Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 5/19/2007

Question
A friend gave me a pair of lovebirds last oct. after two tries, one at christmas and end of march. we have one successful baby. they are taking good care of it. i just wanted to know when what age the baby needs to be for me to take the nesting box off and put the baby in the cage. the baby was born April 28, or 29th, has its feathers now and is getting big. i will not be hand raising it. i'm leaving that for the parents. i just let my adults out of the cage once this week and once last week. i think they will start needing exercise and getting out of cage and they don't fly very high, but when their heart beats a little i let them go back in. is that ok? being parents they still eat the sprigs of seeds out of my hand. don't know if they the parents were ever hand raised, but they come to me and talk to me and seem like they would be easily to train. thanks for your advice

Answer
Hi, Debbie.

Since you won't be handfeeding/handraising the baby, you shouldn't remove the nesting box or the baby until the baby leaves the nesting box on its own and learns how to eat and drink on its own.  The parents will teach the baby all these things.  However, as soon as the baby leaves the nesting box, take the box down or your female will go to nest again.  Don't remove the baby to a separate cage until it learns what it needs to learn from the parents.  Your birds need exercise every day, not just once a week.  They can get exercise in their cage just by flapping their wings vigorously whenever they need to, although letting them fly around is better exercise.  They breathe heavily/heart beats fast because they are not getting enough exercise.  It's like you and I...when we are out of shape and then exert ourselves, we tend to breathe harder/heart beats faster.  But when we get regular exercise, we don't have this problem.

Chrys