Lovebird Courtship and Mating: What We Learned

Sometimes, lovebirds don't end up as mates even though they are bound to be "in love" some time or other. I am lucky as my birds ended up as mates, even when there wasn't any scope of friendship between them.

In this article we will address the following major topics (Based on my personal experience) :

• Courtship in Lovebirds
• Mating Ritual
• What do Lovebird Mates do?
• Jealousy in Pets
• What Happens when you Bring a New Bird (Mate) Home?
• Lovebird Personalities (Fun Facts about my Pets)

How my pets ended up as mates will be explained later. Let's see what courtship and mating are, first. After we came back from India, we noticed that Mulu (their ship name) were closer than before. They weren't enemies anymore. They were friends, infact we felt they were going to become more than friends. Here are the tell-tale signs of courtship/attracting a mate:

• Regurgitation

This is the first sign of courtship in lovebirds. The male tries to attract/woo the female by regurgitating (bringing swallowed food up again to the mouth) and feeding her. This begins when the male bobs his head up and down to bring back food from his crop.

Mumu fed Lulu many times to win her trust and attraction. She denied eating from his mouth at the beginning, but approved and asked to be fed later on. This feeding continues rigorously when the female gets pregnant, lays eggs and also when their chicks are born.

• Closeness

  When your birds remain close together and you feel like they are stuck together like glue (well it just puts together what I want to say), it means they are soon to be mates.

• Preening Each Other

Lovebirds preen (clean their feathers) each other all the time. This means they will become mates soon. They look so sweet while doing this. It is the best sight to watch (according to me).

Mumu initiated preening Lulu. At first, she didn't respond back by preening him. He urged her to preen him by pressing his head in her stomach. It took a while and lot of effort from him to win her over. Their love is so strong now. Roles are reversed, she preens him most of the time now! It's so endearing to watch this behavior.

• Nesting Behavior

  When you see your female lovebird shredding paper into long strips with her beak and putting them in her back, she is displaying nesting behavior. It means she is ready for mating and is practicing nest making! However, this activity can be part of her entertainment too.

The male lovebird makes sounds like "click", "click" with his beak and moves around the female. He puts his foot on her wings and grabs them for climbing on her back. The female opens her wings to balance his weight. Then, mating follows. This process is repeated several times a day. Eggs are laid within 5-7 days post mating, with each being laid in a gap of 1-2 days (there can be exceptions/delays).

So your lovebirds are now mates. What do they do together? Read on and find out...

• Eating Together

When your birds eat together, it means they are acknowledging each other's presence and are spending their time together.

• Playing Together

  Mulu play together a lot. I have a bag of chewy toys for them, with trinkets and beads. They also love shredding paper. By copying Lulu, Mumu has learnt how to put a paper bit in his tail! (He is unsuccessful most of the time.) Yeah, a great accomplishment! He tries this when given dried palm leaves too.

• Bathing Together

This doesn't happen most of the time, but sometimes Mulu bath together. When Mumu begins bathing, Lulu follows him and starts bathing too. They look so cute while doing this.

We planned to go to India for a small vacation. We were very worried about Mumu. So, to give him company, we bought Lulu. We were lucky, as it is very hard to get single lovebirds. Thanks to Mr. Jafar; a man who previously worked in a pet shop, as he decided to keep Mumu and Lulu in his house for 3 weeks. Both were kept in safe hands and their bonding grew considerably. Well, coming back to the beginning, we hoped they would bond with each other, as soon as they would be together for the first time. But we were wrong...

Mumu was shocked, well not just shocked, jealous too. I had never been bitten my him before, until Lulu came. He hated the fact that she was getting our attention. But, we never gave her more attention than him, as we knew he was jealous. We kept both of them in separate cages, which were placed side by side. Doing this ensured two things; they couldn't fight and they could watch each other, which would probably help in making them friends.

When Mulu were together, the following things happened:

• He would always approach her, would scream at her, or try to intimidate her. But she never got scared by him. She stayed her cool and calm self.

• He tried to move her away when she sat on our knees or shoulders. But she would never budge. Way to go, girl!
• They always fought over the same piece of toy. Though there were many toys to play with, they would try to snatch each other's toys. Even if there would be two of the same kind! I had to play peacemaker so many times. Phew!

• Both of them just tried to scare each other by trying to fight. They tried to hit each other but didn't; instead it would appear as if they are trying to make each other back off with their beaks.

Lovebirds are of different personalities, just like humans! Each bird is unique and special in his/her own way. Mumu and Lulu are complete opposites, yet they are mates. I have mentioned some fun facts about my pets below. Enjoy reading!

1. Name: Mumu (in the memory of my granny who called my sister by this pet name.)
2. Sex: Male
3. Date of Birth: Three weeks old baby when bought on 12 March 2016.
4. Species: Medium green heavy-pied peach faced lovebird.
5. Personality: Package of curiosity, aggression and a happy-go-lucky nature rolled in one.
6. Unique abilities: Can clearly speak "Step up" and "Come here". Understands emotions and screams angrily (if we scold him).
7. Routine: Follow us around the house and pokes his "nose" in all our matters.
8. Nicknames: "Chaplu" (meaning nosy in our native language), "Kalejo" (meaning the apple of an eye in our native language) and Softy Pie.
9. Likes: Playing outside all day, getting lots of attention, head scratches, kisses and listening to Blank Space (Thank you Taylor Swift, my bird gets sleepy, while listening to your song! It acts like a lullaby for him), sung by my sister and me.
10. Dislikes: Going back inside the cage and when we touch his stuff (seeds,toys and his cage.)
11. Most loved activity: Chewing toys and chains, banana tips, my mobile's cover (sadly, but I don't allow him) and carpet threads.
12. Cause of sadness: When we are away, he needs us around him, all the time. Also, he needs his mate Lulu too.

1. Name: Lulu (meaning pearl in Arabic; she is truly the gem personified.)
2. Sex: Female
3. Date of Birth: Six months old (according to pet shop owner) on 18 July 2016.
4. Species: White-Faced violet roseicollis peach faced lovebird.
5. Personality: Quiet, reserved and as cool as a cucumber. She doesn't take any matter to heart and is very calm and composed.
6. Unique abilities: Puts her whole face inside the water bowl sprinkling droplets upon herself and then pushes it against the cage bars, to let water fall on her body. She can untie the nylon thread which locks the cage door and escape away. She can also open the closed cage door and get inside easily. Pretty smart for a bird, I must say. She never bites, gets angry or aggressive.
7. Routine: Peculiar habit of eating seeds inside her water bowl. Post this, she tries to remove the "mess" with her tongue, drinks the "seedy water" and sprinkles it upon herself. Seeing this I sometimes say, "Hey, I just changed the water now!"
8. Nicknames: Snow White, Fur ball and Softy Pie.
9. Likes: Sitting and eating from the money plant pot (the plants withered, so we filled the pots with seeds), running her beak through our hair (sometimes) and exploring different designs (of fabrics, carpet and toys.)
10. Dislikes: When Mumu is away from her sight and when we try to get too close to her (she needs her personal space too.)
11. Most loved activity: Shredding any type of paper and loves tearing cardboard too.
12. Cause of sadness: When Mumu stays away from her. So, she calls him loudly, flapping her wings and he appears before her the next second.

I would like to end by saying that lovebirds can be friends or mates or enemies too. It isn't necessary that any two lovebirds can end up as mates. I am glad mine did.

Currently, Lulu has laid 9 eggs (squeals) and sits on them. I am waiting to see the new born chicks and speculating what their color might turn out to be. When the chicks will be born, I would surely make another hub about egg laying in lovebirds. Till then, Happy Mating!