Sigh, lovebird DNA sexing (743 views)

[deebee]

I'm sorry you lost your lovie I know how hard it is. Do you have any photos of him you wouldn't mind sharing? If not, that's okay! Don't wanna upset you

You'd be surprised. I actually house my black cheeks in the budgie aviary and they keep to themselves just fine. Nothing like the peach faced or anything. I haven't tried my black masked and I don't trust them, so probably won't anyway, but the black cheeks are very gentle birds. I haven't owned a POW. I'd like to but I don't feel I have the space to give them justice. You could house a lot of different species with them though. All of the grass parrots except for the red rumped (trust me, they're downright nasty), similar to the POW you have the Superb parrot and the regent parrot that would also mix okay. I would push it a bit further and out of Australia and say the red fronted kakariki too, as I find them quite gentle even though they're very energetic. Coming even further than Oz I would say lineolated parakeets would do well as they're a gentle and slow moving species that aren't too brash or loud

[Haimovfids]

Thanks so much for that info! I'm going to do some research on those species and see if any would be a good addition to my cockatiel flock. I though POWs were the only bird that could get along with Tiels.

[Bluekeet]

I didn't really take many pictures of him. I wish I did.

But I have a video of him chewing a pillow.

[Haimovfids]

Awww, im pretty sure that's the first time I saw a picture/video of him. He looked so sweet. Hey, how would you like black masked lovebirds in your future aviary?

[Bluekeet]

No, I wouldn't. They all look identical, so there's no way I could recognize them. I don't like keeping multiple lovebirds. They can get pretty aggressive. Plus, oh man, they're shrill. Those high pitch calls hurt.

But I miss Teak very much. I just don't think I could get another lovebird again. I think he'll be my only one. He was the first bird I ever rescued.

[deebee]

He was absolutely gorgeous. I don't think you can get much better than a normal coloured black masked. I've currently got a violet pair on eggs at the moment and they are stunning, but I've got to get some normals at some point. His colours just blew me away! I'm sorry you lost him

Regarding lovies in aviaries. If given plenty of space they're fine. The only issues I have had have been peach faced lovebirds at breeding season. I couldn't do them justice and gave my 3 to a girl I knew who had a considerably large aviary with all peachies in it. They've even bred now and are a lot happier! But other species, especially the eye ringed lovebirds, can do particularly well in a colony and can be bred safely. If you DID want an aviary of black masked and wanted to tell them apart, you could just get different mutations

[Haimovfids]

I had 2 peach faced lovebirds, they used to hurt my cockatiels (we didn't know they couldn't be mixed together) so we gave them back. They never bit us shockingly. They would only fly away but they were very easy to catch. They would become nice when they were indoors. I loved them. I never knew they were aggressive. I tried breeding them but now i look back and thank god it didn't work out or else they would be really aggressive. I will always have a special spot in my heart for this little guys.

[Bluekeet]

Peachies are more aggressive than white eye lovebirds, for some reason.

I thought Teak was brilliantly colored too. He blew me away every time I looked at him. He never liked hands but he would ride on my head all day if I let him.

I just don't think I want another lovie. Teak will probably be the only one for me.

[deebee]

That is fair enough and understandable. At least you got to enjoy and experience such a beautiful bird!

Yeah peach faced don't mix well at all, not even with other peachies. I had two brothers who had been bred by myself and raised up for the past 2-3 years or so and one day while I was out I had a horrified nan on the phone to me crying her eyes out because she said the more submissive bird, Pebbles, was killing CJ and before they could get him away it was too late. That was what made me make the decision to rehome them to somebody with a large aviary specifically for peach faced. I couldn't deal with that, especially when they'd been hand raised by us! Beautiful birds but not so beautiful nature that's for sure. She is also fostering my BlackJack for me, a gorgeous white faced violet. He's very happy where he is though, I couldn't possibly take it away from him. She shows me photos often and he's having a blast. He's in his 20s! He lost his mate to total organ failure a few years ago as she was also very old

[Haimovfids]

Isn't it so ironic how they are called 'love' birds?