Can a lovebird live with another after bonding with a human?

[RedJoy]

My LoveBird Bloo has just gotten to the point in her life where she has begun to lay eggs, we always hoped for a male in order to have a better tempered bird but as it turns out my Bloo Boy is a Bloo Girl... She is very affectionate and loves to be with me, unfortunatly she only likes to be with me, but
I plan on taking her with me to a new home after high school and college and she like to goes for car rides with me when it's nice out, practically never leaving my shoulder unless she's going to my hand. But I worry that these next few years of my life are going to be very hectic and I was wondering if I should get her a mate. I really don't know if she would accept one and I highly doubt it, plus as far as I know lovebirds don't really get along with the same sex and I surely don't want two protective females in the same cage but I don't want to breed her. This weekend she will be going into a much larger cage, one that approximately measures up to my waist, and I'm 5'3. I plan on filling it with lots of branches and toys and treats on special occasions, I also plan on taking her out at least every other day once school starts but I fear that she might become depressed or stressed. She already goes nuts if she sees me and she isn't out. What should I do? or should she be fine?

[LadyLynn]

I wouldn't worry to much, if you are still planning on living at home and taking her with you, do yourself a favor and don't get her a friend, just let her help you with your homework when you are home, and be with you when you do things when you are home, Two birds are much more work.
and birds are amazingly strong and hearty, so I think in many ways it is a needless concern. If your bird were bigger you might have something more to think about because bigger birds demand and expect more attention.

Also one note about the bigger cage, make sure the bar spacing is correct for a love bird, if you don't the cage could be potentially dangerous for her. Birds have gotten their heads stuck and have died as a result of inappropriate cage bar spacing. so check those measurements out, and good luck to you.

[Egoplot]

My LoveBird Bloo has just gotten to the point in her life where she has begun to lay eggs, we always hoped for a male in order to have a better tempered bird but as it turns out my Bloo Boy is a Bloo Girl...

There is one thing that we humans can not control and that is nature.Your lovebird is a female and it has started to lay eggs meaning that nature is calling.You can throw away the eggs she is not likely to take care of them but I personaly feel and think you should take notice of what you bird is trying to tell you.You see her nature is to lay eggs, have chicks and become a mother no matter how tamed she is or bond to you.This is the one thing we humans can´t remove from our female pet birds.Besides it would not be a right thing to do and cruel in a way.I belife we have no right to mess with nature just to make things easier for us.

But I worry that these next few years of my life are going to be very hectic and I was wondering if I should get her a mate.She is very affectionate and loves to be with me, unfortunatly she only likes to be with me,

Now if she is as bond to you as you say and you want have the time few next years to take care of her, be with her, love her,she will simply die of lonlyness no matter how big a cage you buy her,no matter if you fill that cage with millions of toys,she will die over few months of lonlyness and sadness belife me,simply becose I have seen that thing happen.If you to are bond to your bird and love it and want to see it happy but have little time on your shoulders, do her a favor and get her a mate and make sure it is a Lovebird that have had a DNA test.I think that way both you and your bird will be both verry happy and you sure would be doing the right thing as a bird lover.I my self had a Lovebird male few years ago that I was verry fond of and we were strongly bond.Sadly on day my life changed in a way that I could not possibly have as much time with him as before.I bought a big cage,lots of toys and the distance between us grew.Suddenly after two months I relized that my bird was dying,dying of sadness and lonlyness.Chill went down my spine when I opened my eyes that he had not made a sound for one week.The next day I went out and bought him a pritty female.They have now been living together for 5 years verry happy,and when I got the time to turn to him after two years it only took a week for him to be towards me like he had always been.Even though he has a mate now he is more fond of me and likes to be with me and still he is vrry nice to his mate.You see we two tied a bond between us that nothing could tear a part except death.Today I thank my higher power for doing the right thing.I have no right to play with life in anyform.But I have an obligation to both value,nurse and pressure it,that is what makes me a human being.

[LadyLynn]

Eggoplot, yes you are correct that nature made, not just in birds females the very nature to want to have babies and to do so, and I'm not so sure about the living longer with a mate thing. I just don't know the luv bird breed that well, but for a young person heading off to college having the additional work to care for a second bird, and then baby chicks could be, "time consuming," and most course work I know of does not bend or give much leeway for people to raise chicks, and pour over textbooks for that next big test that must be passed. That's the real "issue," I doubt very much it has much to do with wanting to let the bird have a mate and raising the chicks, it just flat out is too much work for an individual to do alone.

Your statement is the reason my mother in law let the first cat my sister in law brought home run amuck so to speak- they had some awsome cats that were born, but they were so so overrun with cats that the humans barely had space enough to breath,,,,,,, and they eventually collected up to around 25 cats that a farmer really wanted and gave them to him, and kept five older cats. so I think personally that it is what this college bound student can and is up to handling, and of course what nature can handle other than that if the bird was not happy with its human at this point I would say it might be time to find it a good home where it can indeed breed.

There is also another down side to the "breeding Eggoplot, at least it is here in the states. All one person has to do is look nationwide to find a parrot sanctuary, and yes sadly even love birds get displaced either for some human's unfortunate circumstances, some wreckless behavior, abuse, neglect and the poor thing becomes unwanted, so sadly most sanctuaries advocate birdie birth control.

I've just seen way way too many heartbreaking stories coming from these birds that live in these sanctuaries waiting for someone to come along who will love them.


http://www.mickaboo.org/
http://www.fosterparrots.com
http://www.thegabrielfoundation.com
http://www.phoenixlanding.org/

need I say more?

Even and I confess and I tell people all of the time, I gathered up other peoples trash, 5 very precious parrots they threw away, one was definately abused, and so the desire to let them be mommy's yes I totally understand especially since I am one myself, but it is a catch 22, and a number of people want the abuse and neglect and pitching parrots to stop. I know I do, and I kind of feel like if

If you cannot care for an extra body be it a dog, cat, fish or a parrot, sheep or a goat or even a human perhaps it isn't the time to let a female in your care "breed.?"

In other hands the bird may very well end up with an even shorter life, who knows? It is anyone's guess.

but since our first cockatiel Lexi bird, we learned very fast that this tightly bonded cockatiel loved our son best, but he had to go to school, and from that we learned when our son returned home from school that even if he was not doing anything but sitting or sleeping or watching T.V. Lexi bird preferred him over us, and so if this individual who is college bound can live with the fact that birds are generally "hearty, and that since this bird loves this person when he/she returns home to do homework, get something to eat or go to sleep this little bird will be quite happy without a companinon and to sit on this person's shoulder and to tweet and chirp happily.

This is the point I make.
allowing the bird to breed and raise babies and in circumstances so you can take care of mommy, daddy bird and baby chicks is no easy matter and it must be weighed and measured out in the mind of the person who has an egg laying bird in any case.

by the way, I strongly encourage people to adopt the birds sitting in these sanctuaries and others, especially from the rescues that are in or near your local neighborhood.

The Utah Critter Sanctuary, one in Montana, one in Salt Lake City, one in Washington State, and of course one in Oregon are the sanctuaries closest to me, but I have to say of the most strict are the ones based in around Portland Oregon are the most strict because they will not do outside state adoptions period! They also require a bird care class with absolutely zero exceptions. so Oregon sanctuary adoptions are pretty much zero for me. No one can adopt that is more than a days drive from their sanctuary. Other sanctuaries have "similar rules.

so I hope this isn't too confusing for you Eggoplot.
by the way this may seem like a silly question but do you speak also what I've heard another language besides English? Icelandic I believe it is called.

I also love the pictures of your birds, and I thought baby LadyLynn was growing up very nicely.

[Egoplot]

My LoveBird Bloo has just gotten to the point in her life where she has begun to lay eggs, we always hoped for a male in order to have a better tempered bird but as it turns out my Bloo Boy is a Bloo Girl... She is very affectionate and loves to be with me, unfortunatly she only likes to be with me, but
I plan on taking her with me to a new home after high school and college and she like to goes for car rides with me when it's nice out, practically never leaving my shoulder unless she's going to my hand. But I worry that these next few years of my life are going to be very hectic and I was wondering if I should get her a mate. I really don't know if she would accept one and I highly doubt it, plus as far as I know lovebirds don't really get along with the same sex and I surely don't want two protective females in the same cage but I don't want to breed her. This weekend she will be going into a much larger cage, one that approximately measures up to my waist, and I'm 5'3. I plan on filling it with lots of branches and toys and treats on special occasions, I also plan on taking her out at least every other day once school starts but I fear that she might become depressed or stressed. She already goes nuts if she sees me and she isn't out. What should I do? or should she be fine?

I was wondering if I should get her a mate. I really don't know if she would accept one and I highly doubt it, plus as far as I know lovebirds don't really get along with the same sex and I surely don't want two protective females in the same cage but I don't want to breed her.

Well you do not want to breed her then you should stopp wondering about getting her a male.But I can tell you one thing she sure will accept one.To begin with she might turn down a few but in the end she will fall in love and bond with the right one.I have been breeding Lovebirds for many years and I remember a uniq female I had.I offered her over six month period 5 handsom males, she simply turned them all down.Then when she saw male six she had a had time staying in her cage next to him for 3 weeks.When I finaly conected both cage together she was all over him.It was love at first sight and 4 years later they are still verry much in love and they have only had cicks two times.The best you can do is to remove the eggs from her (yes she will try to hatch them on the cage bottom) problem is they tend to lay more and more eggs and that can be fatal to them since they need lime to make the eggshells,if there is a lime lack they will draw it from the bones and that will soon kill them.Those birds are verry stubborn belife me.It is a myth that 2 Lovebirds of the same sex want get along the younger they are the better.But they do get along that I know and get along fine, I have had both 2 females together in a cage with no problems and also 2 males.

I also plan on taking her out at least every other day once school starts but I fear that she might become depressed or stressed. She already goes nuts if she sees me and she isn't out.

Sounds like you already have some problems with her.If she goes nuts she is simply trying to tell you something.If she is used to be out of the cage every day and with you she will wonder why she cant still.She will look at this as a punnishment it will confuse her and she might think " What did I do wrong " She has a feeling like every living beeing, remember she loves and trusts you and is bond to you.I have seen birds die of sadness, I have seen birds die of lonlyness.The worst thing you can do to a bird is to step on the trust he puts in you, loosen the bonds between you two.He needs you more than you need him.He sees you as his mate, he loves you and there is no strings attached to his love.Nobody has stolen his innocence away from him that is what makes him so special.He will never lie to you,never hit you,never shout at you,never let you down,never steal from you,never say bad things about about you,never make you cry,he will always be happy to see you.He will always be there for you.... waiting.If you talk to him he will understand.Here at my home in Iceland I have two Tiels.Like your bird they want to be with me all the time and we 3 have verry strong bonds.If I do not have time for them I simply go up to the cage and talk to them,explane what I need to do and ask them to be calm and try to understand,when I have the time we will have fun but we can´t just now.I know this sounds like madness but it isn´t..... this works..... it is simply like they understand and I belife they do.Give it a try.... it sure will make you feel better you are showing your bird love and care... but not stepping on his dreams.:)

[Egoplot]

Eggoplot, yes you are correct that nature made, not just in birds females the very nature to want to have babies and to do so,but for a young person heading off to college having the additional work to care for a second bird, and then baby chicks could be, "time consuming". That's the real "issue," I doubt very much it has much to do with wanting to let the bird have a mate and raising the chicks, it just flat out is too much work for an individual to do alone.

LadyLynn I agree whole heartly with you there.If we do not have the time to take care of our birds during breeding looking after the chicks, providing propper food,be ready to pay the Vet a visit if something goes wrong and what is most important,finding the chicks a propper home we should not do it.There are a lot of questions we need to ask our selfs before we decide to let our birds breed,and all of them answers have to be YES.Sadly lot of bird petowners breed just to breed for fun caring little about the parents nor the chicks.They desite it´s time to light a life but as soon as that life starts growing making demands,they quickly wash theyr hands of it and the fun is out of it.How anyone can see a newborn life as something funny beats me.The reson why I recommended a male and breeding was simply becose the owner was thinking about getting a male for her egglaying hen.Had I scrolled my eyes a bit down her thread I would never have simply becose this is what she wrote......and I was wondering if I should get her a mate but I don't want to breed her.

Your statement is the reason my mother in law let the first cat my sister in law brought home run amuck so to speak- they had some awsome cats that were born, but they were so so overrun with cats that the humans barely had space enough to breath.

Now we both know cats have 9 lifes and we both know cat breeding is hard to control but it can be done with pet cats.Let me tell you a little secret about myself LadyLynn and promise not to tell a soul.You promise? OK. For over 10 years I have had ( and still have ) 60 Tiels.All pars.Once a year over 3 months period I put 2 nest boxes inside every pars cage and let them breed if they want to.Those 3 months I do a lot of work and get little sleep.Not all of them breed, but most do.When the chicks leave the nest box I remove both of them and my Tiels are not permitted to breed again till after one year.All those years I have never had any problems finding the chicks a home.Some I keep to renew my stock, some I keep to try to breed uniq Tiels like Baby LadyLynn and sadly few die no matter what I do.That is just nature.I take verry good care of them all year round feed them well and look after them as best I can and provite them with lot of space I don´t keep them in my bedroom.I have a house that I builded specialy for birds and I could have many many more there.My point is,I am responsable for those birds and theyr life and well beeing.It is my duty as a human beeing to respect and care for them simply becose there is dignity in every lifeform,it is just us the humans that make some of that lifeform ugly.Since I love my birds and I belife they love me to I make sure they don´t over run me so we can in harmony share the space and inhale the air together instead of fighting over it

There is also another down side to the "breeding Eggoplot, at least it is here in the states. All one person has to do is look nationwide to find a parrot sanctuary, and yes sadly even love birds get displaced either for some human's unfortunate circumstances, some wreckless behavior, abuse, neglect and the poor thing becomes unwanted, so sadly most sanctuaries advocate birdie birth control.

:mad: I did not know of this LadyLynn and reading this makes me both sick and mad.It also makes me verry sad to be a part of a species that can do such a sick thing.Reading this makes me ashamed to be a human beeing.Only verry sick and twisted people can do things like that to animals or indeed any lifeform.Luckily we don´t have anything like this here in Iceland,but then again we are only 330.000 here against millions in the states.Here in Iceland we are wery stricked about things like this.Every year there is an animal convension held here,and a parade were you see ribbons with the slogan " Stopp All Animalcruelty " People go to jail here for few years for animal cruelty.Thank you for shairing this with me LadyLynn and all those sanctuaries have my simpaty,my best wishes and keep up this good work.

so I hope this isn't too confusing for you Eggoplot.

To confuse me you have to do better but I would lift an eyebrow and be a bit confused if you would start a treed telling us you just had laided 6 eggs,and few days later you would inform us they had hatch and you now had 6 chicks

by the way this may seem like a silly question but do you speak also what I've heard another language besides English? Icelandic I believe it is called.


Would you belife me if I told you that here in Iceland we crow.Well didn´t think so.Our language is Icelandic,and here is a small sample to wrap this up.

LadyLynn mig langar til þess að þakka þér þetta frábæra innlegg þitt bæði hér og á öðrum þráðum.Innsæi þitt,ást á dýrum og fróðleikur þinn er aðdáunarverður.Þakka þér vinsemd og hlýju í minn garð það eru forréttindi að fá að tengjast manneskju eins og þér sem lætur sig allt varða er snýr að öllu lífi.Þakka þér fyrir að vera sú sem þú ert og stendur fyrir.Sannur gimsteinn í þessari grimmu mislitu veröld okkar.

:confused: Now I would be mean if I didn´t translate this for you.By the way,my translation cost is $1.
LadyLynn I would like to thank you for you great input both here and in other threeds on this site.Your insight,love for all animals and knowledge is admirable.Thank you for your friendship and kindness towards me, it is a privilege to get to know a person like you who stand up and fight for every kind of life.Thank you for beeing who you are and what you truly stand for,a true diamond in this cruel dapple world of ours.

Baby LadyLynn sitting on my desk is saying " Hvenær kemur hún til Íslands að heimsækja mig?" = When is she going to come to Iceland and visit me.:(

[RedJoy]

lol you guys are so awesome, thank you for the replies. I would never ever ever ever give up on my Bloo, i love her soooo much, I'd never be able to give her away. When it comes to a mate or buddy bird I've decided against it. And the bigger cage isnt really to dump her in when I'm gone but to give her more room in general; hotel rooms are great but if the opportunity came up wouldnt you rather have a suite? she still comes out everyday, whether with me or my dad but her new cage is right next to my desk and computer and its all ways open when im home so she's free to romp around and make trouble like every other birdie in the world. I think I'll keep her old cage in my room so that if she can spend time with me down there before i go to bed.
I think over her life time she'll get a billion new bigger and better cages just because she can and she will always have the whole house to live in.

[Egoplot]

Female Lovebirds specly the youngur ones seams to to have a need for laing eggs but then don´t want to have anything to do with them.When I first starting breeding Lovebirds this happened a lot of times even thouhg I had a pair.Once I took home with me a pritty female always laying eggs opened my home to her and startd to to tame her, make a bond between us us two.That was five years ago.The first three months of that time she laid three eggs.For almost four year and nine months she has not laided a single egg.:)

You rely care for you Bloo,and I think you you have made the right decision.You simply followed your heard keeping what you prolly value most in your life.

You are a true animanlover, and for that you have all my respeckt.Hopefully you and Boo will have many great years togethers.I realy don´t think many kind people like you can be found out theere.:D