Moody birds.

[Unclesmithers]

Hello thanks for having us!

My wife and I have three peach faced lovebirds, Fruity, Oatie and Bebe. I believe Bebe is female and have her in a seperate cage. The other two seem to get along most of the time but every now and then the Fruity will attack Oatie, chasing him around the cage and butting beaks.

Last week I put Fruity in a third cage. He did nothing but cry, a high pitched squeeking noise, I only assume it's crying or annoyance while running back and forth the floor of his cage in what seemed to be an attempt to get out.

After a few days I let him out and into Oatie's cage. The both immediatly began regurgitating food and preening each other. Their moods seemed to swing the other direction. This lasted about four days when Fruity began attacking Oatie again. I did a rinse and repeat, seperating them again with the same results from Oatie.

Am I reading thier reactions to each other wrong? Is Oatie really attacking Fruity? I ask because their mother, Fifi killed thier father, Fufu when they were just hatchlings. I would hate to have another death in the family because I didn't take precautions.

I'm hoping once Bebe leaves, she's going to my sister in law, the dynamics will change and the other two will settle down.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading,

Timothy and Dawnell

[indigo]

First, welcome.

Second I really don't know what to recommend as I have never had this happen. My two grown ups bicker, but nothing violent and when they are getting a little too 'rambunctious' I tell them to calm down and they usually do. I am sure someone will have some good advise for you. :)

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Hi and welcome!

I have a pair of lovebirds who have a "can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em" relationship going on. I think it's always good to err on the side of caution when you're not sure whether the fighting is serious or not.

Sometimes they bicker and fight to the point where I have to separate them, and then, just like you have experienced, they cry for each other so much that I have to put them back together.

What worked for me was, I put them in side by side cages during the day, only letting them be together for supervised playtime and then at night. After a while, I gradually increased the time they were together, until they were able to live in the same cage again.

I've noticed that when my female is particularly hormonal, she's just nasty mean, and her mate can be quite the little instigator. I do separate them for his safety during those times.

[Janie]

I only have three males and they do happen to get along very well together. Two are 2 years old and clutch mates and they are caged together. My older bird is around 11 and he has his own cage (that's a laugh, he only uses his cage for sleeping at night!). Anyway, both of the younger birds like my older bird better than each other but at least they do get along and I've never seen a single fight, not even a toe bite. BUT, I think adding a hen to my mix would be the kiss of death! :omg: It's entirely possible your two will get along much better when the hen goes to your sister-in-laws home.

Jennifer's advice and how she handles her two, IMHO, is perfect! :)

[butterfly1061]

Hi and welcome to the board :)

Yep, I do what Jennifer does - sort of. I have one female among 5 males and she's paired up with one of the males (2 of the other males are their off-spring). Olivia can be a nasty, nesty little witch :evil: and when I catch her chasing Daise (her mate) around the cage, I take her little feather-butt to my bedroom and she lives out her day in the "prison" cage. It doesn't take long for her to settle down. She's a smart cookie and knows when she's being mean. :2cents:

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Jackie brings up a good point which I forgot to mention. Whenever you have to separate your lovebirds due to territorial / aggressive behavior, make sure it's the more dominant bird that you're removing from the "main" cage and move her to another cage. Then when she decides she wants to behave herself, she may return to the "main" cage.

I know this isn't always easy, especially when you have a feisty, hard-biting hen who's in the middle of a raging hormone-induced hissy fit. But if you leave her in the cage and take away the less aggressive bird, you're basically reinforcing what she already believes (that the cage is hers and the other bird doesn't belong there) which will most likely make her even more territorial.

[Unclesmithers]

Thank you for the replies,

I did think to move the more aggresive of the two.

When I first seperated them I had each cage across the room from each other. Now that I have the cages next to each other they don't seem to cry quite as much.

Great info, thanks for your time!

Timothy and Dawnell

[butterfly1061]

As a matter of fact, Olivia's in prison today - bad girl! :mad: Chasing and biting Daise's feet & other body parts all morning. When I get home she can come out to play with me supervising. She's usually pretty well behaved after spending the day in my room away from the flock, but she knows when she's been bad.

They learn quick, but the thing you need to know is if they are mad enough a lovebird can kill. It has happened and you just want to be sure both lovies are safe. My Olivia can be VERY mean and sometimes when she gets ugly with Daise I fear for him so I take her out of the cage. Most of the time she's a good girl, but I watch her more than the others. :2cents:

[Ilovelovies]

As a matter of fact, Olivia's in prison today - bad girl! :mad: Chasing and biting Daise's feet & other body parts all morning. When I get home she can come out to play with me supervising. She's usually pretty well behaved after spending the day in my room away from the flock, but she knows when she's been bad.

They learn quick, but the thing you need to know is if they are mad enough a lovebird can kill. It has happened and you just want to be sure both lovies are safe. My Olivia can be VERY mean and sometimes when she gets ugly with Daise I fear for him so I take her out of the cage. Most of the time she's a good girl, but I watch her more than the others. :2cents:

This is exactly what I have to do with Ms. Jiggy from time to time. Sometimes she can be so stingy and hateful towards Bibbles that i put her in the time out cage (lol). She has never drawn any blood on him, but sometimes I think he can use a break from her.

After her time out she is so lovey dovey with Bibble :roll: