Lovebird basics questions

[researching]

My dh and I are trying to decide between a lovebird and a green cheek conure. I'm unsure of a few things...
How likely are lovebirds to bite? The breeder says her lovebirds are very sweet and tame. But on the web I've read they can get mean later. I will absolutely spend time with the bird every day. But how aggressive can they be?

Also, are there better types to get? This breeder has a normal green, a green cinnamon and the pale yellow creamino.. all peach faced?

Thanks for any info and advice.
Sheri

[kimsbirds]

Hi Sheri

I own both lovebirds and a GCC, Abbey.
My pet lovebirds are hybrids, my breeders are all peachfaces.
I've been bitten by both types LOL, as tame as they all are, Beaker and Scooter, my lovebirds, can draw blood, and have once or twice. Abbey does more of a quick turn/snap if I'm not quick enough to move my fingers.
It would be unreasonable to assume you won't be bitten by any bird you might decide to own:roll:
That being said, you CAN avoid being bitten, if you learn to read your bird's body language/mood correctly. Biting isn't something any bird does to be mean, there is ALWAYS a perfectly good reason for any bite. Fear and hormones are two of the main ones.
I'm not going to be able to pick which one you should purchase, as I can't advise which I prefer...for their own traits and personalities, I would not be able to choose one over the other. They both require daily interaction, training and socialization. They both make messes, they both can be screechingly loud, they both can be super-sweet, cuddly and comical.

There are several board members who've recently acquired GCC's in addition to their lovebird flocks, lets see what they all have to advise.

Best Wishes!
K

[Janie]

Hi and welcome!

I have three lovebirds, all three males and all three very tame. The last two, 1 1/2 years old, were pulled and hand fed by the breeder. One of them went through a very bitty stage (several months) but remained as sweet and tame as he could be and I never held those bites against him cause I think he was just learning how to apply beak pressure properly! :D My older bird was adopted by us over three years ago. He was not hand fed and originally came from a chain pet store. He's never bitten me except on the back of the neck a time or two when I was on the phone and the receiver must have scared him. I think a lovebird that starts out tame will remain tame other than some of the puberty stages they all go through and of course a hen will go through nesty stages and might get nippy (downright nasty, :D) at those times but that is normal with any parrot.

I had no pet bird experience when I adopted Oliver (luckily I found this forum, :D) and I've been very happy with him and my other two boys. Having said that, I've been exposed to a few GCC's in the last few months and all I can say is, I want one!!!! I think they are absolutely adorable and that species will be my next bird, no doubt about it. I love their size and personalities, too. :D I do think that all species should be expected to bite at some point. If they got a beak, they can bite. :D

Good luck in your decision. I think you'd be happy with either!

[DebSpace]

Hear, hear, to Kim and Janie. :clap: I believe I would make a list of the pro's and con's. :confused: Conures are slightly larger, which also makes them louder and their beak more powerful. Not that Lovies don't make their fair share of noise. :p I was bitten by my female lovie once when I first brought her home to the point of blood, but not nearly so hard since then. Partly because I have bonded with her (though she is still not hand-tame), she now knows what it means when I say "no bite," and I learned to read her body language to avoid some bites early on. Beau, on the other hand, has only bitten me a few times and I hardly noticed...to the point of laughing and saying, "poor little guy, is that the best you can do?" My newest additions are still babes and have only tried a little peck now and then. My last comment is...I have never personally owned a larger bird, but I would ADORE :omg: a larger bird but my family just can't handle it. If they could it, I'd jump at the chance for a conure no matter what breed/mutation!!!

[Keltoth]

My dh and I are trying to decide between a lovebird and a green cheek conure. I'm unsure of a few things...
How likely are lovebirds to bite? The breeder says her lovebirds are very sweet and tame. But on the web I've read they can get mean later. I will absolutely spend time with the bird every day. But how aggressive can they be?

Also, are there better types to get? This breeder has a normal green, a green cinnamon and the pale yellow creamino.. all peach faced?

Thanks for any info and advice.
Sheri

It really all depends on the time you spend with your birds, the expectations you have concerning your birds, and how well you are able to consistently and effectively communicate those expectations to your birds.

I own both lovebirds and Green Cheek Conures, and neither my lovebirds (and at the moment I have 20-something lovebirds, counting all the chicks/juviniles) nor my conures bite me. The conures will sometimes bite OTHER family members (usually around their cage), but biting The Daddy is a BIG no-no, and they all know it.

To further illustrate this and to put your notion that lovebirds have a greater propensity for biting in perspective, it might interest you to know that I have four lovebirds in my current flock who, at the time in which I aquired them, were parent-raised, untame, mean little biters who would attack a finger before they would ever even consider stepping up on it. Two in particular (Zipper and Pixie) would actually draw blood almost every time they attacked - and yet, all four are now confirmed non-biters, and all four are fairly social birds, although none of them truly like to sit on fingers. Sure, they will do it - but it is not the relaxed, interactive perching that my other lovies exhibit. My point in all of this is that these four biting little monsters came around, and it wasn't a very long time for each of them. If you were to ask me when the last time any of them had bitten me, I honestly could not tell you - it has really been that long.

Sounds great, huh?

Well, here is the other half of the story; I physically interact with all my birds on a daily basis, even if it is only taking each pair out as I refill their food dishes and give them each a quick scritch, kiss, a pat on the head and then put them back in their cage. Now of course, when they first came home, there was much, much more personal interaction than that with my non-wild birds, but I truly believe that the first step in teaching your bird not to bite you is daily PHYSICAL interaction.

Anyway, before I get off on a tangent, let me get back to your question; I believe that people say that lovebirds tend to be biters because there are a gabillion-jillion lovebirds in existence (they breed faster than bunnies!), and ALOT of would-be lovebird owners want all the instant gratification of having a loving, nice, finger-sitting lovebird without having to do any of the initial dirty work of training - to say nothing of the effort of maintaining the trust and affection of a lovebird. Once an owner obtains a lovebird, finds out that even though they are small they CAN and DO bite hard, and then is unwilling to take those bites in order to build trust with the bird, it is easier for them to rationalize away *their* failure in the interaction with the bird by appliying the general statement of "lovebirds just turn mean and bite people", rather than admitting that they never provided the lovebird with the proper respect and understanding to help it become a nice, finger-sitting pet.

ALL of my lovebirds - breeders or not - are first and foremost my pets and my friends. Even so, they know there is one steadfast rule in our flock; they don't hurt humans, and humans do not hurt them. Even the juviniles, who are not always crazy about being handled, know that biting humans is not acceptable - and when a juvinile forgets themselves and DOES bite me and I stop all activity (most often if a juvinile is going to bite me, it is during flock out-of-cage time) to give that juvi some one-on-one instruction time (in order to show him there are immediate consequences for such actions), the other, older lovebirds will actually start yelling at the offender. In fact, several busy-bodies within the flock (Paco, Myst, Anna, Tasha, and Melody most often) will actually come and land on my forearms and hands in order to get a better vantage point from which to yell at the dirty biter and see exactly what is happening to him/her.

How likely are lovebirds to bite? Very likely, if you have not asserted your position as the seat of final authority within the flock. If you are spending time with your lovebird every day, and have taken proper steps to let your bird know that they are free to bite you any time they wish - but if they do, there WILL be an immediate consequence for such behavior EVERY time they do so - then it is my experience that your bird will never turn into a mean, biting bird (unless you have a hen that has gone to nest, in which case all bets are off for the duration of her egg-sitting).

Is there a better kind to get? Absolutely; the kind that you can best see yourself taking care of and treating like a member of your family for the next 10 to 20 years. There is no Peachfaced that is better than any other Peachfaced as far as genetics are concerned, and that extends to the other mutations as well. Hand-fed babies are touted as being "better", in that they are tamer from the get-go, than parent-raised birds are - but that is really a red herring. It is not the hand-feeding itself that makes the chick tame; it is the social interaction with humans that the chick gains while being handfed that makes the chick "tame". I would submit that you can get a parent-raised chick that is every bit as tame and as sweet as a hand-fed chick, provided that the breeder has taken the time to properly socialize that chick to humans.

Don't you buy into the whole "lovebirds turn mean when they get older" rubbish. Some older lovebirds turn mean for the same reason that some older men and women turn mean: their social connections become strained or severed, and they get lonely, cranky and anxious. It has been my experience that owners who say their lovebirds have turned mean fail to disclose that their lovebird is not receiving the same level of human social interaction as they did when they were young lovebirds that were new to the people with which they live - at least until you pointedly ask them how much time they are really spending with the bird.

- Eric