Story time!
My friend was recently telling me how she constantly heard a bird chirping near her house recently. She investigated and found a peach-faced love bird in a very bare cage at someone's back yard patio (it was screened) looking quite bored. As she knew I was heavily involved in bird rescues/owning birds, she contacted me and we both went to visit the bird for a few days, whistling and observing it. I was further concerned it was on an all seed diet and the cage looked increasingly unclean. It only had a single perch, the standard one that came with cages.
My friend and I decided to build a care package for the bird including millet/toys/perches. We learned the family got the bird from another friend (who may have been a breeder?) and the mother of the household was the most experienced with birds but she was rarely home. The son was scared to play with the bird as it bit him and was not very friendly in general.
They suggested to my friend to take the bird but as her father is very against pets, she couldn't. I couldn't either as my home is already full of two big needy birds. Instead they agreed to let us come to their patio anytime to take care of the bird and socialize it. We re-decorated the cage with many new natural perches, some bells, and a chew toy. He almost half destroyed a birdie kabob chew toy in one day! We were happy to see the bird much more active.
The bird's name is Pikachu (lol). Pikachu is a bit weary of hands, but is not outright aggressive towards them. Pikachu's a pretty young bird so I'm sure we can work on this. I've never raised a lovebird before, but I figure it can't be too different from my other birds. And it's easier in a way, because costs/time is split between my friend (25%), the parrot's family (50%), and myself (25%)
Tomorrow we plan on trying to bribe Pikachu to socialize with tantalizing treats...apparently the bird has never had millet? I'm also bringing some other veggies/fruit for it to try. Wish us luck!
My friend was recently telling me how she constantly heard a bird chirping near her house recently. She investigated and found a peach-faced love bird in a very bare cage at someone's back yard patio (it was screened) looking quite bored. As she knew I was heavily involved in bird rescues/owning birds, she contacted me and we both went to visit the bird for a few days, whistling and observing it. I was further concerned it was on an all seed diet and the cage looked increasingly unclean. It only had a single perch, the standard one that came with cages.
My friend and I decided to build a care package for the bird including millet/toys/perches. We learned the family got the bird from another friend (who may have been a breeder?) and the mother of the household was the most experienced with birds but she was rarely home. The son was scared to play with the bird as it bit him and was not very friendly in general.
They suggested to my friend to take the bird but as her father is very against pets, she couldn't. I couldn't either as my home is already full of two big needy birds. Instead they agreed to let us come to their patio anytime to take care of the bird and socialize it. We re-decorated the cage with many new natural perches, some bells, and a chew toy. He almost half destroyed a birdie kabob chew toy in one day! We were happy to see the bird much more active.
The bird's name is Pikachu (lol). Pikachu is a bit weary of hands, but is not outright aggressive towards them. Pikachu's a pretty young bird so I'm sure we can work on this. I've never raised a lovebird before, but I figure it can't be too different from my other birds. And it's easier in a way, because costs/time is split between my friend (25%), the parrot's family (50%), and myself (25%)
Tomorrow we plan on trying to bribe Pikachu to socialize with tantalizing treats...apparently the bird has never had millet? I'm also bringing some other veggies/fruit for it to try. Wish us luck!
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Glad you were able to help!
