A few of the visiting eye-ring lovebirds have become part of our flock...because they thought the grass was greener on the other side. If captured we keep them in a "hospital cage" for a week before they join up with the aviary flock to make sure they are not diseased. We've been lucky not to have acquired any to date that were sick. These orphans, as we call them, have helped us keep our aviary from producing inbreds.
Later along came another orphan who looked exactly like Sonny. She, too, was a eye-ring/peachface hybid and likewise stuck around. She was quite comfortable here and soon even built a nest on top of the aviary, under the palm fronts used for cover. We called her Sammy. One day she flew into the house, much to her chagrin, where she was captured. After a week in the "hospital cage" we put her with Sonny. Although it had been quite awhile from the separation he'd never quite been the same and I thought introducing Sammy would make him feel better. He wasn't as thrilled as we'd hoped and a short time later he died.
Sonny's cage became Sammy's. In the fall someone forgot to bolt the cage door. (You must do this when you have lovebirds.) She was found climbing around the nearby nursery cages. As we had hoped she returned to her own cage at nightfall where we rebolted the door shut.
With better weather in the spring we decided to bolt open Sammy's cage door. We weren't sure what she'd do but she was not an asset to breeding stock. As we'd hoped she had made this her home. We love that she comes and goes as she pleases, visiting the aviary, visiting the babies in the nursery, and visiting the neighborhood. We've had neighbors come to tell us one of our birds is out not knowing she's free to come and go. On warm days when our door is open she flies inside the house and visits with the indoor birds. This is where we keep those we hand-tame. Sammy often joins me when I hand-feed sunflower seeds to the more trusting aviary birds. She will also take them from my hand.
There will soon be plenty of pictures posted here for your viewing.
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Fischer
All of our aviary lovebirds are of the eye-ring family and all of the posted photos are our own. We do sell them because when they are happy they breed like bunnies. If you're interested, scroll further to find more information about purchase. I'm not invested in extensive lovebird knowledge but will share what I know and find useful. Do not rely on my information as a reliable resource. Do your own research.
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Fischer
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Blue Mask
teal
Thisco
Thisco is a 2007 hatch, adult Fischer and has a beak deformity, hence the name which is to imply a lisp. He (we don't know if he's really a he) is semi hand-tamed and makes a perfect lovebird pet in that his bite is relatively harmless. He requires no special feeding needs but is limited in his self-defense. As an adult his feathers have come in rather flamboyantly (below right) which renders him somewhat flightless. He couldn't be more perfect as a single-bird pet.
Thisco is for sale at a reduced price to a single-bird family only.
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Lovebirds For Sale
There are always babies here for sale at wholesale prices. We also offer hand-tame babies with a little forewarning. Prices are not posted because they fluxuate with the demand, availability, and economy. If you are interested in a purchase please contact us from the Contact Us page.
Our babies become available for rehome when they are no less than 8 weeks old. They nearly always fledge the nest at 6 weeks of age. We let them mingle with the adults for another week to learn how to be a bird. Then we relocate them to nursery cages where they continue to socialize but more appropriately with other babies than with the adults. We keep a close watch for another week to make sure they are self-sufficient.
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Babies
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A Buncha Fischers
Visitors
An occasional flock visitor comes around two or three times a year. If they aren't lovebirds we just let them eat, drink, and be merry, gathering strength for a new adventure.
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Mask and Blue Mask
Masks are often referred to as Black Masks to distinguish from Blue Masks. Both have a black head. Masks have a red beak, Blue Masks have a pinkish beak. The blue in the Blue Masks can be cobalt or teal.
Fischer
It is my understanding that the Fischer is the original color and are the smallest in size. All others are mutations thereof. Fischers are always the same color combination with only a slight variance in shade.
Lutino
The distinguishing feature of a Lutino in any bird variety is the red eyes. The primary color is yellow and in the Lutino Fischers they have an orange head and red beak. They also have the characteristic Fischer red beak.
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Lutino Fischer
The sexes of lovebirds are not very distiguishable. Some people say they can tell the difference by their pelvic size (the span between their legs). We have not been able to determine this ourselves. Lovebirds can also be sexed by a DNA test but we don't feel our purposes justify the expense. We find as they mature we can make a fairly accurate determination of sex (90%) by their behavior, as long as they remain within the aviary community.
All our aviary lovebirds have names and are distinguishable, albeit a bit difficult sometimes. We often rely on the colored bands we put on all our new babies. From time to time a unique baby comes about and we decide to let remain in the aviary and become part of the community. Currently we have 22 in our aviary.
Peachface
Peachfaces, on the other hand, are a family of lovebirds that are slightly larger and do not have the white eye-ring. We have acquired three of these but keep them together, isolated from other varieties. They all appear to be female. Lots of eggs, no hatches.
Sonny & Sammy
A few years ago we had a eye-ring/peachface hybrid come a visiting. My research uncovers that cross breeding eye-rings and peachfaces is discouraged. The product of which is said to be sterile.
This guy hung around for a week and made himself at home in a nesting box we left out for him. Soon after we allowed him to join up with the aviary flock. We named him Sonny. He did reproduce. (I guess you can't believe everything you read.) His offspring may have been sterile, I couldn't say, but we pulled him from the flock (and mate) to thwart his breeding and gave him his own cage among the nursery cages.
