by Shelby » Wed Nov 16, 2011 3:57 pm
Where do you live? In lots of places, it is ILLEGAL to sell an unweaned bird. It is generally agreed that hand-feeding a baby bird yourself does not guarantee it will bond to you. There are lots of parent-raised birds who are handled from a young age and are quite tame, even though the parents fed them. What is your experience hand-feeding baby birds? It is very risky, because it is hard to tell if they are full or not, and it is very easy to accidentally asphyxiate a baby bird by not feeding it just right. If you don't have much previous experience with birds, and are not very familiar with the hand-feeding/weaning process, I recommend you take the bird back to the breeder and wait until it has been weaned to bring it home. There are too many unnecessary risks in trying to hand-feed a bird, just to make it like you.
To answer your questions, birds should not be forced to wean. I am not sure of the average age that baby lovebirds start wanting to eat seeds/pellets/veggies, but I do know that you should not force them to wean. When they are fully weaned, you should introduce lots of new healthy foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc. Baby birds are more likely to try new things than older birds, and thus less likely to become finicky eaters or only want to eat what is bad for them.
As far as training goes, start young desensitizing it to people. Get it used to being held and given treats by people other than yourself. Let it play with lots of new kinds of toys and if it is scared of something, go slow and let it realize that the thing it is scared of is ok so the bird won't develop phobias later. Gently get it used to being touched all over, so that when you take it to the vet for check-ups, the bird is already used to having its wings opened and being touched everywhere. It will make going to the vet less stressful for both of you. Make sure it is not scared of towels. As it gets older, play with it on and near towels, giving it treats so if you ever need to towel the bird, it won't freak out.
I don't know the minimum recommended cage size for lovebirds. They are the size of budgies but seem more active, so I think you should use something bigger than the minimum size for a budgie cage.
