Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 10/31/2006

Question
My lovebirds have 8 eggs they are setting on. I have no idea what to do once, they hatch. I've been watching them closely. The male is feeding the female and she hardly if ever comes out of her box. Do I take the babies out once they hatch, or do I leave them with the mother and father? What kind of food do I buy to feed the babies? I have never had my birds lay eggs before so I don't have any idea what to do. Any help you can give will be appreciated.  

Answer
Hi, Sandy.  Thanks for posting!

The parents will care for their babies.  However, if you want the babies to be tame in order to be able to sell or give them away, you'll need to pull the babies completely from the parents at about 7-10 days of age and handfeed them and wean them.  Information about this can be found on my website:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

You have a WHOLE lot to learn between now and then!  If you don't handfeed them, they will not be tame enough to handle, thus, you likely will not be able to sell/give them away.

It's normal for the male to feed the female, and it's also normal that she hardly comes out of the nesting box.  

If you had no knowledge or idea how to deal with this situation, you shouldn't have put up a nesting box.  The nesting box encouraged their breeding.  The trick is going to be removing the nesting box before the female starts laying eggs again if you don't want them to continue producing babies.  When this should occur depends on if you let the parents raise these babies or if you pull them for handfeeding.

Come back with any questions.

Chrys