Breeding Lovebirds

Before breeding Lovebirds you should ask yourself first, if you really want to do this. Set a goal, make a plan as to what will you do if your Lovebirds start to hatch chicks. Do you have the time to check them from time to time? Do you want to hand-fed them or would you let the parents do all the raising. Set limitations for breeding Lovebirds. Think of how many would you want to keep. Think if you would want to cross breed to have color mutations. It’s better to start small than go way out of your head and lost control of the size of the population.

Breeding Lovebirds can sometime be frustrating and heartbreaking, it is also expensive. But if you do it with great success, its fulfilling, fun and satisfying can be addictive too. If you want to breed Lovebirds for money, that might not work out. Return profits cannot compensate on the things you bought to have a successful breeding and in keeping your Lovebirds. It is a labor of love and not for making money.

DNA service testing is one of the best ways to find a perfect pair for breeding Lovebirds. There are feather and blood DNA testing services available. In breeding Lovebirds you shouldn’t trust natural pairings, most often than not, they pair up with same sex Lovebird. Needless to say, eggs laid by two paired females are infertile.

In breeding Lovebirds you should make sure it is in the right age, say about ten months old will be nice. Most Lovebirds needs a high humidity in the nest during incubation, so it is recommended to restrict breeding Lovebirds in the warm months of the year. You need to provide damp organic debris that is added to the base of the nest box. Barks of trees and pieces of straw are good nesting materials. Usually breeding Lovebirds lay their eggs between 5 to 12 days after mating.

The hen spends long period of time in the nest box as laying time approaches and at this time, sufficient supplies of drench seed and cuttle fish bone should be made available. There are four to six eggs laid in alternating days. The hen will not (more often than not) start to incubate in earnest until the second or third egg is laid. The incubation period often last in about 23 days.

There is a big difference in the size of the oldest and youngest chicks of each clutch. Sure enough, the first few laid eggs could get all the good stuff and leaves the last laid eggs to be fighting for survival. It will be good if you let the parent Lovebirds feed their young for two to three weeks, then pull them out of the nest and hand-raise them. Most of these lovely Lovebirds need to be hand-fed until they are between six to eight weeks.