Could someone give me some advice please!

[margemcsimpson]

Hi, i have two peach-faced lovebirds, one is 14 months old and the other is 11 months old, they were bought separately and both hand tamed, i put them in separate cages and they started sitting next to each other and being able to fly around the room without any fights so i tried them out in the same cage under observation. They have now been living in the same cage for months, but dont act like other lovebirds and dont sit next to each other or interact. The 11 month old one has recently started putting twigs, feathers and pieces of millet in the nesting box and is the only bird that uses it, does anyone know what this means and is that a female. The other bird doesnt go in the nesting box at all and constantly breeds with his toy! Does anyone know if there is any chance of unbonded birds becoming a true pair (assuming they are male and female). Any advice on these strange pair will be greatly appreciated!!! They are both still very tame and sit on my hand.

[linda040899]

Can't guarantee that you have male and female, even though the behavior is markedly different. If the one showing affection for a toy is a male, he prefers the toy to the other lovie, who may or may not be a female. The only way to be sure is to either DNA sex or wait until the one that is putting material into the nestbox lays an egg. Female Peahies are usually the nestbuilders but I've been wrong so many times that I will not guess at gender based on behavior. I actually have a proven hen that will do the swishy swishy with paper toweling!

If they are male/female, he obviously likes his toy better than the other lovie and I don't know that there's anything you can do about that.....

[sdgilley]

Hi,
I would hesitate giving them a nest box while they are still getting aquainted. I would not offer a nest box until you see the female in laying condition, but maybe that is just my opinion. If you offer a nest box you may end up encouraging one to be very territorial. If the pair hasn't bonded, this could be hard on the other bird. Someone may correct me - I do not have an male/female pair.

My hen gets a box when she is really ready to lay but no sooner. She will take up in that box and become a viper to any hands coming in to feed or clean once she's set up her nest.

[Buy A Paper Doll]

I agree with Suzanne. If the lovies don't necessarily get along that great, and one of them goes into egg laying mode, she could become territorial and attack (maybe even kill) the other lovie in the cage.

If your lovebirds are not bonded to each other, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Mine have a love/hate relationship, spending just as much time in separate cages as they do together.

[bellarains]

I would also not give them a nestbox unless you know that one is definitely in egg laying mode. You don't want to encourage egg laying at too young an age. A hen should be at least one year of age before laying eggs, but if she will wait longer that's great. A nest box kicks in a hens hormones though, so I would take it down until she is definitely ready to lay.

I do have a pair, but my male was so bonded to me when I got my hen, and unfortunately he still prefers me:rolleyes: Bela loves Lacey, feeds her, preens her, but...... he does not mate with her. He totally respects her when she's in the nestbox though, and that will depend on the individual bird. It would be best if they had more time together to bond before trying out that theory though. What works for mine, might not work for yours.

I was disappointed a little at first, but then again, I'm not a breeder, so the situation works well for us. I have the best of all worlds. Bela has his mate, I have my Bela, and I also gained another sweet little girl when I got Lacey. We just don't have babies, but that's OK, everyone is loved, and everyone is happy:)