Hi, newbie about to get new lovebird

[jls79]

Hi everyone

I'm new and am here to learn and get some ideas. I consulted a petshop (here in copenhagen) about purchasing a peachface. He rang a breeder for me and found one 6 wks old that has just been taken from its parents. He will get it into the shop monday I think. From what I've read here it seems 6 wks is still quite young. Is this young enough to tame more easily do you think? I will of course see what the breeder has the bird eating and make sure to do the same and follow advice. What can I expect of a bird this young? Also I live in an apartment all alone but am home most of the time. Thanks for your time everyone :)

I'll attach a pic that the pet-shop owner sent me from the breeder and would appreciate comments from you as experts and lovebird enthusiasts :)

cheers

Joshc:\documents\pictures\ATT00001.jpg

[jls79]

C:\Users\Josh\Pictures\ATT00001.jpg

ok i dont know how to attach a pic from my pc but you i managed to upload a pic to my profile if you look there

[personatus]

The bird on your profile is not 6 weeks old. Looks over a year old to me, adult colours etc.

[jls79]

Thanks for your reply...I was actually wondering about the same thing especially since he/she is hanging off the side of the cage like that... Fishy. I would prefer one much younger so I will email him back and ask him what the story is.

Thanks

Josh

[kmbrlyv]

I agree with Mask that the bird looks to be older. Also if they are just pulling a baby at 6 weeks old then the bird will be flighty. I usually prefer to pull babies at 2 weeks to hand raise for tame pets. I can be done with parent raised birds with patience though. Out of curiosity...is the bird banded? The year on the band will let you know it's age.

[jls79]

I'm not sure if the bird is banded or not as I have not seen it in the flesh. You think that it could be flighty at that age? I honestly would really prefer to get one that is still being hand-raised but I'm having a lot of difficulty here in Denmark finding that option...I think I will keep looking. Thanks for your reply.

cheers

Josh

[lovie_couple]

I've heard of many breeders that let the parents feed their babies and ween them. As long as the breeder handles them frequently, they will be tame. A benefit of parents feeding them is that when the bird get's older, it will know how to feed its young and mate, and also be able to teach any babies how to eat.

That being said, I wouldn't accept a bird under 10 weeks. And even then, have hand feeding formula on hand. Young birds can revert back to baby behavior when unsettled.

And even older birds can make great pets! It's perfectly possible to have a tame and loving companion in an older bird. There is no rule that you have to get the baby young.

[kmbrlyv]

Older birds can make awesome pets!

While I do agree that there are some parent raised babies that can make great pets I have not had the fortune of getting one that was friendly :( I pull my birds between 10 to 14 days and handfeed the babies. They are properly socialized and played with. I do not think that you should get a baby any sooner than 10 weeks since they are still too young to have left the breeder. Also there is no need to buy an unweaned baby to feed out yourself. There is too much risk if you do not have any previous experience handfeeding.

BTW when Mask said that the beak color was off he's pointing out the fact that it is already an adult color. A baby lovebird's beak will have a black color at the top (dark brown/reddish for cinnamon, pallid, and Ino mutations).

[jls79]

Thanks for the informative feedback guys. In between I have read about feeding schedules and I can see what you mean about it being better to wait until has reached 10 weeks. I will continue to look for one here in Denmark that has been hand raised although it could take a while before I locate one. I'm assuming that different lovebirds have different temprements also so I might look more into that (although I doubt the choice is huge here in this little country ;) ). Thanks again for replying and taking an interest.

Ps I used to have large salt-water aquariums which also require dedication, but fish can be shipped ;) well actually I used to do the collecting and was the one doing the shipping to people all around Australia.

josh

[personatus]

My tamest bird was parent raised, got her when she was 12 weeks old. Handfed is not the do all and end all. If you can't find one, a young parent raised bird can be tamed just fine, it just takes a little longer :)

[jls79]

That's good to know :) thanks for the info. I have located one breeder here but he was a bit offended by the fact that a) I only wanted the bird for a pet and not for breeding b) that I was going to have the bird on its own - as his opinion was that this is not good for them. I'll keep looking. Thanks for the help.

cheers

Josh