Masked Lovebirds
Masked Lovebird InformationAgapornis personata
General:
A member of the eye-ring species of Lovebirds, the primary color is green, the mask is black they have a yellow chest and neck, the beak is red. They are native to Northeast Tanzania. Although Masked Lovebirds can be timid, hand fed babies are easy to tame and can be a loyal companion. Lovebirds are colony birds and don’t like being a lone, they are best kept in pairs unless you can give them at least a few hours a day of company and companionship.
Housing:
Lovebirds are very active and require space to fly, a cage of size at least 26X16X16 but larger is better, there are nice 30X30X36 cages on the market at very reasonable rates. They need plenty of toys and like to chew so make sure to get toys with wood parts. We buy all our toys from Chew Too Toys in Andover Minnesota. We use water bottles but still provide a dish of water so they can take a bath.
Diet:
We feed all our Lovebirds a Parakeet seed mix with plenty of grains, we add Pretty Bird Mini Breeder Select pellets to the seed 50/50. We feed Natural Gold Small pellets in a separate dish. We also feed fresh vegetables on a daily basis. We provide both a mineral block and cuttle bones .
Color mutations:
Masked Lovebirds come in Blue, Violet, Pastel, Dark-factor, Fallow and Ino (Lutino, Albino). The mutations we breed are shown below.
General:
A member of the eye-ring species of Lovebirds, the primary color is green, the mask is black they have a yellow chest and neck, the beak is red. They are native to Northeast Tanzania. Although Masked Lovebirds can be timid, hand fed babies are easy to tame and can be a loyal companion. Lovebirds are colony birds and don’t like being a lone, they are best kept in pairs unless you can give them at least a few hours a day of company and companionship.
Housing:
Lovebirds are very active and require space to fly, a cage of size at least 26X16X16 but larger is better, there are nice 30X30X36 cages on the market at very reasonable rates. They need plenty of toys and like to chew so make sure to get toys with wood parts. We buy all our toys from Chew Too Toys in Andover Minnesota. We use water bottles but still provide a dish of water so they can take a bath.
Diet:
We feed all our Lovebirds a Parakeet seed mix with plenty of grains, we add Pretty Bird Mini Breeder Select pellets to the seed 50/50. We feed Natural Gold Small pellets in a separate dish. We also feed fresh vegetables on a daily basis. We provide both a mineral block and cuttle bones .
Color mutations:
Masked Lovebirds come in Blue, Violet, Pastel, Dark-factor, Fallow and Ino (Lutino, Albino). The mutations we breed are shown below.
More in depth information on Masked Lovebird mutations can be found here The official MUTAVI Agapornis Page
The Violet MutationThe Violet mutation originated in the Netherlands and is still fairly rare in the United States. The Violet Mutation does not change the pigment of the feather, it changes the feather structure. This change in the feather structure changes how it reflects light causing the feathers to look Violet. The Violet mutation is call a factor and is similar to the Dark factor. Violet only shows in Blue series birds and needs to have a dark factor present or two violet factors to show properly. A bird with two Dark Factors will cover the Violet, you can only tell if it is Violet by test breeding.
Violet Masked Lovebird Pair 1
With this pair the male is Medium Dilute Blue and the female is Violet, has one Dark Factor and is split to Dilute. This pair produces Violet, Dilute Violet, Medium Dilute, Medium Blue (Cobalt) Dark Blue (some are Violet) and Dark Dilute Blue (some are Violet).
With this pair the male is Medium Dilute Blue and the female is Violet, has one Dark Factor and is split to Dilute. This pair produces Violet, Dilute Violet, Medium Dilute, Medium Blue (Cobalt) Dark Blue (some are Violet) and Dark Dilute Blue (some are Violet).
Violet Masked Lovebird Pair 2
With this pair the male is Dilute Blue Violet and the female is Violet, has one Dark Factor and is split to Dilute. It is hard to tell the difference between this male and the male in pair 1 by the pictures, but this male definitely looks Violet. This pair produces Violet, Double Violet, Dilute Violet, Dilute Double Violet, Medium Dilute, Medium Blue (Cobalt) Dark Blue (some are Violet, some double Violet) and Dark Dilute Blue (some are Violet, some double Violet).
With this pair the male is Dilute Blue Violet and the female is Violet, has one Dark Factor and is split to Dilute. It is hard to tell the difference between this male and the male in pair 1 by the pictures, but this male definitely looks Violet. This pair produces Violet, Double Violet, Dilute Violet, Dilute Double Violet, Medium Dilute, Medium Blue (Cobalt) Dark Blue (some are Violet, some double Violet) and Dark Dilute Blue (some are Violet, some double Violet).
Violet Masked Lovebird Pair 3
With this pair the male is Blue and the female is Dark Dilute Blue (two dark factors) Violet, the two dark factors cover the Violet. We had to wait for the first clutch to tell if she was Violet. This pair produces Violet, and Medium (Cobalt) Blue.
With this pair the male is Blue and the female is Dark Dilute Blue (two dark factors) Violet, the two dark factors cover the Violet. We had to wait for the first clutch to tell if she was Violet. This pair produces Violet, and Medium (Cobalt) Blue.
Medium (Cobalt) Blue Masked Lovebird Pair
With this pair the male is Dark Blue (two dark factors) and the female is Blue. We had to wait for the first clutch to tell that he was not Violet. This pair produces all Medium (Cobalt) Blue.
With this pair the male is Dark Blue (two dark factors) and the female is Blue. We had to wait for the first clutch to tell that he was not Violet. This pair produces all Medium (Cobalt) Blue.
Blue Masked Lovebird Pair
With this pair both the male and the female are Blue. They produce all Blue birds, we use these to pair with our double dark offspring from our Violet pairs..
With this pair both the male and the female are Blue. They produce all Blue birds, we use these to pair with our double dark offspring from our Violet pairs..
Albino Masked Lovebird Pair
This pair is male Medium Dilute Blue split Albino, female Albino. The produce Albino, Medium Dilute Blue split Albino and Dilute Blue split Albino. The Albino is the bird on the left and has red eyes, the Split Albino has white flight feathers and can be distinguished from a normal Dilute.
This pair is male Medium Dilute Blue split Albino, female Albino. The produce Albino, Medium Dilute Blue split Albino and Dilute Blue split Albino. The Albino is the bird on the left and has red eyes, the Split Albino has white flight feathers and can be distinguished from a normal Dilute.
