Aggressive female lovebird attacking other lovebirds

[gusandjohn]

Hi my daughter has 2 pairs of lovebirds each pair in their own cage. The first pair she got were from another home and they warned us the female is aggressive towards hands in her cage. No big deal they had their first clutch and the female got nasty she poked a hole in one babies head, and beat up her mate she chewed both sides of his wings. Those wounds healed fine she stopped for abit than we kept a female baby and got her a male mate they live in their own cage but whenever she gets near her daughters mate she tries to kill him. He keeps going back though he will fly over to her cage and she will bite his feet badly, over told my daughter cover her cage when he’s out and she’s finally listening, but it gets worse she had another clutch and one day we found she killed 3 of 4 babies and chewed up her mates wings again. Now she’s had her third clutch since we have had them and luckily no babies are injured this time but her mate once again has taken the same abuse chewed up wings. These clutches are spaced about 6 months apart each time. She is a super smart bird very cute and funny towards humans except you can’t go near her when she’s in her cage she will draw blood. But she learns sounds instantly and loves to interact with humans. Is she crazy? I’m so sick of her injuring her mate he’s a sweet gentle boy and i’m really worried about these attacks on his wings since it’s always the same spots she goes for. I don’t know what to do about this and i’ve heard you shouldn’t separate a bonded pair of lovebirds but it might need to happen, she has done this when she’s not laying eggs so it’s an ongoing problem.

 

[clark_conure]

I know nothing about this species but hang in there; we have a huge community that may be able to help so I'm posting to give this a bump to the top of the active board again as this is a serious issue... someone can help.

I wish I could help but this is beyond my knowledge level. A bump is the best I can; at most it will be about 24 hours before an expert or at the least very smart/knowledgeable person comes on and has at least some sort of explanation or advice.

 

[ChristaNL]

So Sorry, this is probably going to sound anything but nice... but why are you breeding with an agressive lovebird in the first place?

It is a character-flaw that gets passed on, and the world *really* does not need more of those!
If you do not want to change anything...
at least : Boil those eggs!

And of course you seperate birds when one of them is mutilating the other!!
That is just common sense.

The fact they have the nickname "love-bird" or "inseperables" does not mean it is true!
This is a species with a LOT of aggression (partly because they are bred for colour, not manners/ good personality) in them, so it is up to the humans to no longer cage them together.

Once a motherbird starts mutilating/killing the young on a regular base --> no more breeding.

 

[itzjbean]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

As you have experienced first hand, birds have their own personalities and some just end up aggressive towards other birds, even their mates and babies, when allowed to breed and incubate eggs. Lovebirds can be especially hormonal and nippy in breeding season, so taking away her stimulants will be your best option.

You need to stop letting this female have clutch after clutch and take away the nestbox, take away all opportunities to incubate any eggs laid and boil or throw away any eggs laid so she doesn't hurt or kill any more young. This female should not be breeding or passing on her aggression like this.

They can be perfectly happy without nesting and raising young, sounds like she needs to retire from rearing young, as she is obviously not well suited for raising young as she is mutilating her babies and attacking her mate. Don't let her have any more babies. Whenever other birds are out of their cages, cover the top of her cage with a towel, it just needs to protect the other bids walking around on her cage. Additionally, she should not be allowed around other birds at all if she is picking fights while out of the cage, too.

 

[LordTriggs]

yeah she needs to be separated before she kills your other love birds. She's proven to be a danger being she's killed a load of her babies. It wont kill her being away from the rest but she's probably going to throw an almighty tantrum.

Outside of that remove the nest boxes and don't let them continuously breed, it's not something they should be doing every 6 months. Especially if you want them as pets just keep any "nest" or dark sheltered spot away from them because their hormones will go ballistic and will cause a lot of their biting.

 

[Betrisher]

my daughter has 2 pairs of lovebirds each pair in their own cage. The first pair she got were from another home and they warned us the female is aggressive towards hands in her cage. No big deal they had their first clutch and the female got nasty she poked a hole in one babies head, and beat up her mate she chewed both sides of his wings. Those wounds healed fine she stopped for a bit than we kept a female baby and got her a male mate they live in their own cage but whenever she gets near her daughters mate she tries to kill him. He keeps going back though he will fly over to her cage and she will bite his feet badly, over told my daughter cover her cage when he’s out and she’s finally listening, but it gets worse she had another clutch and one day we found she killed 3 of 4 babies and chewed up her mates wings again. Now she’s had her third clutch since we have had them and luckily no babies are injured this time but her mate once again has taken the same abuse chewed up wings. These clutches are spaced about 6 months apart each time.

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! We had a little lovebird who suddenly began doing exactly the same sorts of things. Our situation ended tragically and I hope some of us can come up with some real help so that yours doesn't as well!

Some may criticise you for not having known what to do (by osmosis? by divine inspiration?, by activating your dormant lovebird-whisperer gene?). Sadly, it doesn't work like that. If you've never seen this behaviour before, it catches you on the hop and the sweet, funny bird you once had is now a massive liability and a real danger to your other lovies.

I believe it's all to do with the onset of sexual maturity or with a sudden hefty rush of hormones that's out-of-the-ordinary for your bird. Whatever the cause is, you need to take action quickly to prevent disaster.

She is a super smart bird very cute and funny towards humans except you can’t go near her when she’s in her cage she will draw blood. But she learns sounds instantly and loves to interact with humans. Is she crazy? I’m so sick of her injuring her mate he’s a sweet gentle boy and i’m really worried about these attacks on his wings since it’s always the same spots she goes for. I don’t know what to do about this and i’ve heard you shouldn’t separate a bonded pair of lovebirds but it might need to happen, she has done this when she’s not laying eggs so it’s an ongoing problem.

Yes. The dilemma of what to do for the best is awful, isn't it? When you're faced with what manifests as a life-or-death situation, you tend to lose your capacity for rational thought and simply drop into putting-out-bushfires mode. At least, that's what I did at first. I guess if you step back from the situation, a few things stand out.

i) You need to protect the other birds immediately from this little one. That might mean putting her into a cage alone or even trying to rehome her (knowing full-well what kind of bird she is).

ii) You need to try and prevent her being broody and nesty and sexually 'ready'. That means removing all shreddable materials from her cage and not making any small, dark spaces where she could conceivably hide and nest. Keeping her away from the males (and that would include putting her where she can't even hear them) would probably help a lot.

iii) What to do about the eggs? You might or might not know that it's not OK to allow a hen to lay as many eggs as she can. Each clutch costs her considerable nourishment to produce and, just like a pregnant woman, it takes a toll on her own body. Sterile eggs can be left with her for a period, because while she's sitting on them she's not making any more. The time will come, though, when she realises they're duds and will lay again. Eventually, she'll be weakened so that she becomes unable to pass an egg (egg-bound). That can be fatal unless you catch the condition quickly and get immediate help.

If you allow her to raise her fertile eggs, you'll wind up with more pairs of birds that carry this ultra-hormonal trait. I'm guessing you wouldn't really want that? Any of her offspring could wind up to be just like she is: how will you house them? Who will give them a home? Where/how will they end up? It's probably better not to allow her to raise offspring at all, IMHO. Off course, it's your bird and your decision.

iv) What to do with the singleton male? Who knows? It sounds as though the little female could probably live happily alone, interacting daily with the human family. But do you have the space and the time (and the inclination) to care for *two* birds separately at that level?

In an ideal world, I'd get another small aviary and make a second colony of peachfaces, one of which would be my singleton male. In the real world, I haven't got the space or the time to clean yet another cage (got four cages to clean already). I've tried to find another home for Pineapple, but frankly, he's extremely undesirable to anyone but us.

You ask 'is she crazy?' Perhaps she is, poor little thing. All I can think of is to keep her so busy in her cage that she hasn't got time to plan a nest or lay an egg. By that, I mean making her search for her food by hiding it in her cage (folded into paper bundles, put inside foraging toys - see our section on DYI and Foraging Toys, hidden between leaves of paper in a 'book', buried under paper balls or toys). I've heard it suggested that you can physically fill her cage so full of toys and (safe) branches that it's an effort for her to move around it, thus keeping her busy making her way about. That sounds cruel to me, though, and it's not something I would try. YMMV, though.

Do you have a family member with the time or inclination to trick train her? If she spends much of her time out-of-cage learning tricks and being a human companion, she may not revert to her hormonal overload? I don't know... I just wish a workable solution had occurred to me soon enough.

I wish you the very best with your bird! I absolutely know how non-plussed you must be feeling and I hope you find something useful from one of the posts to help you improve things. Please let us know what you decide to do and keep us updated on your progress.

Betrisher