worried about new love birds

[ska]

Hello!

Myself and my girlfriend recently bought two Love Birds un knowing what was involved in their upkeep ...

Since their arrival they were happy & healthy for the first two weeks afterwhich the male has started to pluck his chest hairs out & has also begun to do the same to his partners head .

I have been researching alot regarding diet, cage toys and general upkeep however have no idea on how to deal with this, I am thinking of seperating them both in the hope of preventing him plucking out any more of her feathers as she seems to have settled in well & is not as erratic and himself

All advice welcome please

Thanks

Ska & Sally

[bellarains]

First, I would take them to an avian vet to rule out any type of bacterial, or fungal infection. Some more information might be helpful though. Do you know how old these two are? Are you sure they are a female/male pair? Have you noticed any mating behavior?

You definitely want to rule out any infection to start, then be sure they are not trying to make a nest(some birds pluck their feathers to make a nest, and to make a brood patch for sitting on the eggs). If the vet check is good, and they are not making a nest, you will need to address the plucking issue if that's what it is.

We might be able to help more with additional information, but a well bird check up is needed, and that is where I would start.

[DebSpace]

Great advice from Lori. I would definately locate an avian vet in your area to rule out any medical issues and to DNA sex the birds if you are not completely 100% sure that you have a male and female. Let us know how that goes and if other issues arise. :)

[Kathryn]

Definitely a vet visit is in order. Rules out health issues like bacteria, lice, etc.

In the meantime, separate cages side by side since one bird is pulling feathers from the other.
Plenty of toys in each cage for diversion. Willow branches are great for shredding too.

How old are they? Could they be starting to moult? Are they bathing? If not use a mister because that helps with those prickly feeling pin feathers.

If they are older birds, provide a clean sheet of paper and see if they start to shred it...this may give you an indication of any nesting behavior...like plucking feathers for a brood patch. Of course, lovies like nothing better than to destroy a sheet of paper:happy:

Keep us posted.

[ska]

hello,an thankyou all,
for the advice, i came in from work today an i had left the male outside the cage for the day as there is plenty of food water an perches etc also on the outside, its a four foot parrot cage so its plenty big.. but when i opened the cage to let stella out puggy went into the cage,
they teamed up an after about 15mins they were cuddling an then he started to go at her head again taking feathers from it.. i have rang an avian vet an they are booked in to her this week.. ive put the sheet of paper at the end of the cage an taken out the grill that was there up 6 inchs from the bottom.
ive also put in more real branchs from the garden, dont know weather thats a good thing or not....? ill get a breading box tomorrow, if ye could tell me the best place to hang it in the cage id be greatfull, an any other information would be much appreciated..... thanks again, look forward to yer posts....... ska.................

[DebSpace]

Glad to know you have a vet appointment. I like Kathryn's idea of separate cages until you really know what is going on. As far as the branches from outside, first be sure that they are branches that are not poisoness or dangerous to your birds. Second, crazy as this sounds, wood perches/branches are best placed in an oven before exposure to your birds or washed in a bleach solution and rinsed thoroughly. Not that it is too late - go ahead and do this even if you need to take them out and put them in again. This will rid the wood of any bacteria, pests, etc. :)

Here is a link to another thread on the subject that provides which woods are good, which woods are unsafe, etc.:
http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/showthread.php?t=4114&highlight=oven