by Doug Bedwell

Welcome to tips for beginning breeders. This section of the site has been designed with novice in mind, though even experienced breeders can probably find something of interest here. The information here is based primarily on my experience with peachfaced lovebirds, though many of the ideas and principles will apply equally well for the other common species.

Spoon-feeding baby Nyasa lovebirds

I’ve organized this section by general topics. You can read through each one in the order they are listed, or simply pick and choose the ones that interest you. If you are totally new to breeding birds, I would strongly recommend that you read the first article "Do I really want to do this?" before moving on to other topics.

These articles are built around the way I house, care for, and breed my birds. Many breeders feel that their system is the only "right" way to do things, and to some extent I am guilty of that prejudice as well. However, I know breeders who manage aviaries which are very different from mine, and have terrific success. Sometimes these differences are based on simple preference, sometimes on the facilities, budgetary considerations, or simply the location. My experience has been working with a mid-sized indoor aviary in the American Midwest. A breeder managing a large outdoor aviary in Florida, California, or elsewhere in the world will certainly enjoy advantages, and encounter problems, very different from mine.

There is an enormous amount to learn about raising lovebirds, but you don’t need to learn it all at once. There is a lot of material here for you to sift through, and I hope to expand this section from time to time, as there is so much to cover, and even after eight years of breeding lovebirds I am still learning new things all the time. You can’t possibly learn everything there is to know before you begin, but it definitely helps to learn all you can.

TOPICS:
Do I Really Want To Do This?
The Rules
Cages & Cagewire