Lovebirds fighting

Question
Hello,
I acquired two masked lovebirds 2 weeks ago (they had just been weaned at that point)and they have been hand raised and housed together since hatching,although they are from different nests(ones older by a week). In the last couple of days they've been getting quite aggressive towards each other e.g. Biting each others feet, generally throwing the beak at any body part. Its getting more and more serious each time (no blood yet though), yet when i separate them into two cages they sit as close as they can be to each other and won't move from that spot. So i put them back together under supervision and they're fine... for a few hours. It generally happens during morning (7am through till 12) then they're fine. I have never seen them fighting at night. Any idea on what to do? Will this pass?

Answer
--  "Lovebirds" is quite the misnomer isn't it?  They are actually pretty aggressive birds and it's a myth that they need to be in pairs.  A myth that isn't going away easily, probably because of the name "Lovebirds".  

-- You really should keep them separated.  For life.  That way they'll always be more bonded to you than each other; the aggression is never an issue and injuries, such as feet bitten off, happen a lot more than you know.

Given that birds are on their feet 24/7, missing a foot can be a terrible life's handicap for a bird.  A very sad one.  

ALL of the birds in my rescue and every one of my foster homes are housed separately.  

You can see more about how we set this up, the ideal cage sizes and lots more right here:

 http://www.4animalcare.org/birds


Now, IF you insist on one cage, make it big enough.   I would guess that twice the size you've got.

 Here's how to know:  Both birds should be able to, at the SAME TIME, spread their wings out fully and turn around completely, without any part of their body or wings touching the other bird OR any part of the cage.

Pretty big cage needed for this to happen.   But that's the size that's healthy.

Otherwise it would be like sharing your closet with another person.  Both of you in there, all day, every day, every night.   It wouldn't be too long before the two of you started getting a bit aggressive with each other, right?


  http://www.4animalcare.org