new to keeping lovebirds

[emmab]

we've had our birds for about 3 months now, they were 4 months approx when we got them and they have settled in well.
They have conversations with us, enjoy flying round the room, love honey and seed treats but......


Will not let us anywhere near them :( hate any new toys :( and don't seem to respond to any fresh fruit or veg.

I would really appreciate any advice :)

[linda040899]

If I'm reading your message correctly, your two lovebirds are fully flighted. In order to socialize them, you're going to have to do one of two things. First suggestion would be to clip their flight feathers so they don't have quite so much freedom. You can allow the flights to grow back out once they interact with you but for now, limiting flight will give you a bit more control over where they can/can't go.

The other possibility is to have something that's of interest to them with you so that they will want to explore what you have. All you have to do is keep whatever you use with you and let them come to you.

Chances are that they don't know that veggies are edible. You have to keep offering so that they have a chance to sample what's there. Same thing with toys. They have to learn how to play with them so you have to be persistent.

[Sage-N-Mystic]

Sage and Mystic were, and still are to an extent, the same way. The are not sure what to do with the toys. However, I have noticed that their curiosity is getting the better of them. Sage now uses the hanging blocks/bell to 'hide' behind when he is feeling threatened. It is too cute. He has also ventured onto a swinging bell perch twice now. He still has issues with trying to get off of it. It adds to the entertainment for all of us watching him. He gets creative about it. Mystic is still shy with the toys.

As for the fresh foods. It took them three days of offering. I finally decided to get a small lid, that would fit ontop of their food dish without falling out, and place the fresh items of the day on the lid. It worked! Today, I was able to move the fresh items to its own food dish and they went to it like pro's!

Now, I just have to get the gumpshion to get bit! I don't like getting bit - I am a bit of a whimp with pain in general - and I know that if I want these little ones to interact with the family, I have to go through my share of band-aides. :( I just hear it REALLY hurts.

Have a wonderful day,
Leslye

[Sage-N-Mystic]

I do have a question for you. How do you trust that they will return to their cage if you let them out?? I am struggling with even opening the door for them to fly around, worried that we will never get them back in. They don't seem to be hand tame at all.

Thanks,
Leslye

[Alexander]

I do have a question for you. How do you trust that they will return to their cage if you let them out?? I am struggling with even opening the door for them to fly around, worried that we will never get them back in. They don't seem to be hand tame at all.

Thanks,
Leslye

The cage is home, where the food and water is. No matter how much they might not like the toys, you have to be a crazy bird not to like food. :wink:

[snowboardmandy]

I had finches last year that were not tame AT ALL but they LOOVED flying around the room! There were a few times when I had to do "bird wrangling" and round them up, but eventually I worked out a system that may work for your lovebirds as well. First, I would only let them out when I wasn't on a schedule. If I knew I'd be leaving the house again within the next few hours, they stayed in the cage. Then I would let them out in a controlled, smaller space (usually my bedroom) where there were no outside doors that they could fly to and escape. I would pretty much let them have free reign until they were tired or hungry, at which point they would always return to the cage on their own. When they were both in the cage after being out for an hour or two, I would close the door again. I had to be sneaky about that, though, they were afraid of fast movements and would always fly back out to "safety" if I startled them. I had their cage on a tall dresser and I would kind of crawl up to it, reach my hand up, and close the door before they could see me. Be careful not to slam the cage door, though...wouldn't want to injure a bird getting it back in the cage!! If I ever did have to round them up, I would grab a blanket or a sheet and hold it up, slowly walking towards the cage and making the area they could fly to smaller and smaller, usually this worked, and they went to their cage for safety. I didn't ever want them to see me as the "bad guy" and generally they seemed to trust me...

[emmab]

well they seem to ahve a pattern and eat at about half 6 in the evening - if they've not eaten, we can let them out.
We do have to cover all 'perchable areas' which can look comical when we have tea towels and slippers hanging from the place!
They seem to take the hint then and land on the cage.

As for us though? still hate us :-( chat and call back to us all the time but avoid us like the plague!

[Janie]

Linda did ask about a wing clip. I don't see any way in the world to tame one, much less two, w/o a wing clip. You can always let the clip grow out later if they are tame enough to be fully flighted but don't forget that a flighted bird can get into lots of trouble with windows and ceiling fans. I have three and Oliver, who is around 10, has been flighted for several months now and my plan is to let him be flighted forever but he is a very non curious and laid back lovebird which is not typical. My other two are just over a year old and I have to keep them clipped for their safety. Even though they were hand fed and very tame when I got them, it would have been very hard for me to work with them w/o a clip and they would definitely have remained far more interested in each other than in me.

[emmab]

does the wing clipping hurt them? I can't imagine a vet being able to get near them! LOL
I think I'd rather have them not tame, at least they talk to us and are free (ish)

[Screamer]

I have had my lovebird full flight almost all her life, she is 14 and she has only been clipped twice which was when I got her. This gave me a chance to get her used to me. I am lucky to have 9 foot ceilings and a large living room and I just love to see her swoop up and down and stretch her wings showing off her flight control to me reaching some really high speeds as she swoops inches from my face. I LOVE, seeing that. I have perches all over. She has only flown into my mirrors 3 times when she was young, never again since then.

[Janie]

does the wing clipping hurt them? I can't imagine a vet being able to get near them! LOL
I think I'd rather have them not tame, at least they talk to us and are free (ish)

A wing clip does not hurt them, at least not physically. It does hurt their feelings sometimes for a day or two but they do get over it. :D My two that were clipped by their vet just a month ago can still go anywhere in their bird room that they want to go. I asked the vet to give them a clip that would still allow them to go from the floor up at least 3 or 4 feet. If they are on top of their cage they can still easily fly to one of the boings that I have hanging from the ceiling in their room. I think he clipped the first five on each wing. Trust me, an avian vet can clip any lovebirds wings, wild or tame.

Really, they do grow out and I think you might be surprised at how much more manageable they are with a clip. A clipped bird can still be a very, very happy bird and w/o a clip, your two are most likely going to remain totally wild. That is fine if it suits you but I would be afraid to ever let a wild bird out of its cage unless the cage was in a tiny bird safe room. I'd think that your birds would be much happier getting to come out of the cage on a daily basis rather than remain totally wild and caged.