I am at my Wits End,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[hdwalden]

Moses,,,,,,,, my male love bird,,, my buddy for 7 years now is out of control. He will not stay with me at all,, and he is looking for and finding places to mate. It is 12 hours a day,,, from the time he is out of is cage until I put him up.. He has never been kept in his cage, he is in a back room that is all his to roam and play..however he used to be with me most of the day,, here and there around the house,, but since Feb. he has started trying to mate with everything that does not move.. It is so bad that he has really messed up his tail feathers,,,, they are ragged and even the shorter ones falling out.....He is usually up at 7:30 or 8:00 and it begins and bedtime is 8:00 and he is still at it. I have been told to discourage him, I have been told to leave him alone and nature do its thing.. I have been told to make him sleep longer. Nothing works,,, I have been told to spray him with water, that only makes him mad and then he starts to bite.

Can I put him in his cage and leave him there a couple of weeks without it causing more harm? I just do not know what to do. His personality has changed and he does not eat like he should. Is this common for 7 year old lovebird? I just hate it for him.. He is so miserable......... Suggestions????

[homebird]

I think a trip to the Vet might be in order - he may have an infection that is tickling him in all the wrong places. Aloe is good for internal infections.

Having said that, it may be a Hormonal Attack. A vet could help there too. Some of the threads I've read have said diet changes can be part of it too. Did you add anything in the last few monthes?

I read once that a toy bird/object can be of benefit but I'd think he'd just bond to it. Another bird wouldn't stop the behaviour (?) - perhaps upset the new bird. It will be interesting to read the responces from the 'professional' Lovie owners.
If it was me, I'd take their advice & also do research on the web & thru the library on 'behavioural' based books.

Good luck

[Monica]

I'm no expert now, but there are several things you can try doing, and you'll have to keep it up...

First off you might try rearranging his cage, moving it to a new location, maybe even taking out his toys. You can force him to sleep at least 16 hours a day, maybe even taking his cage outside for 30-60 mins (if it's feaseable - with shade of course), spraying him down when inside the cage or even taking him into the bathroom while you shower. Main thing is you need to change his environment around and his routines drastically.

You can speak with an avian vet about lupron shots, which are suppose to reduce hormones, and you usually get several done at a time (over a period of time - be forwarned, they are expensive!) though it may be best to start out with just one.

Beyond that, you can try reducing the amount of seed in his diet and adding more fresh foods such as veggies, pasta, whole grain breads, cooked eggs and legumes....

[CraftQueen]

I don't have any good advice. I think this is exactly why many birds end up in shelters. They start out as cuddly and bonded to you, but eventually hormones take over. I pair all of my birds just because it is more natural for them. Birds were never meant to be alone, but we tend to do that to satisfy our own something or other. Whether it's having a very tame pet or breeding. Birds weren't meant to be kept in cages either, but alas we do it. They are flock creatures and I'm sure that instint will never leave them. All he knows it that he has this undeniable urge and he's searching for a mate and since he can't find one, he's using whatever is available. It is breeding season right now and I think typically even wild birds will raise 2 clutches per breeding season. So it is a several month time frame beginning around February. If it's any consolation, I think you're at least half way or more through it. Hang in there. I think breeding season is in the fall too btw. Maybe he will have exhausted all efforts by then.

[atalantae]

Hi hdwalden,
I have a 3 yr old male lovie, during the 'spring thing' all he wants to do is mate. I just kept getting him out of his cage and talking to him. I gave him more hours of sleep also. I covered his cage at 7:30 pm and uncovered him at 7:30am. This helped to calm down the 'I want to mate' thing.

[CrazyBirdLady]

Honestly, you can try various things to get him to stop or to sway him from doing it, but it's 100% natural for him to be doing this and he will continue to do it until his body stops telling him too. Trying to force him to stop can cause other issues, such as plucking or mutilation. If you don't want him "humping" on you, I can understand that. If he starts to show signs of humping on you, remove him. If he jumps back on you, remove him again. A third time, he gets put in his cage for a bit. I have experienced this first hand with one of our birds and it did work for me. I did however let him have various other soft items, like a soft perch or two in the cage, stuffed toys or a bird buddy to relieve his frustrations on.
If he's not eating the same amount as previously a vet visit may definitely be in order, but as his mind is one other things at the moment, he might not be terribly interested in food.
The hormonal period will pass; I promise. In the meantime, just be patient as hard as it can be. The long, warm summer days can bring this one, or quite frankly, winter time can too. Each bird is different, but I know the little fellas can be quite the ball of hormones! Good luck!

[FeathersNFur8]

I have a 3 yr old male lovie, during the 'spring thing' all he wants to do is mate. I just kept getting him out of his cage and talking to him.

Be careful about that. Without even realizing it, it's so easy to train an unwanted behavior by giving it attention.

[sylster]

hdwalden are things going better with that bird?

My thoughts on the subject: - when I've had lovebird pairs it seems it's not only hormonal phases but also environment that gets them into that breeding mood. They'd come across a new cubbyhole - potential nesting place - and it would trigger them to go into a crazy mating phase. Perhaps there's some trigger getting him all riled up... or conversely, perhaps you could jolt him out of it with a change in environment. In the wild, if a pair lost their nest, say, to a storm or predation, they would go out of breeding mode until they had a stable location again. I'm not saying to make something traumatic happen to him, but maybe move his cage, add a new toy, or something...? And let us know how it's going.

[Tashk]

But what I do for my Eclectus in the breeding season (she doesn't want to mate with me or anything though) is give her a cardboard box in her cage, let her make a nest for about 2 weeks, by 2 weeks time she will start to lose her full intrest in it, and actually come out of the box every once in a while, and I will take the shreded box out, and she snaps out of the "mode" and is perfectly fine then! This works with male birds too - they do help with all of the nest building, don't they? So you should try giving him a little box, maybe a Kleenex box on it's side, or something similar that he will fit in, put a paper towel in for him to shread, and give him a palm frond to peel apart, and see how he acts after a few weeks!

....and if nothing works, do the next best thing........... find him a girlfriend, and raise yourself some little cuties!!