Weaning Age for Lovebirds

I'd like to put a little note here about weaning hand fed lovebirds.



I normally let my lovebirds go between eight and nine weeks old. I must be satisfied that not only do they know how to eat solid foods -but they are eating enough volume and variety to thrive.

I start the weaning process weeks before this...
When the oldest baby in the clutch is three weeks old I start offering little tiny pieces of avicakes . Avicakes are a combination of seed and pellets and have added vitamins. They are chewy and delicious to birds and can be broken into little pieces. These little pieces are put into the bird's mouth and he/she automatically knows what to do with them. Of course it still takes practice to be able to keep these in the mouth and "chew" them up without dropping them. The next day I add a little broccoli to the diet. I cut the very tips of the flowers with sharp scissors so that the pieces are as small as seed. Usually the next thing I offer is pellets and seed, followed by fresh corn and finely chopped snow peas, frozen mixed veggies -still including avicakes a few times a day. After about eight days or so the birds start eating plain cereals such as cheerios(multi-grain and plain), rice krispies, puffed wheat and musli. Cheerios and puffed wheat double as toys. Brown rice and whole wheat and regular pasta is added into the mix as well.

This is what is known as "abundance weaning". All the while I am still handfeeding the babies with Kaytee Exact hand feeding formula. As the birds get older and start to fly -approximately five weeks of age - they start taking less and less formula and more and more solid foods. But it is still a "process" and not an abrupt switch .

When the babies fledge(start flying) they naturally lose a little weight. That is why it is critically important to make sure they are eating enough to not lose a dangerous amount of weight at this time.

I find this whole weaning time a lot of fun. I notice that individual birds end up having their own favorite foods and I will tell the new owners what these are.



That is why it takes up to nine weeks to safely have a truly weaned baby lovebird.

In the wild the babies come out of the nest at six weeks of age and the parents "teach" them how to feed themselves over the course of the next few weeks. I should add here that the odd little one takes more than nine weeks - sometimes up to eleven weeks. That is not usually the case but I say...why rush it? You want the healthiest baby you can get. It seems like a long wait when you are so excited about getting your new bird. Lovebirds can live up to twenty years -if they are healthy.



Just for the record -budgies wean faster and in most cases are ready to go in six weeks. I follow the same process with them but it all happens just a little bit faster.



Hand feeding baby birds is one of the most enjoyable and satisfying things that I've ever done (:>}=