Pairing two lovebirds, one old and one new

Hello, my name is Kevin. I have a lovebird I acquired from my grandmother that she in turn acquired from her next door neighbor who was no longer able to take care of this bird. Her name is Smegal. He had it for about 4-5 years and my grandmother then got it and had it for 1 year. Now I have it and have had it for 1 week. Smegal is very used to people, sometimes bites, but has not left the cage in a veryyy long time. Probably 2 years. I took her from my grandma to breed her, so I bought a mature sexed male to breed her too (BTW Smegal is forsure a female, she has laid eggs and all numerous times... they have been infertile because she has never been mated)
So this new bird I have is a sexed male. His name is El Timba. I acquired him 1 week ago and he has been tied to the Smegal's cage for a week. He stands on his perch closest to her cage and she does the same on her perch, but if his feet come through to her cage she tries to bite him. Other than that no agression is shown by Timba to Smegal. Most of the aggression comes from Smegal, in the form of trying to bite anything that comes through to her cage (feather, feet ect.) But she continues to stay on her perch closest to his cage and for the most part seems to like Timba except for her occasional outburst of biting.
So recently I let them out in my room and Smegal did not go to attack Timba. She just flew away (she is a more experienced flyer than Timba) from him as he chased her. I felt bad for him so I grabbed them both and set them down next to eachother and they just sat about 1 foot apart preening themselves, untill Timba approached her slowly and she went to bite him and he backed away. He didnt give up and kept approaching with the same result from Smegal. The cycle continued. Impatiently I put them both in SMEGAL'S cage. They got along fine in here, as a matter of fact Timba ate and drank Smegals food with no attack from smegal. The only attacks came when Timba tried to approach or crossed in front of Smegal. I left them in there for about one hour, no bloodshed, but when night time came Smegal got really aggressive and chased Timba around relentlessly. So I seperated them from fear of Timba getting hurt. They are now in seperate cages and Smegals acting the same as she was when they were in seperate cages prior to this incident (sitting closest to his cage on her perch but biting when someting comes through to her cage).

What should I do? Is Smegal too established in her cage to allow Timba in there? Will she ever accept Timba? (im willing to wait). If so, when should I put them in same cages?? I have heard it may be nessecary to put them together and not be so scared, that biting is very common from the female. Sometimes they will grow close if he sticks it out. Or maybe I should introduce them in another cage and not Smegals? Or finally, maybe Smegal is too established, too used to humans and too tame to mate. I should add I dont take her out or pay attention to her because I dont want her to rely on me. I want her to not be so attention hungry from humans. WHAT ADVICE D YOU HAVE FOR ME?????

 

Hi, I would try placing them both in Timba's cage as females are very terrortorial when it comes to their cages or toys.
If possibe a whole new cage set up would be better because that way its neutral territory that neither has possesion over.

Its only been a week so i would give it more time as it can take a couple of months for them to settle together.
As long as there is no blood draw from their little squabbles just leave them to it, It could be she is testing to see if he is worthy of her and wether he would be strong enough to protect their offspring.
Whatever you do, DO NOT place a nesting box in their cage until you know they have settled toegther or you could end up with some serious fighting.

With female lovebirds they are usually very nasty and aggressive when its breeding season and will not allow any other bird in her cage that should not be there.

Make sure on a night the cage is covered so they have dark and quiet but make sure you leave about an inch gap around the bottom so that air can circulate.

Are they both the same species of lovebird as the peach faced are abit more agreesive than the black mask.

Again try putting them both in Timba's cage and see how you get on, its ok for them to squabble and have a few nips this is all natural..
Let me know how you and they get on.

Mike

 

Thanks for the response Mike. I am for sure going to keep you updated because your opinions are going to help me a lot when it comes to pairing these two lovebirds. I AM NOT GOING TO PUT A NEST BOX JUST YET. I have heard, besides from you, that this is dangerous. So I am not so inpatient as to do that. I will wait until they are in one cage together and getting along MUCH BETTER than they are now. They are both peach faced lovebird mutations. El Timba is pied, and Smegal is either a dutch blue, or a white-faced blue (not sure how to tell the difference). What I am going to do is keep them tied up with an occasional releasing in my room so they can fly around and have the freedom of getting close to eachother without the restriction of the cage....that is if they want to. And maybe after another week or 2 weeks I am going to put them to gether in an ENTIRELY different cage to see how it goes. What do you think about that plan Mike??

 

The more they together the sooner they will bond well hopefully.
What you have planned sounds like a good start, I have added a link for you to have a read of and hopfully help you along the way.

1st one is Lovebird specias
http://www.africanlovebirdsociety.com/s ... index.html

If you click on articles on the left hand side of that page it will give you some other info that might be helpful for you.


Mike

 

sweeet thanks. ill post updates when I can. hopefully you will be on to give me a timely response. again, thank you. and ill talk to you soon.

 

Hey Mike,
Timba and Smegal are doing great. They are getting along wonderfully. I have been letting them out daily so that they can play together and grow closer. I have one question though.

Smegal used to have a little fuzzy bed that would hang from her cage. It looked like a fuzzy blue tunnel where she would sleep. I dont know if you have ever seen that before. Anyways I removed it from her cage so she could get closer to Timba (i.e. sleep on her perch closest to him). But this has not worked as she sleeps clinging to the top corner of the cage....I think this is because she wants to be close to the shirt which I use to cover there cages, which is similar to her old fuzzy bed tunnel.

Do you think this is a problem? Should I re introduce the fuzzy bed or just leave her without it because she needs to get used to sleeping without it because soon she will be on eggs and can not use it anyways?

 

Glad to hear they getting on a bit better.

As for the tunnel she has become used to having it in her cage for somewhere to settle down and sleep, Now she don't have it she is finding somwhere else to sleep where she feels safe.

I never put anything like that or nests in with the lovebirds i used to have as both can make the female broody and aggressive.

If you think its stressing her out not having her tunnel then i would put it back as stress can make a bird ill, But if you feel she is ok then keep it away for a couple of days and see how she does.

Mike

 

Ok sounds good. Thats exactly what I was thinking. She will get extremely aggressive with that in her cage, and I know she is not stressed about it, so ill leave it out. I just want her to sleep on her perch close to Timba, but its ok, im sure they will sleep together once they are paired in the same cage. Thanks again Mike

 

Hi, just thought i would check in and see how the lovebirds are doing together, I hope all is well.

Mike

 

Hey Mike, the birds are doing great. Still in cages side by side. I really don't want to force them together so I figured if I take it really slow that they would eventually fall in love. Every now and then, probably twice a week, I let them out in my room so they can fly around and play with each other.

They do stick together, play together, and follow each other everywhere. But they also still have their scuffles, which are mostly started by the female over territory (a piece of paper, under a pillow, a perch, etc.). They have continued to progress in their relationship, for instance every time I let them out they do something that indicates they have bonded a little more so I continue to let them fly out.

Im sure thats a good sign that their relationship is not in a stand still, or in equilibrium so im just being patient with them.

What do you think?

 

Hi, Sounds like things are progressing nicely.
Hopefully another couple of weeks and they will have a real close bond and there be no-more scuffles.

Please keep me updated on how they doing

Mike

 

Yup, ill keep posting. So you think another 2 weeks and I should attempt to put them together in a cage? Obviously without a nest box. I have a cage that they have not seen in a while and neither of them own it. Do you think it would be wrong to put them in there together even if they continue to have their little scuffles here and there?

 

Yeah give it another 2 weeks and see how they go.
You can still put them in the other cage together even if they have their little squabbles as long as neither draws blood.

All birds have scuffles with each other even if they have been together years.

Mike

 

ooooh ok. thats good to know, because I dont think I can see them NEVER fighting. Thanks for the advice. Ill be re-posting in 2 weeks to tell you how they are doing.

 

Hey Mike,
Today is the day I try to pair my birds up in one cage. It is insane how much their relationship has progressed! They are even kissing now, and the male grooms the female occasionally, mostly after baths. But of course they still have there bickering. The big difference is they usually end up kissing easchother after they are done bickering and pecking eachothers beaks.

So I wanted to ask....How should I go about introducing the cage? Leave on the floor of my room with the cage door open and their old cages put away while they are flying around? Or just grab they and put them in their? Or put the boy in first and let him establish himself and then add the female??

Thanks!
Kevin

 

Thats great news because the female is allowing him to preen her she is showing interest in him.
I would put them both in the same cage now and see how they go for a few days, don't worry if they bicker as long as no blood is drawn this should soon settle down.

You may find that the male will eat then go to the female and try feeding her, If this starts to happen and she allows it then you have a pair that is almost bonded and things should only get better from then on.

Once they have fully established that bond you can try introducing a nest box with some nesting material and see what happens next.
Giving them dark leafy greens like cabbage, as well as trying them on fruits like apples grapes, this may help them bond better and also help when it comes to breeding as it helps with fertility.

Mike

 

Sweeeeet. I let you know how it goes. Thanks again for all your advice and help.

 

Hey Mike,
I put them together in the cage yesterday morning and they have been in there ever since. They are doing great! They continue to preen each other and they actually perch really close to each other, which they NEVER did. I'm sure soon enough their relationship will progress. Thanks for everything.

 

I am so glad i could be of help, Looks like things are going the way i hoped.
Hopfully few more months and you will have a nice clutch of baby lovies

 

YUPP! Ill post pictures of my first clutch. Until then...have a good summer (if your above the equator) and ill speak to you soon. Thanks again.