humping?

[Mydoona]

Do both MALE and FEMALE lovebirds hump things?
my Mardi (who i thought was a girl) is now humping her rope ring swing almost daily now and she will also tuck paper into her rump but then flys away and looses it all in mid flight.

[lovie_couple]

Male and female birds will both tuck paper and hump things. So it's nearly impossible to behavior sex them :)

[Mummieeva]

When Mardi makes the strips are they strips or more like spit balls? Normaly females can make strips and males can not. Not always but sometimes that can help tell diffrence.

[Lawrence]

From your profile pictures I assume that your lovebirds are peachface. With peachface it is slightly easier to determine their sex because the females will pick strips of paper (or other similar nesting material) and tuck it in their rump. The males do not do such things. And also from my experience, only hand-fed males hump things, parents-fed males know to hump other lovebirds, not things (corn cobs, perches, etc).

Cheers,

Lawrence

[Pips mom]

Uhhh, okaayyyy.........this is very confusing for me then! Pip humps like crazy and he was parent raised.........AND he will chew off strips of paper and make perfect strips out of them, but he has never tucked any into his feathers. Not 100% that Pip is male, but my gut tells me and I've had him for 4 years........he does the clickey dance and is very consistent in his behaviour........no female moodiness, bitiness, or being mean. He is bitey and nippy, but consistently, that never changes. I think I know my birds pretty well and I'd bet money Pip's a boy!

[thebubbleking]

Same i have several confirmed peachfaced males that make strips and tuck them!
I figure they helping boo out lol.
And my confirmed hen will sometimes hump things.
honestly only way for sure is dna testing or an egg.

[Z28Taxman]

Uhhh, okaayyyy.........this is very confusing for me then! Pip humps like crazy and he was parent raised.........AND he will chew off strips of paper and make perfect strips out of them, but he has never tucked any into his feathers. Not 100% that Pip is male, but my gut tells me and I've had him for 4 years........he does the clickey dance and is very consistent in his behaviour........no female moodiness, bitiness, or being mean. He is bitey and nippy, but consistently, that never changes. I think I know my birds pretty well and I'd bet money Pip's a boy!

Ditto can make perfect strips too. But he tries to tuck them into his chest than makes spitballs and sees how far he can spit them. Yep, male for sure. :rofl:

He also tries to tuck pieces of string into his chest feathers but he doesn't make spitballs with them. I think that's how he swallowed that piece of string last year and he seems to have learned his lesson.