making friends, newbie to love birds

[conure keeper]

hello
i'm currently fostering a 1yr old peach faced love bird. he came to me as the "owners" took their new baby home and decided birds were un hygenic...
the owerns put the love bird i have and his friend out in the shead for the night and one died. the next morning they brought the remaining bird to my work and i took him home as he chewed one of his toes off.
i've only had him here for two days and he seems to be trying to make friends. today he is sat on top of my laptop while i'm typing this.
i do wonder though is that because i have 3 of my other birds sat on me at this time?
i don't know the little love birds history but he hasn't had handling while in his last home. i do not know a great deal about their personality as pets and the ones i have met before have always been in a pair and fairly aggressive towards people.
do people keep them as companions? at the moment i'm trying to get it a love bird friend and then they will go to a new home together, although if he becomes tame and my birds accept him i may be tempted to keep him.
so far all the info i have found on them says they should only be kept in pairs and not as indoor parrots.
any info would really be apreciated.
thanks

[expressmailtome]

Hi! Lovebirds can be great companions. Also, they definately do not need to be kept in pairs. Sometimes it is better to keep just one if you want the bird to bond to you more closely. By the way, they are very curious!

Matt

[conure keeper]

thanks,
really seeing the curiousioty! its an amazing little bird. took my hand reared gcc weeks to trust me and this little one has been here 2 days and already wants to see what im doing :)

[Flappuccino]

First of all- just to get it out of the way... QUARANTINE!!!! It's too late now, but extremely important for the sake of the babies already in your home.

That said...

Oh yes , Lovebirds make wonderful pets! Mine is the most cuddly, sweet, funny little girl. I got her when she was 2 wks old and handfed her.
They can be taught tricks, and love attention. Jack loves to lie on my hand and get kissed all over the belly.

It is true that they can be aggressive to other birds, and if not tame can deliver a nasty bite. But I wouldn't trade mine for anything.

As mentioned above, they are very curious and will welcome any opportunity got be out and around you, getting into everything you're doing.

Keeping them in pairs or they will die is a silly myth. If you don't plan on interacting with the bird, he should have a friend. But if you want a true pet, who will bond with you, a single will be just as happy!

Good luck with the new little guy- and check your p.m.

[expressmailtome]

Later I had another thought. I have only rehomed one lovebird. She was a beautiful creamino. She was standoffish at first. What I did was to watch her eating habits. I found that she went nuts for millet. You would think that she never ate before! This worked out great for me. I would open her cage door and hold a millet stick by the stem part in front of me and then wait. Eventually she would come out to eat it. This was the only time she had this treat. Over time I could put my hand closer and closer to her. Eventually she became a great and friendly bird. After this I gave her back her millet in her cage.

[mayaexquisite]

Hi! How nice of you to foster a baby!!

I agree with the quarantining. If you plan on getting this lovebird a friend, you'll need to keep them completely separated for a month - that means different cages in different rooms. Also, if you haven't yet, quarantine this lovebird from your three others birds immediately. Even though they've all interacted already, there's a chance that IF the lovebird has something it hasn't passed it on in that meeting. But if the bird has something and they continue to interact, then you know what that means...

Do you know why the bird chewed it's toe off? Did it get caught on something and it bothered him/her? I know you're only fostering, but taking him/her to the vet would be a good idea.

People definitely keep a single lovebird as companions!! After I had to put breeding on hiatus, Mika was my only lovebird for around three years before Kano came into our lives. If you can give a single lovebird LOTS of attention, it's fine. But if you're at work all day and out and about all the time, it's only fair to get the lovebird a companion. Now, the tricky thing about getting a companion is that you can never know if they'll get along. When getting a companion, you'll have to get another cage - first for quarantining, then for "getting to know you" time. Throwing two lovebirds together in the same cage without adjustment time can be dangerous because they may not like each other and they'll end up fighting and could hurt each other. So what you want to do after quarantining is place the cages side by side, with a couple inches in between so they can't bite through the bars. Even if they're not in the same cage, they'll have the companionship of each other. You can give them outside cage time each day. Start off with five minutes of supervised play time and see how they do. If they seem to play fine, you can slowly increase the amount of supervised play time they have together. It took my Mika a good two years to TRULY bond with Kano, but each bird is different. Some bond quickly, some take longer.

Also, they can definitely be indoor pets. Some people keep birds indoors, some outdoors. It just depends on your preference and living situation. Just know that if you keep birds as outdoor pets, they shouldn't be kept out in extreme cold.

I want to see pictures of this little baby!!!

[conure keeper]

hi,
i'll try and get some pics up later today. he/she has been quarenteed and vet checked, treated for mites and worms. we know where he was before he came to us and was treated before i brought him home. hes also on anitibiotics for his toe which should kill off anything else.
the vet thinks he took the toe off due to the stress and greif of loosing his mate. i won't be keeping him i don't think. the 3 other birds i have keep me busy enough and i've always got a foster dog or bird here so having 4 would make things harder.
when we find it a friend then that will be quarenteened with another foster parent and then after that we'll mix them. if we don't find him a mate we'll home him singaly but to live in a house with other birds.
i'm supprised how well they are getting on. my GCC keeps telling it off and doesn't want to play but then he is my baby and a human bird as apposed to a birds bird.
what fruit do your love birds like? this one won't eat anything, but thats possibly because hes never had it before.

[conure keeper]

this is the little love bird, have just cleaned up his feet, its the food the furthist away that he had been chewing. looking much better than it was.

[crystalusagi]

He's adorable, and is looking pretty good. =D Good luck with him! Hope he'll continue to recover nicely!

[Flappuccino]

To answer your question: Lovebirds will occasionally eat fruit, but veggies are much more to their liking.
Carrots, broccoli, corn, kale, spinach, green beans are the easiest to get and prepare. But try as many as you want (no avocado, of course)- and try cold/warm, crisp/mushy, big/small, in a cup/in the bars...
No one bird is the same and have different preferences.
As for fruit- anything is pretty much ok to try, but mine will only eat seedless grapes, a small apple slice (seeds are toxic), or a bit of banana.

Have fun trying new things, but even if he doesn't seem to like it at first, keep trying. Sometimes it takes a week or more.