Lovebird Aggression

[DocnPeanut]

Hello all,

Bear with me... this is a long post. Please read everything before commenting.

I have two male lovebirds that aren't a year old, yet. They were born on November 24 and 25, 2016. I bought them together because they were together at the pet store and Peanut (who is a day older) would always pick on Doc a little bit but it wasn't anything too serious.
Lately... it's been getting more serious.
They are fine if I am not in the room. But when I enter the room, they both get very excited and that's normally when the fighting starts. Usually Doc will run away (they have a huge flight cage) and all will be well.
Lately, I've noticed it's not just Peanut anymore; Doc is starting the fights now, too. I have had to place an additional feeder in their cage because they fight over the food but now, they will even fight when they are both sitting on me. Even tonight, when I was filling up their food dishes, Peanut got too close to Doc and he attacked and I had to split them up. As soon as I grabbed Peanut and moved him to a different perch, they were fine.

Long story short, it's not just one of them starting the fights, they are both doing it. At night, as soon as the cage cover is on, they are completely quiet and they sleep together. It just seems to be during moments of excitement or when it's feeding time. Every now and then they will bicker when they are outside of their cage but for the most part they are too busy exploring or they start grooming each other.

I tried splitting them up for a bit but that seemed to stress them out quite a bit and as soon as I put them back together, they cuddled. They have been sexed by a vet, so they are confirmed males.

Is this just a sibling thing? Do baby lovebirds have issues that need to be worked out? Or will I have to face the decision of rehoming one?

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

You should separate them into their own cages. If they are fighting with one another, there is potential for one if them to get seriously injured or worse. I don't see why you would have to rehome one of them, just put one of them in a different cage. They could still be near one another so they could still chatter back and forth, but it would eliminate the potential for one of them to harm the other.

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[DocnPeanut]

You should separate them into their own cages. If they are fighting with one another, there is potential for one if them to get seriously injured or worse. I don't see why you would have to rehome one of them, just put one of them in a different cage. They could still be near one another so they could still chatter back and forth, but it would eliminate the potential for one of them to harm the other.

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Thanks for your input.
I'd look at rehoming one because I already have two flight cages in my room and do not have the room or the funds to get another cage. Plus, it would not be fair to put one in a smaller cage while the other gets a nice big flight cage.