Are my love birds really small?

[Ryan08]

Hey everyone i have two love birds that go by the names merlin and peatree and my question is how big should my birdies be? the reason i ask this is because we were looking around the pet shop on the weekend and we checked out the birds and the love birds at the shop all of them were much bigger then my little ones... is it that my birds are still really young?? or are we not feeding them enough? ill put up a photo when i can

ryan

[kimberly1985]

Lovebirds normally way between 40-70 grams. Peachfaces are normally bigger than blackmasks. Is their keel bone protruding? As long as it's not protruding and you can feel flesh on both sides, they probably are fine.

Yoshi weighs 40 grams which is on the small side but his keel bone isn't protruding and he eats like a little piggy. He is just a small framed lovebird. Zazu weighs 38 grams but he's also only 3 months old. I am currently trying to "fatten" them up right now by giving them sunflower seeds with the stripes.

I'm sure Linda will come along and can give you advice.

[Ryan08]

thanks for the reply
whats this keel bone u speak of? im still really new to all this bird stuff

Here are the birdies i thought id take a picture so people can see what im on about!
(pictures arnt to good though they get funny when we go near the cage)
Peetree is the orange one and Merlins the blue one
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/9...ndmerling2.jpg
Shot at 2011-08-14

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/468...andmerlin1.jpg
Shot at 2011-08-14

[linda040899]

The keel bone is the bone that runs down the center of the chest. If you pick each bird up and feel down the middle of the chest area, the bone you feel is the keel bone.

You have eye-ring species of lovebird and they tend to be smaller than Peachies, at least most do. I've had large Masks that weigh close to 50 grams but most don't. The term "small" is relative. Some birds, by lineage, are just smaller because their parents were small. What you don't want are thin birds. Feel the flesh on either side of the keel bone and you should feel rounded muscle.

[Ryan08]

Awesome thanks linda for the advice i was just worried they were under fed or maybe stressed and not healthy. thanks for pointing out what species they are! its good to know.. im taking them down to a bird vet when i have the money and im going to find out what sex they are

ps sorry about the photos links from now on

[DallyTsuka]

they look like they are fischer's lovebirds (a species of eyering lovies)

theyre smaller than peachies by a bit, so do not worry, as long as theyre not skinny, so what the other posters said

[bookworm0550]

Yoshi weighs 40 grams which is on the small side but his keel bone isn't protruding and he eats like a little piggy. He is just a small framed lovebird. Zazu weighs 38 grams but he's also only 3 months old. I am currently trying to "fatten" them up right now by giving them sunflower seeds with the stripes.

have you tried making birdie bread for them? or offering nutriberries and avicakes? i think those would help besides just sunflower seeds. when i had to put some grams on one of my lovebirds, i did give her some sunflower seeds, but i gave her more of those items i mentioned above and a mash of assorted human foods. she needed to gain weight, but needed nutrition as well so sunflower seeds just weren't good enough. she gained like 4 grams. and only 3 stayed on her so not too bad. it's something to try besides just seeds to help them gain weight. plus making birdie bread and mash is pretty fun as long as you have a food processor and not cutting it all up by hand. and you can use whatever you want to put in it. or you could just buy a birdie bread mix. i like to add stuff to mine and make it my own plus it's cheaper doing it yourself.

[Dezami]

I too have a question about my lovebirds. I?ve got two peach faced lovebirds ?Isadora and Benjamin? but none have the average size. One is too big and the other one too small. Can somebody tell me why that?s the case? Both are around 6months old. Another thing is that female lovebirds are usually a little bigger than male lovebirds- around 2mm bigger- it?s very unnoticeable. Based on that I thought that the bigger one was female and the smaller one male, but their size difference is huge. I?ve also been observing their behaviour. Isa was very mean to Ben at first- it was like a love-hate relationship and I read that female are like that with males that are younger than 2 years. So I really thought she was the female. She is also much more shy than Ben. But now, I am confused because now Ben is more or less behaving like a female. He literally sleeps like one. If I can I?ll put a foto. And even though they are not mature yet I once saw Isa trying to get on Benjamin. However, my Brother told me once he saw Benjamin trying to get on Isa. I am so confused now.
I have two more questions. I know that each lovebird has its personality- I can clearly see that with my lovebirds but why does Ben like hay so much? He likes hay much more than Isa and even puts it between his feathers, which Isa doesn?t.
Last question is about their feather growth. I made a beginner?s mistake and I cut their wings when I first got them because I was afraid they would get hurt flying around the house without knowing the house first. I am ashamed for that and I will never cut their wings again. But there is a problem. Isa?s wing feathers have already grown back but Ben?s have not. I am starting to be concerned about that. Can somebody tell me why his feathers are not growing back?

How can I insert a picture?

[linda040899]

I responded to your questions in this link: https://www.lovebirdsplus.com/commun...294#post215294