New here, parrot toppling it's feeding bowls

[deepakeapen]

Hey guys, I am a new member from Pune, India. I have 2 African Lovebirds, one of them is very naughty, it topples the bowls and the spills over the water and feed in just few minutes of keeping it. Is there any solution for this?

Thanks in advance,
Deepak.

[Eric&Rebecca]

You need a better cage/fixtures or a weightier bowl that cannot be toppled, particularly with larger birds this is an essential. The bowls you are using sound to flimsy... I would get something that has a fixture so it can't be removed or perhaps feed from a platform so that the food is not served in a bowl.

Eating from bowls isn't natural behaviour... I feed all mine from platforms which encourage their ground forgaging behaviours.

[deepakeapen]

You need a better cage/fixtures or a weightier bowl that cannot be toppled, particularly with larger birds this is an essential. The bowls you are using sound to flimsy... I would get something that has a fixture so it can't be removed or perhaps feed from a platform so that the food is not served in a bowl.

Eating from bowls isn't natural behaviour... I feed all mine from platforms which encourage their ground forgaging behaviours.

Thanks a lot for your advise. I some how resolved the issue by fixing the bowls using clothes-pegs .

[deepakeapen]

There is one more problem too, the naughty bird that topples the bowls is also very aggressive and tries to bite my finger when i try to get my hand closer to the cage. Is it because some birds are territorial? The aggressive one is a female i think.

Thanks in advance.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Be careful with the metal/plastic in the clothes pegs if the metal becomes rusty or the plastic has certain colourings it can be toxic to your bird. Your best to use stainless steel millet clips for this instead of clothes pegs. You can double it up by hanging fresh leaves from them for your birds to eat

He's probably either scared of hands (if not tame) or he's overly protective of food and the age environment. This is known as cage aggression which can be resolved by long term training and taming.

Do the birds come out everyday for plenty of exercise?- this is another factor is cage aggression, if the bird doesn't spend enough time outside the cage they can become aggressive in this environment. This is known as cage bound.

Also, are the birds clipped?- this can also be linked to aggression.

The diet- seed diets are incredibly bad for your bird and can cause hormonal and behavioural difficulties. Larger birds should have predominantly fresh diets, with small amount of seeds and if easier for you pellets (these aren't everyone's choice but they help you along and I've seen great results with TOPS pellets.)

Are your birds a breeding pair?- this can cause protective aggression.

If this is an issue I would certainly get them checked out by an AVIAN VET for any hormonal or abnormalities

[deepakeapen]

Thanks a lot for your advise. I'll try to implement them as soon as possible.

BTW what do you think should be the ideal size of a cage for a pair of African Lovebirds? Different people suggest different dimensions. I think the cage that I currently have is too restricted.

I saw a cage in an online pet store which is 24" (length) x 16" (breadth) x 16" (height), would it be comfortable for 2 birds?

Thank you,
Deepak.

Be careful with the metal/plastic in the clothes pegs if the metal becomes rusty or the plastic has certain colourings it can be toxic to your bird. Your best to use stainless steel millet clips for this instead of clothes pegs. You can double it up by hanging fresh leaves from them for your birds to eat

He's probably either scared of hands (if not tame) or he's overly protective of food and the age environment. This is known as cage aggression which can be resolved by long term training and taming.

Do the birds come out everyday for plenty of exercise?- this is another factor is cage aggression, if the bird doesn't spend enough time outside the cage they can become aggressive in this environment. This is known as cage bound.

Also, are the birds clipped?- this can also be linked to aggression.

The diet- seed diets are incredibly bad for your bird and can cause hormonal and behavioural difficulties. Larger birds should have predominantly fresh diets, with small amount of seeds and if easier for you pellets (these aren't everyone's choice but they help you along and I've seen great results with TOPS pellets.)

Are your birds a breeding pair?- this can cause protective aggression.

If this is an issue I would certainly get them checked out by an AVIAN VET for any hormonal or abnormalities

[Pajarita]

No, that cage is too small. My male canaries, which are housed separately have bigger cages than that. You need a flight cage for two lovebirds.

And yes, female lovies are very territorial -so much so that they would hurt and even kill another female and even the male if they are in a cage that is too small for them so get them a flight cage and let them out to fly every day soon as you can. You will never get her to stop her cage-aggression because this is instinctual behavior (they associate cage with nest and so they protect it from all intruders) but you can diminish it (and, at the same time, keep them healthy and happy) if you let them out to fly. Another thing you need to do with lovies is keep them to a strict solar schedule or you can end up with birds that pluck, mutilate or become chronic egg layers (lovebirds are one of the most hormonal species there is).

Seeds are OK to feed but it has to be a good quality mix with no sunflowers (too much fat) and only for dinner (lovebirds don't do well on pellets). For breakfast you should offer a dish made out of cooked whole grains (brown rice, oats, wheat, barley, quinoa, spelt, kamut) mixed with cooked/diced/chopped vegetables and raw produce (they are good fruit and leafy green eaters).

[deepakeapen]

Alright will try to follow your guidelines, thanks. What should be the ideal cage size then? Can you give me the dimensions also?

Regards,
Deepak

No, that cage is too small. My male canaries, which are housed separately have bigger cages than that. You need a flight cage for two lovebirds.

And yes, female lovies are very territorial -so much so that they would hurt and even kill another female and even the male if they are in a cage that is too small for them so get them a flight cage and let them out to fly every day soon as you can. You will never get her to stop her cage-aggression because this is instinctual behavior (they associate cage with nest and so they protect it from all intruders) but you can diminish it (and, at the same time, keep them healthy and happy) if you let them out to fly. Another thing you need to do with lovies is keep them to a strict solar schedule or you can end up with birds that pluck, mutilate or become chronic egg layers (lovebirds are one of the most hormonal species there is).

Seeds are OK to feed but it has to be a good quality mix with no sunflowers (too much fat) and only for dinner (lovebirds don't do well on pellets). For breakfast you should offer a dish made out of cooked whole grains (brown rice, oats, wheat, barley, quinoa, spelt, kamut) mixed with cooked/diced/chopped vegetables and raw produce (they are good fruit and leafy green eaters).

[Eric&Rebecca]

Yes I agree that's far too small even for one bird! For lovies you need the cage to be

1/2" bar spacing (no larger because its dangerous)
Have horizontal bars- lovies climb so a vertical bar cage is not good enough
At least 3 times the dimensions you said about that cage online or better still a large flight cage.

If you can't accommodate a flight cage then the birds will need far more out of cage time and something like a Montana San Remo Mini or full size San Remo. I have 2 cockatiels in the Montana San Remo mini but they spend a lot of time outside and its basically for sleeping/eating and when we are out/cooking/ cleaning.

Please always check the bar spacing on larger cages, I have problems getting large cages but with the small bar spacings for my parakeets but they are available.

[deepakeapen]

Thank you very much indeed for your reply. But I cannot see the dimensions, i am afraid you missed out on that. Will definitely ensure the bar spacing. Btw what do you think about this flight cage dimension?

32" Long, 24" High and 24" Deep. Is that good enough for a pair?

Regards,
Deepak.

Yes I agree that's far too small even for one bird! For lovies you need the cage to be

1/2" bar spacing (no larger because its dangerous)
Have horizontal bars- lovies climb so a vertical bar cage is not good enough
At least 3 times the dimensions you said about that cage online or better still a large flight cage.

If you can't accommodate a flight cage then the birds will need far more out of cage time and something like a Montana San Remo Mini or full size San Remo. I have 2 cockatiels in the Montana San Remo mini but they spend a lot of time outside and its basically for sleeping/eating and when we are out/cooking/ cleaning.

Please always check the bar spacing on larger cages, I have problems getting large cages but with the small bar spacings for my parakeets but they are available.