Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 8/3/2006

Question
Dear Chrys:

My daughter was given a single peach face lovebird about two years ago.  And like most kids, she has ignored it ever since. I personally don't have much interest in birds, so it doesn't get much attention from anyone. The bird has a large cage and a variety of toys I change frequently but I can't let it out because we also have a young cat looking for a free lunch. I want to know what is the best thing to do for it.  Should we try to get a companion lovebird (although I'm not thrilled about cleaning two cages if it doesn't work out)?  If so, how should I go about bringing the two together?  Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

Answer
Hi, Linda.  Thanks for posting.

I think the best thing for you to do in your situation is to find another good home for this lovebird, since no one in your home has a desire to interact with the bird.  You can buy another lovebird, but then, like you say, you'll have 2 lovebirds to clean up after!  Since birds prefer other birds to humans, your lovebird would most likely not want anything to do with your family once the new bird were introduced.  In addition, you take the chance of having a pair of lovebirds (male & female) who would pair-bond and possibly lay eggs/hatch offspring.  

If you decide to purchase another lovebird, you can either locate another lovebird around the same age as your current lovebird or buy a just-weaned, handfed baby you could raise to be the way you want.  However, a new, young lovebird would likely meet the same fate as the current lovebird, and then you'd be in the same boat with 2 lovebirds.  I'm assuming the current lovebird isn't tame??  Even a new, tame lovebird would most likely loose it's tameness after a while with no daily interaction with it's human companions, especially if there's another bird in the home that isn't tame.  There's 2 ways you can introduce new parrots to one another, depending on the personalities of the birds involved.  You can set them next to each other in separate cages until they get used to each other and them put them together in a neutral cage OR put them together from the start and see what happens between the 2 birds.  In the latter case, you would need to supervise the birds continually in the beginning to ensure they are compatible with one another...just because we put 2 birds together, doesn't mean they will be compatible with each other.  They might fight/argue at first or they may act like they've known each other for years...it just depends on the individual birds.

Come back if you have additional questions.

Chrys