My two new lovebirds are either fighting or playing, but I don't know the difference. (don't laugh) . I don't know if they are in love, or what their genders are or anything. I resuced two of four siblings - they are about a year old, and I've had them for 3 days. (?) Anyway - what does it mean when they sort of fly around the cage after each other, and then they meet up and flap their wings fast at each other and bite each other's mouths, & yell and sqwak at each other? Now, I've seen them "kiss" before - It looks like crop feeding, but I'm not sure. But this is different - they are acting weird. I can't tell with them, they won't let me touch them yet - so I just observe - but this thing is new tonight...any ideas? Thanks as always - J

It sounds like they are just playing.
Do you know for sure that you have one of each gender?

I would be very watchful and have a second cage ready. Love birds are notorious for killing each other. To me it sounds like they are fighting, which with love birds is never a good sign. DO you have a bunch of toys in the cage? The more toys or thing to obscure each other view from one another the better chance you will have at them working it out. Also make sure to have two food bowls. A lot of time one bird will guard the food dish and not let the other eat.

Hi - thanks so much you guys, No, I don't know what I've got! Here is my story: a friend of a friend was "breeding" Lovebirds irresponsibly, and my friend took four of the babies from her, and asked me handfeed two of them for her. So I did that for a couple of weeks, and then she took them back. That was a year ago. So, she has kept the 4 of them in a very small cage, and allowed them to fly free in her house about once a week. I think they have pretty much forced themselves on the birds, so they don't trust anyone. Her children were not nice to the birds, I KNOW THIS. Her 6 yr old daughter is very rough with animals. My daughter said that she had seen the little girl tease them with a pencil! GREAT. How will I teach them to step up?

Recently, after seeing the situation closely, I offered to take the birds, she said she would let me have two. The two she kept I am pretty sure are true because they do that crop feeding thing, and groom each other all the time. The two I got were one of the ones I hand-fed, adn the other one that she says is "mean". She also insists that more brightly colored ones are male, and the two gray ones are female - this can't be true, right? Anyway, I know they are under a lot of stress coming to a new home, and I put them in a large cage, and with lots of toys and plain eco-paper towells to tear up, and I tied a little bandana to to 3 sides, they go inside it and tear up paper towells together. (?) Well, so last night - they started yelling at each other, and it looked like it may have started over the food. So I put another food dish with the same thing in it on the other side of the cage. They calmed down after I talked to them for a while, and then it was bed time, so I put them to bed, and didn't hear a peep from them. My fear is that if they don't love each other, something bad will happen while we are not home. Anyway, these two are not half as loving as the 2 she kept, OH, & they eat seed. That's it. Won't touch the pellets or apples or carrots I offer. I've got a bowl of little pellets in there, and they haven't eaten any of it. AACK! What should I do with these 2 little naughty birds?

You need to have them DNA'd as soon as possible. Female lovies will literally kill each other when they reach sexual maturity if they are forced to share a cage. There is no way to tell a male from a female. People say you can by the shape of the tail and the head, the colors, the size, etc but the truth is that there are so many variations and sizes due to in or over breeding that it's impossible.

Lovebirds do not really play with one another. A bonded pair will cuddle, preen, kiss and feed each other but there is no real playing so what you saw must be fighting and, if there is fighting, you have two females because males don't fight.

Thanks so much Beatriz. Do you know if 2 females would fight each other like that, AND cuddle? They sleep right next to each other, and snuggle in a bandana I have hanging in the cage. Just curious. I will call to see the $$ of getting them DNA tests. What age do they reach sexual maturity?
I'm so bummed out...what will I do if they can't live together?

It's usually around 12 months of age but I know of a case where two females had lived together for over two years with the only sign of aggression being that one would not allow the other one to eat from the same dish so the owner figured that if she put two dishes everything would be OK until one morning she found the least agressive one dead on the bottom of the cage with her throat ripped open. Lovebirds are one of the species of psittacines where the females are the dominant gender and, same as the other species where this happens, the females tend to be extremely aggressive and go for the kill, not just the occasional warning nip.

DNA testing is not that expensive anylonger. You can get done through internet places for as little as $25 each, the only thing is that you would need to take them to a vet to get the blood sample (some people say just cut a nail too short and let it bleed but I don't agree with doing that -it hurts them and you might not be able to control the bleeding and these are very little birds with not that much blood in them to begin with).

If you find that both are females, you will need to put them in separate cages and get both of them boyfriends or, if you just want one pair, you can adopt one of them out to somebody who has a lone bachelor and adopt just one male for the one you decide to keep. Lovebirds are very common (they are very, very easy to breed -actually, the difficult thing is keeping them from it) and there are lots and lots out there for adoption. Only make sure the male you adopt is the same kind of mutation because, in my personal experience, blue only like blue, masked only like masked, peachface only like peachface, etc. etc.

Wow, thanks so much. I actually called my vet yesterday and they told me that it will cost me 150.00 to DNA them. YIKES. Not that they aren't worth every penny, but if you don't have it, you don't have it. Would females crop feed each other? I'm sorry if I sound like I don't have a clue, it's because I don't. I wonder what he will charge to take a blood sample? I couldn't clip a nail anyway, they don't want me to hold them, they bite hard, and I would be too scared to cut it too short as well.

They are just over a year old I believe, so I better take care of this I suppose asap. I appreciate your help very much! I thought I had it all figured out - guess not. Have a great day!

You might try asking one of the vet technicians to do it for your privately. Most of them are willing to do this kind of thing for a small fee. My AV is great and she does it for free when she takes blood during the first check up.
The internet companies send you a form and a little tube where you put the blood in so it's just a matter of getting somebody who knows how to draw blood from them to do it for you.

You can also have the DNA test done from a feather. No matter what sex they are, I would separate them. Siblings should not be bred so if they are m & f it is very important to not let them stay together. Smaller birds reach sexual maturity by a year old.