First handling advice

[Charlie B. Good]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are the very happy new owners of Coconut and Marzipan, a pair of hand-fed lovies. We brought them home three days ago, and we would like to start handling them, teaching them the "up-up" command and so on. Most of the books we have read on the subject seem to talk almost exclusively about how to handle a sole lovie rather than a pair... We know our lovies will not bond as much with us, since they have each other, but we would still like to build a trusting, caring relationship with each of them... Any advice on how we should proceed so that our birds will enjoy some playtime with us?

Also, Coconut and Marzipan have not even looked in the direction of their mineral block... Should we be worried, or will they discover it in their own time?

Thank you for your time!

Charlie

[thebubbleking]

One thing i i have learned is lovebirds love to explore and get into things so if you leave the block in there long enough they will for sure atleast nibble it a bit lol

[Toneea]

I had a very similar problem with my pair, Snot and Booger - everyone tells you to split them up! Not true, believe me.
Now my pair started out completely feral - caught as wild as the wind from the aviary they were born in, I was the first person to ever handle them. That being said, there was not much handling happening at all the first few weeks - just sitting by their cage, getting them used to me being around, my voice, etc. After they stopped freaking out completely every time I went near their cage, I started putting my hand in there. Not chasing them, just having it there while I spoke. Dont know if this is relevant to you because your guys shouldnt be too scared of hands.
Then I started taking one bird at a time to the opposite end of the house in a small room with no distractions (truth be told, I took them to the toilet...) where I would handle them, talk to them, scritch and play away. At first they would just try to escape me but after a while, they realised that she ain't all THAT bad. I would always have sunflower seeds (their favourite treat) on hand for rewards when they came to me. Only short sessions, maybe 10-15 minutes each? And get ready for pierced eardrums cos they will call to each other.
Now Snot and Booger are not completely tame, even now. But both will fly to me to eat from my head, shoulder or hand and Booger loves his human bus. And I found that Booger responded faster than Snot and made her braver.
Not too sure if all this is relevant as I dont know how tame your birdies are (love the names too) but don't think that you can't work with 2, even if there isnt much info out there. And watching them play together - is there anything more beautiful??
Also, if your lovies are anything like mine, the mineral block will be ignored until such a time that they decide they are ready and will destroy it in a matter of hours. Theyre fun like that. :o)
Hope this helps!!

[Charlie B. Good]

Thank you both! It seems that time and patience is everything when it comes to lovebirds!