. In other cases, a blood sample or examination of one of the affected birds be needed to find out what is wrong.

Breeding Season Aggression in Lovebirds

Don't think lovebirds will choose partners easily. It is quite often the case that birds that have been put in the same breeding cage or aviary do not get along with each other.

If your lovebird that is known for its lack of tolerance, make sure you stay around for the first couple of days after you have put them together. You can then take action when things look like they are getting out of hand.

Problems may also at a later date if one of the partner is in the mood for breeding, while the other is not. Aggressive behavior during the mating season is usually restricted to the males. They chase each other, sometines with disastrous results.

If you keep a close watch on the birds, you can separate them before it is too late. Sometimes clipping one of the wings of an aggressive bird may also help.Then the bird is not quite as fast and maneuverable as a result of this temporary handicap.

Aggression is often something of a temporary nature and only lasts as long as it takes the female to get into the mood of mating, that is, if the female is not too young.

Lovebirds Molting Period Maintenance

Do you know an adult lovebird molts once in a year? If a lovebird molts more frequently or for a very long period of time, this may be due to bird getting the wrong kind of foods, stress, or factors such as sudden change of temperature, or a disease.

The molting period is a critical period for almost all species of lovebirds that make considerable demands on their contributions. Birds need extra nutrients during the molting period and most birds are also less active during this period than usual. The molting period on average lasts between six to eight weeks.

A frequently occurring problem is ‘Perch Molting’. This means that the birds just keeping on molting. Perch molting is often caused by bathing and drinking water that is too cold, in comparison with the ambient temperature.

A good household remedy to help the birds get through this molting period is to give them a tiny amount of sodium dissolved in drinking water everyday.

Feeding Lovebirds During Breeding Season

Birds have slightly different dietary requirements during the breeding season. Some mainly seed-eating birds (Lovebirds) raise their young purely on insects, which will therefore have to be in ample supply.

Egg food has proven to be valuable, too. It is a perfect supplement to the diet of most seed-eating birds during the breeding season. A great many of the problems that a bird breeder may experience are either directly or indirectly related too incorrect feeding.

It could be the case that the birds are being given too much food, but it could also be the case that a certain ingredient, which is absolutely essential for a particular species of bird, is not being given.

The types of problems that are likely to occur include:

• Eggs not hatching
• Parent not taking proper care of their young one
• Birds starting on new brood too soon
• Before the young that came out of the first eggs are able to fend for themselves
• Mortality among the young and
• A complete lack of breeding results

Mistakes relating to the type of food given are often made long before the birds start breeding. If birds that are going to be used for breeding purposes have not had a good basis, they will start thee breeding season in a mediocre condition.

Even when the young have already left the nest, it is still necessary to give the parents some extra food. They have exerted themselves and need some extra nutrient to regain their strength. This is why the importance of good food should never be underestimated.

Suitable Plants and shrubs in Your Lovebirds Aviary

Before placing beautiful plants in your lovebird’s aviary, you should ascertain is it really necessary to have plants in aviary. Don’t think your aviary is beautiful and natural look if you plant some ornamental plants. These plants will act as a hide outs and also act as place for building nests.

You should always plant shrubs, ivy, and other plants in such a way that the birds can still use the full length of the aviary as a flight area.

In practice, you should plant bigger shrubs and plants against the back of the aviary and smaller, broadly flaring shrubs in the center of the aviary. No aviary should be without climbers. You can guide the climbers along the underside of the roof to create some shade.

Although lovebirds are very destructive and plants are wasted on them, they do like to climb. Hence a fair-sized tree without any leaves on it can be placed in your lovebirds aviary.

Don’t think that perches are not necessary if you provide trees and shrubs inside the aviary. PERCHES are necessary to put in the aviary.

Suitable plants and shrubs should be identified before placing it inside the lovebird’s aviary. Some of the plants are poisonous to bird’s viz., Laburnum. The common plants and shrubs used in the aviary includes Pyracantha, hornbeam, thistle, rose, lilac, juniper, broom, ivy, spruce, privet, conifer, and elder.

Tips for Introducing New Lovebirds in the Cages of Lovebirds

If you have bought one or couple of new lovebirds and want to introduce them to an existing group in an aviary, it is best if you keep your latest acquisitions away from the other birds, either in a spacious cage or in a separate aviary for a couple of weeks.

If the birds turn out tube ill, they will then in any case not be able to infect the others. This period of quarantine may not be enough, however. If you have any doubts you can seek a veterinary surgeon- preferably one that is specialized in birds- to take a look at the birds, so that you can treat them before you put them in with the other birds.

In this way you can also find out whether the birds are eating enough and what type of feed they prefer. Once a bird has been released into a big aviary with other birds, it becomes almost impossible to do this.

Do not forget to ask the breeder what kind of and which brand the bird is used to. The move to a different environment is in itself already quite a dramatic experience for a bird and if you then also change its diet there is a great risk that the bird will become ill.

Later on, when the bird has got used to its new living environment, you can gradually introduce the new feed if you so wish. It is better to keep a bird that has been used to living in a (breeding) cage in a small cage inside the aviary. This will allow the bird to gradually get used to its environment and reduces the risk of the bird flying against the wire mesh in a panic.

After you have released the bird, you will have to keep a close eye on it during the first couple of days, as it might not be accepted by the other birds in the aviary. If you are aware of the fact that this might happen, you will be able to take the appropriate action if and when it does.

Lovebirds Transport

Birds can be transported in many different ways depending on the species and size of the bird. Small and medium-sized birds are generally transported in small cardboard boxes, which is fine if the trip to their new home is not going to take very long.

In addition, it is possible to buy or borrow special carrying cages to transport several birds at the same time or to transport birds with sharp beaks. Please bear in mind that birds may experience being moved from one place to another as something very stressful and this will certainly be the case if they are exposed to too many different impressions.

It is best to keep birds in a dark place during transport as birds generally keep very quiet when they cannot se much. You should place the carrying cage in a box. It goes without saying that fluctuations in temperature should be avoided during transportation. Happy Journey!!!

Closed Ring in Lovebirds

Congratulations!!! At last you have purchased a healthy lovebird. The next thing you should look at is their closed ring. All young birds born in captivity at a breeder’s wear a closed ring showing, among other things the year in which they were born.

A closed ring should not be confused with a tag, which can be put on the leg of an adult bird to help identify it among other similar birds of the same species.

If the bird is not wearing a closed ring, then it might have been imported (illegally) or caught illegally.

You should be particularly wary if the bird you are being offered belongs to a protected species or a species that is subjected to legal restrictions with respect to how the bird should be kept and ownership transferred to others and is not wearing a closed ring.

A missing closed ring does not alwaays automatically means that something illegal is going on. If the breeder is not a member of a bird association, ten he will not be able to get these rings for his lovebirds. In such cases, it usually means that the bird was bred by a hobbyist or by accident.

In exceptional cases, it sometimes happens that the young birds have grown too fast, as a result of which it is no longer possible to fit those closed rings without actually hurting them. You should nevertheless be particularly careful if the bird is not wearing a closed ring.

Lovebirds Cage Hygiene made easy...

If you keep and breed lovebirds, lovebirds cage hygiene is of utmost importance. That is why cages and aviaries need to be thoroughly cleaned on a regular basis.

Lovebirds cage hygiene needs to be maintained regularly and mostly depends on the size of the cage or aviary, the number of birds living in it, the season, and the amount of droppings, waste food etc.

If you want to save labor costs, you can decide to seive the ground cover of the cage or aviary. In this method, the droppings and waste food can be removed easily.

Any invisible waste cannot, however, be removed by sieving, so that the risk of contamination remains. When you clean the ground cover of the cage, shed, or night house, you should remove the entire layer and replace it with a completely new one.

The best-known and most frequently used type of ground cover for lovebirds is shell sand, but wood chips, clean river sand and even pebbles are sometimes also used as a ground cover.

The walls, bars, and the floor of the lovebird's cage or aviary should be disinfected on a regular basis. You can buy safe-cleaning agents from the pet shops for maintaining lovebirds cage hygiene. Perches, troughs, and baths should also be scrubbed out regularly with a disinfectant. The more hygienically you set about this, the less likely you are to be confronted with problems.

Points to be Considered while Buying a New Lovebird

Regardless of whether you are buying your new birds from a pet breeder or a shop, you will always have to be alert to any possible underlying problems. You should first of all pay attention to the lovebird’s behavior; you’re better off not buying a bird that shows stereotypical or apathetic behavior or a bird that is very nervous.

The birds feather should be shiny and should be neatly aligned. The bird should furthermore not show any signs of ailments or itchiness. This may be an indication of a parasite.

Make sure you pay attention to its beak; it should have the right shape. The beaks of the some birds don’t grow correctly and as a result they do not wear down very evenly.

Make sure you count the number of toes as well. If one or more toes are missing this may have been caused by aggressive birds living in the same cage or otherwise by frost. Even though this can do little harm in slight cases, such as mutilation is nevertheless a flaw.

Make sure you do not buy birds that are clearly gasping for air or that keep closing eyes or keep their eyes half-open.

Hold the lovebird in your hand and study the area around its anus. It should be clean and should not contain any sticky or wet feathers or even bits of droppings.

Feel the lovebird’s breastbone. You would better off not buying a bird with a protruding breastbone and the same applies to birds with swollen stomach or bluish skin color.

Get to now the diseases of lovebirds before you choose a specimen for you. Once you’re familiarized with the disease symptoms, you can easily recognize them in the birds. Some of the diseases can’t be identified by a layman. Hence it is highly advisable to buy your lovebird from someone reliable or seek the help of an experienced bird-keeper.

If you’re going to breed the lovebirds, it is not entertained to procure the birds from a same nest. In addition to this a faithful or good breeder won’t try to fob you off with lovebirds that are related when you explain what you intend to use them for.

Thinks to Think Before Buying a Lovebird

If you want to buy a lovebird please make sure that the bird is a young one. Older birds are also occasionally offered for sale as family pets but if they are not used to living in a family there is a serious risk that they will never become the tame bird you have always looked for.

In the case of lovebirds it is possible to determine the age of a bird by its beak., which is partially black when the bird is still young. In these species the fact that the birds have eyes that are uniformly dark, i.e/ do not have a white or russet iris., also often points to the birds being young.

If you do not know a great deal about lovebirds, take someone with you who can advise you or buy your bird from someone who is reliable, for example, a breeder who is known for his or her knowledge.

A lot of lovebirds are hand reared by the breeders. A major advantage of this is that the birds become used to humans at an early age and accept them as one of their own. Consequently they’re not afraid of humans and very quickly become tame. The fact that lovebirds are hand-reared does, however, also have a number of drawbacks, namely that the natural breeding and nurturing behavior of the lovebirds is interfered with.

There is fairly big risk that a hand-reared bird will have problems raising its own offspring later on—that is if this bird accepts a bird of same species as its partner. If you want to use a lovebird for breeding purposes you would be better off buying a bird that has been raised by its parents.

Baby Lovebirds Feeding

You may be worried if your baby lovebird is eating nothing except seeds. Most of my clients are asking this question- what else we can feed except seeds.

Most of the baby lovebirds won’t love to take any fruits. But most of the literature explain that adult lovebirds are fond of fruits but they will forget to tell an important fact of feeding one important fruit for the baby lovebirds- it is nothing but BANANA.

It may turn its face once you feed oranges, pears, apples, etc. But feeding the baby lovebirds with banana make them crazy to eat. Try banana it won’t turn away. Bananas are not only good in taste but it is good for health also!

When your baby lovebird gets a little older, you can try with cooked brown rice, cooked pasta, raw carrots (use a potatoes peeler), raw broccoli, etc. Once they crossed two months old, introduce pellets not seed. Seeds can be used just like that of candies for your baby lovebirds. (Now she is not a baby lovebird-she is an adult one…)

Lovebirds Nail Care

Lovebirds nail may become too long, especially when the perches are too thin or too smooth. Apart from the facts that it is not very comfortable for lovebirds to have long nails, they can also cause deformities of the toes and feet.

You should, therefore, take a regular critical look at your lovebird's nails and clip them if necessary.

You may find this task rather frightening the first time. You may be able to ask an experienced bird-keeper to help you. Bear in mind that you should only clip the tip of toenails.

You should make sure that you never touch the tip of the nail that is still "alive". This will cause the claw to start bleeding- sometimes for a long period- and will turn nail clipping into a painful and traumatic experience for your bird.

Once you have clipped your bird's nails several times it will become a routine job that will only take a few minutes. If, however, you find it a problem you had better ask someone else to do it for you. That is always better than letting the bird go through life with long nails.

Fruits, Vegetable, Berries and Weeds for Lovebirds

Most lovebirds eat some form of green food. For lovebirds it is a supplement ingredient of their diet. You can collect some green food yourself, but there may be some drawbacks to this.

The herbs, and fruits may have been contaminated by dust produced by heavy industries, exhaust fumes, or pesticides. That is why people who keep a lot of lovebirds often grow herbs in their own garden or on their balcony, so that they can be sure about the quality.

When you give green foods to the lovebirds make sure that it has not stated to wilt, rot or even become moldy. If any green food is left over, make sure you remove it the same day. Fruit should be washed very thoroughly and offered in small pieces.

Fruits and Vegetables

The following types of fruits and vegetable are suitable:
Sweet varieties of apple, pears, bananas, grapes, orange segments, mandarains, papayas, dates, figs, apricots (dried or fresh), pineapples, soaked raisins and currants, carrots, tomatoes, corncobs, celery (in small quantities). Never feed your lovebirds avocados, as these are poisonous for a lot of birds!

Berries

The following types of berries are suitable: blackberries, raspberries, hawthorn berries, elderberries, berberries, rowanberries, rose hips, firethorn berries.

Green Food

The following type of green food are suitable for lovebirds: chick weed, coltsfoot, sheperd's purse, lady's-thumb (the seeds and flowers), ground-sel, plantain, sorrel, milfol, dandelion, garden peppergrass, fresh grass seeds, evening primrose, sow thistle.

Lovebird illness: Learn the Symptom of Lovebird Illness

Lovebirds are really skilled in hiding the symptoms of disease/illness because showing their illness in nature will help the predators to attack them. In order to have the best chance of saving the life of lovebirds, you should lookout for telltale symptoms of sick lovebird.

Early signs of lovebird illness include change in feeding habit, overly quiet, and fluffed feathers. Once your bird shows any of these symptoms, you should approach an avian vet as early as possible to avoid any untoward incident.

The symptoms of lovebird's illnesses are the sequel of some of the lovebird's diseases. Some of the common diseases/ conditions that pave way for sickness are enteritis, respiratory disorders, coccidiosis, intestinal influenza, egg drop syndrome, ticks, mites, internal parasites, bacterial and viral infection (avian pox, polyoma viral, etc), yeast infections (candidiasis) and infighting.

Once your lovebird have shown symptoms of running nose, reduced appetite, dull or watery eyes, sleeping in their enclosure with eyes closed, dull plumage, ruffled feathers cloudy eyes, and soiled vent, you may come to conclusion that your lovebird is going towards the sickness.

Some of the sick lovebirds love to stay near the feeding cup. Even falling from the perch, excessive scratching, sneezing, labored breathing, and tail bobbing are the final symptoms of lovebird illness.

As a responsible lovebird owner, once you found illness in your lovebird, an avian vet check should be the FIRST thing you do! It is always advisable to catch sicknesses first, to be safe than sorry, rather than realize it once it is beyond the reach of the vet.

How to Tame An Untamed Lovebird?

It is not Joke that if you try to peep into your untamed lovebirds cage, chance are you will loose a piece of skin off your finger because lovebirds are very territorial birds. Hence it is highly advisable to follow the step by step procedure to tame an untamed lovebird as a pet training book is suggesting. This will help you maintain your lovebird not only hale and healthy but also act as a key to successful taming your untamed lovebird.

In case if you're having two untamed lovebirds, you need to separate them to give training. Once you tame them you can bring back them together. In addition to this, you should be cautious enough in handling them both on a daily basis otherwise you would lose them…

Provide only 75 percent of feed in the cage and rest of the feed items should be provided during training session. Moreover tame your untamed lovebird in dimlight as they would be calmer as they are poorer in vision.

While taming your untamed lovebird, clip the wings. Keep in mind that clipping should be done only on flight feathers. Caution should be taken while trimming the quills. If you clip the end of the quills, there will be excessive bleeding.

Toys should be avoided during taming period. After getting tamed introduce their favorite toys to give them in-house training. Lovebirds need total enchanting from you…

Most of the lovebirds get scared for gloves. Try to avoid them while taming. Don't think taming an untamed lovebird is a Herculean task as they're hilarious to tame. And also funny pets…

Menu For Your Weaned Lovebird Chicks

The best time for weaning a baby lovebird is after 4 weeks age. Within this period, you should practice the young ones to take feed from your hand or on its own. In my opinion, a lovebird would be a best eater once it is exposed to foods at the earliest possible time.

Slowly introduce all types of food a lovebird eats. The common food items introduced initially might be crumbled Roudybush pellets, sunflower sprouts, and millets.

Lovebirds are chronic sufferers of food phobia. That is a lovebird will fly wildly inside the cage as such a snake entered into the cage once you introduce a new food item that it hasn't seen before. Hence it is strongly advised to provide a different type of food daily.

The sample menu for your newly weaned lovebird may be:

Monday: sunflower sprouts, seed mix, cooked sweet potato (mashed) with corn niblets mixed in.

Tuesday: Pellets, Cheerios, Cooked brown rice or quinoa with sprouted beans and seeds.

Wednesday: Exact pellets, Wheat grass

Thursday: Carrots (chopped to 1 cm size), cooked corn niblets, Roudybush pellets, and Seed mix.

Friday: Millet, Pea shoots, sunflower sprouts, Cheerios.

I think now you got an idea. Your feeding schedule and food items need not be the same as above. You can use the locally available items, but the main idea is you should provide different food items EVERY SINGLE DAY. Then, food won't be scary and strange for your lovebirds, but it would induce the eating habit…

Toys for Lovebirds

Do you know lovebirds are violent chewers? Hence this point should be kept in mind while selecting toys for your tiny thing. Lovebird toys are often filmsy and too small for the assiduous beak of the lovebird. Within no time, you can easily make sure that which toys are most preferred by your lovebird.

Toys for lovebirds should possess no small parts, which can be chewed off and swallowed. Make sure that the selected model contains no loose strings or clips that your lovebird could stick its feet or beak. Sometimes wide ring in a toy may cause head trapping.

Safe Toys

Safe models for lovebirds include ladders, bells, acrylic, rawhide, leather, sisal, or wood toys. Some of the pet owners prefer to go for converting their households into perfect toy for their lovebirds.

Dried pasta shapes, ink-free cardboard, paper cups, and paper towel rolls may be used to build nice dolls for the lovebirds. As lovebirds are very playful and agile, you can produce different toys daily for keeping them busy all the day.

For bottom play area (floor), you can build a teeter-totter for your lovebird using dowels. It would love to walk back and forth along it.

Toys painted with some dyes, lead and zinc paints, lacquers, adhesives and glues should be avoided as they are acting as health hazards for your lovebird. Although cotton ropes are good for playing, strict supervision is necessary since birds may get entangled in the loosened end of the ropes.

Toys will help your birds free from vices like feather plucking, eating unwanted things (Pica), etc. Happy moments!!!

How to Buy Lovebirds?

Most of the first time buyers are in the idea that it is essential to procure two lovebirds as they think that without a pair, lovebird will succumb to death. It's not true! It is not necessary to buy two lovebirds.

Lovebirds can live alone for years together. Moreover single lovebird would be more attached to the owner. If you don't get two lovebirds, you at least get a mirror for him/her. As they love affection, it wouldn't hurt for them to have something to smooch up when you're away from home.

Buy a lovebird based on the personality rather than its color. Lovebirds are great pets. If you buy lovebird of seven weeks old, she should be hand fed with seeds and she'd hide out in your shirts for warmth and comfort.

As parent raised birds are really hard to tame it is advisable to buy a hand-raised one. Don't be in a opinion that lovebirds are calm and quiet. They will make huge noisy as they can chat and chirp.

Some lovebirds do kind of whistle but mainly they chirp, LOUDLY, most of the time. The cost of seven weeks bird ranges from $50 to $75, but mutated ones would be little bit costlier. You should note that long-term commitment I really essential while buying lovebirds.

Before going to buy a lovebird, learn about the behaviour and feeding pattern of the same. Lovebirds require attention on a regular basis. You should feed your lovebird with beans, pasta, vegetables, fruits, pellets, seeds, etc. You should allow your lovebird to fly outside cage at least few minutes in a day.

It is not a bad idea to buy a pair of lovebirds from a breeder or pet store, which plays with baby lovebirds regularly.

Potty Train your Lovebirds...

As a prestigious owner of a tiny lovebird, you'll know that these birds are very intelligent. They can be 'potty' trained to poop on a paper or in a trash container instead of around the house.

How to train?

Dog books will help you a lot to learn the potty training your lovebird. Dog training involves showing a right spot every time after each meal, but lovebirds are also a lot like that, with one really BIG difference: they go as often as once every few minutes!

Uncover the birdcage in the morning after it poops. Wait till it completes. Immediately open the cage once it finishes her/his act, otherwise the lovebird has no reason to associate the action with the result.

Always open the cage immediately after pooping. After few days or weeks, the bird may call you immediately after pooping to let her out.

Potty training lovebird may take few days for some birds or it might take few weeks for others. Hence it always requires instructor's patience and persistence.

Some of my friend's lovebirds hesitate to poop on their favorite human perch as they're having some sort of instinctive desire.

Choosing suitable word for pooping is essential. The same word should be used for the act by all of your family members. For example- you can say- "Poopie, go poppie, poppie!" once you identified the act of defecation. The bird immediately respond and it will go to T-stand or newspaper to poop. Say- "good bird!" when he/she was done.

By means of this act you can build positive binding with performing the action of pooping on her own and the word poopie.

Potty training your lovebird will help your lovebird to enjoy freedom outside the cage without the constant clean up.

How to Hand Feed the Baby Lovebirds?

When the mum and dad of your baby lovebirds are taking utmost care of their babies, you don't have to hand feed them.

Most of the owners preferred to go for hand feeding mainly due to disowning of their parents of varied reasons. In addition to this, hand feeding the baby lovebirds favor higher price, as it will be very tame and more sellable.

As hand-feeding process is time consuming, the persons who can get up early, stay up late and provide them with the feed several times during daytime only can begin this process of baby lovebirds rising.

Hand fed your babies when they attain two weeks old. This will provide them time for father and mother to start off pretty well.

Hand feeding formula includes wheatena, sunflower seed, and various kinds of baby food. Mix these ingredients and freeze it in ice cube trays. You can provide a fresh cube for each meal.

Although formula is pretty smelling and gross looking, the lovebird young ones just love it like anything. You can use a syringe with the nozzle sliced at a slant to take more feed through at a time. You mix the frozen feed with warm water, to a texture that is easily squeezed through the syringe and easily swallowed by the little ones Do sterilize the syringe after each use.

One of my client used pronutro, which is an excellent commercial food for rising lovebird chicks. Mix the Pronutro with warm water with a consistency of free flow through syringe.

Hold the baby lovebird in your hand; place the syringe into his beak, not too deep. Provide him one mouthful at a time, permitting him to swallow and breathe in-between. You ought to do this process at least once in 3 ½ to 4 hours. You should start at 7:00 am to 11:00 pm.

Housing Lovebirds with Other Birds

"Can lovebirds and other bird species be housed together in an aviary?"- This is a pretty basic question on lovebirds. It is essential that you do LOTS of research on lovebirds before bringing any lovebird home.

Do you think housing lovebirds with other species of birds found to be good? NO… Under any circumstances don't house the lovebirds other species of birds like quails, parakeets, cockatiels or cockatoos…

If you house the lovebird with quail, it will kill a quail, as it is very aggressive. Hence lovebird can be housed alone or with its species.

In lovebirds, females are always aggressive than males. Some time the ferocious female lovebird will kill a docile male. Hence a good watch on the female is necessary to avoid infighting so that she doesn't kill its mate.

Even housing a lovebird with African Grey may lead to problem for the Parrot as this tiny creature will try to attack that massive one, which is ten times her size!

Lovebirds can keep company with other bird's species (Bongo Marie, Spikey Le Bec, Caique, and African Grey), without being housed in the same cage. However, they won't physically interact with each other but they do often talk to each other, whistle back and forth- usually with Bongo bossing lovebirds around.

Hidden Facts About Egg of Lovebirds.

One of my client asked- "I have a female peach faced lovebird in a cage with a male parakeet. This morning I found a single egg at the floor of the cage. How can this be? What can I do? The lovebird seems to have abandoned the egg."

This is a peculiar problem- she thinks that the parakeet crossed the peach faced lovebird and produced egg. She was very much worried about that egg. What do you think? Who is that BLACK SHEEP? How this lovebird laid egg?

No lovebird entered this cage and mated this female peach faced lovebird to produce egg. Egg producing is a physiological phenomenon just like that of menstrual cycle in women. Even if my client don't have male parakeet in the cage, the female lovebird will produce egg.

Eggs will be produced in the reproductive tract of the lovebird irrespective of mating. But these eggs are INFERTILE. Even if you place this egg with the some other brooding lovebird, it won't hatched out…

Lovebirds in your Shoulder…

Now you have a wonderful tame and trusting Lovebird. The next step in taming your lovebird is to bring her to your shoulder freely. Don’t panic while your luvy is sitting near your face. But some of the larger parrots may injure your face or even eyes. Even this small creature tries to bite you it can’t produce heavy damage.

Most of the finger-tamed lovebirds easily travel along your arm and will settle right to your shoulder. Once you manage to settle her on your shoulder, you now have hands free situation. You can walk around your home—watching TV, or even reading newspaper without any fuss.

If you’re wearing any Jewels, you should be very careful with this shoulder-riding lovebird because the shiny necklace and earrings may attract your lovebird easily. Some of the lovebirds might break these valuables and even bitten by your bird, which is highly TOXIC.

Other disadvantage with these shoulder-riding lovebirds include you might have forgotten her presence and may attend a doorbell. The lovebird might fall from your shoulder or try to fly helter-skelter after seeing a stranger at your doorsteps.

You should be double careful while cooking with a hot oven or hot burner, as this may cause severe discomfort to your lovebird. As these birds are hardly 40-60 gms in weight and also will be quiet, once it gets accustomed, it is very easy to forget her presence in your shoulder.

Be careful with your shoulder-riding lovebirds. Once you overcome the above said difficulties, you can enjoy yourself with your lovebirds…

How to Tame your Lovebirds?

So, you have presented a new baby lovebird home for your kid. Now, it is a high time for you to play with it. As your little bird is afraid of you-you may think what to do? Taming your lovebird will sort out this problem.

You can introduce your hand to this little creature, once it shows comfortable with your presence and responds to you by getting close to the side of the cage you are near.

Bribe him a broken sunflower seed or a small piece of millet but don't try to pat your lovebird if your lovebird gets away from your hand. It may take at least two days to get familiarize with your hand and also he should get enough confidence that the hand will not hurt him.

After couple days, your lovebird will allow you to gently stroke his breast. Congrats!!! Now both of you become good friends. Now your lovebird won't move away from your hand.

Keep on talking with him when you are patting his breast. Once he feels comfortable with your hand, gentle press against the abdomen and push up a bit. Now there may be a chance to put his one foot onto your finger.

If he has not frightened, you can give next push also to put his other limb up and be standing on your hand. Some of the lovebirds will get frightened at this stage and immediately jumps off from your hand. Don't loose your heart. Once your lovebird settled and is calm, again try the same procedure.

Before taking him out of the cage, you must be certain that he should not get injured from other pets in your home (cats, dogs, etc). If you have other pets, remove them from the room where you're keeping the lovebirds.

Once your lovebird gets accustomed to your finger for at least a week, it is the time to take him out of the cage. Once you take your lovebird out of the cage, it may get panic and may fly helter-skelter. Be calm at this situation and also help him to land properly because he may not know this act. Once it lands on the floor, don't run and catch it. Talk him quietly and slowly approach him to pick him up to place him in your finger.

Although it is very easy to write or speak about taming your lovebird, it is really a Herculean task for an owner to tame the lovebirds. ALL THE BEST!!!

General Management of African Lovebirds

African lovebirds are a group of parrots with short squaretails. They all come from Africa. Their main coloring is green with some orange and yellow feathers in the tail. The head coloring varies with the species of which there are quite a few.

African lovebirds thrive on a seed mixture of equal parts millet, canary, with a very little sunflower and hemp. They like green food and apple. They breed in a nest boxes which should be about twice the size of a budgerigar's nest box: 8 by 8 by 8 inches is quite a good size with an entrance hole just big enough for them to get in and out, high up in one side.

Unlike most members of the parrot family, African lovebirds build nests inside their boxes consisting mainly of long thin strips of bark peeled from twiggy branches. They have a unique method of carrying this to the nest box by sticking several strips of bark into the feathers on their rumps and conveying them to the boxes in this manner.

African lovebirds are free breeders in aviaries, the only snag being that, with certain exceptions, they are almost impossible to sex. Various theories have been advanced on how to tell cocks from hens, such as size of head, shape of beak, width between pelvic bones and so on, but whilst these hold good in some cases none of these methods is really reliable.

If you have two lovebirds, which go to nest and never produce eggs you can safely assume that you have two cocks. Conversely, if they produce what appears to be abnormally large clutches of infertile eggs you can be pretty sure that you have two hens.

African lovebirds enjoy a bath so they should regularly be provided with a shallow dish of clean water in which to indulge this habit.

Tame single specimens make good pets although they are unlikely to learn to talk. Pairs usually remain wrapped up in themselves talking little or no interest in their human companions. African lovebirds are usually better kept in out-door aviaries where their bright colors and amusing habits may be enjoyed to greater advantage.