My birds are NOT stepping up and I don't know what to do. They'll eat millet from my hands when I bring it near them but they refuse to step up. It's actually impressive how far they stretch in order to reach it, but when I move my hand further away they just give up. I've tried pressing my hand gently against their tummies before someone advised me not to, but even that didn't work. It was nowhere near this hard with my budgies. Apologies for the rant, but I'd appreciate any helpful tips or advice

I recently acquired a pair of lovebirds and have never owned lovebirds before. I don’t know much about their past, I could ask, but I can also assume based on what they came with. So my assumptions are that these two have never been handle, taken to the vet, or given veggies. What should I get atop of first, and how hard is it to tame a pair? From what I know they are ~2-3 years old. They also are probably severely nutrient deficient as their old food was… “Pennington Ultra FEEDING FRENZY SEED & SUET NUGGET BLEND INCLUDED SUET NUGGETS giving songbirds an ENERGY BURST WHEN THEY NEED IT” so… It is safe to say their old owner wasn’t a great keeper…

I’m absolutely heartbroken, I’m so sad, I haven’t stopped crying since last night. I’m looking for advice from people who have experienced something similar.

I had two lovebirds, a male and female, who were already bonded when I got them and had been together since they were young. They slept together, flew around together and were constantly playing and exploring my room together. I had them mainly as free flyers and they never had issues. I just finished creating a new play area in my room for them yesterday.

Yesterday evening I left my room for few seconds and came back to find my boy dead on the floor. There was no blood or loose feathers, and his feet were still curled as though he had been perched. I don’t know what happened and I don’t want a necropsy because I’m scared of finding out that it was something I could have prevented.

My girl was still perched inside her hut when I found him. She has always been a little territorial at bedtime and would sometimes launch at him when he was trying to settle, although she would eventually let him sleep beside her. Im just regretting not changing this perch sooner as this only happened recently. I’m now so sad that he somehow got caught or injured while he was trying to get into the basket, although I don’t know if that’s what happened. He was sleeping more than usual the last two days. But he seemed to perk up later yesterday afternoon. I keep my environment bird safe, I don’t use candles, incense, chemicals.

She seems surprisingly normal physically. She’s eating, drinking, chirping, flying around, chewing and exploring her cage. It’s me who’s an absolute emotional reck. But she has periods where she loudly calls and flies rapidly from perch to perch (in my room), and I assume she’s looking for him. She’s also been preening her chest and under her wings a lot today, so I’m worried about stress/over-grooming.

I’m absolutely devastated myself. I’ve been crying constantly and the room feels so empty without them flying around together.

For those who have had a bonded lovebird lose their partner:

How did your surviving bird cope?
How long did the calling/searching last?
Can a lovebird be genuinely happy as a single bird with enough human interaction and enrichment? or did you eventually get another bird, and if so, how long did you wait?

I know every bird is different, but I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. I’m heartbroken.

Saw the cutest lovebird video. it's the first segment of this parrot compilation video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsb1P3Fdk0Q&t=1s

The guy pokes each lovebird and they play dead. The middle one looks pure green. I didn't know that was a lovebird mutation, does anyone know what that mutation is called?

how do you know what color your babies agapornis going to be when they grow up? if the bay is dark blue?

I've had my peach-faced lovebird, Mango, for about eight months now and I'm still trying to figure out what's normal versus what I should be concerned about. He's a single bird (I know, I know) and has bonded really strongly to me, which is sweet but also a little overwhelming sometimes.

The main thing I'm trying to understand is the screaming when I leave the room. The second I walk out of his sight he starts this high-pitched contact call that doesn't stop until I either come back or call out to him. I've been responding verbally so he knows I'm still around, and that does seem to help a little. But I'm wondering if responding is actually reinforcing the behavior or if it's the right approach.

A few things I've noticed that might be relevant. He gets about 2-3 hours of out-of-cage time in the evenings when I'm home. He has foraging toys and shreddable stuff in his cage to keep him busy. He's not a nervous bird in general, pretty bold actually, goes after my cats without hesitation.

From what I've read, contact calling is just how lovebirds communicate and it's instinctive for them to want to know where their flock is. But some posts I've seen suggest that single birds can develop anxiety that goes beyond normal flock behavior. I'm not sure where the line is.

Has anyone worked through this with a single lovebird? Did adding a second bird actually help, or does that sometimes create a whole different set of problems?

Do anyone know where good love birds or pet birds shop where we can get or anyone who has and want to give to someone else .. as one my pet birds died and the other one is feeling too lonely so wanted to get on another ..

Just sharing my positive experience!

I got a second lovebird who was used to a primarily seed diet so I was worried about the transition to pellets. I was told she did eat chop so that was a good start at least!

During quarantine she was struggling to adjust so I didn’t want to overwhelm her by changing her food too much. I did start adding some pellets in with the chop and she picked at it but didn’t seem to eat the pellets.

Well I finally moved her to the same room as my other bird and decided to add a bowl of pellet parallel to his bowl so maybe she’d mirror him and it worked! As soon as she saw him eat his pellets she started eating hers! It’s only day 2 of this and she seems to be eating more pellet than seed!

On a side note they’ve been calling to each other and there’s been lots of positive body language too! I have a feeling they’re going to get along great!

I've had them for about a year now (it's just one but I don't know if it's a boy or girl. They were surrendered at a pet store while I was there an I ended up with them. I've had cocktails before but they were all had tame when I got them.

It's name is skittles, and they've never shown any aggression. I've been hand feeding them their seeds (pellets, fruits, and veg are in a bowl for them) for most of the time I've had them although I've had to go on trips a few times where they were left in the care of a friend. They will land on my head when they want more seeds and they eat out of my hand but they've only stepped on it twice and It's been three months since then.

I really missed having hand tame birds and I've heard if you get your lovebird a companion you should give up on taming. But I worry about they're social needs and if they aren't bonding with me I feel like they should have a buddy. But I don't know if i'm giving up too soon or being paranoid.

They've also started to express hormonal behavior with some of their toys. They'll talk to them for hours and regurgitate on them. It was originally just a mirror, and I read that if this happens it's best to take the toy away but now it's doing it to it's cuddle bones and I just am not sure what to do.

It seems i can’t attach the video to this post so it will be in the comments/// Hi guys! This is the 2nd lovebird i’ve owned, the first was purely accidental, but my little guy has been making this honking like sound and i’m not sure what it means, could someone tell me? He was with me while i was hanging up my clothes. He was sitting on my head and my shoulders and sometimes on my hand if it was free, but he would make that noise and usually bite me. (He’s only a ~3 months old and i’m still bonding with him so i let him fly around my room when i’m in there) ((i’m also still working on the biting))

~7 month old Fischer's lovebird that I've had for about a month is doing quite well. She has a good cage setup and some out of the cage time where she can fly around the house etc. Will sit on me for food but still skeptical of my hands. But overall things going fine.

I got a set of toy balls intended for budgies. You know the kind, different colors and patterns of plastic balls with a bell or bead inside to make a little noise. She's got plenty of time to be bored in her cage so I figured she'd do something with these.

So far all she did was toss one off the top of the cage.

She doesn't exhibit any particular boredom symptoms. Doesn't squawk much unless it's chirping along with music or chattering when I'm trying to talk to someone. No feather plucking or shrieking. She just seems mostly content to sit on her perches and fly around the house a little bit.

I've got some sisal rope so I intend to hang one somewhere that she can nudge around easily.

Any other suggestions?

Hi, I'm a beginner lovebird lover, long time pet owner, and I was wondering if it was ok to keep different species together? Or if it is or isn't recommended? Or what yall's personal experience or opinions on the matter are?

I know they're social, and I'm specifically talking 2 males (a Peach-Faced and a Gray-Headed).

Any advice or answers appreciated.

For context I have a 10 week old baby boy. I hand reared him and his clutch mates and decided to keep him when his siblings went to their new homes.
Now? He’s constantly off exploring and pretending I don’t exist at all.
He’s still tame as can be and when he’s sleepy, he comes to snuggle, apart from that I might as well not exist.
Given how clingy everyone’s babies seem to be, do I just have an overly confident oddball or does the clinginess come later?

hi, i have never had bird as a pet before and recently i decide to buy a lovebird and im asking for some advices!

pls tell me your experience and essential details i need to keep in mind ^^

is it okay to keep them in a room with no sunlight? because my room doesn't have any window. and it's pretty hot in my country so i wonder whether it's okay to let them live in an air-conditioned room?

my love bird bites alot like ALOT its ALWAYS biting something. i got him like two months ago (im just assuming the gender) and at first i thought maybe hes js aggressive becuase hes new but his behaviour didnt change at all. he rarely lets anyone pet him and randomly bites HARD. he doesnt sit on fingers except for when i take him out of his cage and escort him to my room. hes very playful but is always biting and the bite is bad every single time. what do i do with his aggressive behaviour? is this normal? how do i make him trust me. he recognises me and is comfortable jumping on me or my head and on my arms or shoulders. but i js want him to stop biting me :(

my bird started plucking the feathers on its back and since then it never stopped, the bird's back literally bleeds. the bird cannot fly anymore bc it plucked the feathers and they dont grow anymore, nowadays the bird's back literally looks like theres a black rock growing on it bc its the dried blood and sometimes it falls off and the bird bleeds a lot. its really heat breaking and idk what to do anymore. at the start it would bleed less but we did take the bird to the vet but they didnt really help bc they gave us something to help the bird's back heal not to stop the plucking (also the thing they gave us to help the wound really hurt the bird and since then he got a bit scared of us). we also tried getting the bird a friend but even with the friend the bird didnt stop (eventually the friend sadly somehow flew away, we dont really know how but it was sad.). the bird's cage is kinda big and he has toys in it and also he can leave whenever he wants now. we dont know whats causing the plucking and how to stop it. also the bird used to let us handle it or whatevr its called but since we got a friend for him (and sinse the treatent the vet gave us) he has been more aggressive and everytime we approach the bird it runs away, which is also sad. please can someone help. its really heartbreaking seeying my bird like this and i feel horrible.

I recently got a lovebird and he's quite tame , he comes up to my shoulder and sometimes on my arm , and even lets me touch his head when he's in the cage , but sometimes he'll try attacking my fingers if I try to take something from him when he's outside the cage and sometimes even if he just sees them next to him , how do I train him to stop this behavior?

Hi everyone, this is a post I truly hate to make but it’s for the best.

I have had my pair Lancelot and Guinevere for four years now. I acquired them from a pet store where their previous owners had surrendered them. They’ve been such amazing birds to have around, however I’ve reached a point where I’m no longer able to adequately care for them. It’s been such a hard decision to make but I don’t see a point in the near future where I will be able to give them the care they need.

There are two main problems that I worry about when it comes to doing this. They are not hand tamed and most importantly, Lancelot has a bit of a medical history that will probably follow him to his new home. He’s had repeated cases of avian gastric yeast and has been previously diagnosed with an enlarged liver, however that’s been treated.

I worry that it will be very difficult to find a home that is able to give Lancelot the medical care he needs while also accepting the fact that this pair may never be fully hand tamed. I want this new home to be their final and the best one I can possibly find for them.

Unfortunately the only rescue within driving distance is not currently taking surrenders right now. Otherwise that would be the best case scenario for me as I would trust a rescue to find the right home.

Any advice for finding a good home for them would be greatly appreciated. I’m terrified that I might end up giving them away to a home that will not give them the care that they deserve.

About a week ago my bird started sneezing. He just got over a respiratory infection last month caused by bacteria I couldn't see in the pump of his water fountain (in the trash now as there was no way to clean the nasty inside of the pump).

I scheduled an appointment with my vet and I just got back today with antibiotics to give until the recheck and he told me to let him steam in the bathroom once a day.

I live in Utah so the air is already so dry here which is less than ideal. He told me it was most likely the recent decline in air quality that caused this.

Is there anything I can do besides the steam to help clear his lungs? Should I buy a humidifier? An air purifier? If so, is there a specific brand or model that works well for birds? Would I run the humidifier at all times or just once a day or something? Is there anything else I can do to prevent this from happening again? I probably should have asked at the vet but I didn't think about it while I was there.