Are lovies okay if "alone"?

[Pureblood]

Hey guys,

so I got a pair of lovies quite some time ago and one passed away because of an injury (long story) and I decided to get the remaining lovie a friend. It ended up with him getting two new friends (big mistake it seems...) and after the initial meetings and a few quarrels, they seemed fine. However, they never groomed him, snuggled with him... the two were a pair, but he was an extra.

Now recently one of the two started harassing him, chasing him away and just today it bit him on the foot and drew some blood. My cage is big and has a separator in the middle that can be added/removed so I immediately put it in and separated him alone and the pair together, for good this time. I did attempt to separate once or twice before but they always seemed to calm down after a few days.

Now I'm wondering if he'll be okay "alone" this way?
On one side he has them and on the other I have a cage with 2 budgies, so he can still communicate and see them, (without a risk of injury this time, and they'll still hang out when they'll be out flying) and just now the pair and him are closer to one another then they ever were and one is even offering to feed him through the separator, so what the hell is going on? They have been separated before, as I said, for some quarrels and did the same thing so I KNOW if I remove the separator they'll be after him even though they seem cudly now.

He is very sweet and is the tamest of the three and he's a bit docile so the two can easily push him around. He was bred at a friend's home in a small arrangement, and the two came from a breeder who had many of them so their taught behavior is a bit different from the beginning.

I am not willing to adopt the pair out because I know how people treat birds here in my country so a chance of getting them a good, caring and loving home TOGETHER is really a slim one :/ And I don't want to get the alone one a new lovie because now I'm intimidated how he would be with that one... maybe a hand-raised young one? I don't know...

 

[ChristaNL]

I know it is almost a tradition to keep "lovebirds" together - that is the public picture you see everywhere.
In reality there are so many of those birds who just will not or cannot get along with a partner it drives their parronts/ caregivers up the wall.


There a *so* many stories of people who start out with 2 babies who cant get along when they mature, so there is an effort to find partners/ friends for the first 'couple', sometimes it works out, most of the time at least one of the original pair rejects the new bird as well, so there is the original bird and the new bird who are "all alone" so more lovies come in the house.... etc.etc.etc..
-> heartbreak and mayhem as well as the fun and joy.
And there will always be at least one bird left out of the pairing off-game.



If your solo-bird is not really uncomfortable I think I would let it go at that: make him your special bird, the one that gets more human-interactiontime. He is surrounded by family, there is a lot going on all day - so he won't be bored or pine away if you are not there all the time.


Better to be seperated than beaten up or worse by the couple that do get along.


(my 2 cents)

 

[brighterdaysaviary]

Birds are just like people, they don't get along with everyone they met.

They may never like each other, or they may grow to love each other. It's all a risk when introducing lovebirds to one another.

As long as your lovebird gets plenty of human interaction and love from you I think he will be fine. Also, everyone once in a while I would let our your three lovebirds out in a neutral place and see how they interact.

 

[Pureblood]

Thanks guys!

All 5 birds play nice when out of the cages (even lovies with budgies) so I guess that is the way it's gonna be from now on