Discouraging Nesty Behaviour

[longobongo]

Hello everyone! In July I adopted a male creamino lovebird, Boco, as some of you may remember. I introduced Boco and Bailey and they get along splendidly. Much toe nibbling and preening and grooming and loving. However, Bailey is almost 2 years old and Boco is only 6 months old. Bailey is very very very nesty. She turns her cage liner into nesting material in only a few hours. She's also suddenly very cage aggressive. Whenever Bailey and Boco were out together she would often try to get him to feed her. He was really confused at first, but now he pumps occasionally and vomits for her. Whenever they're out together now, Bailey is always trying to mate with him. She'll consistently spread her wings and bend over and stay like that for a few minutes. This is the only thing she does when they're out together. She seems almost.. depressed or frustrated or upset. I assumed maybe because Boco doesn't show any interest in mounting her. Sometimes she takes this frustration out on him, but most of the time she takes it out on me (which is okay, I totally understand!) My only questions are... At what age will Boco be sexually mature? Should I wait until he is a certain age before allowing them to breed? Is it okay that they spend time together now, even though Bailey is only interested in mating? Is there anything I can do to discourage her nesty behaviour?

I was also wondering if her laying eggs would help her "get over" this phase - even infertile eggs.

Thanks everyone!

[linda040899]

Lovebirds become sexually mature by age 6 months but they really should not be allowed to breed until they are 12 months old. Eighteen months is even better. It's not a matter of being able to reproduce but, rather, being mature enough to be able to responsibly take care of babies. I've seen youngsters (8 - 10 months old) be decent parents but older is better. I, myself, don't encourage breeding until the 12+ month age mark.

Older hens are very likely to become frustrated with younger males who are inexperienced and males have been seriously injured by aggressive hens just because they can't satisfy the needs of that older partner. Watch this pair carefully so there are no tragedies.

[longobongo]

Well at least I know I'm not alone! They're housed separately and are not out of the cage together unsupervised. Thankfully, she doesn't really take this frustration out on him, she's just less pleasant towards me, which is okay I love her anyways. Is there any way I can discourage her mating behaviour?

[michael]

Well at least I know I'm not alone! They're housed separately and are not out of the cage together unsupervised. Thankfully, she doesn't really take this frustration out on him, she's just less pleasant towards me, which is okay I love her anyways. Is there any way I can discourage her mating behaviour?

If you can find a way to eliminate her access to nesting material (cage liners), shorten daylight hours, re-arrange her environment, and if applicable-remove cozies-bird buddies etc, you might just rain on her parade. Then again, the propensity to reproduce, especially having the opposite sex nearby, can be quite overwhelming. Laying eggs in itself will likely NOT help her get over her nestyness, as lovebirds are well known for double clutching. .. Therefore, there are no guarantees. But do make sure she gets plenty of calcium during the times she does lay. And if you choose not to raise a new clutch of wee-bee's, boil her eggs (because most likely with a male around they'll end up fertile), then allow her time to incubate them whether she readily chooses to or not.