Questions on food and nipping

[DJ_Mittens]

Hey there, first time reader, first time poster.

I have two Fischer's Lovebirds. I only found out tonight that the older one, Tango, is female. She's been "presenting" herself regularely whenever someone tries to pick her up, and she's been making the craziest nests in every single cardboard box in the house. The other, Tree (short for Tree-Fiddy, and you have to be a South Park fan to appreciate the joke) is only six months old or so, and we're still not sure if (s)he is a s(he).

But the questions are these. First, Tango refuses to eat anything but these small seeds and millet. Nothing else. No lettuce, apples, carrots, anything. We've tried, but she just - MAYBE - puts a corner in her mouth and then shakes here head and doesn't touch it again. I need some ideas on how to improve her diet. We haven't really tried feeding Tree anything else, mainly because of Tango's nutritional preferences.

Second, Tango is loud. Spectacularely loud. Originally, she was nice and quiet, and would just barely be heard upstairs singing along with my music. Now, on the other hand, her conversation voice can be heard clearly throughout the house. Her friendly little chirps when she sits on my shoulder and nibbles my ear are painfully shrill. She refuses to go away when anyone is looking for peace and quiet (they're both free range birds, they just like it that way, and both are good at making their current locations known), she follows us throughout the house and will do anything she can to get onto your shoulder. Tree is still good, he generally hangs out around the cage, and he is far, far quieter. His voice is softer, where Tango is a sharp, piercing sound, easily 10dB louder, or more. Even when Tree gets loud, his voice doesn't have the painfull shrillness that Tango does.

How the heck do we get her to yap up, or at least be softer?

That's about it for now, I'm glad I found this place, since I want to learn more about how these guys think.

*edit* Just noticed the diet forum. Dangit. Maybe I should read a little more first.

[bellarains]

Hi DJ,

Welcome to the board. I'm glad you found us, and I look forward to hearing all about your lovies, and please post us some pics in the photo forum when you can.

Here is a link for a birdie bread recipe. It incorporates some veggies, and most lovies take to it quite quickly. It's easy to make, and freezes wonderfully for quick meals, mine eat it practically everyday.

http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/showthread.php?t=190

It sounds like Tango is in nesting mode, and while you can possibly put this off for a bit, it is what nature intended for her, and she will lay eggs eventually. If she is trying to make a nest, that usually means eggs are not far behind. You can watch for a slight bulge in her nether region, and also check her vent area to see if it is dialated, as it will do this when an egg is on the way. At this point, you will want to set her up with a nestbox, let her lay her eggs. You will need to let her sit on the eggs until she abandons them, usually somewhere around 23 days. If she is not allowed to do this, she may continue to lay, trying to complete her cycle, and this can cause serious health problems. You will know when she is done, as she may scatter her eggs, start coming out of the nestbox more, and become more vocal. Yes, she will get quieter when she is sitting on her eggies :)

As far as her being more vocal, this may be because she is getting nesty. She is calling out for what she perceives as her mate, possibly you, or possibly Tree???? He is a bit too young to father chicks though, and since you are not sure of his/her gender, I would watch very closely to make sure there is not hanky panky going on. If there is, you will need to seperate them if Tango goes on nest.

I have to throw in, that I'm not a big advocate of free roaming birds, at least not ones as small and fast as lovies are. We have heard many horror stories, and had many posts in the In Loving Memory section in the past of lovies where people did not know where their birds were at all times, and that is the hardest lesson. I know they would always love to roam free, but for their own safety, if you aren't able to be with them, their cage is the safest place.

I'm sure there is much more that others can offer you advice on, but read as much as you can here. Check out the Your Attention Please forum, as there are some wonderful links, and also Robin's New Owners Guide that has some very useful information there as well.

C-Ya around the board :)

[DJ_Mittens]

Cool, thanks for the tips.

We generally lock the birds up when we aren't around, but we have a little play area set up for them with boxes and cardboard tubes. If we can't find them right away, we rattle one of the boxes and they come running. They also make their presence known when they're wandering away, so we aren't TOO worried. We just watch our feet when climbing the stairs.

Thanks for the heads up on the nesting. We'll make sure not to disturb her, but she's quite used to waiting at the back door for us when she hears the big garage door open, so we'll just have to not go looking for her if she isn't there.

Oh, and I doubt she's calling for Tree. The two of them have only just recently started getting along, as in the past week. Tango's been flirting for at least the past four months, and mainly with myself and my brother, and Tree's still somewhat afraid of her. Just put a hand near, and the wings go out and the tail goes up. We've also learned to recognize her particular chirp when she does this too. We just ignore her or tap on a cardboard box to divert her attention.

[BarbieH]

Hi DJ, welcome;

Like Lori said, the birdie bread generally goes over well with most of our birds. It may take yours a little while to discover that it's food. It also helps if they see you eat the same thing you have given to them; in the wild, birds know that something is food when they see another animal eat it. You'd be surprised at how effective this is for introducing new foods to your birds.

(Tree-Diddy? :lol Thanks for not naming her Towely!)

You can also try veggies cut a little smaller, or different textures. My birds love bananas and softer foods, and digging the bean part out of raw green beans. They like their carrots shredded, and cooked corn is always a big hit. :D For brocolli, my birds like the tops because it looks like little seeds there. If you cut a brocolli top across so that all those pods pop off, the birds might eat them.

As for the noise, I think your bird has adjusted to living in your house and is probably very happy. Scared birds are generally much quieter than happy birds (unless something startles them into giving an alarm call). They are quiet because they don't want to draw attention to themselves. Once they're settled and feel secure, there is nothing they seem to love better than drawing attention to themselves. :D

Normally, they will have noisy times followed by quiet times throughout the day.

Nice to meet you. :)

[peppero1]

Hello DJ,
I am not an expert at all, but I have recently been able to curb my bird's constant screeching by ignoring it and giving him attention only when he is quiet. However, one has to distinguish between a contact call and vocalizing for attention. I usually respond to contact calls a few times, to let the bird know where I am and that I am OK, but after that, I don't encourage loud noises.

One thing I have noticed that helps is to immediately acknowledge the bird when you get up in the morning and when you get home from work etc. This helps to curb contact calls and screeching for attention. Even if it's a quick hug and few back rubs... it seems to work.

There are many articles on the web with advice, try the site www.birdsnways.com and start clicking around there. Any advice that is given for parrots in general, I believe is applicable to lovebirds as well.

Also, I chuckled when I read your phrase "free range lovebirds" --- pretty funny! But I have a question - are they potty trained or do you not mind their droppings all over the place? I have read lots of info about potty training and have got my bird about 70% there,,, but my problem is that he goes when I tell him, however he hasn't made the leap to ONLY going when I tell him. The literature I have read seems to think that these two go hand in hand and from the stains on my T-shirt, I beg to differ... Actually I think I will post the question as a seperate thread to get other's feedback as well.
Thanks