I got a breeding pair of lovebirds as gifts and need help

[TheLuckyDog]

I am new here and this is my first time posting (joined because I thought it would be helpful to caring for the birds). A family member of mine received two masked lovebirds (if I am correct because the internet seems to give me weak answers) as a gift and I have co-ownership over the breeding pair. We've had them for approximately 4-5 months now. The only experience I have with birds is two Amazon Green Parrots we had before.

Currently, I still struggle with taming them, the male comes but the female doesn't and attacks the male for doing so. I got them to eat in my hand on a few rare occasions and once the male got away by accident (he had no intention on leaving he just sort of fell out) and he allowed me to come really close, he just didn't permit me to touch him. When I caught him he was still quite calm. So I would like to know how I can tame them.

I also would like to add that they have started mating with each other and building nests (the female gets really anxious if I don't provide twigs but she doesn't take interest in the tissue which I heard a lot of people use) so I would sincerely like to help them with their nesting (I stopped trying to tame them out of fear I was bothering her) and would like to know what to do to help the pair. The cage is big enough for a parrot but I believe the nesting box is too small so if someone can tell me a good size (I am terrible at measuring and don't want to disturb her so I can't share the size)

 

[CharlieChick]

I am not a breeding expert, there are many people here who are more knowledgeable than me in this matter.

If you ask me, I'd say you would be a pretty decent and educated bird person after having 2 amazon green parrots... but again amazons and lovebirds are two very different species.

Your female one can be simply jealous of the male, since he comes out but she doesn't. She must/should be hitting the male one out of jealousy and as a result may not even like you (since she sees you handling the male).

I think I may be a bad person to ask how to tame lovebirds, since I struggled with mine, but you learn from your mistakes!

Don't bring the male out much, I'd say, the female would just get jealous.

Do both of them take the treat out of your fingers when you give them treats, when you HOLD the treat and not put it in your palm... are they comfortable with that?
If they are then you can just follow these steps-
Put treat on one of your fingers (while your finger is laying horizontally), offer it to your birds. They will definitely hesitate... but keep trying (this step alone might just take 2 weeks). Remember to put the treat right on the corner/edge
Then you can slowly, slowly try opening up all of your fingers and then actually moving the food backwards, towards your palm.
Your bird should be eating out of your palm without being afraid within a month.

The next part is where I struggled, getting the bird to sit on your finger. I took one of their favorite perch and positioned my finger right next to the perch... so that they won't notice. Took weeks actually... but I finally did it. When they were comfortable with putting one of their legs, I doubled the treat when they put both of their legs.

Here are some more references-
https://www.wikihow.pet/Bond-with-a...easure. To reroute this behavior and... More
[ame="https://youtu.be/p8fYYeLmboc"]How to Bond With and Tame Your Parrot | Gaining the Trust of a New Bird - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="https://youtu.be/E1U833mbz_o"]What NOT to Do When Training a Scared Bird and What to Do Instead! | How to Tame a Parrot - YouTube[/ame]

No idea about how you could help them with nesting... others will help you.
Thanks, good luck.