Trader! Mean Bird!

[LoveBug12]

Okay, so today I let Junior out of his cage to fly around and everything. I should have named that little bird Bullet because he is so fast! I was working on homework and he was flying around and going upstairs, things like that. Well, Then my dad came down stairs and he wouldnt get off of him. He likes my dad more then he likes me! He was nibbling on my dads ears and making kissy noises. I tried to take him off of my dads shoulder and he bit me so hard! I had to at least get bit 10 times trying to grab him. :omg:..didn't feel very good.
He (or she) is also putting his wings out and butt up and making clicking noises alot now...Maybe today I can go to the pet store and ask to have a DNA test since the lady I bought him from said she could do it. If Junior IS a girl and I get another bird that might be a boy, how do I take care of baby lovebirds? I'm not getting another lovebird for awhile..say a few months..but If they do have little babies I would like to hand raise them. Is it hard? I'm home alot so I have alot of time on my hands.
One more question, how can you "potty train" a lovebird? Junior poops everywhere when he is out and sometimes I don't know where his little droppings go:omg:.

[Enko_chan]

Go to the Avian Biotech website, and order the collection supplies for free. Just make very sure the place you are taking the sample from is very clean and not contaminated. Its very easy to do. A drop of blood from a pin prick on the foot, or a chest feather, $20-$25 and you will have your DNA gender results!

[LovelySydney]

If you do plan on breeding I suggest you do as much research as humanly possible before doing it. It is very hard and very time consuming. It requires all you attention at all times. If I were you and my birds were to mate I probably would not let the eggs develop only because even as much as I know about birds and breeding, I certainly am not ready to do it myself. If the eggs DID develop than I would probably let the parents raise them unless issues arose where the parents were trying to harm/mutilate/kill the babies. You can still hand tame a bird that is parent raised. I know some breeders prefer the parents do the bulk of the work before they are pulled from the nest box to be weaned.


Either way, please do all the research you can before embarking on breeding!! & as far as DNA testing goes I too would go to Avian Biotech. They are very easy and accurate and relatively cheap. Keep us posted!!!!

[LoveBug12]

Thank you for the information! I ordered my free kits. 1 of each because I wasn't sure if I needed all of them or not. Do I wait for a feather to fall off of Juniors chest or how do I get one? I don't think pulling one out would be nice...sounds painful!

[kimsbirds]

You need to pluck 6-8 fresh chest feathers in order to get a proper sample to DNA. Use needlenose pliers or very good quality tweezers. Happy Plucking!

[Pips mom]

I think it does hurt them a little bit, but from what I've heard, it shouldn't hurt much and once it's over, it's over and will be forgotten quickly. I myself don't have the heart to get blood or pluck feathers. I have the test kits here because I figured if either of my lovies ever bleed for any reason, I could get some blood.....they are the only two who I am not 100 percent sure of sex.

[Enko_chan]

I can give you the sign up info for a fantastic parrot breeding and handfeeding group. I've learned an unbelievable amount over there as well as from Linda and her resource library.

As for DNA testing...I've never done it myself, but I have testing supplies. I tried to work up the courage to prick Freyja's toe, but when I tried clipping her toe nails- and I swear I only clipped the VERY end of her excessively long nails, far below the very visible vein, she screamed bloody murder. The only time I ever heard her make such a noise was when a toe nail got stuck in her rope perch and she was trapped and tugging. I lost the stomach for it after that.

I'll try again. I'm betting the pin prick is less painful than pulling out chest feathers, especially knowing that it requires many of them. Frey is so dear to me. I've always been a soft touch when it comes to causing pain to others.

Also, I think Odinn is really upset with me for hurting Freyja. He has run like the dickens when I tried to play with him today, won't even come near me. It sounds ridiculous even to me, but I did something to set him off and I didn't even play with him the few days before, Chris did... and he has had no troubles with Chris!

I do want to know whether Freyja is actually a hen or not. I don't care one way or the other, but if they're both male, I will give them a happy hut and change certain other aspects of their treatment, plus I will know, when she is acting hen-ish, whether to expect and prepare for eggs!

Freyja really confuses me. She goes through acting super nesty just like any lovie hen I've ever had. She opens her wings to Odinn. She looks everywhere for a nest. Yet, she's never laid an egg, even after a lot of nesty behavior and mating. She often tries to mount Odinn and she tucks, but so does Odinn, and neither of them ever do anything with the materials, they just let it fall out. Odinn is a severe chronic humper, and Freyja has never humped. I just don't know! Before it came out that Sunni is a little cross-gendered, egg-fertilizing, hen acting individual, I wouldn't have given it a second thought... but lovebird gender-specific behaviors can be extremely ambiguous!

[LoveBug12]

You need to pluck 6-8 fresh chest feathers in order to get a proper sample to DNA. Use needlenose pliers or very good quality tweezers. Happy Plucking!

ay yi yi...I don't know if I could do that...wouldnt it look weird if he didnt have any feathers in certain spots on his chest? Also, hurt to? Maybe I will have someone else try to do it. Like, the lady I got him from :) She said she could do it for me when I first got him so maybe I can ask her . :)