Handling/Training

To have a tame lovebird, choose a young single bird. Young birds have an amazing ability to learn tricks and be affectionate, whereas adults are very difficult to tame and generally won't learn a lot of tricks or imitate behaviors.

Hand-raised youngsters are easiest as they are already quite socialized and tame, but are not always available.

Taming involves acceptance and trust between you and your bird. It means spending a lot of time with your bird daily. Start with talking softly and making slow movements.

Once your bird is comfortable with you, then you can begin hand-taming. Use a dowel and push it gently against the birds chest while offering a treat to coax it up onto the dowel.

This may take many tries. Once it is comfortable with stepping up onto a dowel, substitute your finger for the dowel.

Lovebirds are not considered one of the best talkers, and only some may learn a few words.