LOVE BIRDS Genus Agapornis

DISTRIBUTION: South-western Africa

HABITAT: Near water in savannahs, grassy prairies with some trees.

SIZE: 15-18 cm (6-7 in)

DIET: Sunflower, Safflower, millets and canary seed, fruit and green-stuffs.

SEXING: No visual differences between the sexes.

COMPATIBILITY: Risky. (pairs)

PET APPEAL: Underestimated, great personality and colour range, ideal pet bird.






I have kept several different lovebirds and I have never had any problems with any of them. They have been in the aviary with several other species and have never been aggressive. I have 3 Peach-faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis) babies, and at the moment one of them is convinced she is a budgie and is enticing the budgie cock to feed her.

They are a very lively bunch, and as soon as anyone steps up to the aviary, are chatting and telling everyone about it. They are very much copy cats, and follow each other around, watch what the other birds do and then one by one copy what they have seen.

The babies have now started colouring up in the face, replacing the real pale peach with bright pink. They are also getting more vocal and love to tell me or the dog's off.

I am thinking about getting another love bird, as in the beginning the 3 cuddled up together all the time, where as now, two of them are excluding the 3 and he is trying to cuddle both the cockatiels and the ring neck.


UPDATE 30TH DECEMBER 2001

There have been 4 new additions to the love bird flock, 2 yellow pied, one peach face and one blue. They arrived because their previous owner has been very poorly and unable to give them the care that they needed. All 7 lovebirds now go around in one large pack, they natter to each other all the time, I was expecting there to be problems with dominance issues, but over several months now there have been no problems at all.


21st April 2002

We have new residents in the lovebird population, 2 peach faced/masked hybrids and a peach face blue. They only arrived a few days ago so are settling in and getting used to the busy life in the aviary. This is the first year I have left all eggs in the nest boxes (I usually replace them with fakes) and on Thursday we hatched our first love bird chick. The mom is disabled with a severe over bite but she is managing to feed her chick very well. I will step in and help with feeding if it looks like she can't cope. There are another 8 eggs that are in assorted nest boxes and as of half an hour ago one of the eggs is doing a jiggle, so it looks like another chick over the next few hours.

We have installed a colour CCTV camera to compliment the black and white one and this afternoon we were privy to a very intimate coupling between the peach faces. The birds are thoroughly enjoying the wonderful spring weather we are having and they are tucking into their fresh fruit and vegetables with relish.



31st July 2002

Our love bird flock has grown to 17, with a large variety of colours and mutations. 3 of them are our own chicks, who we finished rearing for the parents. We do have a few eggs around, but no incubation or interference will happen with any of these if they hatch. We keep a close eye on everyone by using the CCTV cameras and it enables us to see behaviour that they usually do out of sight.


17th July 2003

We only have 3 love birds now, after rats broke in to our old aviary and killed our birds and chicks on the nest. It was a horrific experience both for us and the birds, the 3 remaining lovebirds are doing well and looking forward to their new rat proof aviary in the heart of the Cornish countryside. The house move has been a great thing for all the birds, they all seem a lot happier and relaxed here. This experience left me wanting to quit all the rescue work and bird keeping, but I love the birds too much to give up on them, especially as the rats were just doing what nature tells them to, but I will ensure the safety and I would urge anyone to check around their aviaries, not just for rats but for any "intruders", its just not worth taking a chance with.