Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 10/30/2006

Question
hi thanks for your quick reply, as far as i know there is one female one male and they were a pair before i got them. i have seen blood drawn from the birds fighting and feather s pulled out however by you mentioning nesting i have seen them attemp to mate and i have no nesting box in the cage.most of the time they get on but have these out bursts. i have nt had birds before and found it odd not being able to toutch them or handle them without being bitten. thank you so much for you help as i am at my wits end x  

Answer
Hi again, Diana.  Parrots who are housed together bicker over food, toys, perch space, and who knows what else!  This is normal.  However, if blood is drawn, this is a bit too aggressive.  However, if they are trying to mate, then they must be pair-bonded.  DO NOT put up a nesting box if you don't want them to breed.  Since you bought them as a pair, they likely weren't tame when you bought them.  In order to be tame, they would have had to have been handfed as babies.  However, they could have been handfed as babies, but once they were put together, tameness went away because they had each other and didn't need human companionship any longer.  If you want a tame bird you can handle, buy from a breeder who has handfed the baby and buy the baby as soon as it's weaned.  Also, do not buy 2 birds...as I stated, the best pet bird is a single bird in the home.  With only 1 bird at a time, that bird has to rely on you for companionship.  You will likely not be able to tame this pair down enough to be able to handle them.

If they mate, chances are there will be babies if the eggs are fertile.  Even without a nesting box, they might lay in the cage bottom.  If they do and you don't want any baby birds, you'll need to remove any eggs immediately, boil them for about 5 minutes then replace the eggs under the female once they have cooled down.  OR you can buy fake parrot eggs and replace the real ones with the fake eggs.  Otherwise, babies will arrive.  You would have to handfeed any babies in order to make them tame so you can sell/give them away when they get old enough.  This is a big job and if you don't have the knowledge, you could get stuck with several (up to 6) baby lovebirds that you can't get rid of (because they aren't tame enough to handle).  Much to think about here.

Come back with any questions.

Chrys