Taming a 3 week old

[lovebirdsrcool]

Hey,

About 3 weeks ago we had a little lovebird hatch =) At the moment it has fully developed feathers and is flying (Is this normal to be flying already?!) but we're guessing it's still being fed by the mother... (we can hear chirps coming from the cage in the morning and at night - my friend said that usually they make noise when their being fed - is this right?)

I've taken it out twice now to try to tame it. My first attempt wasn't so great but today when I did it again, it sat on my finger for about 5 minutes and flew off. When I get it back it is really stressed so I have to try and calm it down again (this happens multiple times)

I got a list of questions maybe someone can answer for me;
- How old should they be until;
:: they start flying?
:: stop being fed by their mother and be able to survive on their on?
- Should I trim it's wings so it doesn't fly away all the time? (it is in a large cage when I don't have it out so it's a fairly big drop but usually it is in another cage within the cage [it does come out of that cage though and flies around the larger one] )
- I know I should be patient but how long will it take to tame it? (I have tamed 2 before but I think they were about 2 weeks old and the wings were trimmed already)
- Is it to late now that it is 3 weeks old to tame it?

Thanks heaps =)

[Laraine]

I'm not an expert in taming, but I would think that 3 weeks is not too late. I think the main thing at that age is to keep handling him so that he gets used to being held by a human. Once again I'm no expert, there are lots in this forum.

[lovebirdsrcool]

Thanks heaps Laraine!

Can anyone else answer my questions??

- How old should they be until;
:: they start flying?
:: stop being fed by their mother and be able to survive on their on?
- Should I trim it's wings so it doesn't fly away all the time? (it is in a large cage when I don't have it out so it's a fairly big drop but usually it is in another cage within the cage [it does come out of that cage though and flies around the larger one] )
- I know I should be patient but how long will it take to tame it? (I have tamed 2 before but I think they were about 2 weeks old and the wings were trimmed already)

[avinet]

Aug 17, 2010 18:31:10 GMT 10 lovebirdsrcool said:

I got a list of questions maybe someone can answer for me;
- How old should they be until;
:: they start flying?
:: stop being fed by their mother and be able to survive on their on?
- Should I trim it's wings so it doesn't fly away all the time?
- I know I should be patient but how long will it take to tame it? (I have tamed 2 before but I think they were about 2 weeks old and the wings were trimmed already)
- Is it to late now that it is 3 weeks old to tame it?

Thanks heaps =)

I think you must have the times mixed up here. A lovebird normally leaves the nest and starts to fly at around 6 weeks, occasionally a few days earlier, but never before around 38-39 days. At 3 weeks old it would still have mainly spikey pin feathers, only just starting to open. At 2 weeks old the eyes have only just opened, and the baby has down and the first pin feathers appearing. Once the baby leaves the nest it would normally be fed by it's parents for a further 10 to 14 days before it is fully independent.

Lovebirds are pretty easy to tame up until around 3 months old - becoming progressively harder after that. My rule of thumb for peachfaces is as long as ther eis still some dark colour on it's beak then it is still OK to tame. Once the beak has lost any trace of the baby colour it isn't so easy, but not impossible.

I always find that giving the wings a light trim makes the taming process a lot lot easier. However I don't clip until the bird is flying competently - usually after 7 to 10 days of flying. Once the bird is tame you can then let the wings grow out on its' next moult.

As to how long taming takes - it is a bit like how long is a piece of string. It depends on the temperament of the baby (some never tame), that experience of the tamer, and the temperament of the tamer - some people just don't understand birds, others are a natural with birds.

cheers

Mike

[lovebirdsrcool]

ok thanks...
That is really interesting because only about 3 (nearly 4 now) weeks ago you could see that the feathers had just grown (like you described them at 3 weeks). It must be about 6 weeks then! wow - how could we not notice?!

[vankarhi]

Hello.......and it is very easy to lose track of time lol (I do it all the time) and that is where writing down the hatch date is a very handy tool (isn't it Ellen lol)

I thought that 3 weeks was far too early for a lovie to be fledged and wondered if you had got your dates wrong.

As for taming........Lovies can make lovely pets but they must be tamed early other wise they can become bitey. I think you have your guy at a good age.......so you will probably have yourself a lovely little pet bird. Robert our "lord of the links" has a lovely little lovie/peach face (I can never tell the difference lol) and he is a wonderful little pet.

[yazmin]

Hey (:
I'm no expert, and the way I tame birds is probably different to most people.. but I started when I was 9 on a mature sulphur crested cockatoo and I've never had annnnnny bird that I couldn't tame.

I'd probably wait till it's old enough to be in it's own cage, birds seem to be harder to tame while they're being housed with other birds. But to answer your question, no it's definitely not too old to tame. Just because it wasn't hand raised, doesn't mean that it won't make an equally tame and loving pet as a handraised bird.