When does baby need his own cage?

[von]

Hi everyone! I'm new but glad to have found somewhere to ask all my questions. It seems I'm always wondering something about my lovebirds but just end up winging it or fruitlessly trying to find it on the net. Anyway, I have two adult lovies who I found out the hard way are male and female!!! Anyway, we have one 7 week old baby now who is still living with his parents but seems to be almost weaned. I've been taking him out regularly and he does pretty well, but freaking out more as he gets older. His wings are not yet clipped and he flies great. My question is, when does he need his own cage? I was told if he stays to long the parents will get aggressive with him. So far everything seems okay. I think the parents will flip if I remove him, so should he be in a different room initially so they can't see each other and call back and forth? Any info would be great.

[linda040899]

First of all, hi and welcome to our community!

Congratulations on the little one, even though it was a bit of a surprise! :)

The baby will not be completely weaned until it's about 8 weeks old. I usually leave my babies with the parents a week, may 2 weeks after that unless the parents want the baby gone. As long as they are accepting of the little one, you can leave well enough alone.

Just be aware that, if the baby looks like either of the parents, the baby coloring will become adult coloring at about age 4 months and you won't be able to tell baby from parent! Trust me on that one! I learned that lesson the hard way!!

[lemonypickett]

Hi Von, and welcome.

I clipped my baby birds wings and it made all the difference with taming him. Although he always "stepped up" for me, he didn't become cuddly until his wings were clipped.

When/if you do it .... don't feel bad when he seems really impaired the first few days. He will adapt really quickly, and be much easier to tame. (And you will be able to tell him apart from the parents :) )

[michael]

Hi Von. Welcome to the community. Aside from the many interesting/informative forums here to read through there's the "Lovebird Resource Library" as well. All this combined with many wonderful poeple and birds should help give you the advantage when searching for important information regarding your lovebirds. Hope to hear more about them in the future. And please, feel free to ask any questions as needed...........:)

[von]

thanks everyone for all the helpful information! Just when I thought everything seemed to be running smoothly, this morning I noticed my bonded pair displaying breeding behavior again. Is there any way to prevent or delay any more breeding? I've taken out all possible breeding material and they are covered up for 12 hours per night. Should I rearrange the cage? I've heard females can get hormone shots from an avian vet. I just don't want to put her (and me) through another clutch since we definately do not want any more babies. Again, any tips would be great and I'll also look around and see what others have done. I bet lots of people have this problem. Thanks, Von.

[michael]

thanks everyone for all the helpful information! Just when I thought everything seemed to be running smoothly, this morning I noticed my bonded pair displaying breeding behavior again. Is there any way to prevent or delay any more breeding? I've taken out all possible breeding material and they are covered up for 12 hours per night. Should I rearrange the cage? I've heard females can get hormone shots from an avian vet. I just don't want to put her (and me) through another clutch since we definately do not want any more babies. Again, any tips would be great and I'll also look around and see what others have done. I bet lots of people have this problem. Thanks, Von.

Von. I'm sure some breeding is inevitable no matter what you do. So far though, I think your off to a good start if your limiting the daylight hours along with the removal of any possible nesting materials. Rearranging the cage along with a small amount of diet restrictions I imagine could offer some added distraction too. You could also boil the eggs should she begin to produce any and replace them until she finishes out her cycle. Hopefully others here may be able to share more experience than I can regarding avian birth control as mine is quite limited. Certainly it won't hurt to read through the forums either. Hopefully you can find something that will help limit this behavior so in the future it can be handled with much more confidence. Please, let us know if you have any more questions................:)