Setting birds free

Question
Hello. I'm Cristy from Puerto Rico and owner of 20 lovebirds.  My problem is that these birds reproduce themselves too often and i dont think there's much space in their cage. It is a big cage, actually i have 2 big cages, and they're full. Next January Im willing to go to college far from home and i will have to leave all of my animals under my mother's care.  The problem is that i have other animals like cats, turtles and parakeets and she wont have time to take care of them as i do.  So, my question is, is it safe to set them free even though they'd lived in a cage for a long time? I live in a place where they're a lot of montains behind my house and i would like to set them free in that place.  But will they survive? Last year, i set like 4 birds free and they kept coming back to eat some sunflowers seeds i always left them, but then, never came back. Can i do something to make them less dependent before i go far for college?  Im a freak for all animals and dont want them to suffer by any chance. Please help me...  

Answer
Hello Cristy,

Under NO circumstances should you EVER let pet birds free into the wild. They do NOT know how to fend for themselves so they will end up either starving to death or getting picked off by a hawk, owl or other predator that consumes small birds. I'm not sure why your lovebirds are reproducing. Do you have nestboxes in their cages??? I would suggest if you do, taking them all down!! Do not allow them to breed, and when they do, take away the eggs and toss them.

It sounds like you're getting yourself in over your head. Lots of us have been there, I know personally, but I am at a reasonable and manageable number at the moment.

Since you're going away, I don't think it entirely fair to leave 20+ pets for your mom to care for. They are your responsibility. If you can't handle caring for all of them, perhaps you can rehome some of them to make it more manageable for your mother??

I don't know what more to suggest to you. You can't keep letting them reproduce. If you know the males from the females I would suggest seperating them too!

Good luck to you!

Sarah