In bird care, one of the greatest thrills you can have is watching your birds become parents. On the contrary, the most frustrating moment would be to see them kill their young or throw the eggs out of the nest. Do you also have a pair of cute birds that killed their own baby?
Or even if you found a cute baby bird dead in its cage with multiple wounds on its body and wondered what could have happened, its parents must have killed it themselves. Now you must be wondering why cute birds kill their babies?
Lovebirds kill their young when food is scarce. They may kill the child if it is sick or has little chance of survival. Sometimes he gets killed accidentally due to inexperience.
Destroying eggs or killing their chicks is a rare occurrence for wild birds. Thus, we are sharing the reasons why lovebirds kill their babies and how you can stop them.
Reasons Why Do Lovebirds Kill Their Babies:
Even though killing babies seems a cruel act, love birds always have a few reasons to do so. And following are some of the most common reasons you will find.
1. Shortage of Food
Of all the reasons lovebirds kill their young, lack of food is the most common. In today’s brutal world, not every bird is lucky enough to have enough food to survive.
If they have 3 young chicks and only have enough food for 2 of them, they will kill the third bird without a second thought. This theory of love birds may seem wild to you. But, keep in mind that they don’t think like humans. So they prefer to keep 2 healthy and well-fed birds instead of 3 unhealthy and under-fed birds.
In particular, for lovebirds living in the wild, they rely heavily on feeders found in people’s backyards or bird feeders. So, you can also play an important role in preventing a mother from killing her baby by keeping the food tray full.
2. Inexperience of Parents can kill the babies accidentally
Being a parent is a tough job, as it is a huge responsibility. Still, not everyone is ready for such responsibilities. The same goes for love birds. Once a lovebird becomes a parent for the first time, they are confused.
And without any experience, the birds are unable to decide what to do with them next. And in the worst case scenario, they accidentally kill their young. Although this is an unusual scenario, some birds are simply not good at being good parents.
In this case, the mother bird is more likely to kill the baby bird or the egg than the male bird.
Also, you should not allow your young birds to breed. In particular, if they are 1 year old or younger, you should not breed them. Because these birds will be too young to become parents.
If we compare this case to a human being, it would be like asking a 14-year-old child to be a responsible parent, and it sounds terrifying.fi
3. Health Issues of Chicks
When it comes to why cute birds kill their young, health problems are the most common among birds living in the wild. An average bird lays 4-6 eggs at a time. However, lovebirds believe in survival of the fittest.
Thus, if any of them has any health problems even in the early days, they kill him. Otherwise, if they are out in the wild, they will drop the young chick from their nest. These precautions are to ensure that other birds do not contract the disease and remain healthy throughout their lives.
However, if they decide to throw a chick out of the nest, it does not mean that they have completely abandoned that particular chick. Instead, the parent birds visit her daily. In addition, they bring daily food for the fallen bird.
Because they think he still has a chance to survive. Conversely, if caged birds are faced with this dilemma, they often choose to kill the baby bird with their bare hands.
And it mostly happens when the bird’s owner isn’t looking. So, if a cute bird chick is not healthy, you should take the baby out of the cage to save its life.
4. Stress can be the reason
Naturally, lovebirds do not eat their own eggs. But, if they are under too much stress and/or their diet is lacking in nutrients, they may become frustrated and hatch their own eggs.
Moreover, if they find another lovebird’s eggs, they are also likely to eat them. Also, they eat every part of it, from the yolk to the shell. As bad as it sounds, that’s how they survive in today’s world.
This stress usually occurs in them, when they are living in a cage and unable to move freely. Usually happens to people who try to keep several lovebirds under the same setup. Despite their friendly nature, keeping several pairs of birds under the same cage often results in constant fighting and increased stress.
How to Stop Love Birds from Killing their Babies?
Once you are fully aware of why do lovebirds kill their babies, you must be wondering how you can prevent them. Right? So, the following are a few effective ways to stop them.
1. Fill their food pots
First, you need to make sure they are getting a good diet. Also, their feeders should always be full as this will make them feel happy and confident to feed their baby.
Leaving feeders empty for a few hours can also make them think negatively. So always keep an eye on their feed and make sure it is refilled on time. Additionally, if you go the extra mile to get them their favorite food, it will be a huge bonus point for you to prevent them from killing their own children.
For their diet you should use fruits. In fruits, you can try corn, banana, or whatever you feel like. But, once your lovebird gets used to one food, try to stick with it.
2. Remove Boredom and Stress
When the love birds get too much bored or stressed, they break their own eggs to release their stress. However, you can also help them by giving them a few toys in their cage.
Moreover, you can also use fake eggs to put in their cage. This way, they will be attacking the fake eggs whenever they get bored, and the real ones will always remain secure. You. can provide your lovebirds the toys which will help them easily eliminate their boredom
3. Place New Lovebird In Separate Cage
Lovebirds are friendly birds. However, if you have multiple pairs of lovebirds living in the same large cage, you may have seen them fight because they may be triggered by other birds. And as a result, many eggs are broken in the cage. Here’s how many lovebirds you should place in a cage?
So, if you want to prevent them, keep each pair of love birds in a different cage. Thus, they will not physically fight and interact with each other. For this you will have to spend a little on their cages.
However, this investment will be worth the time and effort you are going to put in. Also, you may get some tips How to introduce lovebirds to each other.
Conclusion:
If your pet birds are also killing their babies, then you should find out the reason why pet birds kill their babies. Since it is not their true nature to hit their children, there is always a reason for them to hit their children.
Once, you have successfully identified the pain point, remove it as soon as possible, and you are likely to see positive results in the near future.
However, if there is still no change in their behavior, this would be a rare case and give you an indication that your beloved bird pair is an irresponsible parent, and you should breed with the pair again. Shouldn’t.
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