Boelle just grew from 7 months till 2 years....

[Joannadk]

Hi All.

I got Boelle from a petstore a month ago and asked the owner of the petstore, how old the bird was.
It's from 2011, he said.

Ok, then Boelle is approximately 6½ month I figured out. But the more I read about lovebird youngsters, the more I doubted his age.

He was ringed with a purple ring, but he wasn't handtamed in any way, so I didn't want to catch him and have a good look at the ring, since the hand would probably then be even scaryer, than before.

Then we got Luna about 1½ week ago, and surprisingly enough she was ringed with a blue ring....
The breeder from where I bought Luna, showed me her ring, and it said 11 (= birthyear 2011)

I became suspisious and read tons of information on the internet and somewhere it said that the yougsters moult at about 6 months of age, and when we got Boelle he was in his finest adult coat and showed no signs of recent moulting.

Then I also read that the rings in Denmark change colour every year and since Luna's ring were blue (= 2011) and Boelle's ring were purple, something wasn't right.

So then I had to take a closer look at the ring. I managed to do it, without catching Boelle and it said 09 (= birthyear 2009)......

So instead of having a 7 month old bird, I have a 2-year old bird....

Well, to me it doesn't matter. He is a beutiful bird anyway. But I think it's a bit sad that you can't trust a petstore.

Joannadk

[linda040899]

Joanna,
The same thing is true here in the US, as well as other parts of the globe. Pet shops are the worst for this practice. Their bottom line is profit and they have no qualms about telling you what you want to hear rather than the truth. >: Some of our members have been told that very young birds are considerably older but photos are enough to establish approximate age in Peachfaced lovies up to roughly age 5 months.

[lemonypickett]

Sorry to hear about the unscrupulous petstore..... I have heard nothing but horror stories about petstores.... good news.... you have a pretty bird you love, yes?

I got a lovie much older than my lovebug Eddie (Jimmy) and even though he was too old to have that cuddlebird potential, I love him very much. He now lets me kiss his belly (although he leans back on my finger a bit) and I can even kiss his beak sometimes.

So, love your older birdie, he is sooooo lucky he got you as an owner..... and in time, as the years go by, with patient love, he wil learn to trust you enough to be more hands on.

Plus!.... a hand tame second bird always helps speed up the trust level of the older, less trustworthy friend.

Best of luck....post some pics, we love that!

[Joannadk]

Hey.

Yes, I love Boelle the same, no matter what his age is. And he'll stay here for the rest of his life and have good conditions, even if he doesn't get tamed.

Before Luna came, I could get him to eat millets off my hand. It has changed since Luna has come, but we are working on it. She is the one, who's scared the most.
She isn't tamed either, but I work with both birds.

But I think with a lot of patience, I will get there someday. I don't neccesary need a cuddley bird, so if he doesn't get supertamed, that's ok.

Yesterday I put some capsules from a soft drink on the high cabinet and Luna loves to play with them. She'll carry them around and push them around and in the end she'll drop them to the floor and when there are no more left up there, she'll fly to the next high cabinet, to look if I put some there too.
Boelle isn't as exited, but he pushes them around a bit and bites them.
Luna even took one in her beak and flew with it. She dropped it on the floor though, but it looked funny :-)

Here are some pictures of them: http://s1227.photobucket.com/home/Jasmindk/index

Joannadk

[personatus]

It happens alot and it drives me mad. :x

If the bird is rung, check it before you buy the bird. I always check the feet, nails, ring, under the wings and around the nares.

Only last month I drove around 180km for a nice pair of "2010" birds. The first thing I did was take the birds out to check them out. I could tell the guy wasn't keen on the idea and tried to prevent me from taking them out, but he had no choice. One was from 2005 and one was from 2006. He then come out with a great story.... the female was from 2010, but the breeder had run out of 2010 rings so used an old ring from 2006. I mean, come on, NOBODY rings a bird to make it older, if you run out of rings, you don't ring, simple! He then stated, if one of the birds is 2010, then it's classed as a 2010 pair. LOL! :x Funny thing was, the female was from a breeder I know, who lives in my town. I offered to call him to confirm this, as I know this guy keeps extensive records. This seemed to upset the muppet I was dealing with? I slammed the door behind me shortly after telling him exactly what I thought of him. It was a long drive and I took time off work for it, when you pay €1,65 a litre of fuel, it's not cheap either. Annoyed is an understatement.

[Joannadk]

Hi Personatus.

Oh my God. What a story. A good thing, you knew what to look for and carried on, even though the guy didn't want you to look and had some "great" stories. What a shame that people behave like this.

Boelle was my first bird ever, so I didn't know what to look for. So I never asked to have the bird in my hand, and didn't know that the year of birth, was written on the ring.

But I know that now, and will check the bird fully, next time I buy one.

I'm shocked that the problem with petstores/people, selling older birds is so common. And know I'm glad the the breeder from where I got Luna, showed me her ring, even though I at the time, thought it was kind of silly, because of course I trusted him.
But then again, he probably knows that this is a problem everywhere and wanted to make sure to me, that she was from 2011.
Horray for great and trustful breeders :)

Joannadk