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1. Sexing Lovebirds
The Red-faced, Abyssinian and Madagascar lovebird species are
sexually dimorphic, which means that you can tell whether the
lovebird is male or female from its coloring. In the other species,
male and female lovebirds have the same coloring. This makes it
harder to determine the sex of your lovebird. For many pet-owners,
the sex of their lovebird does not really matter, unless you want to
breed your birds. However, names may be a problem if you find out
that "Bartholomew" is really a female! If you want a lovebird as a
pet and companion, there isn't a better gender, because the
characteristics and outward appearances of males and females are
similar in most species.
Females are generally larger and sturdier than males, but this can
vary, depending on a lovebird's genetics, nutrition, etc. Males
sometimes have more intense coloring, and brighter crowns and faces,
than females. Again, this is not always the case, because factors
such as food and climate can affect their coloring.
In general, a male's head is flatter, while a female's head is round
and arched. Females tend to sit more broadly on their perch, with
their legs spread further apart than males. Females often carry more
nesting material to their cage, but males also chew paper into
strips and carry it. Since females do nest building, they might have
a stronger grip than males. If your lovebird lays an egg or suffers
from egg binding, she is obviously a female.
The tails of male and female lovebirds flare differently. You can
observe this flaring when your lovebird takes a bath, shakes her
tail, or participates in social activities. When they are flared,
the tail feathers of females are all the same length, and seem to be
cut straight across. Males have a rounded tail.
In mature lovebirds, gender can be determined from the spacing of
their ossa pube bones, which are two long, thin pelvic bones that
slant downwards from the lower abdomen towards the rear. In females,
the space between the bones should be 4-7mm, or about the width of a
finger. In males, the bones are very close together. The female's
bones are more sturdy and rounded, while males have pointed pelvic
bones. This examination cannot be done on young lovebirds, and some
males have a bigger than normal space between their ossa pubes.
A veterinarian can determine the sex of your bird by endoscopy, but
this procedure is invasive and costly. Your vet inserts the surgical
instrument into a slit in side of the bird to inspect the internal
organs. This method is best used with larger birds, but it may
create stress and shock.
Surgical sexing is also available. In this procedure, small samples
of tissue or hormones are examined by a lab to precisely determine
your bird's sex.
DNA sexing is now the best and most accurate way for sexing
lovebirds, and it only costs about $20 US. A drop of your
bird's blood is examined in a lab. You can look for a local lab that
will do DNA sexing, and there are also special companies that you
can send samples to.
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2. Lifespan
Lovebirds can live for 15-30 years. This long life span may seem
surprising, considering that dogs only live for 10-12 years. Large
parrots have an even longer lifespan than lovebirds; a few have
lived for over 100 years! If you take very good care of your pet
lovebirds, they can live for 30 years or even longer. Remember, you
are protecting your bird from the dangers of the wild, such as
natural disasters, predators, climate changes, famine, and some
diseases. Many lovebirds in captivity die from accidents, such as
eating something poisonous or being maimed by a cat. Others die from
neglect or diseases that are not detected immediately or treated
correctly. Sometimes, even the most pampered lovebird will die from
something unexpected. In general, the better you treat your
lovebird, the longer it will live.
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