Psittaccidae Agapornis
Lovebirds from Africa and Madagascar Contributed by Diane V. Hajicek
Lovebirds get their name from the way that they tend to sit close to each other when in groups of two or more. If you ever see an aviary of lovebirds you will find them all clustered together leaning on one another. These little lovebirds are so full of energy and are so engaging with their bright eyes and bright colors that I cannot imagine life without at least one of them in my home. Whether you wish to just have one little bird as a companion or if you wish to build an aviary and raise babies for the bird market, you just can't go wrong with these charming little birds. Lovebirds do have the ability to talk, but for some reason they rarely ever do. If a small talking bird is really what you are hoping for, then a male budgie might be a better choice for you. The lovebird has so much more to offer than talking that it in no way diminishes the charm of this wonderful little bird.
A lovebird thrives best with a companion and that companion can be you if you are willing to spend plenty of quality time with your little friend. If you think you will not have a lot of time to spend with your little lovebird, you should really have two of them so the little fellow will not be lonesome. One little lovebird is perfectly happy so long as he can spend several hours a day on your shoulder or in your pocket just riding along with you and entertaining you as you busy yourself around the house. The average size of a lovebird is approximately 5 to 6 inches long, and they are generally short tailed with a somewhat stocky build so they fit quite nicely into ones pocket and would love to ride around and hang out with you all day. Lovebirds have a personality that is equal to any of the larger parrots and they have the nerve to stand up to parrots much larger than themselves. They have a fairly large and sharp beak for their size, and they delight in nipping the toes of other birds. They are fiercely brave for their diminutive size and they are very active birds so they need a fairly good-sized cage. A lovebird is capable of killing a cockatiel and even cause great harm to birds much larger than they are so generally they do not make good companions for birds of other species.
Lovebirds like to eat and drink frequently so that if you have one with you on your shoulder and he starts beeping loudly at you, it means he wants to go home and get a drink or a snack and then he will want to come right back to you. It might be fun to have several small play gyms around the house with treats and water available so you can just put him down and when he wants to come back to you he will let you know.
Lovebirds love water. They don't really like to be misted or showered so much as they like to stand on the edge of a dish and dip their heads and breasts in the shallow water. Then they splash their wings and splash water all over themselves (and you) until they are soaked. Another fun method that they enjoy is to stand next to a small stream of running water in the kitchen sink and there they will flip the water over themselves as if they were in a waterfall. Daily opportunities to bath are greatly appreciated by lovebirds and they should have access to bathing water daily.
It is a good idea to have your lovebirds wing feathers clipped by the breeder or pet shop before you bring him home. A bird that has been wing feather clipped will be much easier to tame and generally will remain far tamer than a bird that is allowed freedom to fly away from you whenever it wants to. If you wish to give your lovebird freedom to fly in your home, it would be best to clip it first and tame it very well. When the bird goes through its first molting season, you can allow the wing feathers to grow and see if the bird will remain tame for you.
Accommodations:
A lovebird or a pair of lovebirds with clipped wing feathers should have a cage no smaller than 18 by 18 inches square. A lovebird or a pair of lovebirds that are able to fly should be in a flight cage that is a minimum of 3 feet long and 2 feet square so they can fly from perch to perch and exercise their wings. As with all parrots, the bigger the cage the better. Bar spacing should be limited to no more than 1/2 inch because some of the young birds have a head much smaller than you might think under all those fluffy feathers.
A variety of perches made of wood, cement, or sisal or cotton should be used so the feet are properly exercised. Some perches of natural branches, especially willow or grapevine branches are wonderful for lovebirds as they love to chew and these branches can be nicely peeled and worked over by the small birds. All branches brought in from outdoors though, should be well washed and dried in an oven or in the sun. Make sure that any tree branches you find have not been sprayed with any insecticides. An excellent list of safe woods to use for perches for all birds can be found on the Gillian web site posted at the bottom of this page.
Cages should have 4 feeding dishes. Usually the 2 dishes that come with the cage are fairly large. One cage dish should contain a standard pellet at all times so that your lovebird can have constant access to a balanced diet. The second cage dish could be used as a birdbath or for drinking water. If you use this dish for water, it should be refreshed several times a day or whenever it has been bathed in. Birds like to wet their foods and deposit droppings in bath water so there is a risk of your bird coming down with a case of e-coli or salmonella from leaving a dish of dirty water in the cage. Water bottles are a better solution for providing water to caged birds. Water bottles still need to be refreshed daily to prevent bits of food from going up the tube and contaminating the water. A third cage dish could be used to provide fresh foods or mashes twice a day. A fourth small dish could be used to provide a teaspoon of seeds twice a day.
A wide variety of foods are recommended for lovebirds including a well known brand of pellets, a well known standard mix of quality cockatiel seeds, and fresh foods of all varieties including mashes, nuts, vegetables, fruits, and leafy greens. Some foods to avoid for all birds are avocados, rhubarb, especially the leaves, chocolate and coffee and tea and any other form of caffine, the pits of stone fruits like cherries, peaches, nectarines and plums. The pits are toxic. Also do not give any bird high fat and salty foods like chips and corn curls and taco chips. There is enough salt in their fresh foods and in their pellets and too much is harmful for them. Do not give your birds foods that are high in sugar. There is plenty of sugar in their pellets, and fresh fruits and too much of that can be harmful for them also. Birds can get fat from all those treats and develop fatty liver disease resulting in very short lives. Again you can find some information on good food and bad food on the Gillian web site listed below.
Lovebirds today can be found in a wide array of colors from their original wild colors of green or gray and brown tones accented with black to beautiful lutino, blue, lavender, white, olive, many other pastels and pieds. Their beautiful wild base colors are accentuated by the striking bright red or orange or black colors of their faces and the intense dark round eyes. It can be hard to tell the males from the females in some species of lovebird so that it may be necessary to have them DNA tested if you are looking for a breeding pair.
An Introduction and Overview of all the African Species incuding the African Greys, the Poicephalus, and Love Birds - by Jean Pattison.
For more information on the Species click here.
Other sites on Love Birds, see http://www.lovebirds.co.nz/introduction/spec.php More information and photos, see http://www.parrotparrot.com/lovebirds/ An article by Diane http://www.vorsoft.com/birds/beeper.htm A Lovebird FAQ http://www.birdsnways.com/articles/lbfaq.htm Breeding: http://www.parrotparrot.com/lovebirds/breeding.htm http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/articles.html