New Owner here! Beautiful birds

[Hillapatra]

Hello, I've been researching lovebirds for a few months now and thought it was perfectly fitting to buy my first pair on Valentines Day. They are both Black-Masked Turqouise birds and are very very close to each other.

Here is a photograph or two -
pardon the cage in the foreground
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/celestialcat/Lovebirds/WebIMG_0674.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/celestialcat/Lovebirds/WebIMG_0662.jpg

They were very quiet yesterday and are starting to chirp more today. I definitely think one is a male and one a female because the 'male' chirps at me a lot and lingers over and grooms the 'female' who sits by him calmly. I named them Dante and Dali (being an artist, I admire Salvidor Dali's "Dante's Inferno" painting collection, plus both names can be male/female interchangible).

I guess I have a few questions coming from a first-time bird-owner.

1. For taming, when would be a good time to let them out of their cages? They seem heavily resistant to any human contact, even though they were hand-fed. I read on one site that you let them settle for a day or two and then take them out in a secure area. I just want them to be comfortable outside of their cage since I know so many friends who've had birds growing up who stay in a small cage and never played with.

2. A lining for the bottle cage... newspaper? sand?

Basically that's it. I'm very excited. I've always had cats growing up but have always wanted birds. I enjoy reading this forum as well, fun stuff!

Hillary
www.pinkprancer.com

[Ayla's Mom]

Awww! In the second pic, they are forming a heart! HOW CUTE!
they are VERY beautiful :)
As far as taming goes, I got my Ayla from a lady that had hand-fed and socialized her really well, so she was "tame" already. It also depends on what your definition of "tame" is. For me, its the fact that Ayla lets herself out of the cage (really, she opens the cage door unless we shut it with a hair clip) and flying to me or my husband to sit on our shoulders.
As far as lining for the cage, I use paper. It makes for easy clean ups!
Congrats on the new additions, and I love their names :D

[Kathryn]

Very pretty Masks and welcome.
Sounds like you've already found the Resource Library.
Paper is what I use most of the time.
I only use fine sand in the summer when I take my cages are outside.

Taming is something you start right away. You don't want hand-tame birds to revert back to their wild ways. So work with them everyday for about 20 minutes each.
Are they hand shy or will they step-up for you? Will they take treats from your fingers? That has a lot do do with setting the practice sessions.

[Hillapatra]

Very pretty Masks and welcome.
Sounds like you've already found the Resource Library.
Paper is what I use most of the time.
I only use fine sand in the summer when I take my cages are outside.

Taming is something you start right away. You don't want hand-tame birds to revert back to their wild ways. So work with them everyday for about 20 minutes each.
Are they hand shy or will they step-up for you? Will they take treats from your fingers? That has a lot do do with setting the practice sessions.

They are very shy. They get nervous when I change out the water... They are definitely shy of hands. The pet owner told me they were not played with much, just cleaning out the cage. Oh well, thanks for the advice! They seem a lot calmer since yesterday so maybe I'll try letting them out in a closed room, maybe the bathroom :-)

[mangotiki]

This is what I would do:p

I would allow them a few days to get used to their new surroundings and talk to them alot.

After a few days I would (if the room they are in is safe -- cover windows and mirrors, no fans or stoves on, no pets running around, etc.) let them out to climb around their cage while I sit quietly near by. I usually clip wings as it makes it easier for me and safer for the birds. I would hang something above the cage for them to climb on, or make a play gym for the top of the cage, and add toys and special treats.

I would begin to try to convince them to take a treat from my fingers... through the bars at first and then work up to having them come to me. Of course this works better if the treats are only offered from your hand (not in a dish at their leisure!)

I use news paper at the bottom of the cage but have a grate so they cannot chew it. it is easy to roll up and throw out each day...unlike sand or other loose substrates. It is also free.

By the way, they are sooooo gorgeous!!! Congrats and welome to the board!

[mangotiki]

Oops. forgot to add...there is a forum especially for pics (and we all love pics). There are directions on how to post the pics to a site like imagestation and then you provide a link for us to follow. This is preferable to putting a pic right in the posting, because pics take up alot of room or bandwidth or something on the site.:)

[mewant1]

wow they are just beautiful!

[wilkiecoco]

everyone has really good suggestions. I just wanted to add the motto when owning lovies . PATIENCE, PATIENCE, and then when you run out of patience, PATIENCE!! You have only had them for a day, but with time, they should become less shy using all the advice you recieved. It will be well worth the effort, as they are energetic, bundles of love and personality.

I almost forgot, they are gorgeous. Enjoy and welcome to our forum.:)

[Hillapatra]

I've decided to help them get used to the hand, I will start hand-feeding them. The store owners say they were hand-fed growing up but I'm starting to doubt it since they take about 15-20 minutes to be comfortable enough to make their way over to my hand.
In a few days I'll let them have constant access to food and only hand-feed them special stuff, but for now it's a mild form of socializing. Yay for step one. They definitely hate hands but maybe a hand feeding them will make things different :-)

[kimsbirds]

Handfeeding is a term used to describe feeding unweaned babies via a syringe or spoon of warm temp baby bird formula. Babies are normally weaned from handfeeding around the 8-10 week age.

What you want to do is feed them stalks of millet or treats from your hand, but never remove all food from their cage. If they fear your hand so much as to stay away from it, they'll likely not approach your hand even if it contains the very food they need to stay alive!

Removing their food sources from their cage could result in death by starvation, so please don't remove their food for any period of time, even a couple of hours. Birds are grazers, they need constant nourishment throughout the day and with observation you will find that your lovies will likely eat a little something every 20 minutes or so.

You cannot force bonding. Your birds may take a few weeks to come around, or they could take several months. It all depends on how much time you spend with them each day, and how consistent you are in your routine.

Patience is not something we come by naturally, but it WILL prevail if you stick to your guns. When you run out of patience, might we suggest, more patience??:rolleyes:

Good Luck

-K-

[Janie]

They are beautiful! :D Yep, patience is the key. Some become tamer in a few weeks and others might take 6 months but with a lot of time, attention, love and patience, you can get to the tame stage. After they've had a little time to settle in, working with them one at a time might be the best way to start. I have two that were hand fed and socialized by their breeder and came to me tame but I still had to work on gaining their trust and found that they responded to me better when I worked with them individually in a small bathroom.

BTW, they love toys! Swings and different types of perches (wood, rope) are also good to have in their cage.

[rmhand]

everyone has really good suggestions. I just wanted to add the motto when owning lovies . PATIENCE, PATIENCE, and then when you run out of patience, PATIENCE!! You have only had them for a day, but with time, they should become less shy using all the advice you recieved. It will be well worth the effort, as they are energetic, bundles of love and personality.

I almost forgot, they are gorgeous. Enjoy and welcome to our forum.:)

I agree.
Rupert was hand-fed as a baby, but when I got him he was about 9 months old and was placed in a cage with other birds, outside, with little interaction with humans except to be fed. He would shy away from me and the only way I could get him out of the cage was with the dowel. It took about a month before he would step up on my finger. Now he doesn't hesitant when I speak to him. When the breeder went to get him prepared for me to pick him up she said he bit her while she was clipping his wings. He has not bit me once, but of course I took it real slow with him since she told me that. That's why I used the dowel with him until he was ready to let me get close to him.
With patience your babies will not be shy around you for long.