Seperating Lovebirds?

[96vetteLT4]

I have 2 lovebirds, 1 male and 1 female,. They are caged together. The female has become super agressive, hard biting me and now the male bird. The malebird is super friendly and non agressive. The question is will the male bird in time pick up this agressive behavior? Is it bad to remove the female bird and find another home for iher?. Both birds are 1 1/2 years old. I hate to seperate them but at this point I dont see what else to do. Any info would be apreciated....thanx G

[CrazyBirdLady]

Sounds like your hen is hormonal. Is she drawing blood on the male? If not, male lovebirds learn to live with this type of aggressive behavior from their mates. Is the aggression towards you when you are near their cage? Lovebird hens are notorious for being cage protective and it might be as simple as allowing them to come out on their own rather than you try to take them out, or change food and water dishes when they are away from the cage.
If they are a bonded pair, separating them might cause other issues, so perhaps change their cage location, the contents of the cage, add some new or different toys.
Is the hen showing signs of wanting to nest? Shredding paper, chewing up wooden perches, making a "nest" of seed hills in a corner of the cage?

[96vetteLT4]

I adopted these 2 from a couple who was moving and had to many Lovebirds, and they were moving back to maryland. I live in florida and the owners were just going to let these go into the wild on their own. Well I didnt want them to do that as I knew they probually wouldnt survive so i agreed to take them. I previously owned a large african grey for many years and he's still with my family but not in this house. so I figured I knew enough about parrots i'd be ok with these 2 littlebirds. The couple did tell me that the female had recently had babies . Yes the female is drawing blood from the male and from me. The 2 birds are totally different...I hate to split them up but I think the female is going to permanetly harm the male but I hate to seperate them as I believe they were a bonded pair....thanx for any input....G

[ROYJOY]

she sounds desperate. get her a nesting box and some nesting stuff. a temp separation might be in order, she will be glad to have him back if separated for a few days. i had a hen that was bitting her mate, i took him out during the day while i was at work, for fear he would be dead when i returned, however i put him back in at night so they could roost together. she didnt pick on him at night. her behavior was only temperary. they had a nice family.

[CrazyBirdLady]

If she is drawing blood, regardless of them being bonded or not; you need to seperate them. She is fully capable of killing him. Seperate cages near each other and supervised out of cage playtime should work out ok. I would not give her a nestbox at this point. If she is already aggressive, she will become more so by giving her a nestbox,.

[birdlady49]

Originally Posted by CrazyBirdLady

If she is drawing blood, regardless of them being bonded or not; you need to seperate them. She is fully capable of killing him. Seperate cages near each other and supervised out of cage playtime should work out ok. I would not give her a nestbox at this point. If she is already aggressive, she will become more so by giving her a nestbox,.

I agree totally with this advice. Separate them but do not offer her a nestbox. If you think she's a pitbull now , wait until she has a nestbox (and eggs)!

[ROYJOY]

That was my experience. i've only had one mating pair of loves with one clutch and thats what woked for me. crazybirdlady and birdlady49 have much more experience than i, so listen to them. my hen never drew blood on her mate, just my blood.