Introducing a baby lovebird to a 2 y.o. female lovebird

[Pretty_Potato]

Hello everyone,
This is my first post, I'm happy to be a part of this community!
I have had parrots a few years ago but never lovebirds so i am a bit new on how to train and treat them.

3 days ago, my grandma received 2 lovebirds from her friend since he couldn't take care of them. It's hard for her to take care of big birds (she has very small bird like Pinsons and such) and so she offered them to me (i live with her and other family members) and I immediately said yes since I've been wanting a pet for a while. Sadly one of them died, I'm guessing he was already sick because he wasn't eating and was sleeping all the time...the female is still alive and well, she eats and even takes some baths which is soo cute to look at!

Since loosing her partner I wanted to bring her a new friend since I'll be out most of the day because I go to college and I don't want her to be sad. I found someone selling their baby 2 months old lovebird and I reached out to reserve it.

The owner doesn't know the gender of the baby lovebird so I'm wondering if I made a good choice in getting her a new friend?

The baby lovebird will come next tuesday and I already have two cages so they can be close but not together yet and I'm wondering if an older lovebird will be friends with a baby lovebird? Is the gender of the baby an issue? Are there possibilities of them not getting along? I have so many questions and lot of fear but I'm hoping to get some advice from all of you!

Thank you for taking the time to read my long post
Have a good day!

 

[Mikey&Levi]

Hi, I've had to go through the same thing as you did last not long ago so I might be able to help. I have a fully mature adult lovebird (most probably a male) that I've had for over a year and I got a 4 weeks old lovebird last month, so I introduced them the next day. Both are tame so I was able to let them meet in my room where the baby bird started chasing my adult lovebird for food thinking he was his parent. They got along just fine without getting aggressive, but obviously the older bird was a bit jealous and was keeping his distance in the very beginning. I would place the young one in mikey's (the older lovebird) cage and they would preen each other, and sometimes mikey would bite his feet without hurting him and it was very cute to watch(the preening not the biting) . After a few days of letting them spend the day together I saw mikey biting his foot and was hurting him, with no intention of seriously harming him but it got me worrying. Mikey has always been very aggressive towards everyone and biting was a habit so I decided to not let them get into contact again. So maybe your lovebird is very friendly, unlike mine , there's always a chance that she will be mean to the little one, and that's how they are, but if you don't see any exaggerated behaviour from your older bird and no bloody feet, then they will be okay. Good luck

 

[Kitekeeper]

Welcome Pretty_Potato and welcome to your lovebirds as well.

I am sorry one of them died as soon as it arrived. It is good that the remaining bird is behaving well and eating well, but I would definitely check it up with a veterinarian. There are good chances that one bird died from some illness that is also affecting the surviving bird. It is often said here that birds can conceal their sickness very well, it´s true.

You could wait to go to the vet when the new lovebird arrives and check them both at once. Please don´t put them together for at least two weeks. You could put their cage in somewhat proximity to allow them to observe each other, but avoid letting the cage close to one another to prevent any possible contagious disease (even after the veterinarian check up). Some disease will stay hidden for sometime and pop up when the bird immune system is down, which is common to happen when a bird change homes...it is a stressful event for them.

Choose the cage in which you want them to live together and place the male in it. Put the female in the other cage. Females are much more territorial and can be aggressive toward any intruder in their cage. It is better to put her in his cage.

After the first week where they could see each other but just at distance, put the cages close (bar to bar) and observe if they are trying to touch each other. After some time they will most likely not just try to interact through the bars but also choose to sleep side by side (with the bars between them). After a couple of days observing this, put them together under supervision

 

[Pretty_Potato]

You could wait to go to the vet when the new lovebird arrives and check them both at once. Please don´t put them together for at least two weeks. You could put their cage in somewhat proximity to allow them to observe each other, but avoid letting the cage close to one another to prevent any possible contagious disease (even after the veterinarian check up). Some disease will stay hidden for sometime and pop up when the bird immune system is down, which is common to happen when a bird change homes...it is a stressful event for them.

Choose the cage in which you want them to live together and place the male in it. Put the female in the other cage. Females are much more territorial and can be aggressive toward any intruder in their cage. It is better to put her in his cage.

After the first week where they could see each other but just at distance, put the cages close (bar to bar) and observe if they are trying to touch each other. After some time they will most likely not just try to interact through the bars but also choose to sleep side by side (with the bars between them). After a couple of days observing this, put them together under supervision

Thank you for the advice! I will do that and hope that they will be friends )