Advice for Lovebird cage setup?

[itchyfeet]

Hi guys!

Our daughter is on a waitlist for a hand reared lovebird baby. Just for those who might be reading this and not know our family, she handles our tiel, IRN, and grandparents RB2 and SC2 capably and confidently, is involved with the love and care of them all, and has been saving for well over a year - her parents (us) still have over arching responsibility. Right, now that's out of the way....

I'm out of my depth! We don't have snuggly birds, and I'm trying to help H set up this wee babe's cage. I know happy huts are hotly debated, this isn't a happy hut thread as such, it's more of a ....do lovie's need snuggle/tight space provisions? more than others kinda thread....is there anything that you might do for a lovebird that differs for other birds? I guess conures might be similar?

Thanks team!

 

[ParrotLover2001]

The only thing I find that differs between my lovebird and my tiel and budgie is that she loves to destroy things and hide in things.

So anything that the bird can destroy (like curtain woods) is good. And places they can hide. They need lots of space! Lovies are very active thing buggers.


Sent from my iPod touch

 

[BruceTheQuail]

Our lovies have happy huts. I like them more than nesting boxes because nesting boxes encourage nesting and all of the terrible behaviour that comes with it.

We have found that a single female lovebird does get too needy after a while and it is quite distressing when they pine for you. One of mine used to fly though the house on a search and destroy mission for my wife, because she wanted me all to herself. This drive kicks in at about 6 months or so, and they can become a real handful then but it is only their hormones talking. I'm not sure about boys though. But anyway, I'd plan for 2.

Some of ours used to sneak under the paper in their cage and pop out to surprise you. Aside from the happy huts, I put in cuttings from trees or plam fronds for them to destroy. The expers say that they like cages wider than they are high to fly from side to side, though I have to say that mine are more interested in hopping around and like a high cage. Just as long as it isnt round, of course.

Out of our birds (caiques, lovebirds, eclectus, previously galahs) I think that the lovies are closest to caiques. Really, they do pretty much everything that the bigger birds do (save talking) and are absolutely packed with personality, in a more convenient size. The hens do bite very hard, and can draw blood, so be careful especially if they get the nesting drive.