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Hello everyone, I have a odd story about my love bird, one day this summer my 7 yr old daughter was playing outside in the sprinkler and she came running in screaming, i was expecting blood by the scream, she said that something was buzzing in her hair, i looked through it and found nothing. 10 minutes later she was calmed down enough to go back out, we walked out the front door and my wife froze in her track and asked what just landed on her, I turned around and could not believe my eyes, there was a love bird sitting on my wifes back. The bird stepped to me and we brought it in and gave it food and water, it was so hungry and thirsty, I think it ate and drank at the same time for a good 5 minutes straight. Anyway, that was this summer, we tried to find the owner but no luck so I told my daughter she could keep it. He (had it DNA sexed) is a great little bird, very friendly but he has completely pulcked his right side under his wing and his leg. I am at a loss as to what to do, I do not have this problem with any of my other birds, any suggestions? Everytime I try to hold hom he feeds me do you think he had a mate? I do not even know what kind he is. I went to every pet store in the area thinking that maybe one "flew away" but could not find any that look like him. He is all green with a brown head. Thanks for any help you can give.

Do you have a pitcure you could post? Brown you say? Are you sure it is not a orange or a reddish? That would be a peachface or a peachface mutation. The feeding you means that he sees you as a mate. I had a male do the same thing. It was sickening the way he would be all over me, reguritating on his heet and then eating it. But, he was a favorite little guy and we just let him do it (we ignored it or put him back in his cage for awhile). Post a picture if you can, or email one to me if you can't post it on here!

What color is the birds beak? Many times a hybrid between a peachface and a eyering species will have a brown head and orangish beak. Or it could possible be a blackcheek lovebird. You can do a google search to see pictures. Blackcheeks aren't very common and you most likely will never see one in a pet store.
The plucking could be because of a fungal infection or some other health issue and the best thing would be a visit with an avian vet.
It's great that you rescued him.

My first thought was a black cheeked lovebird also.
We have a two peachface males together for companionship. The one male a little WF started to pluck under his tail and mutilate himself. He wanted out 24/7. We also had another male which was semi-tame but sterile. We introduced them to each other and they have formed a strong bond. The WF stopped picking. He still remains a devoted pet, but when in the cage is devoted to the other male. I would still rule out any health factors first, but this might help if it's psychological.

thaks for all the help, i will try to post a pic, but, everytime i hold up a camera, he turns his back

i am still trying

i have had hi checked for fungus stuff when i had it sexed, all seems to be fine in the health department. His beak is orangeish though!

Please post whatever photo you can take. We may be able to tell something even from a back view.

This is the best pic I could get.
[img][img]http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w238/Carters_dad/love_bird_004.jpg[/img][/img]

That's a hybrid. It looks like a black-masked and peachface. Real cute, but not a breeder!

Thank for the help, that may explain why I could not find one like him in the stores around here.

I just feel bad for the little guy, he is a great pet and so wants a friend but none of my birds want anything to do with him. They all look at him like he is a freak

I am glad he found us and we were able to take him in, it just makes me sick to think that someone either turned him out or he got out and no one cared enough to try to find him.

Being a Peachfaced x Eye-ring cross, this lovie is not capable of reproducing, so it's not something that will ever become an issue. Eye-ring x eye-ring hybrids are capable of having offspring and those birds should not be used in breeding programs, either.

You may have to look a bit to find this one a companion. He's really cute.

So let me get this straight, I have a sterile messed up hybrid that know ones has ever see before? Oh, the poor baby!

Now I wouldn't say he is messed up. Although hybrids tend to be very confused when it comes to breeding season. Since eye-ring and peachface lovebirds build their nests differently, the hybrids can be confused on how to build a nest. They don't know if they should tuck the material into their rump feathers or simply carry it in their beak to the nest site. Eye-ring lovebirds also tend to have 2 chamber nests while peachface have 1 chamber (usually). But if he is bonded to you, I would worry about that. I personally would not find him a friend so you don't promote nesting behavior. If he likes you (or people in general) I would just keep him by himself and just make sure you pay a lot of attention to him. If you do want to get him a buddy, make sure he is actually a male and try to find him another male buddy. You can always keep them in seperate cages so they only have supervised contact when they come out of the cage. Where are you from? I ask because there is a bird rescue in Wisconsin right now that has a hybrid for adoption. He is up fpr adoption with a black masked I believe. It's worth a try to find one in a rescue. BTW, I'm sure there are a lot of lovebird people on this chat who have seen this kind of hybrid before, I know I have.

Thanks for all of the info. I just know NOTHING about love birds so
i feel bad for the little guy. I would never buy one, and really have very little interest in them, but since he chose me (us) I feel like I need to give him a fair chance. He is not a bother, just so different from my macaws, teils and conures.

oops

But if he is bonded to you, I would worry about that.

sorry, I meant "I wouldN'T worry about that." It seems like he has become a part of your family. Just enjoy the company he gives and love him like he deserves to be and you will have no problem with him! Lovebirds are like big parrots in little parrot bodies, that's all you really need to know!

thanks