New Lovebird owner!

[Spawnz]

Hello i just got a new lovebird from my mother who she said its about 7 to 8 weeks old but i think its older. the gender of the bird is unknown but according to my mother the best thing to do for the bird was to clip its wings so i did. but before we clipped it, it was waaay too aggressive, now its not that bad its just scared mostly. After all of this i found this forum and realized i was doing EVERTHING WRONG! My mothers family is from the carribean islands and they do things "differently" down there with their animals. They just grab their birds handle them that way aggressively and this is how i was taught to handle them too. Of course eventually the bird would get used to my mothers hands that way but i feel it is out of fear. SO i am deciding to start from the beginning and get away with all the bad habits i did with my lovebird. I read your taming and basic training guide and im going to try the clicker method, however my main question is: IS IT NORMAL FOR MY LOVIE TO BE EATING SO MUCH?? i mean i can fill its food cup thingy and then come home its empty. What would you suggest i feed it ?
Thanks in advanced love this forum learning so much!

OH i forgot to mention its a peach-faced lovebird from my research.
Sorry for any typos are missunderstanding i hope this all makes sense

[Andromeda]

Congratulations on your new lovebird! The first bird I ever owned was a peach-faced lovebird; they are really beautiful birds.

Generally speaking, if you offer it healthy food, a bird will not over-eat and will only eat as much as it needs to sustain a healthy weight. That being said, if you offer it tasty but unhealthy or fattening food, it can over-eat and gain weight.

For example: when I first adopted my green cheek conure he was not overweight but he was being fed a seed mix (by his first owner) and I noticed he was picking out all the sunflower seeds and leaving the healthier options alone. Sunflower seeds are good as a treat now and then but he was eating far too many.

I switched his main diet (you have to do it slowly over a week, several weeks, or longer) to pellets. The pellets I feed my birds are Harrison's Bird Food; it was recommended by my avian vet and I like them because they are organic and have no added preservatives, food coloring or dyes. Other brands of pellets are Roudybush, Zupreeme, and Lafeber.

In addition to pellets you will want to offer fruits and vegetables everyday. This helps keep the diet varied and also helps keep the bird from becoming bored with its diet. Vitamin A and Calcium are very important so I try to feed at least 1 source of it per day. Fruit is sugary so offer it in smaller quantities. Apples, papaya (Vitamin A), strawberries, grapes, bananas, oranges, pineapple, etc. Dried fruit is good, too. Vegetables can be used in larger quantities. Broccoli, spinach (Calcium), cooked sweet potatoes (Vitamin A), carrots (Vitamin A), green beans, green peppers, cooked potatoes, etc.

When you feed fresh fruit or vegetables be sure to remove it after an hour or so because if it sits for too long it will start growing bacteria. If you're not going to be home for a while (work, etc.) you can feed dried fruit or vegetables instead.

You can feed nuts and millet in small amounts as a treat. Small birds LOVE millet.

Never feed chocolate, onion, alcohol, caffeine, apple seeds, mushrooms, dairy, or avocado as they are all toxic or potentially toxic.

If your bird is only used to seed it might not eat fruit or vegetables at first. Just keep offering them every day. If/when you switch to pellets as the main diet you have to slowly offer it along with the food they already eat and then gradually you phase out the first food. Most pellet manufacturers have instructions on exactly how to do this.

A great thing to do is to buy a small postal scale or a kitchen food scale that measures in grams and weigh your bird every day. That way you can see if it's gaining too much weight, or loosing too much weight (an indication of illness).

Lastly, since your bird is new, it's a good idea to take it to an avian vet at some point (if you haven't already) for a well check just to make sure it's healthy. You can find a list of avian vets here.

I hope this helps! I'm sure other people will offer their suggestions as well.

[Spawnz]

THANKS ALOT! Yeah i am researching now and some say when lovebirds are young its ok for them to eat more often. But he is on a seed diet right now because my mom used that and is not used to pellets yet but im going to try to switch over to pellets tomorrow in the morning. I just bought a bag of zupreem and it looks good and natural. I tried handfeeding to it but it just dropped it. Do you think pellets might be too big? Do you think i should should grind it and mix it with the seeds? AND about the millet do u think it would like it more when shes or he is on the pellet diet because the seeds im feeding the little lovie now said it has millet in it.

sorry for so many questions im a complete newbie lol .

I really appreciate this by the way. Ive asked question through youtube, other forums, etc and no one has even answered. THANKS

[cml]

Hello i just got a new lovebird from my mother who she said its about 7 to 8 weeks old but i think its older. the gender of the bird is unknown but according to my mother the best thing to do for the bird was to clip its wings so i did. but before we clipped it, it was waaay too aggressive, now its not that bad its just scared mostly. After all of this i found this forum and realized i was doing EVERTHING WRONG! My mothers family is from the carribean islands and they do things "differently" down there with their animals. They just grab their birds handle them that way aggressively and this is how i was taught to handle them too. Of course eventually the bird would get used to my mothers hands that way but i feel it is out of fear. SO i am deciding to start from the beginning and get away with all the bad habits i did with my lovebird. I read your taming and basic training guide and im going to try the clicker method, however my main question is: IS IT NORMAL FOR MY LOVIE TO BE EATING SO MUCH?? i mean i can fill its food cup thingy and then come home its empty. What would you suggest i feed it ?
Thanks in advanced love this forum learning so much!

OH i forgot to mention its a peach-faced lovebird from my research.
Sorry for any typos are missunderstanding i hope this all makes sense

I think its great that you have found your way here and want to start over in a more positive way with your bird =). Welcome to the forum, I hope and think you will find that its a great place to get help, share ideas, get experience and later on help others!

Good luck with your bird

[Andromeda]

An all-seed diet is usually deficient in certain vitamins and minerals so it's great that you're going to switch your bird to pellets. Don't expect her (him?) to want to eat them right away. If she does, great, but it's more likely that it will take time and you want to make sure in the meantime she's getting enough food since she's a growing bird even if that means feeding mostly seed for a few weeks while you're converting her to pellets.

There's a lot of information on the internet about how to switch your bird's diet; here's a site with some suggestions: How to Switch Your Bird's Diet: Slow and Steady. Here's another: Switching Your Bird from Seeds to Pellets.

Zupreem makes a few different kinds of pellets. They make one that has dye and flavoring and they also make a natural version that has no preservatives or artificial coloring. There are different sizes for different types of birds; for your lovebird you'll either want the "small" or the "medium" (depending on what you bird prefers). If the bag you bought is for larger birds (and you can't return it) you can just break it up into smaller pieces.

When the bird is on a pellet diet yes, it will be more excited to receive something like millet because it no longer has access to it all day long. You might even want to reserve millet as something you only use during clicker training. The more a bird likes a given food the harder it will "work" to get it!

Don't apologize for the questions; I think it's great that you're trying to learn all you can about taking care of your new bird! Glad to help.

Since you're new to bird ownership here's a link to a site listing bird dangers: Top Ten Bird & Parrot Dangers.

Birds have extremely sensitive respiratory systems and things that don't bother other pets can kill birds. The biggest danger of all is PTFE, a non-stick coating (brand name Teflon). PTFE fumes that you can't smell can and will kill your bird (sometimes in minutes), even if it's across the house from the source of the fumes. You can prevent this from happening by being aware of the danger and taking steps to ensure safety.

Also, you'd be surprised just how many household items have PTFE coatings these days; it's not just non-stick cookware.

One note: the "dangers" site I linked lists "unclipped wings" as a danger and yes, there is potential for serious injuries or death (mirrors, ceiling fans, windows) but some people flight train their birds and don't clip their wings at all. Whether or not you want to have a flighted bird is your decision and should be based on both the bird's personality/level of tameness and the layout of your house or apartment.

[Spawnz]

An all-seed diet is usually deficient in certain vitamins and minerals so it's great that you're going to switch your bird to pellets. Don't expect her (him?) to want to eat them right away. If she does, great, but it's more likely that it will take time and you want to make sure in the meantime she's getting enough food since she's a growing bird even if that means feeding mostly seed for a few weeks while you're converting her to pellets.

There's a lot of information on the internet about how to switch your bird's diet; here's a site with some suggestions: How to Switch Your Bird's Diet: Slow and Steady. Here's another: Switching Your Bird from Seeds to Pellets.

Zupreem makes a few different kinds of pellets. They make one that has dye and flavoring and they also make a natural version that has no preservatives or artificial coloring. There are different sizes for different types of birds; for your lovebird you'll either want the "small" or the "medium" (depending on what you bird prefers). If the bag you bought is for larger birds (and you can't return it) you can just break it up into smaller pieces.

When the bird is on a pellet diet yes, it will be more excited to receive something like millet because it no longer has access to it all day long. You might even want to reserve millet as something you only use during clicker training. The more a bird likes a given food the harder it will "work" to get it!

Don't apologize for the questions; I think it's great that you're trying to learn all you can about taking care of your new bird! Glad to help.

Since you're new to bird ownership here's a link to a site listing bird dangers: Top Ten Bird & Parrot Dangers.

Birds have extremely sensitive respiratory systems and things that don't bother other pets can kill birds. The biggest danger of all is PTFE, a non-stick coating (brand name Teflon). PTFE fumes that you can't smell can and will kill your bird (sometimes in minutes), even if it's across the house from the source of the fumes. You can prevent this from happening by being aware of the danger and taking steps to ensure safety.

Also, you'd be surprised just how many household items have PTFE coatings these days; it's not just non-stick cookware.

One note: the "dangers" site I linked lists "unclipped wings" as a danger and yes, there is potential for serious injuries or death (mirrors, ceiling fans, windows) but some people flight train their birds and don't clip their wings at all. Whether or not you want to have a flighted bird is your decision and should be based on both the bird's personality/level of tameness and the layout of your house or apartment.

Thanks a whole bunch. I mixed the pellets in with the seeds this morning he or she just completely ignored it.. but Just one more question (for now ) about how full do you fill its food cup

*edit - thanks for the info on the dangers! you are truely amazing! <3

[Andromeda]

Thanks a whole bunch. I mixed the pellets in with the seeds this morning he or she just completely ignored it.. but Just one more question (for now ) about how full do you fill its food cup

She or he probably won't want the pellets at first. They're new and birds are sticklers for the familiar. Give it time and try some of the suggestions that are out there on the internet and in a few weeks or a month or two you'll have her converted.

It's hard to say how much a lovebird will eat since it's partially based on what you are feeding her. She's a growing bird and she should have food available at all times since she's young. If the cup is empty when you get home, definitely give her more food in the morning.

You could try one of two things: increase it by a little each morning until you see that there is only a small amount left at the end of the day or just double what you've been giving her and since that will probably be too much see what's left and feed a little less the next day.