Tweety is now awful???

[celestine]

We found and adopted a lovebird approx 6 weeks ago. Kind forum members have said from her photos that she is at least 6 months old. We are assuming she is a she and she is housed alone. Tweety has been an absolute delight since she arrived at our home. She has obviously been well cared for and hand reared. From the day we found her she would happily sit on your shoulder, head or any other part of your person, feed from your hand, have her head stroked and take cover down the nearest sweater when tired. Now however she is awful. She has drawn blood and hung from my husbands finger tip by her beak and is acting in a particularly aggressive manner. We have noticed that she has spent quite a substantial time nest building and gets very angry if you venture near to her cage. Is this the reason for her change in behaviour and will it change after the mating instinct has left her? Will the behaviour only change when she has a mate? Help we want our lovely lovie back. :confused:

[linda040899]

We have noticed that she has spent quite a substantial time nest building and gets very angry if you venture near to her cage. Is this the reason for her change in behaviour and will it change after the mating instinct has left her?
You hit the nail directly on the head!!! When hens go into nesting mode, their hormones take over and you see the result! Tweety is protecting her potential nesting area and you are considered an invader. This will continue until she completes her "breeding cycle" or until you re-arrange her cage and completely move it to a different location. If you have a second cage, moving her to that would be even better! Remove anything that she's using for nesting material. You would be surprised at what some hens will collect! Many of mine use seed hulls, which you obviously can't remove but I clean out the cage to get rid of them as soon as I begin to see a nest.

Getting a mate for Tweety is probably not the answer, unless you want baby lovebirds. That, in itself, brings a whole new set of complications, including finding homes for any babies that hatch or being prepared to keep them yourself.

Once the cycle is finished, you should be able to have your baby back again. This is just part of bird ownership. Look at it this way. Be glad that Tweety isn't a macaw. I've got a nesty macaw and they are just plain out dangerous!!! :omg:

[Gill]

She will go back to normal trust me, think yourself lucky, my female, Bobble is the devil but is an absolute angel when she is nesty! I have a back to front lovebird! :D

[celestine]

Many thanks for the reassurance. We shall commence nest removal tomorrow. I shall try to avoid feeling guilty when she looks up at me with those little eyes when I am taking away all her hard work. I can't wait for our little lovie to be back to normal. :)

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Aw, poor Tweety. She's not awful, she's just a little bit hormonal. :)

My little hen Lily is very protective of her cage, nesty or not. She sees it as "hers" and will lunge and bite if I try to reach in and grab her. So instead of doing that, I wait until she lets me know she's ready to come out of her cage by hopping down on one of the lower perches by the door.

[celestine]

Hi all, Tweety has a Peter. Daughter has been busy over the last few days making jewellery and selling it all at school. She gathered her Branson fortune and added to her pocket money and has over the last 2 days bought not only a fab new cage but also a second lovebird. Peter is stunning with a bright yellow head and breast and turquoise blue tail. Combined with his green he is a handsome young chap. Tweety and he are side by side in 2 cages and have been paying each other lots of attention at intervals. The rest of the time Tweety is nesting and Peter having a crafty snooze. He is vocally very quite though. Would this be as he has had a traumatic day? The breeder said we should leave them at least a day side by side. Is this correct? does anyone have any advice on mixing the two? In addition Peter has hurt his toe. I think ripping out his nail during his capture at the breeders. It has bled but is now ok. Is this anything to worry about? He is walking fine and climbing.

[bird-brain]

Ah wow, firstly, may I ask what species of lovies you have? Secondly, I would have generally recommended a quarantine in separate rooms for at least 30 days. Third, are you certain Peter is a DNA verified male? Otherwise combining them could be a real problem. Is he a very tame bird? The traumatic catch at the breeders you describe leads me to believe he is not and so, taming him before they share a dwelling would be my priority. In my experience, once you set up a previously tame bird with a breeder non-tame bird as a mate, you tend to end up with two untamed birds unless you are VERY diligent. The hen will nest more frequently and for longer periods now that she has a mate and the end result will be fertile eggs if this is in fact a male. If this is another female, you may have a fight to the death on your hands. Linda, Michael, Personatas and some of the other breeders can weigh in much better than I.