Love Bird Behaviour.

[MangoLovie]

okay so i have two birds, they are both still young, and one is more tame than the other.
but i was a bit concerned because they keep biting eachothers feet, there has been no blood drawn but i'm not sure if they're aggressive or not.
i had my one bird mango, and i just DNA tested her and she's female.
and i just got another one for her company when i'm gone because she is really needy.
its name is Tiki and i'm not sure what sex it is.
but my parent were observing them from afar , and they don't bite eachothers feet or bite at each other, but when i'm in the room, they do, and they squeal sometimes.
and today my one bird Mango was mimicking in a tweet form what i was saying and my other bird Tiki kept going over and trying to (it looked like) attack mango. but stopped when she stopped mimicking me.
i wasn't sure if i should separate them because they aren't aggressive all the time.
but i don't want them to separate my one bird Tiki because when i got it, the petstore assistant said that it doesn't like being alone, and was nice to the other cage mates there.
help?

[Enko_chan]

Hello! I moved this thread to where it will get more attention.

I think it is likely that your birds are bonded to each other and one or perhaps both see the other as forming a relationship with you, and are threatened by that attention.

You will have to spend time with your lovebirds and show them that your presence is not a threat to their bond and in the meantime, make sure that their nipping and biting one another is not serious enough to cause injury to your birds.

What are the ages, genders of your lovebirds? If both are hens, or if you have an older hen and younger male- this may be the beginnings of a more serious problem.

[MangoLovie]

My one love bird is a hen, and my other one they said they think is a girl too, but i'm gonna get it tested.
they are both 4 months, and i was told that if you get them as babies no matter what gender they are they will be fine.

[linda040899]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on the individual lovebirds. :)

I would definitely find out what gender they are, especially if you think you may have 2 hens. Young hens are usually OK, but once they become sexually mature, that's subject to change. At least you will know what you have so you can anticipate what could happen. If you have 2 males, they will be happy campers together. Very rarely have I ever seen males that don't get along, especially if they grow up together.

[MangoLovie]

okay, i just got my stuff ready for the testing.
when i get the results, i was thinking if the one is a girl, to separate them, but if a boy then keep them.
the only thing that concerns me is the one that isn't tested is a very social bird, and would not do good being by itself. should i maybe get another bird to keep it company? or will putting the two cages close to each other work?

[linda040899]

my parent were observing them from afar , and they don't bite eachothers feet or bite at each other, but when i'm in the room, they do, and they squeal sometimes.
and today my one bird Mango was mimicking in a tweet form what i was saying and my other bird Tiki kept going over and trying to (it looked like) attack mango. but stopped when she stopped mimicking me.
This almost sounds like what's called displaced aggression. When you are there, Mango wants to be with you, as she's more social, and Tiki is jealous. I have this same situation with my male/female macaws and it can get ugly between them. My male enjoys interacting with me and the female is insanely jealous. The result is aggression between them and I'm apt to get bitten by the female if I interact with him and not pay very careful attention to where she is and what she's doing.

You could try side by side cages, as I don't think adding another bird is going to accomplish what you want. You may find that they settle down and the behavior changes. However, both are young and that remains to be seen. I would see what the DNA test returns and go from there.

[victoria stiles]

Lovebird's behavior can be often outrageous, but mind you it is dependent on how you treat and how you give your lovebirds training.

[Pips mom]

I'd just keep a close eye on them. My lovie likes to bite feet too, but he does fine with my other birds overall. Pip bites at Ivy and at her feet at times.....but they are just nips and after all this time together, I know now that he'd never hurt her.......same for Ivy......she gets annoyed with him too and will chase him off with an open beak and if it was someone who didn't know better, they'd think she wanted to hurt him, but she doesn't.....she'd never hurt Pip. You just have to take it slow and watch them and decide after time.......took me a year to finally know that Ivy and Pip do just fine together and I can even leave them in the same cage together, but I don't only because I think Ivy needs her peace and quiet time away from a pesky lovebird! It's not always easy to tell with birds......even the ones that get along great have their little "spats" sometimes! so you just have to watch them. If they preen each other and sit close to each other, they should be fine together, but if you have doubts, you can always try putting them in separate cages right next to each other when you aren't there until you are sure.