Curious about age.

[StaticMoot]

Hi again! My wife and I were just curious as to whether or not there is a way to tell the age of a lovebird. We weren't given any info when our friends rehomed the bird with us because they didn't have any. He hasn't molted, nor has he shown any signs of sexual behaviour. From what I've seen on here, juvinile lovies tend to have dark beak bases, which he doesn't. Any clues? Thanks!

[linda040899]

Yes, some juvenile lovebirds have the dark splotch on their beaks until they are just about 12 weeks/3 months old. Those that don't have dark splotches (Lutino, Creamino, some Pieds) will have amber colored beaks vs. the horn colored beak coloring of older birds. The beak has normally turned horn color by 3.5 months of age and the first molt starts at 4 months/16 weeks. If the beak is horn colored (or even two toned as would be an AquaTurquoise), then you are looking at a young lovebird that's right around 14 weeks old.

[StaticMoot]

How can I tell if he's had his first molt or not? Like I said, we're completely in the dark on his age. I have no idea how long he was in the pet store before my friends got him. I can't assume it was very long, since like any pet store, the longer they have a pet there, the less money they make on it. As a side note, I hate that they even bought a bird from that store, but that's for another time.

[maya_exquisite]

Can you post a pic of your bird? You'll definitely be able to tell if the bird has been through the first molt by it's facial coloring. Baby birds facial masks won't be very bright. After they molt, the Green series birds will have bright red or orange faces and the Blue series will have pronounced apricot or white brows.

[StaticMoot]

I posted some photos of Ezio on the forums here a few weeks ago, here (http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/showthread.php?19569-First-Photos-of-Ezio). His apricot band is very bright, so based on that, possibly has gone through his first molt?

[maya_exquisite]

Oh! Sorry, I had forgotten about that thread!

Yeah, that bird has been through it's first molt definitely. And after that, there's no way to tell if the bird is six months or six years old. Do you know when they bought the bird from the pet store? I've never know any of our pet stores to carry SUPER OLD birds... most are within the three to eight month range, and by then they're usually always sold. I've never seen lovebirds sit in a pet store for too long here.