We only breed with wild color black mask lovebirds and so far we have not had a single mutation. I have made 12 breeding cages in my garden shed for the lovebirds. When I buy the birds, I try to select the purest race. By my persistance and with many miles driving, I was able to get some nice beautiful new birds. To make sure that they are the best quality, I have made a rating system that consist of 15 points. The first selection starts when the baby birds start to live on their own and can leave their parents. I then select them a second time when the birds has been living in the cages from my garden shed for about 3 to 4 months. The last selection happens at the beginning of the new breeding season around September and October. With the best birds we pair new couples.
After a period of rest in the summer we put the birds into breeding cages. There we put them together in pairs and little by little we add more eggfood and seeds. After a month we add a nesting box for the pairs we made, For the older pairs this happens little bit sooner. Then we provide willow branches and straws, which then makes the birds excited to bring those to the nest. If all goes smoothly, after a short period of time, the first eggs arrives. After a breeding period of 24 days comes the first baby bald birds. Then on a daily basis, fresh egg food is given to the birds.
Two months after birth, the baby birds are self dependant and then they go under selection. For that I made an Excel spreadsheet for each birds. On the spreadsheet there are 15 important points, that I rate from. Every point gets a score from 0 to 10. These points are calculated automatically by the spreadsheet. This is how I know what the score is for each bird from 0 to 150. From there I can know their weak and strong points and if they have improve after a certain period of time. I also do this with the selection of my pairs. For example, the weaker points from the female bird is then combined with a male bird who has that strong points.
