Lovebirds
Lovebirds, which originate from Africa and it's surrounding islands, it is beleived, got their name from their fondness of sitting in pairs "cuddling". they stand around 5 inches high and are members of the parrot family. There are nine different species of lovebird and countless mutations or hybrids.

Sexing a lovebird is fairly easy.. in most species and mutations the males will be slightly heavier built with a larger head than the female. The tail of a male when it is opened will fall into a fan-type shape with the center being longer than the edges, where a females tail feathers will be even.. almost square as if someone has got a pair of scissors and cut straight accross.

The cage you keep your lovebird in must be large enough for the bird to stretch its wings and if it is to stay in the cage all the time must be large enough for flight and have at least two perches. 24"x24"x24 being the very smallest for a single lovebird or 36"x36"x24" for two.

Lovebirds are teriffic escape artists and can figure out how to open doors and catches so a padlock on the cage doors is advisable.

If you are intending on keeping several pairs of lovebirds....beware.......do not put two or three pairs of lovebirds together in a cage... keep the pairs separate.....we learnt this lesson the hard way.... each pair will try and become the dominant pair, there will be some very nasty fights and some of the birds will be killed.  At first we thought that a cat had got to them through the cage bars....so we protected them against cats doing this.... then we found out what was really happening..... the pairs were killing other pairs because they wanted to be the dominant ones.  In large outside aviaries with more nestboxes than pairs there should not be much of a problem though... so long as you have ample room for birds to escape attack and more nestboxes than pairs.

Nestboxes should measure 6"x6"x10" and newspaper which they love to shred seems to be a favorite nesting material, which they will fill the box with making a tunnel to a cave-like enclosure in what they consider to be the safest part of the box. Incubation is around 21 days, and both parents feed the young.

Feeding your lovebird is fairly easy...we mix small parrot mixture, finch, and mixed canary seed together and feed alongside loads of fresh fruit and veg, egg food, scrabled or boiled egg (shells as well) millet sprays, they also like cooked pasta, rice, chicken, and whatever else we decide to throw in for good luck.
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