Surprise! 4th Bird?

[kaylayuh]

I've been thinking about adding a Lovebird to my flock for a while now, and I may be getting the opportunity. I was reading the classified ads in my newspaper yesterday and a lady had a free creamino Lovebird available. Cage, toys, and food also come with her.

I called the lady and she said someone else did take the bird, but that they were unhappy with her. She's going to be calling me back to see if and when I can pick her up. I wasn't going to be adding to my flock any time soon, but this just seemed way too good to be true.

My boyfriend was completely fine with us having four (or more) birds.. as long as I didn't call him during Survivor. He has taken to calling me a crazy bird lady. I'm tempted to agree!

[Vicki5280]

Lol! Congratulations!! I can't wait to see pictures!

[kaylayuh]

Lol! Congratulations!! I can't wait to see pictures!

It's not super definite yet, but she is going to call me back. Apparently the person who wanted to take her can't deal with her nippiness and noise and just isn't happy. I already moved my cages around and brought out my smaller one and sanitized perches and toys.

If I do get her and have to go pick her up, I probably won't take the cage depending on the size of it.. mostly because I take the bus everywhere and it's much harder to hide a bird in a cage than it is to hide a bird in a box. But I'm hoping they'll want to check out my other birds and make sure she's coming to a good home so I get the cage, too. I always like to have a spare.

[GlassOnion]

Oh my god, reall? Ahahah! Good luck

[Michael]

I called the lady and she said someone else did take the bird, but that they were unhappy with her. She's going to be calling me back to see if and when I can pick her up. I wasn't going to be adding to my flock any time soon, but this just seemed way too good to be true.

Just be careful that it really isn't "too good to be true." Make sure the reason the person is "unhappy with her" is because they suck and not because the bird is extremely problematic. It's totally possible that it just wasn't the right match or the person is inexperienced with birds and doesn't realize that whatever was wrong might be normal. Just be sure that whatever it is that the other person didn't like is something you will find acceptable. Otherwise good luck, let us know how it goes

[kaylayuh]

I called the lady and she said someone else did take the bird, but that they were unhappy with her. She's going to be calling me back to see if and when I can pick her up. I wasn't going to be adding to my flock any time soon, but this just seemed way too good to be true.

Just be careful that it really isn't "too good to be true." Make sure the reason the person is "unhappy with her" is because they suck and not because the bird is extremely problematic. It's totally possible that it just wasn't the right match or the person is inexperienced with birds and doesn't realize that whatever was wrong might be normal. Just be sure that whatever it is that the other person didn't like is something you will find acceptable. Otherwise good luck, let us know how it goes

In talking to the lady, it sounds like the person who took her initially didn't think the bird would bite. The ad in the paper specifically said the bird became overbonded to the girl who owned her first and has a tendency to nip when being improperly handled. As in, if you shove your hand in the cage to grab her, she'll nip. The second owner who took her was a first timer and not prepared to deal with that.

The original owner also said she has a propensity to scream. Then she heard Cheney Bird yelling at the budgies in the background and was surprised a bird could make that sound. Noise doesn't really bother me, and I think lovebird noise is adorable.

It sounds like the people who have her now are just miserable with her and don't want to keep her. I actually hope that's the case so I can finally have my little lovie. She is an egg layer, though, and that makes me nervous. I'm hoping that if I do get her, I can get rid of the nest box they said she loves and decrease her waking time to get her out of it.

[patdbunny]

I have an unreasonable bias against lovebirds. My first bird that I voluntarily bought for myself as a teen was an untame lovebird. I never got it tame. I went back to the stoopid pet store and told them I wanted a companion for the lovebird since I couldn't tame it. They sold me a tiel and said I could toss it into the cage w/ the lovebird and they'd be BFFs. NOT! The lovebird bit pretty much all the toes off the tiel in a matter of seconds. I was FREAKIN' TRAUMATIZED!!

Over the years I've met plenty of really nice tame lovebirds, but I just can't get over my initial dislike of them. They really aren't very friendly towards other birds, so beware of your current flock's toes.

[kaylayuh]

I have an unreasonable bias against lovebirds. My first bird that I voluntarily bought for myself as a teen was an untame lovebird. I never got it tame. I went back to the stoopid pet store and told them I wanted a companion for the lovebird since I couldn't tame it. They sold me a tiel and said I could toss it into the cage w/ the lovebird and they'd be BFFs. NOT! The lovebird bit pretty much all the toes off the tiel in a matter of seconds. I was FREAKIN' TRAUMATIZED!!

Over the years I've met plenty of really nice tame lovebirds, but I just can't get over my initial dislike of them. They really aren't very friendly towards other birds, so beware of your current flock's toes.

What kind of pet store tells you to put a lovebird and a cockatiel in the same cage? I have heard they can be kind of nippy, so I set up this cage away from the others. This bird was actually displaced as favorite bird in favor of a new cockatiel, so I'm not sure how she actually interacts with other birds.

[GlassOnion]

Are you sure you wanna do this? Egg laying *could* be very serious. On my local classifieds, I see baby handfed lovebirds on sale for $40-$80..

Hey, whatever happened to wanting a tiel?

[kaylayuh]

Are you sure you wanna do this? Egg laying *could* be very serious. On my local classifieds, I see baby handfed lovebirds on sale for $40-$80..

Hey, whatever happened to wanting a tiel?

I'm having reservations about the egg laying, but they seem to be promoting it with a nest box and ample nesting materials. I'm thinking that taking the nest box away and decreasing daylight time would fix that. The more I think about it, the more nervous I get.

I'm still torn between the 'tiel and lovebird. I know I'll end up with both eventually, it's just whichever is available first and whichever I bond with and can work with better. I've been eyeing the 'tiel breeders around here and they don't have any of the mutations I'd like. The one that does has a bad outbreak of Giardia, which I know I'm definitely not prepared to deal with.

The lady hasn't called me back yet, so I'm thinking the people who took her yesterday decided they could deal with her. If they did decide to keep her, that's great. I'll just continue to scope out the classifieds and call breeders to find out when/if they get the mutation I want.