How to prevent feather-plocking of your african lovebird chicks

As lovebirds breeders we all love to see our lovebirds chicks develop day by day, from hatchling to weaning. But sometimes the parents of the chicks plocked the feathers of the chicks due to over cleaning or in some cases due to stress. The chicks got bald from head to back and sometimes it leads to death.

Why lovebirds parents plocked the feathers of their chicks?

Many breeders prove that the hen mostly plocked the feather of her chicks. It is because of her motherly love and care for her chicks that she clean and preened it. The hen sometimes over-cleaned her chicks resulting to plocking of feathers from head to back, it is normal as long as she doesn’t damaged the skin of her chicks.

Here are some other reason why parents plocked the feather of their chicks.

The nest box is one of the reason of the feather plocking. As your lovebirds chicks grows, the poop build up inside the nest box increases and it produce humidity inside. In some instances the parents got stressed and flocked the feathers of their chick due to humidity. In these case i usually replaced the nesting materials every two weeks. These is to prevent the build up of poop and increase of humidity and in my experience as breeder it work well and my lovebird cheeks don’t plocked by their parents even if they had a history of feather plocking.

Another method that i use is putting some drill holes around the nest box. I use 8 or 10mm drill bit to produce holes. By putting some holes around the nest box, the fresh air can enter inside the nest box and it decreases the humidity inside the nest box.

I also put a bowl of water inside the cage when my lovebirds have chicks. Most lovebirds like to bathe when they are rearing chicks to refresh their body temperature and to create moisture inside the nestbox.

What to do when your chicks got bald due to feather plocking of parents?

When you noticed that the chicks of your lovebird got plocked by parents, you can apply petroleum jelly to the affected area, lovebirds doesn’t like the taste of petroleum jelly and it doesn’t harm your lovebirds. This will give time for the chicks feather to grow back to normal without worrying that it may be plocked again by its parents.

I hope that this informations might help you in your breeding.

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How to pair your lovebird

How to introduced your lovebird to his/her future partner.

Before you can introduced your lovebird to his/her future partner, first you need to be sure that your bird is a male and a female. Because there was an instance where both male lovebird and both female lovebirds are mistaken as pair because they develop a strong bond from they were young. Some breeder got excited when they saw a pair of lovebird sitting together and grooming each other, only to find out that they pair both male lovebirds or both female..

Here are some tips to determine the gender of your lovebird.

The easiest way to determine the gender of your lovebird is thrugh DNA. In this method, a small portion if blood will be taken from your bird, don’t worry cause it won’t harm your bird. This blood sample will be examined in the laboratory and in 10days or less you had your lovebird gender result with DNA card.

Another method for determining the gender of your lovebird is thru physical examination of the pelvic bone.
Male lovebird pelvic bone distance are much narrower and the end of the pelvic bone feels little pointed than the female. Female lovebirds pelvic bone is about 5 to 7mm wide and pelvic endbone is a round
You can also determine the gender of lovebird thru its behavior, Female lovebirds tends to be much bigger than the males in size comparison. In matured lovebirds, females tends to spread their wings and lower their body as an indication that they are ready to breed.

Now that you are sure about the gender of your lovebird, you can now place your birds to a neutral cage, it maybe a new cage or both of your birds are not been in that cage before. It is crucial to avoid territorial dispute. Most females are territorial. It is better if you place a pairing box inside your cage. That pairing box will be thier temporary shelter while they are being paired to each other. Newly paired lovebirds spend time sitting together and grooming each other. You may wait for three days before transferring them to their breeding cage.

At what age does the lovebirds ready to breed?

Lovebirds start to bond for their partner as early as 5 to 6months, but the ideal breeding age for lovebirds is from 1year onwards. Because in this age of lovebirds its body was fully develop including its feathers, and the posibility of clear eggs are minimal.

Most popular species of african lovebird in aviculture

Double factor violet fischer

Fischer’s lovebird(Agapornis Fischeri) – small species of parrot in the Agapornis genus. disscovered in late 19th century, and bred in united states in 1926. Named after explorer Gustav Fischer.
Most fischer lovebirds in the wild are green. Nowadays many different collor mutation are being bred by aviary breeders. This species of african lovebird is the most popular in aviculture. Because it can be bred in almost any fischer’s color mutation. Many new Color and mutation in this species had been introduced In the market.

The following are the different categories under fischer’species.

Normal fischer’s(madre) this mutation in fisheri has greyish color on its forehead down to its back collar, it was similar to a nun with veil on its head. It comes on many different collor mutations.

Sable – The phenotype is the reduction of melanin on the head only, leaving the remaining body colors unchanged. This is particularly attractive in the blue series birds. This mutation originated in brazil. Mr Paul Richard who showed the first sable and won the 1996 Brazilian Championship.
Sable head in fischeri varied in different color series in lovebird. In blue series birds the color of head is white from breast to back collar. In green series of bird, the head color is bright orange-red. While in Parblue mutation(partial blue) the head collor is from light yellow to bright yellow.

Pastel fischeri. This shows about 50% reduction on melanin, resulting to a light colored bird.
• In green series the body is light green with dirty orange forehead.

• In blue series the the color is lighter than normal color and has brown to light brown flight feathers.

Non-sex linked INO (lutino) fischer. A yellow collored lovebird with a clear yellow body orange head mask and hood, has red beak, white rump, white ring around its eyes, eyes are red and flight feathers is white

It was originated in lillianae, and is a transmuted mutation via A personatus. It is an autosomal recessive mutation, it means that you need the gene in both parents to have visual offspring.
When this mutation is combined with blue, we get a white bird with red eyes also known as albino fischers.

Dark eyed clear (DEC) fischers lovebird. This bird is yellow with about 90% reduction in melanin, the head masked and hood is bright orange, it has blue on its rump, grey feet, the eye color is black, red beak and white ring around its eye. When this bird is combined with blue bird, the result is a white bird with dark eyes.

Dark factor fischeri- Dark factor is a dominant gene. Meaning you only need one bird with dark factor to produce dark factor baby. If you pair it with another dark factor bird, you will end up having a double dark factor baby.

• In green series lovebird dark factor is reffered as dark green. While the double dark factor is called olive.
• In blue series lovebird, single dark factor is reffered to us cobalt, and the double dark factor is called mauve.

Violet. This is also a dominant gene, you only need one bird with violet factor in order to produce violet bird. When violet is present in green series lovebird it is called violet-green. In blue series lovebird, a single violet factor is called violet, while double dark factor violet is called double factor violet or visual violet

The Pied mutation occurs in many species of birds. Cockatiels, Lovebirds, Budgies, ect.

It just means the bird has one colour in place of where the ‘normal’ colour should be. For example, in Cockatiels, a Pied bird means that where there is usually the normal grey colour, yellow appears. Ideally, the Pied markings on the bird should be symmetrical. Of course, this only matters in showing.

Begginers guide to african lovebird.

Before we start with the basic, let us know more about african lovebird.

What is african lovebird?

Lovebirds are social and affectionate small parrot. Their name comes from parrot’s strong monogamous pair bonding long period of spending sitting and grooming each other. They live in a small flocks and eats fruits, vegetables, seeds and grasses. Lovebird is one of the nine species of the genus Agapornis(greek word agape means ‘love’ and ornis ‘bird’. Eight of its nine species are native to african continent, while the grey headed lovebird was native to Madagascar. In all nine species of lovebirds, black – winged lovebird and black – collared lovebirds are difficult to breed in captivity because of its diet. The lifespan of african lovebirds is 10 to 15 years.

Description

Lovebirds are the smallest species of parrot with a length of just 13 to 17cm and weight only 40 to 60 grams, stocky built, short tail and large sharp beak. There are some species of lovebirds including Fischer’s lovebird, masked lovebird and black – cheeked lovebirds had a prominent white ring around its eyes. In the wild, lovebirds are mostly green, but in captivity many different color mutant has develop during selective breeding and its now popular in aviculture.

The original nine species

Peach-faced lovebir or rosy-faced lovebird(Agapornis roseicollis). This species of lovebird is mostly green body, orange face, blue lower back and rump, light brown beak.
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Yellow-collared lovebird or masked lovebird(Agapornis personatus) 14 to 16cm long. Mostly green bird with yellow on its colar, has blue tail feathers and white ring around its eye.

Fischer’s lovebird(Agapornis fischeri) 14 to 16 cm long. Mostly green with orange on upper body, blue lower back and rump and red beak, has white ring around its eyes.

Lillian’s lovebird or Nyasa lovebird(Agapornis lillianae). Small bird about 13cm. Mostly green body ang feather and green rump, orange head, red beak with white eyering.

Black-cheeked lovebird(Agapornis negrinis) Green lovebird with brownish black cheeks and throat, reddish brown forehead and forecrown, red beak, orange upper chest with white eyering.

Black-winged lovebird or Abyssinian lovebird(Agapornis taranta). Mostly green lovebird with red on upper neck and face. Male has more extensive and darker red on face and beak than the female.

Red-headed lovebird or red-faced lovebird(Agapornis Pllarius). Green lovebird with red on upper neck and face. Male has more extensive and darker red on face and has more darker beak than the female.

Black-collared lovebird or Swindern’s lovebird(Agapornis swindernianus). Small lovebird about 13.5cm. Mostly green, brown collar with upper margin at the back of the neck, black beak.

Grey-headed lovebird or Madagascar lovebird(Agapornis Canus). Mostly green with darker green on back pale grey beak. Male has a grey upper body, neck and head.

How to start keeping african lovebird for begginer?

Here are the things you should know about keeping an african love birds. First you should decide what species or mutation of lovebirds you would like to own or keep as pet or hobby.
Below is a chart of african lovebird mutation, its not the latest but atleast you can choose if what species or mutation you like.

Now that you already choose what kind of love bird you want. You can now either search for a love bird breeder or look at a local pet shop near you. But it is better that you buy from a breeder because he/she can share you some tips on how to care for the bird, determine the gender, feeding guide, and many more.

Basic needs of african love bird.

Bird cage or breeding cage – There are many different sizes of cages availabe in the market. The standard size of cage for a pair of african love bird is at least 17 x 30 inches.

Nest box. – You can make a costumized nest box for your bird or buy at pet shop. It must atleast 8 x 10 inches

Perch. – Love bird need to rest. And a wooden perch is advisable for your african love bird for some nature feel. It can be a peice of tree branch.

Feeder. – It can be a ceramic cup or some costumized plastic feeder available at pet shop, you can also add a bigger cup for bathing because love bird loves to bath.

Nesting materials. – For breeders, it can be paper shedding, soft tree branches, (they bite the bark of the tree to make a nest) or wood sheddings.

Seeds. – Safflower sees, canary seed, white millet, red millet, oath growth, jockey oaths etc.

Now that you have completed all the things needed. Now lets talk about where to place your bird cage. The ideal place where you can put your cage is at room temperature with enough sunlight but not direct, with proper ventilation. The cage must be away from pets like dog or cat if have one in your house

Caring for your lovebird will be much easier and exciting once you get along with it.

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