Aussie Finch Forum

I am about to get a few pairs of Nyasa Lovebirds this weekend which I plan to house as a colony in a smallish aviary. I haven't kept them before so would appreciate any tips for preferred diet extras, nestbox style, etc. - any info that may help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

A good choice in lovebirds.
Mine were housed in a smaller aviary, 1x3x2,1m, with stocking rate of 3 or 4 pr. The nest boxes were budgie size boxes with a side entrance placed on a shelf all together along the side wall. I found that plenty of nest boxes were required. I had 12 -15 boxes sitting on top of each other, similar to a block of house units. The dominate pair will chose a box first normally followed by the rest within a week or so. Budgie seed was feed with the usual greens, corn, peas. A good pair might lay 3-4 eggs maybe 3 nests per year.
Mutations/cross bred are the problem with these lovebirds.

Thanks for that. The bloke I'm getting them from is adament they are a pure strain.

Tiaris wrote: 05 Apr 2017, 17:28 Thanks for that. The bloke I'm getting them from is adament they are a pure strain.

Would love fotos!

They are my fav lovebird.

Will see if I can get a pic when I get them settled in on Sunday.

Hi Tiaris,I have kept Lovebirds for over 30 years,my favourites are the Masked and I also keep Peachfaces at the moment.I also kept Fischers and Nyasa,the later I was not able to breed.All my nest boxes are made of 12mm plywood,150x150x250 deep with an entrance hole of 50mm.Lovebirds are one of few parrots who build nests,favorite material is palm fronds but any green twigs up to 8mm or coarse grasses will do.Make sure any twigs are not poisonous like Oleander ect.Food is easy,a budgie with some grey sunflower and as much green stuff you can get.I feed all my birds including finches soaked seed all year round and soaked!wheat to all my parrot species which they relish when young in the nest.I also put always apple cider vinegar in the drinking water at 10ml per ltr.Unfortunately years ago there were very few Nyasa around but plenty of Fischers which are almost identical and that's why there are few pure ones left.I hope you are successful in breeding them and enjoy this lovely birds cheers Mander

Thanks very much. I have plenty of cane palm fronds which I planned to use for nest material. I actually soaked a container of wheat yesterday which I'll rinse for sprouting today - I intended to add that to the sprouted finch mix for them too.

100x100x200mm deep
Sounds a bit small. My dad used 6"x6"x9" - yes it was back in the days of inches.
LML

I have some budgie boxes & Neophema boxes which are roughly the same size so will try a few of each & let them decide whether they wish to go vertical or horizontal.
Appreciate all the info.

How did you go, always best to start with 3 prs minimum to stop 1 pr totally dominating the the aviary. With my masks i'm using vertical neophema boxs, actually my budgies to prefer these.
I have in Masks pastel violet blue, double factor pastel violet blue, pastel blue, cobalt blue, double factor violet blue, normal, jade and olive green.
Cheers Mycoola.