Hi all - another weird question from me. haha! One of my lovebirds, Rainbow, has all of a sudden started doing this: (this is what I've seen) She/he sits on her perch and picks, like, regurgitated food out of the roof of her mouth with her foot (!), and then wipes her mouth back and forth on the perch. ??? She does this for long periods of time, and now she always has chewed up food all over her mouth - like a baby. It's really strange, and she just recently started doing this. My other one, Olive, does not do anything like that. Anyone seen this behavior before??? Thanks as always everyone - J

Are you or Olive near him when he does this?

Sounds like love to me!

Your friend is irritated by the food stuck in the roof of his/her beak.
Crop milk or Kaytee, when we hand feed here the mix does sometimes build up inside the birds beak, this does tend to annoy the bird.
Concerning some of our birds, we clean there beaks our selfs, then there are a few that do there own cleaning, but by all means the birds do become a little frustrated with the food that builds up in the upper beak.
All our birds do the beak rubbing after a breakfast of Oat Meal.
The more soft foods fed to them, the better the chances of food being built up in the upper beak.
Just depends on what you are feeding them.
Some birds will not eat well or at all until they can get there beak cleaned on the inside, so this might be something for you to keep your eye on, there maybe times when you will need to assist, we use a standard tooth pick and dislodge anything that they can't seem to get out by themselfs.
Good luck.

Arty

Thanks so much for all the replies! Yes, Olive is always in her cage right next to Rainbow. We still aren't sure about the sex of either bird, but I thought they were both girls.

These birds were raised on RAT FOOD before we rescued them. They will only eat bird seed. I buy them fortified seed, but they won't touch the tiny pellets I put in there (that I can see anyway), and they are terrified of anything fresh I try to offer them. It almost seems like whatever it is he/she is picking out of there is regurgitated. In fact Arty, it does look an awful lot like oatmeal! I don't how I would even get close enough to look inside the beak, they won't let us near them without biting. Hard. Grandma - now that you asked that question, Rainbow does seem to always be doing this when I'm in the kitchen...

If they are regurgitating, this is something you won't want to happen often, you can try and place them further apart.
If there is something lodged into the upper beak, it might be best to towel the bird and assist by using a tooth pick to clear the cavity.
Its your call.
Arty

Okay Arty. I have to trust you, I will towell her/him (?) and try to see what's in there. But I don't mind telling you that I'm scared of these birds. They are nothing like Prissy. Prissy is a sweetheart, these little ones are naughty. I will try this tomorrow. Do you think Rainbow is a male or female? Is he/she doing this for Olive? XOXO - J

The sex is hard to tell, the regurgitating issue could very well be part of the courtship.
Here's a site, hopefully this will help you determine the sex of each bird.
Introduction to Lovebirds
Some good reading if anything.
Its not a must to do what I recommend, I am simply trying to help.
If your little one continues to try and pick something out of his/her beak and continues to rub his/her beak as if trying to clean it, there maybe something lodged into the upper beak cavity that the bird can't get out on his/her own, this may require you to help.
I understand the "mean" issue, we have a few birds here that are set in there ways, this will be "common" when bringing an orphan into your home, a person simply doesn't know about the previous owner (some birds have had many) and how they have raised there bird.
Changing such behavior can be challenging.

From what you have described, this tells me something is bothering the little one, something maybe stuck in his/her beak, if this behavior has stopped, then it could be the bird has worked it out and all is fine.

Here's another link that may help you with courtship.
The Pet Bird Lovebird FAQ
You could have two males, or two females, or one of each.
You will find some interesting reading concerning homosexual behavior.

Regurgitating is fine if it is done during courtship and feeding the young, if the bird does this for the human then this is not okay and or healthy, if this is being done for another bird of the same sex, then this could also prove to be unhealthy.

The more you learn, the more you can stay on top of issues.

I appreciate all you are doing for those birds Jenn, You and your mate are doing a fine job.

Keep up the good work and you will prevail.

Peace

Arty

Benji asks "what ever do you mean?"

That is an awesome picture Jim.
Thank you kindly!