Female lovebird

[ashleyandreotti]

I just found out my baby lovebird is a female. She is the sweetest little thing now but I heard they become aggressive and territorial and was not sure if I should trade her for another one before it is too late. I 'love her and she is sooo sweet but I am just scared she will turn mean when she gets older.

[linda040899]

While it's true that hens are a bit harder to handle (at least some of them), there's something about a feisty hen that I, personally, find irresistable! I've found that personality of the babies can be linked, somewhat, back to the parents. Most hens will be aggressive when they are in laying condition but males also have their own set of issues (self-satisfaction being the main one).

If you love the one you have, then I, personally, would worry about behavior that may or may not be as bad as you may have heard. I'm sure others will chime in here with their own experiences, as well. :)

[ashleyandreotti]

Yeah she is sweet as can be right now. She fell asleep in my scarf last night haha. I loveeee her I just hear so many negative comments about females and everyone saying males are always better. She is still a baby too. I give her plenty of love and attention and I think that must be a huge factor too, i'm hoping its just a matter of the effort and attention you plan on putting into a lovebird, male or female.

[kmbrlyv]

There are a few things I tell people that are buying hens :) When they get old enough to want to lay don't give them any toys they will want to shred or lay eggs in AND just realize (that like females of any species) that they will get a little moody from time to time. Otherwise they make great pets :)

[ashleyandreotti]

maybe a female would be perfect for women! we can relate to them mood wise! haha.

[Dave_K.]

You probably have a truly sweet natured little girl and with TLC she will reatain most of that. One of my hens is almost a velcro birdie but as stated above she can be moody. There is another hen in the flock that now shows signs of maturity finaly at 2 yrs. who as far as I know has not figured out that she can bite. It just is not in her nature. Having said that she is moody once in a while but displays it with her feathers and body language rather than biting. Mabey I've been trained:lol Do not be afraid of her at all, just learn her body language and love her completly as she is!

[ashleyandreotti]

awe, there is so much negative about females online but it seems like anyone who has actually owned them ends up loving them! I had parakeets before and made the mistake of getting them from a pet shop. Pichu is from a breeder who hand fed her and she is just a sweetie. Although I think the breeder may have lied to me about her age. She said she is 9 weeks but she has probably only half of her feathers. Online it said by nine weeks they should have full feathers!

[linda040899]

If you can share some photos of her, we can probably tell you fairly accurately (as long as she's under 6 months of age) how old she is. We need a photo of her front and another one from the back which includes tail feathering. :)

[ashleyandreotti]

http://s1358.beta.photobucket.com/user/ashleyed/library/#/user/ashleyed/library/?&_suid=135225354103109635839704712052


I hope this works! Here are a bunch of pictures I took of her! She had some formula on her from the breeder in a few pictures, but I have given her a few baths and she looks much better. She is eating really well on her own but she looks so much younger than most pictures of birds her age.

[kmbrlyv]

She is still a young bird (beak color gives that away) but my concern would be the feathers missing around her eyes :( My babies are fully weaned by 9 weeks and I've never had one with feathers that looked like that. By that age they are fully feathered.

[linda040899]

Pichu is, max, 10 weeks old. If you were told 9, the breeder is telling you the truth. I agree the lack of feathering around the eyes is a concern. Condition of the feathering, in general, is not what it should be. Since Pichu is a double dark factor in her mutation, I wonder if that has anything to do with the mutations of her parents. As a breeder, I've always known that you don't breed double dark factor to double dark factor. Could also have something to do with which formula the breeder was using. Hard to say but, hopefully, now that she's with you, her feathering will begin to look a lot better.

[Mummieeva]

I am partial myself to female lovies. They can be a handful. But it is so worth it.

[ashleyandreotti]

do you think I should have a vet look at her?

[linda040899]

Just to be on the safe side, I probably would. And, also to be on the safe side while you are seeing your vet, I would test for PBFD (Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease). Lovebirds can carry it and it's something I don't have in my aviary but all new birds in from sources I don't know are routinely tested. The feather condition is a concern and a negative test for PBFD would rule it out as a cause, which would give me HUGE peace of mind. :)

[ashleyandreotti]

I found a vet locally and I am going to see where she is at in a few days. Honestly since I took her home her feathers look so much healthier and it looks like some more are growing in, I think maybe she was malnurished and maybe the formula was not good or maybe she didn't get enough of it, and I switched her from all seeds (thats all the breeder uses) to a mix with mostly pellets. I really appreciate all the help! It's my first lovebird (only ever had budgies) and I already love her so much, it's amazing how quickly the little buggers grow on you! haha. I also am giving her vitamin supplement in her water and giving her fresh, bird safe, fruits and vegetables. I think people write them off because they are so small compared to a macaw or african greys, but they are such little cuties!

[Mummieeva]

Diet might be a reason. Just make sure she is not getting more then 40% of her diet from pellets. A diet with to many pellets is as bad as an all seed one. If she eats bird safe veggies and fruits pellets are less needed. WHole wheat pasta is bird safe also.

[linda040899]

I also am giving her vitamin supplement in her water
With pellets, all the vitamins are already there. Extra is not necessary and can even be dangerous. I agree that 40% pellets (or less), a good seed mix and lots of fresh food should really help. If her feathering is improving, that's a good sign.... :)

[Mary in Florida]

JUst wanted to add my :2cents: to the discussion about the yays and nays of female lovies. We had our Sweetpea ( a female peachie) for nearly 17 yrs, and she was all they say females can be- territorial, moody, bite-y for a number of years there, but we loved her for her energetic nature, her curiosity and zest for life, and we learned to work our way around her to avoid so many bites. In the years that she'd bite any finger that came her way- except for my daughter's, we were fortunate in that she was still friendly, so we could play games with her that didn't involve our hands- she loved "tug of war"- involved dragging a rag or washcloth on a table or surface in front of her- she'd grab on and be pulled around; and she could not resist running into a "tunnel" we'd make by rolling up a couple newspaper pages- saying "Sweetpea, tunnel"- would bring her running from anywhere into it. We cut the ends of shoeboxes or other small boxes, and she'd run into them- and she learned a trick where we'd drop a dime in front of the box, and she'd stick her head out, grab the dime quick and run back in. We knew she was "nesty" sometimes, but she only laid a few eggs in her life ( perhaps being a PBFD survivor had something to do with that, but we weren't interested in her breeding so that was just as well), so we just lived with it. And of course we talked to her, sang silly songs to her, and she was always responsive, talking and singing silly songs back to us.

Sweetpea did mellow down after a few years of this, and was a sweetie after that- she never did get over being territorial about her cage (until her last year when her health started heading south). but I guess that's a female lovie's nature, and I just learned to work fast with her cage, and keep my hands out of the way, or distract her in some way.

I was just thinking that especially if a "bitey" female lovie is tame- it seems it might be possible to take advantage of their playful nature and play those "no hands" games with them as we did with Sweetpea. It's another way of giving them attention, engaging them, and so much better than avoiding any contact with the bird because of fear of those bites. Not that we didn't get our share of bites over those years, anyway, but I think those "no hands" games and attention help to minimize the numbers.

[michael]

http://s1358.beta.photobucket.com/user/ashleyed/library/#/user/ashleyed/library/?&_suid=135225354103109635839704712052

She's a very pretty lovebird. .. Please keep us posted on those feathers around her eyes. .. I would also ask the breeder about this, and if he/she suggests a trade in, i'd say forget it!