The growth of a Lovie

[Cowgirl Chris]

Well I just thought that I would share this will all of you lovie lovers out there. I am helping my friend Jennifer raise some two of her lovies because she went on vacation for a week and they had to be pulled out of the nest. Since my rosella babies did not make it, I decided to take them on for her. Before anyone ask, I do not breed love birds, I am just helping a friend out by doing this. Here are the parents. The mom is (the blue one) a double dark factor violet and the father (green one) is an opaline split, DDF violet. I don't know much about the different mutations, but I could ask my friend Jennifer if you have any questions.



And we have life



It took three days for the second/last baby to break out of its shell

[Cowgirl Chris]

I got the babies at two weeks old. The oldest one was 32 grams and the youngest was 24 grams. Here are some pictures that I took. I have been told by Jennifer that you have to be careful when feeding lovies because even though their crops are full, they will continue to eat. I can vouch for this. These two are little piggies



I just got done feeding both of them and as you can see, they were still trying to eat my fingers

[Cowgirl Chris]

Only having them seven days, the oldest one went from 32 grams to 40 grams and the youngest one went from 24 grams to 34 grams. WOW I told you that I had little piggies on my hands

[n8wb]

Thanks for the pics!

[Cowgirl Chris]

Here you can see some pin feathers coming through at three and a half weeks

[Cowgirl Chris]

Now here are the last set of pictures that I have. These were just taken on the 31st of March at almost five weeks old.

This is the green one's butt

His Belly

Side view

Front view

[Cowgirl Chris]

Now here is the blue one's front/side view

her belly

Her butt



She is not as big as her older sibling, but she is slowly catching up to him. The blue one now weighs 49 grams and the green one weighs 56 grams. I have started to put millet into their bend and they have been taste testing it. Also I built a small perch (with two abc blocks and a wooden dowl inbetween them) and they are attempting to perch on it. The green one seems to be more outgoing and already loves to be on someone's shoulder, while the blue one is still a little more timid. I am hoping with some work that she will grow out of that. I have helped Jennifer find lovely homes for these two little bundles of joy. I will continue to update everyone on their growth. I am so proud of myself for doing this. Jennifer was going to come get them after she got back from her week vacation, but I talked her into letting me finish weaning them out since I enjoyed having them so much. She agreed (especially since she knows that I was upset about having a dead baby in the nest from my rosellas)

[Lori L]

Oh my they are the cutest things aren't they, I also love your new signature, it helps to keep everyone straight and remembver what birds you have. Thanks for the pics they are super

[kathyellen]

I love seeing them progress, thanks for the photos!

and good job!

[svolk]

Wow, very nice pictures! It's incredible to see their progression in such a short time period! I still don't know much about raising babies as I don't plan to do it, but I should learn more about the process and the growth stages.

And VERY cute babies!!