Fighting babies!! Help!!

[Dora]

Hello!

I am pretty new to this forum, and have found everything to be so helpful with my birdies! So I am hoping someone can help me with this too!

I recently bought home two approx 9 week old baby lovebirds, sex unknown, from the same mother and father. They seemed to be getting along just fine and past two days they have been fighting. One (Milka) is more calm and wont try and bite me and loves coming out of the cage, the other (Iskra) is more aggresive and will rarely like to come out of the cage for anything.

Today Iskra was trying to grab Milka by the neck and they were argueing with each other, what to me seemed like the food bowl area, or where they were sitting. And Milka has been trying to fly UP and throwing him/her self to the top of the cage to try and hang upside down. When Milka does this Iskra is trying to bite her/him.

I had to separate them and took Milka out, they are now together sitting on the gym on top of the cage and are not agrueing at all.

Every other time they are just fine and feed and clean each other and sleep together and follow each other around.

I need help as I dont want them to argue and hate each other! It seems to be getting worse! Does any one have any idea why they are behaving this way?! And what could I do!?

Thank you :)

[linda040899]

Hi and welcome to Lovebirds Plus Community!

Sounds like you might have 2 young females and the dominant one does not want a companion in her cage. Since you've separated them and they get along outside of the cage, I would leave them like that. One is perfectly capable of killing the other and you don't want that to happen.

Are you sure of the age? As a breeder, I've not seen this happen a lot with younger birds, although anything is possible. If you have a couple of photos of them that you can share, it's fairly easy to determine age at 9 weeks.

In order to share photos here, you need to upload them to an online storage site, as we are not allowed to upload directly from our own computers.

[Dora]

Thank you so much for your advice!

Yes poor Milka is getting hassled so much! They do however like snuggling and sleeping together.. and they are currently cleaning eachother. And when I separated them they were calling for each other. Its like one minute they hate each other and the next they are worried about each other and want to be together!

Do you think I should buy another cage for them to live separately? Or do you think letting them out during the day will null their territorial behaviour? Or maybe I should buy a larger cage for them? It is currently about 60 cm long by about 50cm deep.

Im scared if everyone is out of the house all day and they are left alone Iskra will attack Milka. I was so alarmed by their screaming and fighting!

I do have photos I could post! What kind of website could I download from? I have never done that before.

I am pretty sure of their age as when I recieved them they were about 6 weeks (according to the breeder) and I had to wean them off the formula for a couple of weeks.. They are now fully weaned and eating happily on their own. They wont touch the fresh food though and are eating seeds, pellets, and have tried the sprouts today.

Thanks again :)

[linda040899]

It is currently about 60 cm long by about 50cm deep.
You're talking about a cage roughly 23" x 20", if my conversion is correct, and that could be a bit small for them. Lovebirds are very active and need a cage as large as possible with bar spacing of 1.27 cm (1/2" or even 5/8") but no larger. 1.905 cm (3/4") is for Cockatiels and lovebirds can squeeze through that.

There's absolutely no way I'd leave them out all day if they are unsupervised! Lovebirds love to explore and can get into more trouble than most of us care to try to imagine!!! I tend to like my house in the same form it's currently in and I know my lovies are very capable of changing that drastically. If the larger cage doesn't work, then you will have to house them separately if the fighting continues.

[Dora]

Oh no of course not unsupervised! I mean when I am home, or usually somebody is home during the day at my house so letting them hang out on the gym for the day supervised of course would be alright?

I have done this over the weekend and they seem to have settled a litte bit not being confined to the cage. They are like tiny little children, I wouldnt leave them unsupervised out and about :)

Sounds like I need to buy a larger cage! Maybe if I do this they wont argue so much!

I dont want to resort to separating them just yet as they do get along most of the time and seem to enjoy each others company.

Thanks so much for your advice, I shall get the bigger cage ASAP and see how we go!

[linda040899]

They are like tiny little children, I wouldnt leave them unsupervised out and about :)
Angels with wings.... :D I hear exactly what you are saying but I had to cover my base, just in case. Now that I'm beginning to get to know you a bit better, what you shared is a given.

I think the larger cage might just solve the problem. Some birds need more space than others and this could easily be the case.