Absolutely Adorable Lovebirds

Get to Know about Masked Lovebirds

2012-02-05T09:05:00.000-08:00

The pet owners just love the lovebirds like anything. One should not get fooled by their size. Lovebirds are true parrots. As these birds are very small in size, their accommodation can be small as well; hence the expense is very much less compared to the full size parrots. Lovebirds care is utmost important for a pet bird owner

Most of the species of lovebirds are native of Africa and Madagascar. As the name suggests these birds love their partner very much and remain close to each other hours together. These love birds do fight savagely with their own species at the time of breeding. Though these birds are small, they can adjust with most climates. As these lovebirds are quiet and good breeders in captivity, these birds are ideal aviary birds. The lovebirds can not talk but are very intelligent creatures. These lovebirds can survive up to ten years and no longer than that.

The lovebirds are very popular exhibition birds. There are more numbers bird club in United States of America which is very much interested in love birds. Peach faced, Fischers and masked love birds are bred by many. The other species are generally termed as rare as they are unknown to aviary. They are nyasal love bird, Madagascar love bird, black cheeked love bird, Abyssinian love bird, red faced love birds,black collared love bird, and black masked love birds.

The head of the black masked love bird is black and plumage colour is green. The collar will be yellow in colour. The other important characteristic of this species is white ring that encircles both the eyes. In addition to traditional green, so many other colour morphs are also noted in few birds. Blue morph is the most popular in western hemisphere. The first mutation is the blue mutation that came in existence from the wild stock. Albinos, pastel blue, and cinnamon pied are the other colour mutations that are bred in United States of America. Pastel blue is a mixture of dilute green and blue.

The Black masked lovebirds are native of Africa. These love birds can also be found on the islands of north east Tanzania. These love birds are hardy species and the Australian breeders, most of them propagate these birds in colony system. The masked love birds tend to dip pieces of their nesting material in the water in order to soften them and to retain the humidity in their nest

Understanding Lovebirds Care

2012-02-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

The love birds are affectionate pet. As these birds are very small, these birds can be maintained with ease. You won’t be requiring more space to have them in house. Love birds are very tough birds and are resistant to many diseases that threaten the larger parrots and cockatiels. These love birds are welcome in any house as these birds are cheerful and have gorgeous coloring. Love birds are good breeders and the breeding is very simple without much complication.

The love birds are easy to care. But it is the duty of the pet owner to get the much needed details about the birds from the breeder. The breeder should spell out the health guarantees and the kind of feed required for that particular type of love bird. The seed feeding should be avoided as much as possible. Formulated diets such as Hagen tropican granules are considered best as they contain vitamins and minerals that are required for the birds. It is hard to balance the diet with seeds as love birds are fussy eaters. The love birds can be fed fruits, fresh greens and vegetables. These food stuffs can be chopped and fed to the love birds. The wet food should be removed as and when noticed in order to avoid spoilage. Fresh corn is the most favorite food for most of the love birds.

The love birds should be taken to the avian specialist within the first week of the purchase. The vet will test the birds for psittacosis. Psittacosis can be transmitted to human beings too and hence one should be careful about it. The good news is that psittacosis is not common in love birds.

The numbers of love birds that can be purchased totally depend on the pet owner. There is no restriction on the numbers love birds to be kept as pet. If the owner has the time, money, space in the house, he or she can go in for any number of love birds. In general people buy the love birds in pairs as they can be bred in future. Besides the love birds will be happy with a partner. Identifying the sex is not all that easy in love birds as both male and female resemble closely. The pet retailer should provide the information about the sex of the love birds.

The new arrival should be kept in separate cage for a period of 30 days in case there were birds already in the house. The new arrival should be provided clean cage in the quite corner of the house.

How to Stop Lovebird Biting?

2012-01-25T10:24:00.000-08:00

The love birds are very small birds; there is no doubt about it. But their bite is very painful. Those who got the bite are simply shocked, betrayed and dismayed. Biting is not rare, and is one of the few common problems one has to face while rearing the love birds. Let us discuss about the love bird biting and few tips to sort the issue out

Babies and beaks

Like any other species the love birds baby too will explore with its beak. The beaks of the baby love bird will be very sensitive. Hence one should never play with it any time. The flicking or pulling the beak will be highly dangerous and hence discouraged in total. The baby love birds may use the beak for grip purpose. You should never mistake this as bite. The beak for the love bird is almost like the hand for them. The love bird’s babies who are on the formula feed should not be permitted to explore their beak. Once the birds are weaned and are socializing, the bird is permitted to explore the beak.

Nibbling juvenile

The love birds start using their beak for nibbling before biting. If you find the love birds biting the finger all of a sudden without any provocation, then you should enquire the owner about the birds. They will invariably tell you that their birds has been nibbling their finger for long time.
Hence, if you are first time love bird owner, then please be informed that the nibbling activity should be discouraged from the beginning. The birds should be admonished as NO BITING firmly and the birds should be getting rid of the shoulder or ear where she is sitting at the time of biting. Few birds will not obey and correct their behaviour immediately. One should not get tired and should continue the practice till the birds start behaving well.

Distraction method

Distracting the bird is the best method to stop nibbling. Unscented Kleenex or untanned leather will be enough to distract the love birds from biting the finger. At times the love birds may be wary of the thing that you offer to them. One need to play with the item as if it is the toy and the love bird that is watching this will attempt to bite it and will soon forget biting your finger by shear distraction.

Holding the beak

If the love bird is not stopping the habit of biting even after your best efforts, one can think of holding the beak method. As per this method the love bird beak should be held between the thumb and finger gently and NO BITING should be shouted. Make sure the beak is not damaged in the process.

Time out

Some birds may not change the biting habit that easily. For such birds time out cage method will be of immense help. Time out cage is a small cage which is used commonly to teach a lesson. If the love bird is biting you in spite of the reminders, then take the love bird out and give him no bite command. Let the birds be kept in time out cage for few minutes let us say five minutes. This time out cage will have only a cup of water and no toys in it. When the love bird is in the time out cage, then there should not be any talking, scolding or discussion with the bird.

How to train lovebirds- the first step to successfully train a love bird

2012-01-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

Are you the first time love bird owner? Do you want to know the ways and means of training a love bird? There are few steps one need to follow to train the love birds. Here is little information about the love bird training.

Gain trust

Gaining the love birds trust is first and fore most things in training the love bird. This is very much required if the love birds has not handled by anyone already. If the love bird is having any unwanted behaviour, then gaining the trust of the need of the hour. Biting is one such unwanted behaviour. Gaining the trust is easy. All one needs is little patience. The process should be started slowly.

To start with the love bird can be made to touch the tip of a small object like pencil or small stick. If the love bird can do that successfully, the birds should be treated or praised. Every time the bird responds positively, treat it again and again. Then proceed to touch command. For touch command one should use the finger or hand. The bird will slowly start trusting you. You also there after will handle the love bird with confidence. Gaining the trust of the love bird is the most crucial aspect in training the love birds as discussed already. Once that part is crossed, the rest of the thing will be easy.

Rewarding the love bird often

Once the trust is gained then one can move on to other new skill development. Stopping the unwanted sounds, coming to the owner as and when called, mimicking the sounds made by the owner etc are some of the new skills that can be taught to the love birds. Every time the bird obeys your command, the love bird needs to be rewarded with its favourite food or toy.

The key in love bird training is positive reinforcement. One should be aware of the love bird treat and one should have them in hand in sufficient quantity always. Nuts, millets, sun flower seeds etc are the treats that are liked by most of the love birds. Some love birds will prefer the love of the owner more than anything. Each love birds should treated as per its liking if they respond to the training well.

Perfect one skill at a time

The love birds are tiny little birds and hence do not try to teach them so many thing at a time. One should start with one skill at a time and the training should continue till the bird perfects it. Once the bird has perfected the skill, and then the other skill training should be attempted. Putting a ball in the loop, waving and turning around are some of the skills that can be taught to the love birds which will make them busy and chase away their boredom. If one tries to teach so many tricks at a time, then the bird will get confused and may not pick up anything and hence such practice should be avoided.

Baby Lovebirds – How to care?

2012-01-15T05:01:00.000-08:00

The love birds are very small and hence the baby love birds are tiny. Caring the baby love bird is not all that easy. If you are a starter here are few suggestions in this article about caring the baby love birds

Where to place them?

Sizable plastic type reptile container is considered best for the baby love birds for few weeks of their early life. The space provided for the baby love birds should be sufficient for their growth and at the same time the baby love birds needs to be safe there. The bottom of the pot should be lined with cage liner. The untreated papers should be used as towels above that. The cleaning on daily basis will be easy if these untreated papers are used. The food should be kept at the one end of the box and the space for cuddling should be at the other end. This way the possible clutter of the food part can be prevented.

When to take over for the babies parents?

The pet owner must know when the parents of the baby bird are allowed to take care, which is the first and foremost thing he should know. The entire clutch can be pulled out once the youngest baby love birds is about ten days old. The eldest baby love birds should be 16- 17 days at that time. If the baby love birds are older than 17 days then the hand feeding is bit difficult. If the love birds hatching is far apart and if the older baby love birds is older than 17 days by the time the younger baby love birds is 10 days old, then do not hesitate to remove the clutch two times.

Weaning

Abundance weaning approach is the most popular weaning method. This way the baby birds will be fed with syringe while there will be sufficient adult food also. This way the baby love birds will be motivated to eat the food themselves. As the days pass the baby love birds will slowly avoid the syringe feeding and will start eating their food on their own. It is always recommended that the weaned love birds are observed for some days for any health issues. Only on confirmation that there is no health issue the lovebirds should be sold.

Feeding from your hand

As discussed earlier, hand feeding is the best for first few weeks. Hand feeding is not all that easy and hence experienced trainers help is required instead of attempting is all by your self. The love bird baby food is available in pet stores and the same should be used for the baby love birds. For syringe feeding O –ring plastic syringe needs to be used. The baby love birds prefer warm food as they are used to regurgitated food. The ideal temperature required is 103 degree Fahrenheit. In case the food is warmed, care is taken to stir properly for uniform distribution of temperature to avoid heat burn.

What to Feed my Lovebirds?

2012-01-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

Lovebirds are such a wonderful creature and there is hardly anybody who does not love these tiny birds. These birds as the name suggest love to remain in pairs. These lovebirds spend hours together sitting side by side to its partner.

These birds are in fact smaller version of parrots. They grow to the size of 5 inches and can live for 15 years. Though these lovebirds are small, there is no shortage of activity and noise level. Many like to have these lovely creatures at home as pet. But most f them are not aware what to be fed to them. Here is little information about the feed for lovebirds.

The lovebirds like to feed on fresh and organic foods as they want to live close to the nature as much as possible. The love bird’s food can be pellets of fruits, vegetables and seeds. In wild the lovebirds mainly feed on seeds.

The parrots love to have variety of foods instead of feeding on the same food. Hence one should change the feed every day as there is a lot to be added in the food list such as cooked beans, pasta, fresh grains, brown rice, sprout, wheat grass, non toxic flowers etc.

There are many different verities of lovebirds right from red head to black collar and each species will have different liking when it comes to food. One should be aware of this fact. The black collared lovebirds are fond of fig fruit.

The food provided can be in the form of pellets or the food can be provided by soaking the same in water in order to soften the food. The food that is soft will be digested easily by the lovebirds. The water dish provided must be very clean. The water provided to the love bird should be free from contamination. The water bowls should be cleaned every day in order to avoid bacteria build up.

As discussed earlier, raw fruits and vegetables are good for the health of the lovebirds. But some birds will be very choosy about their food and such lovebirds are to be cared more and their specific requirement should be met with.

One has to be careful while providing the cooked food to the lovebirds. The cooked food should be allowed to cool before feeding. For example the cooked potato will be very hot and if provided as it is before cooling, the poor creature will get its beak damaged and at times the birds may die if the digestive system is damaged too badly. The food that was not consumed by the love bird for more than 24 hours should be removed from the cage and should be thrown out in the dust bin. There should not be any re heating and re using.

The lovebirds are very active and social animals. These birds are likely to slip in to boredom if not properly engaged. The boredom will lead to feather plucking, biting and screaming. One should aim at providing interactive way of feeding the lovebirds. Using food finding toys in case of pellets and skewers in case of fresh foods are recommended to keep the lovebirds in good spirit and to chase the boredom.

Things to think before rearing love birds

2012-01-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

The love birds are named thus as these tiny birds love to interact and stay in pairs. These birds love to stay with her partner for long time. These birds sit side by side with the partner hours together. The name of these birds means "inseparables” in French and German.

These love birds are small parrots but these birds can make loud noises. Though these birds are small, they are aggressive in nature. Hence the pet owner should keep watchful eyes when these love birds are allowed to socialize with other animals, birds and other human beings.

Of late more and more people are opting for love bird rearing. But there are lot questions that need to be answered. The love birds are attention seeking creatures. Hence one should have sufficient time for spending time with these lovely creatures. These birds slip in to boredom if not proper attention and affection is paid which will affect the over all health of the birds. The boredom will lead to plucking of the feathers.

These animals should be fed properly and required water should be provided. There are so many health problems for these love birds just as the case of so many other animals. Hence there should be avian specialist help nearby. The love birds should be rushed to the specialist in case of any health issues.

The house should have large and safe space for these love birds. The lovebird rearing should be long time commitment. The households and the neighbours should be adjustable with the noise and the scream these little creatures make. If all those mentioned above is met with then one can think of rearing love bird without any hesitation. For the information, the average size of the love bird is 5 inch and the average life span is 15 years.

Grooming and hygiene of love birds

2012-01-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

Grooming and hygiene of the love birds is very important as lot many people are allergic to the danders that comes out from the love birds. The love birds should be bathed in order to avoid this dander problem.

In winter months the love birds should be bathed -3-5 times and in summer months the love birds should be bathed 5-7 times at least. If the love bird of your likes to bath more often and the same should be encouraged as the birds will be clean and the plumage will look healthy and the allergy problems are reduced further.

There are many ways of bathing and each and every bird has their own preference. The love birds can bath as they wish in the wild but in captivity there are few limitations. Here are few ways in bathing the love birds in captivity. An extra bowel of water can be kept in the cage. The bowel can be seen hanging or can be kept at the bottom of the cage. The love birds can be sprayed with water using a bottle. If the aviary is kept outside, the love birds can bath in natural rain water. Some love birds prefer hot water, some prefer warm water and some other birds prefer cold water.

Clipping the flight feathers should never be practised in love birds as this will prevent the love birds from exercising [flying]. The love bird will only be walking and climbing around in the cage. The love birds love flying as it is their natural instinct.

The love birds also like to spend time with the pet owners. The love birds in general crave for attention. In you feel that clipping is necessary, and then you need to consult the avian specialist. If required, the nail and beak trimming can be done, but the professional help is required for this. The bamboo perches, if provided in the cage, then there is a possibility of natural way.

Lovebirds Behaviour & Interaction

2012-01-08T05:21:00.000-08:00

The love birds are lovely creatures to be kept as pet at home. One requires this kind of pet to get relieved from the tension of day to day life. People prefer Love birds as they are very easy to maintain and the expense incurred is very less compared to the other animals like dog, cat etc. all one require is the little time to spend with these little creatures in order to chase out the boredom they get in to if not attended by the any one of the family members.

As we all know the love birds are very social animal and long for affection and attention all the times. Love birds in wild live in large flocks. Love birds can learn word and phrases very well though they are said to be not good when it comes to mimicking.

Love birds require different types of toys that are chewable. Love birds also enjoy puzzle toys that challenge the birds. The love birds are very quick in learning the tricks and words. The love birds are very friendly and love to assist the family be it small or large. The love birds will more favour the person in the family who spends more time with them. The bite of the love is small and the noise level is less. As the result these birds are highly suitable for apartments.

Habitat maintenance – the love bird’s cage should be changed at least one time in a week. The cleaning and the disinfection of the cage should be done as much as possible. The love bird’s weight should be monitored on daily basis which will help one to identify whether the birds are ill or not. The love birds are very good at disguising the illness; hence it is difficult to find out if the love birds are ill.

Housing of Lovebirds

2012-01-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

For love birds the out door aviary is the best. The biggest advantage of the out door aviary is that the love birds will get the natural sun light which is very essential for the feathers and also for the over all health of the love birds. In case the out door aviary is not feasible because of the climate, then in door aviary can be planned but the same should be supported by full spectrum lighting.

Love birds will enjoy very much if they are housed at high traffic area of the house as they will get enough of interaction. The cage of the love bird should have enough space for flying which will improve the over all health of the love birds. Flying is a kind of exercise for the love birds. Besides the love birds will become obese if not proper exercise is performed.

As far as the cage size is concerned, larger the space more will be the comfort. The bar space should be not less than one inch. The diameter and the texture of the perches are very important to avoid the foot sores and arthritis problems. The main perch should be of wood and this perch will be used by the love birds most of the time. Sandy perch is used by the love birds at night for sleeping and hence these perches should be placed at reasonable height. The gate should be made of metal and the same should be positioned at the bottom so that cage cleaning will be easy. The love birds will be kept clean from their own droppings.

Here are few recommendations for the love bird housing. They are cage, cage liner, organic pellet, treats, mineral block, food -finding toys, interactive training tools and courses, variety of perches and shred able toys, bird perch scale.

Common Health Issues of Lovebirds

2012-01-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

One should know the signs of healthy love birds only then he or she will understand the health signs and the health issues of love birds. Here are the signs of healthy love birds. The love bird should be active, alert, vocal and social. The eyes should be dry so also the nostrils. The love birds should drink water and eat the food regularly through out the day. The love birds should have well groomed, smooth and colourful feathers. The love bird should fly as and when the chance is provided if it is healthy. The love birds that are not well will refuse to fly even if there is a chance. Let us discuss here few common health issues of love birds.

Diarrhoea- if there is no faecal formation in the stool then you can confirm that the love bird has diarrhoea. The causes for diarrhoea in love bird may be parasite infestation and too much of fruit in the diet. One can think of reducing the fruit quantity in the diet if there is diarrhoea. But it is always better to consult the opinion of avian specialist if the love birds are found to have diarrhoea.

Feather plucking and mutilation- the love birds start plucking if there is extreme boredom. The feather plucking happens if the love birds are provided unhealthy diet. The love birds pluck the feather in an attempt to clean the feather as they are not allowed to bathe very often.

Proventicular dilatation disease- the affected love birds will show signs of depression, lose weight abruptly and there will undigested food particles in the stool. The avian specialist should be consulted at the earliest in order to save the birds.

Obesity- the causes of obesity are unhealthy diet, lack of proper exercise, poor feeding etc. The fat content of the food should be minimized. The food provided should have sufficient protein, vitamins, minerals etc. The love bird should be active as much as possible. The in house flight training is the best option as it will take care of the exercise option.

Red flags-The affected love birds will have the following signs. They will be swelling of the beak, soiled feather, coughing, wheezing, discoloured stools etc. such birds should be rushed to the avian specialist for treatment at the earliest.

Grooming and Training of Lovebirds

2011-10-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

Lovebirds Grooming

The love birds are very intelligent creatures. They know to keep their beak trim. These love birds manage this by chewing seeds and other things. But the love birds cannot keep their nail trim. The pet owner must help these love birds to trim their nail. Nail trimming is an easy task. You can easily pick a bird nail trimmer from market. One should buy the guillotine type that is best suited for the love birds. But one should know how to trim the nail of the love birds with the help of nail trimmers. One can approach the vet for their guidance or can get the information from the pet shop or on line.

Just as the case of other pet animals, the love birds enjoy their bath. Bathing keeps the skin and the feather of the love birds clean and healthy. The love birds enjoy bathing with their owner. One should have the habit of misting the love bird every day.

Lovebirds Training

Lovebird training is very easy but one requires lot of patience and persistence. There is a difference in the grasping capacity between birds to bird. Some love birds learn training faster while some others are slow learners. The hand fed love birds learn faster than parent fed birds. The younger love birds learn faster than older love birds. Likewise peach faced love birds learn faster than many other love birds’ species.

Training can be started as early as possible. As much as possible you be gentle and sweet to the love birds. While training the arms and the fingers should be introduced to the cage. The training session should not be more that 20 minutes at a time. Train the love bird to hop on to the finger with specific command. Reward the love bird for any successful completion of work. The love birds can mimic the sounds of the owner if trained properly.

What is the best food to feed love birds?

2011-10-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

Of late, more and more people are going for love birds to have them as their pet. These lovely little creatures are very cute looking and intelligent hence are adored by one and all. These love birds are excellent stress busters. These birds can perform many tricks and enthral the audience if trained properly. Most of the pet owners are not aware what the best food for these cute little creatures is. Let us discuss about that in this article.

The food provided should be preferred by the love birds. Seed mix of good quality is what is required for the love birds. Budgie seed added with white sunflower, mung beans, hemp, groats is the best for the cold weather. Love birds can also be provided with fresh good quality fruits such as mango, apple, grapes, pears etc and vegetables such as broccoli, pak chio, kale, sweet corn cob etc. love birds can also be provided young bamboo leaves.

The love birds enjoy soaked sprouting seed. The above mentioned seeds can be soaked in warm water. The mixture can be kept as it is over night and allowed to drain. Then the same is placed in warmth till it sprouts. Generally it takes 2 -3 days for sprouting. This sprout should be rinsed once again before feeding the love birds. This sprout is not mere a food but an excellent tonic for the love birds.

The love birds require sufficient minerals for the health of the birds. Hence provide cuttle bones as they are natural source of minerals. Mineral blocks are available in the pet stores and always have them ready for usage. If one follows diligently the details provided in this article, the love birds of theirs will be always at brim of health and the colour of the love birds will be as attractive as ever.

Lovebirds Bathing and Grooming

2011-10-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

The lovebirds love bathing. These birds will use their water bowl as their swimming pool and dive in it and take a bath at least few times in a week. In case the love bird of yours is not doing this activity, you should splash water on it to clean the dirt on the body.

One should have deep bowl filled with water in the cage while trying to splash the water on the love bird. You should also play with that water with your finger to attract the love bird to bath in the water. In general, the love bird gets attracted to bathing while one attempts this technique

The room temperature water can be sprayed on the love bird. The problem with this technique is that some love birds do not enjoy this spraying. Spraying the water should be done on alternate days not daily. Molting love birds just love the spraying very much. Complete soaking of the love bird should be attempted once a week and not more.

After bathing, the lovebird should be provided safe perch. The diameter of the perch should suit the requirement of the lovebird so that the lovebird can grip it properly. This is must because; the love birds can not fly as the wings are wet. One must be very cautious about this otherwise the lovely pet will hurt itself by losing its balance and falling on the floor.

There are so many lovebirds accessories are available in the market. The one that is required most is shower perch with suction pumps. This accessory can be attached to the wall of the shower. This way the love bird will enjoy nice rain shower. The head of the shower should be positioned in such a way that the force of the water should not rattle the love bird. The water should fall on them as mist.

Can you Keep Only One Love Bird?

2011-09-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

There is a myth that the love birds should be kept as pairs only. This is absurd. The love birds can be kept as single bird, there are no qualms. But one has to definitely spare sufficient time with that lovely creature, else you are bound to have so many issues like behavioral problems, health problems etc. just like any other pet, the love birds too require constant attention, companionship, love etc. These little creatures certainly deserve the owner’s attention and time, is it not?

If not sufficient attention is provided, there can be several problems such as aggressive behavior, frequent screeching, excessive plucking of feathers, depression etc. if you are busy most of the time, then the best solution is providing a companion for these lovely little creatures.

The companion should be nothing but another love bird. It is good to have a love bird of the same species. Mixing up the species in love birds is not at all advisable. Match the peach faced love bird with the same variety but not with any other variety such as black masked love bird species. The reason is very simple; the love birds are very aggressive to other species and will never get along well.

Besides the love birds reproduce very often. The pet owner should be well prepared for that. It is not easy to find out the sex of the love birds by the physical appearance. DNA testing is the answer to the sex identification. All one has to do is sending the few feathers of the love bird to the near by veterinary hospital which has DNA analysis facility. It is always better to have love birds of opposite sex so that you will be benefited by the constant increase in the stock size.

Love birds – an Overview

2011-09-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

Love birds are birds that one must fall in love with. It is hard to resist the temptation of loving these birds. These parrot species have Africa as their origin and these love birds are slowly but steadily becoming the house hold pets of late. In America love bird petting started in 20 Th century.

Many are of the opinion that the love birds have to be kept in pairs rather than solitary bird. In fact that belief is not right. But one should ensure sufficient time is allotted to the love bird if they are kept as solitary birds. There are so many love bird varieties are available at present. Peach faced love bird is the most popular love bird.

The love birds are fun to watch. If you are not in good mood, all you have to do is just sit near the love bird and watch them play with you for few minutes. I am sure you will get back you lost energy and joy. The love birds love to travel around you by sitting in the shoulder. They will even try to play hide and seek game with you.

The love birds are very intelligent creatures and they shower lot of love and affection on you. The love birds can be trained to perform so many tricks. The love birds can be trained to kiss the owner .the love birds can talk and even whistle if trained properly. The speech of the love bird will be clear and distinct.

The love birds are very sensitive creatures and hence never behave harsh with them. Let the love birds not be underestimated by its size. Though these creatures are small, the temperament of the love birds is very big. Many people prefer love birds because of two important reasons. They are intelligent and these creatures can be trained with ease.

Pros and cons of owning a pet love birds

2011-09-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

Many are not aware why love birds are named so. It is because these birds are monogamous in nature and spend lot of time sitting on a tree along with his partner. Love birds are creatures with some personality and these birds are compared with parrot because parrots and love birds are similar looking. But there are definitely few differences between them. One should keep this in mind before making the final decision.

The brightly colored love birds are preferred by many as they look like mini parrots and can be domesticated easier than most of the other birds. Though these love birds are small, the energy level and the curiosity are much more. These love birds enjoy playing with a ball. These love birds will peck any block or bells kept in the cage or hanging from the cage. It is better to provide toys or balls made up of metal or wood because the beak of the love bird is very strong. The toys of other material would be damaged very fast.

The love birds do not talk like parrot but at the same time these birds are not silent either. If you are one who wants to enjoy the bird mimicking the sounds you produce, then you should think of parrots not love birds. The love birds will chirp to the owner as well as to their partner. Mostly these sounds are high pitched chatter and only occasionally a melodious.

Though the love birds are very affectionate and communicable with their partner, they are not so social with other birds. If you want to house all the birds of different species together in the cage, then better do not buy love birds. This is because the love fight with the other birds and at times the fight will end in death of the birds. But one should not get discouraged because of this as the lover birds are excellent stress busters and can bring in loads of joy to your family. Just try sitting near them and watching their play and chirping, the worries will vanish as early as possible.

The love birds will not be just sitting in the cage. They will be flying here and there in the cage. The cage need not be very big, love birds will enjoy even in the limited space available in the cage. If there is a swing, they will swing in it and play with the ball provided and their energy levels are awe some.

As the name suggests the love birds are not only love their partner but also their owner. It is true that the love bird take little time in developing the bond with the owner, but once the bond is developed they will play with the owner like anything. They will come and sit in the finger. They will fly around the house but will not fly out of the house. If you teach few tricks, the love birds will love to perform the same to the owner in order to amuse him.

Love bird health-how to take the proper care of your love bird

2011-08-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

The health of the love birds is very important and it is the duty of the owner to take care of the health of the love bird. Good diet is the key for the health of the love birds. Vegetables and fruits should be given to the love birds as much as possible. The following vegetables are good for the love birds. They are peas, beans, potatoes, cucumber, mush rooms, tomato, carrots, cabbage, etc. fruits such as pear, papaya, peach, banana, apple, melons etc are best suited for them. Avocados are not good for the love birds and hence should be avoided.

Full cereals and whole grains such as barley and multigrain can be given to the love birds. Sprout, rice, weeds, and seeds such as sesame seeds, sunflowers seeds also can be provided to the love birds. One should be care full in avoiding Lima as well as navy beans are they are lethal to love birds.

In addition to this any healthy food that is low in fat can be given to the love birds, no hassle about it. The food provided may be in the pellet form also but ensure required amount of water is provided. The owner should be very careful in not over feeding the love birds they can develop lipomas and will suffer with weight related health problems.

The love birds are in general vegetarian creatures and hence only encourage them to feed on vegetarian diet. As much as possible the meat should be avoided in the feed. The love birds will learn eating the food from the fellow birds in the cage. Let the bird be provided with vegetable protein for the growth and health of the so many other systems of the body.

The love birds should be watched closely for behavioral issues. The unwanted habits are developed only when the love birds are stressed or bored. The love birds should be engaged most of the time in order to avoid the boredom. The owner should interact with the birds as much as possible when he is at home. Television or audio set should be playing in the home and the love birds shed should be located in such as way that they can have a clear view of the television. It is advisable to play discovery channels or animal planet so that the love birds will see other animals and will feel comfortable. It is always better to buy the love bird that was bred in captivity. The wild love birds can not enjoy their life in cage as they can not fly and will get bored soon.

The owner should pay little attention to the cage of the love birds. The cage of the love bird should not be small and should have sufficient space for the birds to play within. Flying is not only the inherent habit of the birds but it is also a form of exercise and which is very essential for the health of the love birds.

Lovebirds as Pets- Five Things to know about Lovable Lovebirds

2011-08-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

Are you raising lovebirds as pets? Then, this article would be a great boon for you. Love birds are very beautiful creatures and are nothing but small parrots. Often these love birds are confused with peach faced birds because of the size and col0r these two birds share. Love birds are available in so many colors and every one is sure to delight the potential owner. Let’s discuss five important things to the lovebird owners who are keeping lovebirds as pets...

1. Singles or doubles

The pet owner can go in for one bird or two depending on his liking and life style. If one can spend time with the periodically and can think of having one bird. The others who cannot spare their time with birds for long time, then they should consider two birds. Having two birds will certainly benefit the love birds as each will be companion for the other and will stay healthy for long time. But the owner should be aware that the expense will be double. The other danger is that the birds will develop stronger bond between them than the owner.

2. Let’s do lunch

The food provided to the lovebirds should have all the nutrients required. Lovebirds care starts right from its nutrition. The birds should be provided clean water all the time. The fruits, vegetables, seeds, sprouts etc should be provided periodically. Cut bones/ Cuttle fishes need to be provided as a source of calcium. Let the color of the food and the texture change to make the birds enjoy the food. For information about the recipe one can log on the internet. One can get information about home made foods for the love birds. The love birds should NEVER BE GIVEN chocolate, alcohol and caffeine as they are toxic to love birds.

3. May I have your attention please?

The love birds require lot of attention. Hence please spend your leisure time with the love birds as much as possible. Your attention will keep the birds not only happy but also healthy. The love birds will be emotionally attached with the owner, if more time is spending with them. Daily interaction with the love bird will help to eliminate the unwanted behaviors such as biting the other pet, biting the people, feather plucking etc

4. Did you stay quiet?

The love birds will be constantly making noise. Some may think that it is nasty. Some may just enjoy this and consider it as normal. The noise level depends on the love birds you have and the tolerance level of the owner and his family. If it is individual house with lawns and garden then the noise level can be very well tolerated. But in apartments, the love bird’s noise may become a problem for you and the neighbors. The love birds are not generally good talkers but at times they can speak few words.

5. Love is in the air

For the health of the bird, the quality of the air also matters most. High efficiency particle arresting air purifier is the best and can be recommended. This air purifier removes the pollutants in the air which carries the bacteria and viruses that will lead to infection there by causing serious health problem. This air purifier will help the love bird happy and healthy.

So, you have learned few things to keep your lovebirds as pets. This will definitely help your lovebirds to live hale and healthy.

Love Birds Training

2011-08-25T00:45:00.000-07:00

Training love bird is not so difficult like the training of the dog. With love and patience the love birds can be trained with ease. Reward system works well for the love bird training. But the fact of the matter is most people just buy these love birds with no knowledge of training and caring these lovely creatures.

Providing proper feed and protecting the love birds from other dangers is not enough. The love birds can be trained to wave, spin and to make basket. The training should be first attempted on eliminating the undesired habits if there is any. Along with this, one can train the love birds to learn fun tricks. This way the boredom of the bird is chased away and the bond between the owner and bird becomes stronger. By this the bird will be happy, so also the owner. Sounds great is it not?

Learning the training trick is very easy now a day. Of course there are so many training manuals available. But those are out dated now. Technology is so developed and video tapes are available in the market which teaches the owner how to go about the love bird training. Some of the video tapes are so real that they actually train is untrained love bird and record the same and sell it in the market. There literally unmanageable bird is getting trained in front of your eyes. All one has to do is just to follow the same with your lovely love birds.

If trained properly the love birds will start behaving smartly and the vices are totally removed and the love bird and the owner can live in harmony. While training the love bird the owner will be spending lot of time with the bird. This way the owner will earn the trust and love of the birds. The chemistry and the bond will be strengthened. The quality time spent on the bird will certainly improve the health of the owner by reducing the stress level.

Once you are thorough with the training procedure of love bird, you can practice the same with your subsequent purchases and get the desired result so quickly. Very shortly you can also think of releasing a video tape in the market about love bird training. Nothing wrong in earning some money out of it and the same can be used for future purchase of love birds.

One can be very sure that training lover birds in incredibly satisfying. The bird will come to you and sit in your finger and do what ever you want them to do. One can not have better feeling than this. The love birds will what all they know to amuse you as they will just love you so much for the quality time spent on them? The kids in the house will enjoy all this with amusement. It will be great joy for the entire family, is it not? The experienced trainer can think of starting the breeding of the love birds too.

Lillian’s Love Bird Parrot-an Overview

2011-08-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Lillian’s love birds are famous African love bird species. These are the smallest parrots species found in the African mainland. These birds are only 5 inch long. The one odd thing about this breed is that these birds are very difficult to breed.

Lillian’s love birds are available in very small population and are very much unnoticed and unrecognized. These birds are generally mistaken as Fischer lovebirds. The confusion is because Fischer lovebirds too are very small but are marginally bigger in size than Lillian’s love birds. At times the Lillian’s lovers are also confused with peach-faced lovebirds. Though both resemble in their appearance peach –faced love birds don’t have white eye rings of the Lillian’s love birds but have clear orange tone which is absent in peach-faced love birds.

Lillian’s love birds head is orange in colour and the same trails down towards the upper chest and neck. The orange tone fades to yellow around the abdomen and upper chest. The wings and the lower bodies are light green in colour. The outer wing of the bird appears darker when compared to the belly portion of the bird.

The Lillian’s love birds love to feed on millet, grass seeds, flowers, fruits, wild rice etc. the breeding season for the love birds begins in January and ends in March first half. There is second breeding season which start in June and ends in July. During these seasons these birds make nest in the fissures of the tree and the nests are roofed. If domesticated, these love birds yield three to eight white coloured eggs. The incubation period is 22 days. The birds leave the nest after 44 days.
Lillian’s love birds are noticed very commonly around Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania. As per the study conducted and charted in the year 2004, the love bird’s population was very much reduced and was report less than twenty thousand birds only. These lovely love birds were already classified as ‘near threatened ‘.

These love birds at present inhabit Liwonde national park and are preserved well there. The authorities and the decision makers of the park are very firm in their decision of not distributing these birds to the outside as the breeding and the feeding grounds are very much exploited by the urbanization and agricultural practices.

In addition to this these love birds die in large numbers due to the poisoning. The poisoning cases are steadily on the rise which is really a cause of concern. No body could really explain why these little creatures are being poisoned. But the consensus is that these love birds could have become accidental victim. The poachers must be using some chemicals for the reason best known to them only. These love birds must have consumed those poisonous fruits, seeds, etc thus getting in to the trouble.

The Liwonde national park authorities are taking very much extra care for the very survival of these lovely looking creatures as they are considered one of the wonders of the Mother Nature. Let’s hope their service to this Lillian’s love birds continues for ever.

SARCOCYSTOSIS IN LOVE BIRDS

2011-07-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Love birds are lovely pet and are preferred by many because of their attractive colour and pleasant demeanours. Like all other creatures these love birds too suffer from various disease problems and one such is sarcocystosis.

Sarcocystosis is a disease of birds that affects the love birds too. This disease is caused by parasite sarcocystis falcatula. Opossums only introduced these parasites in to the aviary. This disease doesn’t spread from bird to bird by direct contact, but the discarded infectious sporocyst can affect the healthy bird that comes in to contact. This disease is hyper acute in nature, hence the diagnosis is very difficult. Eliminating the opossums from the near by area is the best prevention method.

Sarcocystosis, this word has Greek origin. The word sarco means muscle or flesh. Sarcocyst means there is cyst in the muscle. Sarcocystis is the name of the parasite. These cysts are present in the muscle. The intermediate host species stay in the striated muscle. The intermediate stage is usually Benin stage. But the other developmental stages of the parasite in the other muscle create trouble, which in most cases results in the death of the bird.

Clinical signs of sarcocystis

The males are more prone than the female love birds. The cage mate dies all of a sudden. In most cases the other birds also get infection and die soon. But there are instances that the cage mate survives even after the death of the other bird. Prior to death the bird will have brief illness. There will dypnea, difficulty in breathing. The birds will be lethargy and there will be excretion of urates that are yellow pigmented. Clear fluid comes out of the mouth, the moment the dead bird is lifted for clearing. In some cases, the birds will appear as normal till the very second of death.
Treatment

As the diagnosis is extremely difficult, the treatment of the bird is hard to practice. However, in case the cage mate has died, the remaining bird can be protected. The drugs with antiprotozal activity can be given to the birds in various combinations. The supportive care is also should be provided along with the treatment. Pyrimethamine can be given in combination with trimethoprim-sulphadiazone, which destroys the parasite, thus protecting the bird. Pyrimethamine can be administered at the rate of 0.5 mg per kg 2 to 4 days. Then the dosage can be reduced to 0.25 mg per kg. The medication needs to be continued for 30 days. Trimethoprim-sulfadiazone is administered at the rate of 5 mg per kg by way of injection for a week.

All along the supportive care should also be provided. Supportive care is nothing but provision of gavage and oxygen. In case there is pulmonary edema, furosemide is administered by way of injection at the rate of 1.5 mg per kg.

Feather Picking and Skin Mutilation in Love Birds

2011-06-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

We are living in 21 st century. The world is fast paced at this moment. The people are chasing the time. As the result, there is tension and tension every where. This is not going to be good for the health. One of the natural ways of managing the stress is pet rearing. Many like to go for dogs, cats and birds. In birds many prefer love birds as they are the symbol of love. Love birds have few vices one such is feather picking and skin mutilation. Here are little information about the feather picking and skin mutilation of the love birds.

Feather picking and skin mutilation is very common among love birds. The cause for the same can be medical or behavioural. Before attempting to correct the problem, the root cause of the problem needs to be ascertained. Only then, the correct remedial measure can be attempted. If, the root cause of the problem was not identified and corrected, then there is every chance for the recurrence, once the treatment period is over. Hence, the love birds needs to be examined completely by avian veterinarian. He will give his firm opinion after the complete check up of the birds.

We should always give the benefit of the doubt to the love birds and assume that the feather picking and skin mutilation is due the medical reason. If the veterinarian confirms that the birds are not having any medical problems then one can conclude that feather picking and skin mutilation is behavioral problem of the love birds.

Boredom is the major reason for the feather picking and skin mutilation of the love bird. There are details in the internet which deals at length about the ways are means of keeping the love birds occupied. The ways and means listed are easy to follow and less expensive.
As the love bird are kept in a cage for nearly 8-10 hours in a day without any activity and interaction, they are most like to get in to boredom sooner than latter. The love birds are very intelligent creatures. Their frustration can be compared to the frustration of young active child, who is kept in small playing pen for 24 hours a day.

One of the suggestion in the net is keeping the television on, preferably the discovery channel or animal planet. The love birds will enjoy this and be kept occupied. You can also talk to your pet love bird through answering machine. We can also add foraging opportunities to these little creatures to chase away the boredom.

There are few medicines that are very effective in relieving the stress in love birds. King bio Inc is a company that has a product called “stress control” which brings about amazing results in relieving the stress of the bird. This product is nothing but a natural herbal mix which helps in alleviating the stress not only in birds but also in other pets like dog, cat etc. This product helps to control the aggressive behaviors. This product can be just added to the drinking water to bring about the desired results. This product is hundred percent safe and has no side effects.

Chronic Egg Laying in Lovebirds

2011-06-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

In general the process of laying eggs in love birds is related to many factors. They are day length, food availability, behavior of the mate, rain fall, competition for nesting sites etc. egg laying in love birds is more or less controlled by any one or more factors mentioned above.

Chronic egg laying in the long run will result in depletion of calcium as the egg shell’s major constituent is calcium. This depletion of calcium results in a condition called hypocalcaemia. As the result the contraction of the uterine muscle gets affected. The eggs are not effectively pushed out which results in egg binding. Hypocalcaemia can also cause seizures and weak bones. The weak bones are fractured easily, thus maiming the love birds for life. Hence, excess egg laying needs to be stopped for the health of the love birds.

In case you have two females and have eight eggs in the nest then it is normal. If you ten or more eggs in the nest, then there is need to bother as chronic egg laying problem may have set in. The love birds are over doing it which needs to be controlled else serious health issues will follow as mentioned earlier.

The first and fore most things one has to do are providing complete diet. This complete diet will prevent the birds from the possible health hazards that follow chronic egg laying. There are few things one can attempt to discourage the love bird from laying eggs let’s discuss out here.

Let the eggs be not removed from the nest. The love bird will sit on the eggs which will halt the egg laying. Leave the eggs as it is for 21 days or till the bird lose interest on them. You can also use fake eggs in place of original eggs. Fake eggs made of wood are available in crafty stores for this purpose. There is no danger of breakage in wooden eggs.

The nest making material and the nesting sites may be removed. The paper and other material which are used for nest making should be removed. Let the bird be away from enclosed and dark spaces. The love birds prefer dark space for laying eggs, if such space is not available, then the laying is delayed. Prevent the bird from finding the dark space themselves under the couch, behind washing machine etc by keeping close watch on them.

Mimic shorter days. Let there not be bright light in the bird area. The hour of darkness should be increased. Let the bird go to bed early that is at 6 pm. Long day is major triggering factor for laying. Don’t put on the light early in the morning. Let the bird get up late. Thus the days are made shorter artificially to discourage laying.

Let the access to the food be limited. Let the food not be available all the time for the birds. Remove the food plate after the break fast. Let the food bowl be back late after noon. This will discourage laying as the birds have the habit of laying when food is available in plenty. But care should be taken to keep the bird in right weight. The bird should not lose weight which will lead to other complications.

Sexing Budgies: Herculean Task?

2011-05-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Nowadays most of the lovebirds owners switch over to raising budgies as it is cheap to procure. But they have ended in sorrow due to the fact that they're unable to sex them.

The simple method for sexing Budgies is looking cere (the bit above it's beak). In male, it will be blue in color and in females they will be white cere with a hint of blue. It is very easy to differentiate adult and male. But the young ones are very difficult to differentiate. In young male, purple-pinkish colour cere is present and in females, they will have will have a pale blue cere with white rings around the nostrils.

See the picutres below and then you can sex the budgies very easily...

Male Adult Budgerigar

Female Budgerigar

Lovebirds Microchipping

2011-04-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

Microchipping provides a permanent and unique way of identifying a lovebird. The microchip can be inserted into the pectoral muscle tissue of birds.

The only advantage of using band than microchips is that the microchips are relatively expensive, and placing them into birds requires technical skill, but their use has proved successful in birds identification. Microchipping lovebirds is helpful in identifying them, which will provide necessary information like breeding, feeding of lovebirds to the lovebird owners. One step further, this technology is useful in wildlife conservation and field study programmes.

Will the lovebird bleed?

Birds won't bleed when you microchip them. If you notice a hole left by the needle at the insertion point, this can be repaired by tissue glue or suture.

Read more about

Microchipping - a Perfect method for lovebird Identification

Psittacosis in Lovebirds

2011-03-04T03:15:00.000-08:00

Once you made up your mind to purchase a pair of lovebirds to your home, equip yourself with enough knowledge about lovebirds care. Do you know lovebirds are prone for Psittacosis? Yes!!! It is a respiratory infection that will affect human beings also!

So, you should seek an appointment with your vet for a check-up some-time within the first week of purchase. He will do aoutine testing for psittacosis. It is always good to discuss this matter with your vet shortly after purchase. Fortunately, this is uncommon in lovebirds.

Symptoms

The psittacosis is technically called as Chlamydiosis. The common symptoms include

Weakness
"Fluffed up" appearance
Lethargy
Loss of Appetite
Diarrhoea
Laboured breathing
Eye discharge or swelling

Treatment

The best drug of choice for this condition is antibiotic doxycycline, however some newer drugs are also proving of value. But it is mandatory to discuss this matter with your vet to get final opinion about thsis dreadful disease. Although it is uncommon in lovebirds, there is every possibility of outbreak of psittacosis among your flock of lovebirds. Hence the lovebirds care against psittacosis is mandatory.

Lovebirds Healthy Food List

2011-02-21T04:03:00.000-08:00

So, you have started to build cage for your ensuing lovebirds. Congrats!!! This is the high time to get to know about the lovebirds healthy food list to keep them hale and healthy. Although there are so many feed items available for lovebirds, you should know what are the items that will keep your lovebirds healthy.

Here is the list-

Perfect Fruit List

1. papaya
2. melons
3. peach
4. pear
5.banana
6.kiwi
7.apples

N.B: Avoid Avacodos, as they are very poisonous to lovebirds.

Whole Grains

barley
oats
whole wheat, and whole rice,
sprouts
weeds

Seeds

Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Beans

N.B: Avoid Navy bean and Lima- Highly toxic in nature

Please check the items carefully and choose the available stuffs to keep your lovebirds healthy in captivity. All the best!!!

Fatty Liver Syndrome in Lovebirds

2011-02-20T03:07:00.000-08:00

This is also called as hepatic lipidosis. This disease is a slow process occuring in your lovebird which made the liver tissue to get replaced with fat. The lovebird may suddenly fall sick as the fatty liver syndrome in lovebirds has progressed.

Female lovebirds are more prone to this disease which is due to the hormonal activities in the reproductive hen. Even young ones also being reported with this condition

CAUSES

Too frequent feeding or Over eating
Providing high fat content diet -all-seed diet
Nutritious deficiencies- Choline, Methionine and Biotin
Diabetes mellitus

SYMPTOMS of Fatty Liver Syndrome

Overgrown beaks and claws
Dry itchy Skin
Change in feather coloration - Poor feather quality
Greenish diarrhea due to biliverdin being excreted
Distended abdomen with the appearance of overgrown liver just below the keel
Dyspnea- Difficulty in breathing
In terminal stages, seizures are noticed

Prevention of Fatty Liver Syndrome

Provision of low-fat diet like fresh fruits and veggies and high quality pellets
Supplementation with Dimethylglycine (DMG), a perfect anti-oxidant
Administration of lactulose - to treat or prevent central nervous system signs
Fresh gel from the Aloe vera leaves may be prepared to administer the lovebirds

Fatty liver syndrome is a dreadful condition. In other words, it is difficult to cure. That's why we have to concentrate on preventing the Fatty Liver Syndrome well in advance by the lovebirds owner.

Things to Think Before Breeding Lovebirds

2010-12-29T17:45:00.000-08:00

Congratulations for your decision of breeding lovebirds!!! Do you know there a few sets of things to think before proceeding so? Here I have given few limitations for breeding lovebirds, which you should keep in mind before performing this act of labor of love.

Ask yourself if you really want to breed lovebirds. If so, fix a goal and ascertain what you’re going to do with the hatch chicks,
Choose before breeding how many would you want to keep.
Work out properly if you want to perform cross breeding to get color mutations.
This act of breeding is really expensive. So don’t breed them for money.
Pairing of lovebirds should be done before mixing them together. This can be done by feather and blood DNA testing services.
Don’t believe on natural pairings as both females may also get paired up and there is every possibility of producing infertile eggs.
Breed them at right age. Say, 10 months old for both male and female is perfect.
Restrict breeding lovebirds in the warm months of the year as they need a high humid environment in the nest during incubation.
Base of the nest box should be filled with damp organic debris – Bark of trees, pieces of straw, etc.
Try to allow parent Lovebirds feed their young for two to three weeks. Then you can hand-feed the young one for successful rearing.

All the best!!!

Tantrums of Lovebirds

2010-12-27T17:40:00.000-08:00

The common tantrum observed with most of the lovebirds is Screaming. The lovebird will scream only when a particular owner is present in his room.

Most of the owners try different methods to avoid screaming. Even one of my client asked is it possible to train her lovebirds. No need to train your lovebird. There is a simple way to treat this lovebird tantrum.

The best way is to get out of the room when the lovebird is screaming. Now he will learn that if he wants to be around you he has to be at least reasonably quiet. He remembers it doesn't work in a few seconds and fluffs up all cute and blows kisses and flirts which you find much harder to ignore.
Hope this works for you...

How to Care Baby Lovebirds?

2010-12-23T20:52:00.000-08:00

For a lovebird owners, losing baby lovebirds is really a discouraging experience. My first advice is don't try to hand feed your baby lovebird unless otherwise the mother disowned her chicks. In the case of mother's demise, you should try to adopt hand feeding of baby lovebirds.

If you buy a baby lovebird from market, then you should know where to place it. A plastic-type reptile container is more than sufficient to rear them for couple of weeks because it will give enough room to grow as well as keeping them safe. Try to place the food at one end and make the baby lovebirds to utilize the other end for cuddling. This will help you to prevent the birds making clutter in their food spot.

Use plastic-type O-ring syringe to feed birds with the baby bird formula, which you can obtain from any animal nutritionist.

Always provide warm food because the young one always gets regurgitated food from its mother. The preferred temperature of food should be 103 degrees.

Rearing Lovebirds- Is it Expensive?

2010-10-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

Do you think rearing lovebirds is expensive? No!!! Just for $60, you can get a pair and start hand raising them in an effective manner. It is better way to ease your tension. You’re always better off you get from a breeder to feed the chicks by hand. You pay less, than from a Petstore, have a healthier bird, and it is already tame for you sein.

You can easily maintain them by providiong suitable toys and feeds of interest to them. They will be very happy in your home. They are very, very smart, good at escaping from their cage, and love to play with anything and everything. So be very careful in handling them. The attempt to tame you can get from a pet shop be hard. Hence it is highly advisable to get a pair from breeder than a pet shop.

Commonly Available Love Birds Chick Bedding Materials

2010-09-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Congratulations!!! At last, you got lovebird chicks. Now you may get confusion whether you can touch the young one and also what should be the bedding material inside the nest box after seeing a day old chick.

One of my friends started to rear a pair of lovebirds and they mated together. The female laid eggs and incubated the egg for 21-23 days. He saw the young ones and happy. He immediately called upon me to get information about Love Birds Chick Bedding Materials. I suggested the following nesting materials as bedding for her chicks and also asked her to remove the eggs that haven’t hatched.

1. Natural Shred

2. Care Fresh Bedding

3. Oatmeal

4. Pine Shavings

She purchased the care fresh bedding and raised her two lovebirds chick. And also I asked her to change the nest box material once in two days to avoid infection.

Giardia Infection in Lovebirds

2010-08-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

Lovebirds can't escape from this dreadful disease of Giardiasis.This can also be classified into Zoonotic Diseases in Lovebirds.

The main symptom of this disease in your lovebird is feather plucking. Once you noticed feather plucking, you should immediately seek an appointment from an Avian vet. The stools of the lovebird should be examined thoroughly to rule out the infection of giardiasis.

Other symptoms

Depression
Anorexia and weight loss
Lethargy
PICA
Acute chronic or recurrent diarrhea
Scratching in flank and legs

Treatment

Oregano - an European herb used to treat this condition by sprinkle on your food each day or follow package directions
Anti- protozoal drug therapy

Prevention

Remove water bowl frequently and clean the same immediately.sundry the water bowl daily to avoid reinfection. If possible train your lovebird to drink water from water bottle inside the cage.

Can you keep other birds with your lovebirds?

2010-07-31T00:11:00.000-07:00

Most of the bird lovers like to know answer for this query. The answer is "Yes" and"No". Am I confusing you? Please go on reading to find answer for this query.

In general, the love birds are timid, but aggressive and should not be housed with other types of birds. But I am having an experience of housing a Zebra Finch and a Lovebird because I hand fed them together right from their childhood. But I had a bitter experience when a lovebird that shares a cage with a Green Cheek Conure because both of them are more aggressive and fought among themselves. I mixed up them when they are adult.

The conclusion is that the best thing is you can mix different species right from the day old. when you mixed up the adult one, you will end up in problem.

Lovebirds Day Out...

2010-02-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

When your lovebirds escaped out of cage, what will you do? It happened yesterday. A pair of lovebirds from my cage escaped out and sat in the tree in my garden. I managed to capture them back by placing its favorite food in the cage. As I have trained them, within no time, both of them are in cage. So lovebirds training is more important. Now only I have learned the advantages of lovebirds training.

Although you can't train your lovebird like dogs, you can try simple ways to obey your words. I have discussed this in my blog- How to train lovebirds? Do search and get to know about the lovebirds training technique. Training is an important part in lovebirds care. All the best!!!

How the cages of Peach faced lovebird should be?

2010-01-31T04:13:00.000-08:00

Recently, I heard that some of the peach faced lovebirds escaped form captivity and forms large feral populations in Arizona and London. So I decided to write about the cages necessary for the captive peach faced lovebirds.

In wild, they will often gather in small groups and are highly sociable bird. In wild, they will take feed through out the day and frequent baths. so if you're going to build a cage for your lovebird, please stick on to the following criterion-

1. A cage of 2'x2'x2' is more than sufficient for a single peach faced lovebird.

2. Do select the cage with bars quite close together. In reality the lovebirds are the Harry Houdinis in the world of birds and can squeeze out of many cages where other birds cannot.

3.Unlike other birds, lovebirds will try to pick the locks frequently, so check the door latches for proper security.

4. The wooden cages for lovebirds arenot all suitable because they're notorious chewers. If you own a wooden cage already, you must have one be ready to replace it as soon as possible.

5. The cage should have a small perch as the birds in order to avoid arthritis, which are prone to peach faced lovebirds.

Lovebirds Conjuctivitis

2009-12-31T19:47:00.000-08:00

Do you know there is 30% mortality among lovebirds due to conjuctivitis? (Source:Science direct) So it is mandatory get to know about the disease conjuctivitis in lovebirds. The main symptoms of conjuctivitis in lovebirds include lacrimation, whitish thick mass at the corner of the eye, anorexia and ruffled feathers. In severe cases, red, swollen, watery, or crusty eyes; sometimes the eyes are so swollen or crusted over that the birds.

Causes for Lovebird Conjunctivitis

The main causative factors for this condition includes protozoa, nematodes, fungi, bacteria and injuries. You can confirm the cause for the conjunctivitis only by performing diagnostic tests.

How To Cure?

Don't go for any natural remedies to cure this disease in lovebirds because Chances are the bird would be dead before they could take effect. Enrofloxacin, Doxycyclin, or erythromycin are the best drug of choice for treating this condition. But consulting an avian vet to treat your lovebirds is highly recommended.

After giving antibiotics it is always being advised to give after any antibiotic treatment for control lovebirds conjunctivitis.

How To Control Feather Plucking in Lovebirds?

2009-11-09T08:41:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed few missing feathers in the crests of wings or breasts of your lovebirds? Then, you should keenly watch your lovebirds for feather plucking. Although this falls under behavior and health, you should be carefully analyze the reason for feather plucking in lovebirds.

Initially feather plucking might have started innocently. But you should nib this problem in the bud itself. Otherwise it will cause your lovebirds complete bald. Then it is really difficult to bring back the colored feathers.

Feather picking among breeding pairs is a common phenomena. A hen lovebird will often clear few hairs on her belly, which is called as brood spot and also pluck few feathers from her mate's head as a mark of mating behavior among themselves.

The other reason for feather picking is hormonal issue. Lovebird pyoderma is the condition which occurs due to hormonal imbalance. If you're having a single lovebird, this is a major problem because it has no outlet for his/her energies.

Rule out the skin infection by examining the skin scraping on microscope. If they suffer from any skin infection- bacteria or fungus, immediately contact your avian veternarian to treat the condition.
Anxiety, frustration and boredom may also lead to feather plucking in lovebirds. There was lovebird which started to pluck its feather after fixing a photograph just in front of her cage. Removing the photograph solved the problem. Who knows what made that poor creature to get more anxious after seeing that particular photograph.

Treatment

Find out the cause for the feather plucking and remove the same at the earliest possible time. Don't use styptic powder in the wound as it would aggravate the condition. Do use diluted betadine solution to clean the wound. More over, don't treat the lovebird on your own. Please do seek an appointment form your avian vet to completely get rid of this problem. ALL THE BEST!!!

A Myth About Lovebirds Exposed

2009-08-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

Today one of my friend asked after reading so many articles in this blog- "I read most of the articles in your blog. You have never exposed the fact that if one of the lovebird dies, other will either die of loneliness or wither off. Please write about this in your next post. " Then only I researched a lot whether this fact is true or false. This is absolutely FALSE!

I have seen so many lovebirds in my cage, after death of its mate, the lovebird tried to bond with other bird. Some of them are succeeded too. If they can't find a mate, immediately they will try to squawking continuously due to boredom.

If I remove this lovebird and maintained in a separate cage, the lovebird tries to bond with me and also considering me as its mate. (What the hell!). After few days, she cuddle and chirp at me she loves me as I am her mate.

So I came to conclusion that this theory of lovebird will die once its mate was separated due to varied reason is really a MYTH. If anyone tell this story, immediately defer their statement and you should act as an eye opener to them.

Advantages of training Lovebirds

2009-07-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

"What the advantages lovebirds have over the larger species of parrot especially in case of lovebirds training?" is the question asked by most of the lovebird breeders. As the lovebirds are small and easy to handle, they can be trained at all ages.

You should tame your lovebird before giving training to the same.

Lovebirds are cute and highly sociable bird. It is easy to train a lovebird because-

1. They are so intelligent

2. Handling them to train is so easy.

You can train the lovebirds to learn different techniques such as perching on your hand, to perform different tricks and to talk also.

Whether your lovebird is a squawker? Don't worry! You should find out the reason why your lovebird is squawking. He/she may be disturbed by anything including a fly or T.V., get bored, or want your attention. If you want to control this act of squawking, you should ask him/her- "What's all the noise for?, Wanna play with me?, What are you doing?" in an excited and happy tone. That's all!!! Your lovebird will be more happy and immediately stop squawking. This simple training of lovebirds will help you to build more confidence on you.

Happy Training!!!

Why Do Lovebirds Chew?

2009-07-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

Most of the lovebirds owners know that lovebirds are so keen on chewing something. Yes!!! Chewing is a normal behavior of a lovebird. Lovebirds like to chew because it not only feels fun and good for them, but also help them to maintain their beak properly.

If you see uncontrollable chewing, then proper lovebird care should be ensured. Sometimes, if you allow the lovebird to move freely in your home, it will start chewing your personal items including furniture, clothing, or toys. If they tend to chew each and everything, it would be really dangerous because they will try to chew on, anything from toxic materials to live wire.

How To Prevent Lovebird Chewing?

You cannot watch your lovebird all the time through out the day. The best remedy is to remove all the tempting items out of range. Provide plenty of access to things he can peck on.

There are few toys available in the market to prevent bird chewing. Cosmic crunch toy is the most preferred one. You can get this from your local store. If not, browse the net to find suitable one. Some of the toys contain bird safe beads, blocks, rope, and exercise material for the lovebirds beak.

Some of the lovebird owners prefer to go for natural methods to prevent bird chewing. They will offer treats o their lovebirds viz., uncooked pasta or shell. You can buy the treat cage with toys and The Jungle Joy treats from local stores also.

Hope you'll prevent the lovebirds chewing activity by following the discussed simple lovebirds care above. ALL THE BEST!!!

Tips For Traveling With Lovebirds

2009-06-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Lovebirds are one of the most difficult birds for a person to bring with them on a trip because they are very easily startled. If you want to travel by air, they don't necessarily work well. Traveling will definitely made the lovebirds more excited and also sparks their curiosity. Even some of the lovebirds suffer from separation anxiety.

You can make the traveling with lovebirds more easy, if you follow the simple tips discussed below-

You should know the daily routine of the bird and if they have the same pattern while traveling, you need not worry. If you are carrying young birds, then it is very easy task because they can adjust easily for the change in surroundings. But the adult birds would have a certain pattern of living, which they don't want to change.

You should ask yourself the following questions before start of your journey-

Is it legal to traveling with lovebirds into the state or country?
Upon arrival, when will I have time for them?
How much time they will feel comfortable within the cage?

If you get answers for these questions, your trip won't get ruined by the lovebirds. An important step to be carried out with your lovebird is vaccinate the bird against any dreadful diseases prevailing in the area of visit. Happy Journey!!!

Things To Avoid Feeding Lovebirds

2009-04-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

You should not feed your lovebirds with rhubarb, avocado and chocolate. In addition to this, you should not provide any beverages containing alcohol or caffeine. Some of the lovebird owners are ready to give foods rich in monosodium glutamate (MSG), sulfites, nitrites, or nitrates. Avoid feeding processed meat also! Apple seeds, fruit pits, fava and navy beans, sprouted lima, and onions should not be given as a feeding stuff.

It is always advisable to avoid any foods high in sugar, salt or fat and junk foods. Lovebirds are suffering from lactose intolerant, so milk and milk products should be avoided. But you can give little quantity of yogurt and hard cheese.

As a prestigious lovebird owner, I can give a valuable suggestion to avoid feeding peanuts in the shell as they might be contaminated with Aspergillus fungus - a precursor for respiratory distress. This fungus produces a toxin called aflatoxin, which will damage the liver. Good quality human grade peanuts are advisable to feed the lovebirds than a mold infected peanuts. Blanched (unsalted) and shelled peanut are highly advisable.

What is The Best Feed For Lovebirds?

All food with no signs of mold are highly appreciated to feed the lovebirds because feeding plays an important role in lovebirds care. All the Best!!!

How To Deal Broken Bones In Lovebirds?

2009-04-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

Spontaneous veterinary intervention is needed when your lovebird get injured leg or wing by crashing into a wall. Place your lovebird in makeshift brooder, which is the most comfortable place for a broken bone lovebirds.

Don't allow any frightened lovebird to fly freely within your home. This will lead to get injured his/her wings or legs. Then it would be permanent injury. Sometimes, these lovebirds will injure their neck, which will ultimately lead to death of the lovebird - hemorrhage in the brain.

Broken leg bones are really challenging task for a vet because these lovebirds will always try to remove the cast by pecking through out their daytime.

Do perform a regular visit your vet's office until the leg heals completely. Don't ignore the possible broken bone in lovebirds!!! Otherwise, this condition will cause a permanent injury to your lovebird. Hence lovebirds care during this period is important to avoid improper set of leg bones as well as permanent, crippling effect.

Lovebirds Diet - What it prefers much?

2009-03-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Lovebirds care is an important aspect of keeping your Lovebirds safe. As a Lovebird owner, you should know what a lovebird will love to eat and also what should you to provide them?

Lovebirds should be provided with a good basic seed mix or pellet food, in addition to fresh fruits or veggies and fresh water. Don't give only seeds to eat!

do you know the lovebirds lifespan purely depends on its food? So, you should provide a clean and healthy food for this cute little lovebirds.

Good care and balanced diet will make your pet lovebird a shiny and bright bird.

Courting Behavior of Lovebirds

2009-02-28T23:44:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed the courting behavior of lovebirds? It is very rare. They will stick their noses in every other bird's business without hesitation. Normally the female lovebird opened its wing wide apart and raised its tail. It will scratch its beak with its leg. Then the male will mount on it.

If both of them will be same sex. The female behavior will be exhibited by both of them.

When to Consult your Avian Vet?

2009-01-31T23:04:00.000-08:00

As a lovebird owner, you should know when to fix an appointment with your avian vet. Hence I have pooled some of the important disease symptoms of lovebirds below. If you have noticed any of the symptoms, you ought to contact your vet immediately-

1. head, tail or wings drooping
2. vent soiling
3. More thirst, which will lead more water consumption
4. disorientation
5. Change in normal activities- Preening playing with toys, different perching areas etc.
6. abnormal sleep pattern
7. Picking of feathers or falling of feathers in excess amount
8. Untidy and fluffed up appearance
9. Head circling
10. Loss of appetite

Lovebirds- Are they really Lovable?

2009-01-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

I love my lovebirds like anything. In spite of my initial problems with these birds, I didn't get any problem from these lovable creatures. I am going to discus about the problems encountered with my lovebirds while I have started to rear.

Once upon a time, I was a disgruntled lovebird owner because I bought my hand-fed baby lovebird from a pet store and that poor creature had bitten my fingers. Moreover, it was acting in such a way that it was going to be murdered when I finally caught it and also refuses to come out of the cage. These worst habits of a lovebird made me to think twice- Is it necessary to rear this bird? Moreover I was in an undeserved reputation about these unfriendly wild parrots.

I researched a lot to made my lovable lovebirds really lovely one. I read that lovebirds purchased from pet stores will behave like this only because these pet stores won't concentrate on these tiny creatures when they are housing both large parrots and tiny lovebirds. Once lovebirds haven't got human interaction at least for a week, then they would become as a wild.

Initially I didn't loose my heart. I spoke daily with this tiny lovebird. I spent nearly 30 minutes to speak with this fella morning and evening. It became normal within 15 days. Now I will finish my breakfast with my lovebirds in my shoulder.

The lesson I learnt is - "lovebird babies need to be stroked, talked to, played with, and reassured. These babies will make the best pets." So don't worry!!! You also adore your lovebirds within couple of weeks, if you have bought the same just few days back. Don't loose your heart and think that you have selected a worst pet in the world. ALL THE BEST!!!

Why Your Lovebird Is Shredding Paper and Tucking?

2008-12-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

Most of the newbie lovebird owners don't know the reason why their lovebirds shreds paper and tucking. In general lovebirds think that they are born with an objective to shred and take every opportunity to do so. Some times, you can notice that the females will often tuck strips of shredded paper in their rump feathers. In some flock, males will also tuck the shredded paper but they're not so good in carrying the shredded paper. Both these lovebirds are carrying the shredded paper mainly with an intention to strengthen their nest by carrying more nesting material back to the nest.

Reasons for Beak Grinding in Lovebirds

2008-12-20T23:42:00.000-08:00

Most of the lovebirds do grind their beaks daily. This made some of the lovebird owners to get worry about this act. Do you know why birdies do this? They will grind their beaks before going to sleep. The sound of beak grinding would be like the nails down a chalkboard thing.

Some of the lovebirds owner think this behavior is method of calming down. It is true! Moreover, your bird is grinding the beak as a sign of happy and contentment.

Sometimes the lovebirds will grind their beak as well as squinting, which mean your bird is tired, but happy.

Grinding beak also conditions lovebirds beak. This act of beak grinding behavior is similar to that of a kid sucking their thumb. Although it's a weird grating sound, it is an act of self-stimulation behavior. If you're having more than three lovebirds, it is really hard to figure out which one does that.

Let's you know your lovebirds are happy, and keeps their beaks in good shape by grinding them in a perfect manner.

Common Lovebird behaviors

2008-12-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

Most of the owners think that lovebirds should be kept in pairs. It is untrue! In fact single lovebirds often make the best pets.

As a owner you should know about the meanings for each and every behavior of your lovebirds.

The common behaviors observed in lovebirds are Beak Grinding, blinking, wing flopping, head bobbing, head bowing, Paper shredding and tucking, puffed feathers, tail rubbing, head on back, body couched, wing spread.

If you notice any of these behaviors, you should know what your lovebird is telling you. I'll discuss in detail what it means in the ensuing days.

Hatching Lovebird Eggs

2008-12-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

Most of the lovebird owners (Newbie) are really don't know when their lovebirds will lay eggs. Normally a female lovebird will start to lay eggs after 10 months of age. Breeding lovebirds is very EASY task for the lovebird breeders. But it is very difficult to find a new home for the young ones because the young ones can't be placed along with their parents for a long period.

The hatching period of lovebird eggs is usually 18-20 days of hatch. The clutch size would be 4-6 eggs. Both male and female will nest the eggs in a phased manner. It is not advisable to perform nest inspection because both the parents would be aggressive. If you're so keen to see the eggs, it always advisable to see the nest only after both parents are away from the nest.

If you want to hand feed the young chicks, it is advisable to pull hem out from the nest only after two weeks old.
For further information, please consult the following pages:
1. Menu For Your Weaned Lovebird Chicks
2. What do you Feed For the Peach-faced Lovebirds?

Baby Lovebird Diseases

2008-11-30T19:52:00.000-08:00

Do you know at what age the baby lovebirds should be separated from its parents? Baby lovebirds should be weaned (separated) from its parents at the age of 14-18 days.

I have heard so many stories of baby lovebirds being attacked by parents after this age. Some of the parents are even worse to peck the chicks until it gets bleeding. Apart from mechanical injuries received from the parents, baby lovebirds are suffered from few more dreadful diseases.

You might have noticed a sudden death among the baby lovebirds after getting separated from the mother. You might think it is due to lack of parental care. NO... It is your deficiency of providing proper temperature in the chicks cage. So do provide proper lighting to provide enough heat. You can place them in a large "brooder"-which you can make by putting a few inches of Carefresh Cage Liner in a plastic reptile container. You can get this stuff in all pet stores.

Other common disease of baby lovebirds are pachecos (PD), which nothing but Herpes infection. The symptoms of this disease is blisters which will burst and bleeding is noticed at the site of burst. Moreover, the lovebird chicks may be affected by this condition because the parents may transmit this virus.There is ever possibility of liver failure in this condition.

The affected lovebird will defecate blackish fecal material with offensicve smell. It is really difficult to cure this condition. The only way is culling the parents or retire the pair from breeding.

Other Common Baby Lovebirds Diseases

Other common baby lovebirds diseases include-

Favus (ringworm)
Knemidocoptic mange (scaly face)
Hypovitaminosis A (nutritional roup)
Candidiasis (thrush, oidiomycosis, moniliasis)
Trichomoniasis

As a lovebird owner, you ought to know about these baby lovebirds diseases. This will help you to provide better lovebird care for the entire flock. You should remember that enough care should be given to the baby lovebirds because it is very important to make them as a perfect parents in near future

Toxoplasmosis in Lovebirds

2008-11-29T21:35:00.000-08:00

Do you know lovebirds are prone to Toxoplasmosis? Toxoplasmosis is a disease of zoonotic importance. Although toxoplasmosis is more confined to cats, lovebirds are also affected by Toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasmosis is caused by a protozoan parasite- Toxoplasma gondi. Drinking water contaminated with Toxoplasma is the usual entry of the organism in lovebirds.

Toxoplasma infection has two stages- Acute Toxoplasmosis and Latent Toxoplasmosis. Most infected lovebirds have no symptoms and are never diagnosed. The affected birds will have swollen eyelids with nasal discharge.

In humans, the affected individuals will show muscle weakness, eye damage, and abortion in pregnant women. So it is always advisable to avoid handling of lovebirds during pregnancy period of a woman.

Usually the diagnosis of the disease can be confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This is the confirmative test for Toxoplasmosis in lovebirds.

The common medicines employed to control toxoplasmosis in lovebirds include clindamycin, spiramycin, etc. In the latent toxoplasmosis, the common drug of choice is atovaquone. It is always advisable to prevent the occurrence of this disease among lovebirds than curing the same.

Psittacosis in Lovebirds

2008-11-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

Psittacosis is a disease of parrot family. Lovebirds are also commonly affected by this disease. Moreover this disease would spread to other human beings also, if the lovebirds with psittacosis is being stressed too much. Thats why Psittacosis is considered as one of the Significant Zoonotic Diseases of Lovebirds

Other factors that predisposes Psittacosis include poor quality of feed, overcrowding and other infections of the lovebird. If you want to prevent this disease among lovebirds, you need to follow sensible hygiene as well as proper feeding.

Regular cleaning of the cage to remove fallen feathers and droppings will help to check this disease. This disease will spread through the dust. while cleaning the lovebirds cage, it is mandatory to wear a mask and hand gloves to prevent exposure to this dreadful disease.

Symptoms

The common symptoms of Psittacosis are-

Conjuctivitis
Discharges from eyes and nostrils
Diarrhea
Weight Loss

Treatment

If you have discovered the disease in early stages, it is really possible to get rid of Psittacosis provided the lovebird should not suffer from any other underlying disease. You should quarantine the sick birds immediately. Keep in mind that only the sick birds need not to be treated, but rest of the lovebirds in the cage should be given suitable treatment.

Usually Tetracycline group of antibiotics are found to be very useful in containing this disease. Disinfect the cage using disinfectants like Glutaraldehyde, etc.

Last not to be least, do love your lovebirds, but don't kiss them to get exposed to Psittacosis.

Microchipping - a Perfect method for lovebird Identification

2008-09-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

Most of the lovebirds owners find difficult to identify each and every bird, if they are maintaining more than 10 birds of same variety and color. Hence it is mandatory to do microchipping of your lovebirds.

This method is helpful to identify your lovebird in case of escape or loss. Your avian vet will inject a custom microchip under the skin. Microchipping is the safe method of lovebirds identification. Within few seconds, your vet can implant the microchip under the skin of the lovebird.

Why Microchipping?

This is the only permanent way to prove that the lovebird is yours in case of theft or escape. This is the safest method of bird identification with no stress on the bird. In addition, it can be implanted within the bird without undue stress to the same. But with a microchip you can prove the bird is yours.

Advantages

This micro chip never move within the body. Earlier chips are having problem of migration which causes stress for the birds. This chip is of rice grain in shape and encourage to form a scar tissue around it, thus anchoring them into place. The chip has an average life of around 25+ years

AVID and HomeAgain are the two companies that made microchipping for lovebirds. AVID providing common scanners used in pet birds.

So, do microchip your lovebirds to get identified easily. ALL THE BEST!!!

What Kind of Perches are Better for Lovebirds?

2008-08-31T05:56:00.000-07:00

Perches for lovebirds are an important criteria for making them happy (???) in the cage. The girth of the perch should be more than the diameter of the lovebirds wrapped feet. i.e. the lovebirds foot does not wrap completely around the perch. This is an important criteria in selecting perches for your lovebirds. There are two types of perches available for lovebirds viz., natural perches and cement perches.

Natural Perches

If you want to provide comfort to your lovebird, then natural perches are the best not only for resting but also for chewing. The normal behavior of the lovebirds is removing bark and demolishes the perches. So you need to replace the perch regularly.

While selecting natural perch from trees, you should be careful that the branch should be devoid from pesticides or insecticides. Any how, it is better enough to clean the perch material with 10% bleach solution.

The natural perches for your lovebirds include willow, poplar, pine, manzanita, mulberry, fir, elm, dogwood, crabapple, cottonwood, cactus wood, birch, beech, ash, and apple.

Cement Perches

Some of the lovebirds owner prefer cement perches, which helps in trimming their nails. As these perches are very hard, place them in the place where your lovebird goes everywhere but spent not much of time.

The ideal place for placing these cement perches are just in front of food and water dishes. You will have to clean these lovebirds perches frequently as they use these as an area to wipe its beak. The optimal size of th cement perches would be in such a way that the foot ought to go 3/4 of the way around the perch.

Lovebirds perches are really an important thing to be selected with utmost care to avoid bumble foot and beak disorder(pecking). So perfect perches for your lovebird will definitely help to keep them hale and healthy.

When Lovebirds Fly In the Rain, Why Doesn't It Hurt Their Eyes?

2008-08-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about this question? My daughter asked this question. As a vet I supposed to clear off her doubt. In my third year of undergraduate, in the wild life sciene subject, the same question was asked by me. My professor answered for this question.

You can get the answer HERE...

How Lovebirds Fly in the Rain without Hurting Their Eyes?

2008-08-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Do you know answer for this question? If so, please don't read further. As other birds, lovebirds have a special third eyelid, called the nicitating membrane, under their regular eyelids.

It is transparent like motorists goggles on their eyes. It is drawn across the eye to moisten or clean it while flying. Many ornithologists believe the nictitans is held over the eye most or all of the time a lovebird is in the air.

The nicitating membrane in the lovebirds eye protects against collisions when birds are crashing through bushes. The birds of prey especially peregrine falcon knows very well about this membrane- thats why they closes the eyes of the prey immediately after grabbing their prey before the impact of the nicitating membrane.

One step further, Swifts (fastest flying bird) have been widely believed to be able to sleep while flying, although this has not been proved experimentally. Any how scientists believe this fact. But lovebirds never sleep while flying.

Will Lovebirds Enjoy Showers?

2008-08-16T23:45:00.001-07:00

Have you ever asked this question - Where are All the Lovebirds When It Rains? They will usually huddle under the leaves of shrubs and trees.

Many places, though, provide no shelter. Consequently, birds have their own rain-evolved feathers. Birds stay relatively dry and warm under these feather.

Still, birds get wet. Most of the birds don't mind to stay in the rain, if they don't find hiding place. After the rain they fluff up their feathers to warm up and help themselves dry off. After a dry spell, even with trees galore, they sit sometimes out in the rain and enjoy showers.

Woman, Already Married, Takes Macaw as Lover

2008-07-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

Just now visited a forum called- "BirdBoard.com/forum". I have found an interesting news there. A woman already married takes MACAW as lover.

You can meet a woman, her husband and a moustache parakeet who are very happy together in this link..

Love Birds - What Does it Take to Care For These Special Pet Birds?

2008-06-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

You've probably seen these gorgeous birds in your local pet store. They are the miniature green parrots with the big expressive eyes. Love Birds are a good choice for someone who wants a parrot, but doesn't want the commitment that a large parrot requires. A large parrot such as a Macaw can live for 60 or more years, while a Love Bird seldom lives more than 15 years.

Before you go out to buy a Lovebird, you should be aware of what you're getting into. Lovebirds, like all parrots, are relatively high maintenance pets and therefore require a dedicated and special type of pet owner. Here are some important factors to keep in mind.

Companionship

Love Birds, like all parrots, are extremely social creatures and crave the company of others. If you don't have a few hours to spend with him every day, then you'll need to buy another lovebird to keep him company. Without the companionship of humans or another bird, your bird is likely to exhibit problem behavior such as extreme aggression, excessive preening and constant squawking.

Choosing The Right Lovebird

An ideal lovebird will be 6 to 10 weeks old and hand--fed. A young, hand--fed bird is much easier to tame and train than an older, parent--fed lovebird. The most commonly available species are:

Peach Face - This species is usually green, with a peach head, face and neck.
Fischer's Lovebird - This bird has a green body with shades of yellow and orange on their head and neck.
Masked Lovebird - This bird has a green body, with a dark brown colored brown mask around their face and neck. Just below this mask is a yellow band of feathers.

Housing

Love birds require a large cage with plenty of room to stretch out their wings and play -- obviously a pair will require a larger cage than a single bird. The majority of the cage bars should be horizontal and there needs to be a few perches located at varying levels. Place plenty of toys in their cage to keep them stimulated.

Health

Love Birds require daily exercise to keep them healthy. This means you should let them out to fly every day in a safe room. Make sure there are no open windows or predators (such as dogs or cats) in this room.

You should feed your love bird a quality parrot seed mix and plenty of fresh, clean fruits and vegetables that are bird--safe. This will give them a good variety that matches what they might find in the wild. You'll need to remove any uneaten food every day.

Learn more about Love Birds at http://www.petcarejournal.com/love-birds.html - a website designed to provide you with pet articles and resources that will help you get the most out of your pet keeping experience, no matter what type of pet you own.

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

Lovebirds Droppings- The Secrets Revealed

2008-04-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

Most of the pet bird lovers are confused with the normal droppings of lovebirds with that of abnormal one. Generally the lovebirds pass watery droppings. As a lovebird owner you should know the constituents of normal droppings.

Lovebird's droppings consist of three separate components including feces, urine and urates. Since the bird pushes the droppings out of one orifice, the vent, all three portions of the droppings are mixed in the cloaca before being passed out of the body.

The Feces

The feces of the lovebirds are solid and worm-like, may be dark green in color. In addition to this, the color of the feces varies mostly what the bird has recently consumed. It can be alarming to the owner if he sees reddish color feces, as this may be interpreted as blood. Hence it is utmost important for the lovebirds breeder to see what their lovebirds are consuming, so that color changes can be correctly evaluated.

If the fecal portion of the droppings is very sticky, tarry, dark, and dark green, then the lovebird doesn't eat any solid food for the past 24 hours. Usually the lovebird breeders often mistaken for digested blood in the droppings, but it is really a kind of bile (biliverdin) from the liver.

The Urine
You can notice the watery droppings in case the feces portion is missing in the droppings, which is an indicative of increase in the urine level. Most of the lovebirds breeders will consider that their bird is passing diarrhea, but it is not so. If the feces is solid with no urine at all, it is not diarrhea.

Missing of brown or green solid fecal portion with watery droppings is an indicative of diarrhea. Some types of diarrhea will show gas bubbles in the droppings, which is an indicative of presence of anerobic bacteria.

Urates

The last part of the lovebirds dropping is urates. It is the end product of protein metabolism in the avian system. This product is filtered in kidney and evacuated in droppings. If your lovebird is showing yellow and green urates, then the avian patients are suffering from liver problem and chlamydophila infection respectively.

As bottom line, the lovebird breeders should aware that when birds consume greens or fruits, it would lead to diarrhea. Some of the breeders are having false opinion about this fact.

Moreover, if your lovebird is nervous, the droppings would be more watery, which is due to high blood pressure than normal.

Any deviation in the lovebirds dropping should brought to the notice of your avian vet immediately to save your valuable lovebirds life.

What do you Feed For the Peach-faced Lovebirds?

2008-03-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

Peach-faced lovebirds are voracious feeders. Give these birds a seed mixture suitable for lovebirds which you can supplement with small amounts of fruit, berries, green food and Italian millet.

During the breeding season, they like to eat small quantities of supplements and egg food and they should also have access to a grit mixture.

In my aviary I feed my birds frozen mixed veggies- any variety is fair. Do serve the vegetables after boiling it in a pot (place the veggies in a pot, bring to a boil) and cool them by running cold water.

Some of the lovebirds owner place broccoli stems in a food processor or cabbage and carrot together- most of the lovebirds love it like anything.

The main prerequisites to make your bird hale and healthy is be patient and do provide your lovebirds a good variety of fresh veggies for at least three weeks or until your lovebird eats the treat.

Even you can use good cockatiel seed mixture with added raw sunflower seeds, 12 grain cereal mix, and wheat germ for the lovebirds feed. Even you can add about 2-3 teaspoons of oyster shells to each batch of seed mixture.

Housing Tips for Peach Faced Lovebirds

2008-03-03T17:32:00.000-08:00

Peach-faced lovebirds , which during recent years have become one of the most popular sorts of cage birds, can be kept whether in a cage or an indoor or outdoor aviary. It does not matter much if the cage or aviary is higher than it is long or vice-versa.

However, the cage or aviary must be made of sturdy materials and be resistant to the birds powerful beaks. There is not much point putting plants in the aviary because the lovebirds will gnaw them to pieces in no time.

Peach-faced lovebirds are strong birds which do not require any heating if kept in an outdoor aviary during the winter. However, they should have access to a frost-free night house. You should also provide them with a (roosting) box in which they will use on cold nights.

Social Characteristics of Peach Faced Lovebirds

2008-02-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

As you know already peach faced lovebirds are native of Southwest Africa. At first glance, there appears to be no difference between sexes. An experienced breeder can feel the difference between the pelvic bones which are wider apart in the case of the females of the species.

These lovebirds usually get on well together. They occasionally squabble but these confrontations are rarely serious. They can be kept together with other, spirited species of parakeet. Delicate and smaller birds should not be kept in the same aviary or cage.

Single birds can also be kept provided they are given sufficient attention. You can keep two birds, of whatever sex, in a cage in the living room without any problems arising. However, you should never simply introduce a new bird into a cage containing an existing single bird. The new bird will often be regarded as an intruder and will also be treated as such.

It is better to keep both birds in different accommodation or let them get used to each other for quite a long time by placing the cages close together.

Peach-Faced Lovebirds Breeding

2008-02-28T17:18:00.000-08:00

Peach-Faced Lovebirds are quite easy to breed when compared to other species. However, pairing the birds can be quite difficult since the two sexes are very similar. It is best not to try breeding lovebirds younger than a year.

Lovebirds can be called as "pitbull of birds" and for good reason. Generally the hen can show aggression towards on its mate with no warning. You can find one dead bird in the cage once you return from office. Hence getting a suitable pair is really difficult. If you're successful in finding a suitable pair, then you will be rewarded with few clutches of cute little baby lovebirds.

A nest box with a surface area of approximately 10 sq. inches (25 sq. cm) is sufficient. In contrast to most other parakeets, these birds do make nests, usually using coarse twigs that they gnaw into strips.

Between 3 and 5 eggs are laid which the female incubates for between approximately 18 and 20 days. Fledging occurs at least a month or one and a half months after hatching. The very young birds of this species are recognizable due to their partially black beaks. Peach-Faced Lovebirds may well produce a number of clutches per year.

Lovebirds Need Grit - Dr. Hanson, DVM

2008-02-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

One of the visitor to this blog is an avian vet- Dr.Hanson, DVM. He commented about an article on "Need of grit for lovebirds". I have given his opinion as a blog post today. Hope this info will be an eye opener to the pet bird owners.

I have been an avian veterinarian for more than 20 years and the most sad bird problem which I treat is when an owner brings in their dying bird who has not had access to a good quality mineral grit. These people have been badly informed by articles on the Internet and by mis-informed people who write bird owner "help" books. These people have never studied avian physiology.

A bird's ventriculus requires pieces of grit in order to pulverize seeds and fibrous plant leaves. Without grit birds become impacted especially if these poor birds are fed pellets instead of seeds.
Pellets turn into a thick paste in the bird's ventriculus and then blocks the outlet to the intestines (pyloric sphincter obstruction). Insoluble mineral grit combines with the hydrochloric acid in the bird's proventriculus so that a chemical reaction releases electrolytes so that the bird's gastrointestinal tract neurons are stimulated. This prevents proventricular dilatation which is inflammation of a bird's GI tract.

Mineral grit is absolutely essential for all seed-eating birds. Most birds eat seeds. Seeds are the heart of the plant and they provide birds with the necessary energy to fly. It is good that you are telling people about the necessity of grit for ALL seed-eating birds.

It's not true that some seed-eating birds remove the hulls from all of their seeds before ingesting them. This is not true. All seed-eating birds pack their crops with un-hulled seeds before perching for the night so they can have energy in the morning at sunrise. So they do not remove the hulls.

The only time a bird will take the time to remove the hulls from seeds is possibly when it is playing with the seed after it has already ingested sufficient nourishment. It is sad to remove a piece of impacted pellet-paste from a bird's stomach.

Sometimes these birds become so impacted with pellets that they do not have normal stools. The owners are gullible and they have been providing pellets for their unfortunate birds. How sad.

Birds require a species-specific seed and grit diet along with fresh greens and fresh water. Seeds have fat in them and this provides a bird with the extra energy they need. Just because a bird is in a cage doesn't mean its metabolism has slowed-down and shouldn't eat high-fat seeds. The reason birds get liver and kidney failure is due to pellet diets.

Mutation of Peach Faced Lovebirds

2008-01-12T22:42:00.001-08:00

There are great many mutations of this species. In fact, the mutations are so popular that is difficult finding a bird with purely natural plumage.

One of the most recent and also very colorful and attractive color mutations is the orange head variety. There are also light, dark, olive, and (light and dark) sea green colored birds, often in combination with white mask, cinnamon or isabel characterisitics.

Lastly there are also (light) yellow birds with dark eyes, lutinos (yellow with red eyes) and pied birds.

Social Characteristics of Fischer's Lovebird

2008-01-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

As you know very well Fischer's lovebirds are native of Northern Tanzania. Both the sexes have identical coloring. The females are often slightly larger than the males, but this is not always the case. An experienced enthusiast can feel the difference between the pelvic bones which are wider apart in the case of the females of the species.

You can keep the birds as a pair but also in a small group. Although skirmishes may occur in the group these will not have serious consequences in a spacious aviary.

A pair of Fischer's lovebirds can also be kept in a cage in the living room without any problems occurring. You should purchase a pair simultaneously however, since a solitary Fischer lovebird may not readily accept an intruder, something which could have catastrophic consequences.

How to clip my lovebirds wings?

2007-12-31T03:17:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-29T08:24:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-08T22:46:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-12-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-01T21:38:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-30T17:49:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-09-25T05:20:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-09-14T21:49:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

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)

2007-08-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-08-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-29T07:23:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-23T23:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-17T03:01:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-07-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

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…)