Shock and surprise.

[steve]

Hi All

This afternoon I was giving my birds some treats and was standing talking to my Lovebirds when all of a sudden a perfectly formed mini Lovebird stuck it's head out of the nesting box to see what was going on. I nearly fell on my back, I was blown away, I knew awhile back that it was possible that my LB's were nesting but I thought that they had given up. This little thing is so cute but has not fully emerged from the box yet, just sticks his head out every now and then. I am not even sure how many babies are in the nesting box as I am a great believer in leaving the birds alone when breeding, I don't think I would be able to hand rear baby birds as time is an issue.

Love (bird) Struck
Steve

[Sally]

What a wonderful surprise! I too would have about fallen over in shock, how amazing that they kept it secret all this time.

[steve]

Sally

I can't stop thinking about it, that cute little face is etched in my head.

Steve

[lovezebs]

steve

Congratulations Steve, and Mama and Papa Lovebirds.
Now that's a lovely surprise indeed. I wonder how many little ones in there. (?)

~Elana~

[Sam007]

Congratulations!

[Colt]

How fun. Baby lovebirds are adorable. I love handfeeding them. They are just the cutest. How sneaky of the parents to not tell you they were expecting...

[vinay]

Congrats on the babies !
You can actually handle chicks for a bit and return them to the parents once you're done to ensure they're tame. Unlike finches , the parents don't mind it . Its not absolutely necessary to handfeed chicks for them to be tame. Once they're about 2 weeks old , you can take them and play with them for about 15-20 minutes.
I did the same with my tiels and budgies and they all turned out extremely tame and friendly even though the parents were quite wild.

Anyways , good luck with the babies
Hoping to see some pics .

[Rox]

What an awesome surprise! Huge congrats and we need photo's once the little one leaves the nest

[MiaCarter]

Wowee! That is a huge surprise!

Congrats!

Baby hookbills are just the cutest, most awkward creatures ever. Adorable isn't the word!

Isn't it funny how they surprise you sometimes? I've had it happen with my zebra finches. Unfortunately, it never resulted in survivors as the parents were my reproductively dumb zebras.
The one time it happened, I discovered they had secret babies when I found tosslings.
I felt awful, like perhaps I'd caused their deaths by accidentally disturbing or not providing enough protein (whenever I have parents, I ensure they have a constant supply of fresh egg food, switching it out several times a day rather than just for dinner and breakfast.)

So it's really lovely that you've had a good outcome!
I can't wait to see photos and I can't wait to hear how many you've got!
Any idea how old they are?

Are you planning to keep them or do any work with them in terms of taming?
I'd be worried about parent-raised lovebirds, as there are few things more nasty than a frightened or threatened lovebird! (Which always shocks me. They seem to get nastier than many other hookbill species, which is just so strange as it makes you wonder how they got the name LOVEbird! LOL) Some of my worst bird bites have been from lovebirds.