The Lovebird Gang

[Pureblood]

Hey everyone,

so I decided to post a photo and story thread of my two lovebirds - Max and Pika! If it is in the wrong subforum please move it to the correct one!

Max and Pika are two lovebirds and they are siblings, hatched in June 2015, so they will be two years old pretty soon! They came from a breeder, not a pet store, and we adopted them from a family who didn't have room and time for them anymore, but they were such a good, loving and caring home to them who made sure they went to the best hands possible!

The story of how I actually got them is pretty nice and just shows how things align sometimes, so if anyone is interested they can read below! If not, skip that part haha

---- How I adopted them?
I previously owned a budgie that lived to be around 8 years old, and sadly died of a stroke or a heart attack, we were not sure, as he just fell down, couldn't walk anymore, and the vet did try his best but he passed away at the office...
While we still had him I adopted a dog from the streets so getting a new bird was something that my parents were not so fond of, but given that I love them so much, my mom said that if I ever came across a bird on the street, or if one will need to be adopted, that I can do that, but that we won't buy a new one. Given that my budgie was alone, I had a firm decision that I'd never keep a parrot alone anymore, only pairs!

This all happened in 2013 and last year I went to the seaside with my best friend, at her grandmother's vacationhouse. She was there with her family, including her aunt and her aunt's family, who owned these two lovebirds. I went into the bathroom and found them in a cage in the shower (it was late at night so they put them there to have peace, quiet and darkness for the night) and immediately fell in love! My friend told me that her aunt is looking for a new home for them, but I just said "I couldn't! I would want to, but I can't!"
Of course I kept playing with them for the next few days, even told my parents about them, but I wasn't planning on taking them home. A few days later her aunt left and the parrots went with them, and I thought this was the end of the story.

However, in September my friend called me and asked "My aunt asked me if you would be interested in taking Max and Pika?"
I was surprised that they remembered me, but decided to check with my folks and pointed out that it's everything we "agreed" on when my old budgie died - we're adopting them and they're in a pair! My parents laughed, realizing that it really is true, and so the two lovelies arrived on 25th of September 2016

----

We never made any DNA tests but the green one is Pika and the yellow one is Max. The previous owners said it was the other way around, but we found the yellow one hopping on the green one so we figured it might be male, so I swapped their names around. Could be that they're both male or both female, who knows!

The two love eachother a lot, they are not really hand trained so they don't go up on my fingers or shoulders or even come near me. When they're out they're getting braver by the day, so hopefully with time they'll realize I'm not a threat. They are not clipped, so they can fly I bought them a huge custom made cage with a moveable divider in the middle (Max was really harassing Pika with hopping on her and chasing her around the cage floor in ther old cage, so I decided to go bigger and just have the option to set them apart if necessary) that they are enjoying now. The harassment ended with their move into a bigger cage, so there was no need to ever use the divider.

Here's their new cage when they moved in, you can barely see them how small they look in it hahaha

Sadly, Pika was injured from the hopping before, hence why I joined this forum to try and get help, and she started losing feathers under her left wing and it looked sore. Thanks to this forum I got some good tips and I even managed to find a vet in my town who handles birds (here where I am that is probably the only place in the country which handles birds). The vet showed me that she had a cut. It was superficial and not anything dangerous, but it was in a bad place that just heals super slowly as there is not much air flow under wings. She was on antibiotics for a week and every day we caught her in a towel to give her her antibiotics and to put an ointment that the vet gave us (helps to dry off the wound and helps it heal).

Given that any flight would open up the wound she was not allowed to go out of her cage, so Max stayed in with her, but they got divided. Currently she still doesn't have her feathers back, and the ointment has been reduced to every 2 or 3 days. So the day before yesterday I saw that her wound finally healed completely, meaning that her scab is gone as well, so she and Max will probably venture out of their cage FINALLY again next week

I have plenty more photos of them, but will post them with time! Thanks for reading and I hope I'll have more stories for you as we all move forward together!
This forum taught me a lot more about keeping birds, so I update their cage as often as I can. I've given up on plastic upright water containers and currently they each have their own stainless steel "container" (same as on the photos above where they're eating a cucumber, just smaller ones in diameter) and today I am actually planning on making a custom fleece snuggle hut after a tutorial I found on here somewhere! Thanks for being such a supportive community! :smile015:

 

[Inger]

Hey everyone,

so I decided to post a photo and story thread of my two lovebirds - Max and Pika! If it is in the wrong subforum please move it to the correct one!

Max and Pika are two lovebirds and they are siblings, hatched in June 2015, so they will be two years old pretty soon! They came from a breeder, not a pet store, and we adopted them from a family who didn't have room and time for them anymore, but they were such a good, loving and caring home to them who made sure they went to the best hands possible!

The story of how I actually got them is pretty nice and just shows how things align sometimes, so if anyone is interested they can read below! If not, skip that part haha

---- How I adopted them?
I previously owned a budgie that lived to be around 8 years old, and sadly died of a stroke or a heart attack, we were not sure, as he just fell down, couldn't walk anymore, and the vet did try his best but he passed away at the office...
While we still had him I adopted a dog from the streets so getting a new bird was something that my parents were not so fond of, but given that I love them so much, my mom said that if I ever came across a bird on the street, or if one will need to be adopted, that I can do that, but that we won't buy a new one. Given that my budgie was alone, I had a firm decision that I'd never keep a parrot alone anymore, only pairs!

This all happened in 2013 and last year I went to the seaside with my best friend, at her grandmother's vacationhouse. She was there with her family, including her aunt and her aunt's family, who owned these two lovebirds. I went into the bathroom and found them in a cage in the shower (it was late at night so they put them there to have peace, quiet and darkness for the night) and immediately fell in love! My friend told me that her aunt is looking for a new home for them, but I just said "I couldn't! I would want to, but I can't!"
Of course I kept playing with them for the next few days, even told my parents about them, but I wasn't planning on taking them home. A few days later her aunt left and the parrots went with them, and I thought this was the end of the story.

However, in September my friend called me and asked "My aunt asked me if you would be interested in taking Max and Pika?"
I was surprised that they remembered me, but decided to check with my folks and pointed out that it's everything we "agreed" on when my old budgie died - we're adopting them and they're in a pair! My parents laughed, realizing that it really is true, and so the two lovelies arrived on 25th of September 2016

----

We never made any DNA tests but the green one is Pika and the yellow one is Max. The previous owners said it was the other way around, but we found the yellow one hopping on the green one so we figured it might be male, so I swapped their names around. Could be that they're both male or both female, who knows!

The two love eachother a lot, they are not really hand trained so they don't go up on my fingers or shoulders or even come near me. When they're out they're getting braver by the day, so hopefully with time they'll realize I'm not a threat. They are not clipped, so they can fly I bought them a huge custom made cage with a moveable divider in the middle (Max was really harassing Pika with hopping on her and chasing her around the cage floor in ther old cage, so I decided to go bigger and just have the option to set them apart if necessary) that they are enjoying now. The harassment ended with their move into a bigger cage, so there was no need to ever use the divider.

Here's their new cage when they moved in, you can barely see them how small they look in it hahaha

Sadly, Pika was injured from the hopping before, hence why I joined this forum to try and get help, and she started losing feathers under her left wing and it looked sore. Thanks to this forum I got some good tips and I even managed to find a vet in my town who handles birds (here where I am that is probably the only place in the country which handles birds). The vet showed me that she had a cut. It was superficial and not anything dangerous, but it was in a bad place that just heals super slowly as there is not much air flow under wings. She was on antibiotics for a week and every day we caught her in a towel to give her her antibiotics and to put an ointment that the vet gave us (helps to dry off the wound and helps it heal).

Given that any flight would open up the wound she was not allowed to go out of her cage, so Max stayed in with her, but they got divided. Currently she still doesn't have her feathers back, and the ointment has been reduced to every 2 or 3 days. So the day before yesterday I saw that her wound finally healed completely, meaning that her scab is gone as well, so she and Max will probably venture out of their cage FINALLY again next week

I have plenty more photos of them, but will post them with time! Thanks for reading and I hope I'll have more stories for you as we all move forward together!
This forum taught me a lot more about keeping birds, so I update their cage as often as I can. I've given up on plastic upright water containers and currently they each have their own stainless steel "container" (same as on the photos above where they're eating a cucumber, just smaller ones in diameter) and today I am actually planning on making a custom fleece snuggle hut after a tutorial I found on here somewhere! Thanks for being such a supportive community! :smile015:

Lovely! Maybe do a little more reading and rethink the snuggle hut. They can be dangerous and can also cause unwanted hormonal/nesting behaviors. I love everything about your post and can't wait to see more of Max & Pika!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Pureblood]

Oh I did forget about the nesting behavior. Did read that if they're out of fleece they're not hazardous as they don't fall apart into strings. Maybe just to make them a float without a roof? So that they can lie on it and hang around it, but without the effect of a closed space.

 

[Pureblood]

Pika has been undergoing new treatment for her cut. We are putting bee glue / propolis on the affected area. She hasn't picked at it for about two weeks now so we are positive! She has lost some feathers because of the stickyness of the bee glue, but it will grow back. She gets regular baths to remove the excess of it.

She got one today, and I tried to let her sit on my finger for awhile. She has never done this before but as I know she cannot fly I thought of giving it a go. She sat on my finger and was a bit tense, but this was only the first time.

I took a photo of her, and I am so very happy! She is now all dried off in her cage next to her buddy Max

 

[Pureblood]

Pika is much better and has started to venture out of her cage again and fly around She doesn't do much outside, stretches her wings and sits back on the top of the cage, but it's understandable. She is still bald under her wing and her flight feathers are sparce and damaged so it is also difficult for her to fly. But - at least it is improving! She looks a bit dirty from the bee glue, so don't worry

Max has been trying his hardest to annoy her while they're in their cage, thankfully they are separated so Pika can regenerate her energy in peace and without him bothering her constantly. When they are outside he is much less persistent and doesn't annoy her as much. Interesting fact is that she bosses him around when outside, while he bothers her more when they're inside! xD

Max is being his happy self, he gets new toys all the time to tear apart, she is not that interested or brave, so she gets them, too, but smaller and less intimidating than he does

 

[Pureblood]

On 22nd of November Pika lost her battle with her injury. She is now resting peacefully and is without pain :heart: We buried her today at our vacationhouse under a big pine and planted some tulips around her, hopefully they'll blossom in the spring :heart:

----

Yesterday evening we brought home two young lovebird females from a certified breeder. I hate to see Max alone and even though we brought them home rather fast after Pika's passing, it was the right thing to do.
One is approximately seven months old, and the other is three months old. The older one is named Viki and the younger one is Zora.

So please give a warm welcome to the two!

They spent last night in a separate cage, and today I put them in the same cage but still with a divider in the middle. So far they are all getting along nicely.

 

[Anansi]

My condolences on the loss of Pika. Her resting site sounds beautiful, and as you said she is now beyond the pain of her injury. Fly free, Pika. You will be missed, but remembered fondly.

Max, Viki and Zora are beautiful, and the 2 newbies seem to be settling in quite well. Thank you for sharing the pics, and please keep them coming!

I know it's already done, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, if even for the sake of others reading this thread in the future, that a quarantine period of 60-90 days is always recommended when introducing new birds to your flock. Such serves to minimize the chances of the transmission of any nasties if one of the newcomers was carrying something contagious.

But that said, a warm and enthusiastic welcome to the two newest members of your household! (And our forum!)

 

[Pureblood]

Thank you Anansi

Yes, I did consider quarantine and don't know why I didn't. I got offered a pair to adopt and those I would quarantine for sure, don't know why I decided to put them "together" like this just because this pair came from a certified breeder. Might have been a stupid move :/

 

[Pureblood]

The birds are all doing okay, they will remain separated probably for good as the older one of the new birds won't let Max come near her or the younger one, but they're fine when they're all outside. We are considering getting a 4th bird to be with Max (so that each has a pair) but that's also the lottery on what if that bird won't be good with him either. He seems hapy and content the way things are right now, so we'll see.

They have been out together several times now and today I got some photos for you

This is Max (left, yellow) with the new older one which shoo-es him away and wants to bite, but outside they hang out together, as you can see.

Maxi :heart:

The biter (sadly she's still unnamed... any ideas? Wanted to name her Viki but it doesn't suit her somehow.)

Zora, the new young one

The gang hanging out

 

[Pureblood]

I bring you more photos of the gang! They are acting better and better, and the one who is a bit mean to my older bird was spotted (and photographed!) snuggling with him :heart: She entered his half of the open cage with him while they were free and cuddled with him, it was very surprising to see.

Here are photos from their today's venture, the girls are getting more excited about their environment which makes me very happy, they no longer only hang out on the ceiling fan.

 

[Pureblood]

The gang got another addition! Not a lovebird, and won't be sharing her living space with them, but still is an addition

A tirquoise-white parakeet girl We were told it's a female, 2 months old. An old man has a pair which bred and he gave all the offspring away except this gal. I always wanted a white/white-detailed budgie and my dad reeeally wanted a bird that can talk and this one was up for adoption so we picked it up.

For now she's in the transport cage but we put in an order yesterday to get a custom made cage for her to match the ones the lovies have, should come by soon. It's gonna be 70cm tall, about 50cm wide and 40-45cm deep (same dimensions as lovies have, just a bit narrower since there's only 1 bird gonna be in it).

She is very sweet and possibly a male not a female, but really it's not a problem We named her Picek, which was the nickname of my old budgie that passed away about 4 years ago

 

[Pureblood]

Letting everyone know how the flock is doing Even though there aren't any replies

Zloba (below) and Zora (above) are slowly starting to realize I'm not out to get them and don't make a fuss when I come near them or put my hand in the cage anymore Still a long way to go!

Max ate from my hand the other day when they were all out of their cage, which is AMAZING progress, I managed to even record it!

And Picek, the newest arrival, is learning to perch on my finger, is already happy to sit on it but isn't still 100% sure with my hand in her cage. But we had her for a really short time so this is awesome progress as well!

 

[Anansi]

Such a beautiful flock! And getting the necessary trust for a skittish bird to eat from your hand is huge! Patience and persistence has gotten you this far, and will get you further yet.

And congratulations on your newest flock member! I take it Picek is going through the proper quarantine? ;p

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[Pureblood]

Such a beautiful flock! And getting the necessary trust for a skittish bird to eat from your hand is huge! Patience and persistence has gotten you this far, and will get you further yet.

And congratulations on your newest flock member! I take it Picek is going through the proper quarantine? ;p

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Yes, still in her little cage, it's driving me nuts haha Just a little while to go!

And thank you!

 

[Pureblood]

The gang has officially met and the lovies like the budgie! Seems I was lucky!

Also the budgie got her cage properly done with wooden perches and wooden toys (has only 1 plastic corner perch because my dad really wanted me to leave that one in haha), I made some DIY perches with rope and a half of what used to be a wooden (bird toy) ladder, a custom swing and stuff like that.

She's still getting to know the big cage and all the big stuff in it but she's very sweet. I set up a photo-background for them yesterday so that they have a nicer setup!

 

[Pureblood]

I have some photos from today