Divide and Conquor?

[Crystal Taylor]

Hi guys,

My three little lovies have been with me 6 days now. I take them each out daily but have had little success with them getting any tamer (I know it's only been 6 days). Would I expedite the process by splitting them up? I have the extra cage space if I need to do it. It just seems like I am losing the battle because they can still see/hear eachother and are desperate to get back to the cimmunity cage. I want them to be cuddle bug companions with me and have eachother for when I am away.

Any thoughts?

Crystal

P.S - Linda they are doing great. All eating (just not the veggies for some reason) and are loud and rambunxious. I am going to take the WF Amer. Cinn. Vio. out though when I am done writting this. The sibling pair have been ganging up on her. The peach faced one the most and now the WF blue is starting to follow the example. They all slept together on the same perch at first but now they make her sleep on another perch that's below and in front of theirs. Okay well time to do that. Glad I bought that extra "travel cage (the one I took them home in). She should be comfortable until I build the other big cage I have back up for her.

[Janie]

Crystal, don't go on what I say without hearing from others with more experience on this subject but, I do think that is a plan.....caging them separately. Since I got mine together and they'd been together forever (hatched 2 days apart) they were bonded from the beginning. One was very friendly to me and the other was not. The breeder suggested that I separate them, different cages and different rooms, for 2 to 3 weeks. I could NOT do it! I considered it over and over but I just knew they would be miserable apart so I didn't do it. What I have done is handle them daily, several times a day and while the one who was never too crazy about me still is not, we do have a good working relationship and as long as his brother is with me, he is also happy to be with me. He's actually a very nice little bird and preens me ever so lightly. His brother, very friendly, preens way too hard and has beaked me hard enough to cause a bruise and bleeding! He's very sweet but works that beak non stop! Your situation is different with three so I'm not sure what advice you'll be given about separation but I'd think that eventually one of the three will have to be in another cage.

[butterfly1061]

All three of mine are in seperate cages. Molly will always be and Daisy might. Piper loves to go into Daisy's cage and play, but Daisy gets really put off by this, so I don't do it often. Daisy & Piper play together, but Molly is my "mate". All three of mine are velcro birdies. :) How old are they?

[Crystal Taylor]

Jackie-

Linda said they were al under 6 months old. They are varying ages but two were in the same cage with their parents because the were siblings, although not clutchmates. I just removed the one that was not related because they were ostricizing her and I felt it was going to get worse. The oldest one (Mango the Bully) started biting at her. Then the WF Blue that is the Bully's sibling started in on her too. They were keeping her away from food bowls and she would have to grab some food and run away to a perch and eat it before coming back for more. I thought it was a good idea but now I feel bad as they are calling back and forth. It's weird... they get along but they sort of don't at the same time. Ohhhh... I am so happy... the one that got seperated just crawled down to her new food bowl and is eating away. Guess she's not too freak out. They can still see and hear eachother, The cages aren't that far apart. I'm hoping that since she is now by my bed we'll be able to bond a little better. I may or may not seperate the other two. What I would really like to do is seperate them all until they are little cuddle monsters and then put them back together and see if they can love me and eachother.

Looking for advice....

[linda040899]

Crystal,
Separating the Cinnamon Violet was the best thing to do. She would not have survived had you left her with the other 2. I think I mentioned something about that the night you got them.

If you have to take them out one by one and work with them away from the cages, that might be a plan to try. I've got one tame pair and they get along very well. However, when one comes out, so does the other. It's like they are joined at the hip. A week is not a very long time so all I can say is continue to be patient.

[mjm8321]

I've found that if you can work with the separately, even maybe going into the bathroom and turning on the fan so they can't hear each other calling, it's much easier to tame them individually. Being housed all together can make them a little "wilder" and they tend to revert some from training, but it does take time. I'm sure Linda clipped their wings, so if they can't fly away from you, that's a big help. Although, I have quite a few "Speedy Gonzalez" like lovies that can run faster than they'll ever fly. ;)
If they are fighting and picking on the single lovie in particular, you are doing the best thing to take him/her out. Even putting all three in separate cages next to each other might help too. It's not an exact science, just a matter of trial and error and seeing what works for you and your fids best.
Even with all three, I've been working with my crazy wild youngsters and I've found having them in a dimly lit room helps. They don't see to well when it's almost dark and they don't freak out as much when I handle them. I've got three of the 9 stepping up now...progress is slow, but keep trying with your little sweeties. ;)

[Crystal Taylor]

I've found that if you can work with the separately, even maybe going into the bathroom and turning on the fan so they can't hear each other calling, it's much easier to tame them individually. Being housed all together can make them a little "wilder" and they tend to revert some from training, but it does take time. I'm sure Linda clipped their wings, so if they can't fly away from you, that's a big help. Although, I have quite a few "Speedy Gonzalez" like lovies that can run faster than they'll ever fly. ;)
If they are fighting and picking on the single lovie in particular, you are doing the best thing to take him/her out. Even putting all three in separate cages next to each other might help too. It's not an exact science, just a matter of trial and error and seeing what works for you and your fids best.
Even with all three, I've been working with my crazy wild youngsters and I've found having them in a dimly lit room helps. They don't see to well when it's almost dark and they don't freak out as much when I handle them. I've got three of the 9 stepping up now...progress is slow, but keep trying with your little sweeties. ;)

MJM-

Speedy Gonzalez has nothing on my lovies. Especially Mango bird. Linda did clip them in front of me so I'd know how to do it. I had to clip and extra feather the other day from the lighter two (Mango drops to the deck pretty quick because she/he is heavier). I'm still tempted to clip another because they still fly way too well for my taste but I don't like how Mango drops like a rock so I am wary of taking another one from them. Mango has 5 clipped and Coconut and Sweet Pea have 6 clipped. C and SP are the ones that still fly way too well.
I ended up putting the ostracized bird in back in the big cage. They all called for eachother to no end and pasted themselves up against the sides of the cages closest to eachother. I'm a softie. I am keeping a very close eye on them though because I will seperate them again at the first signs of serious violence.
As I am typing this I am...
(I had to stop here, Coconut flew out of the cage into my bathroom... giving that extra wing clipping more thought)

... making kissy noise at them and they are all LOUDLY responding. Progress! first time the ever did that withought looking scared as **** of me.

Crystal

[bellarains]

Crystal,

I just wanted to add that you might try the birdie bread recipe. You can find it in the Lovebird Resource Library. I know Linda gives that to all her birds, and they love it. It does have veggies in it, so they will be getting some while you are introducing any new fruits and veggies also.

[Crystal Taylor]

Bellarins-

I've had that cornbread receipe for about 10 years now! I've been talking to Linda for that long through "upatsix". Thanks for the tip though. I actually just bought a glass pan, so that I could make it more safely, yesterday.

I agree with you. I'm going to try and get them to eat their veggies that way. I'm sure they will jump for joy when they see it because they came from Linda's aviary so they are used to it.

Crystal

[butterfly1061]

Something familiar is soothing for anybirdie. :D