Keeping birds is not only fun and entertaining, it can also be educational, you can learn a lot while raising birds.
This article looks into why your lovebird will rub its beak on the cage.
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Why does my lovebird rub his beak on the cage?
Weird behavior in your bird, no matter how insignificant it seems, should be investigated.
The weird behavior may be common and nothing to be concerned about, or, it may be an illness or something else you should worry about.
Here is why your lovebird may be rubbing its beak on its cage:
It has food on its beak:
If your bird is rubbing its beak on the cage then the bird may simply be doing this because there is food on the beak and the bird is trying to remove it.
Your birds don’t have hands and napkins to wipe their beaks on after eating so they will rub their beaks on things around them to get food off.
If your lovebird has sticky or mushy food on the beak, food that won’t fall off on its own, then the bird will rub its beak on the cage.
What to do:
This is normal behavior, you don’t have to help the bird get the food off of its beak, the bird knows what it is doing.
If the food is dried on the bird’s beak then you can dampen the food with water and wipe it off once it has softened up.
However, doing this isn’t necessary, the bird will eventually rub the food off even if it is dry.
Maintaining the beak:
Another reason why your lovebird may be rubbing its beak on the cage may be that the bird is maintaining the shape of its beak.
Your lovebird’s beak is made out of keratin, keratin is the same material that our nails and hair are made out of.
The beak is constantly growing and is usually worn down by rough surfaces in the birds’ environment in the wild.
If your bird doesn’t have wooden toys or cuttlebone to wear its beak down with, then it may try to wear the beak down on the abrasive cage bars.
What to do:
This is normal behavior and you don’t have to worry if you see your lovebird doing this.
The bird knows not to damage its beak when doing this, it will only rub its beak to the point where a healthy beak length is maintained
The bird is sleepy:
This may seem like quite odd behavior but it is common in love birds and common in a variety of other birds as well.
Your lovebird may be rubbing its beak against the cage bars when sleepy, doing this helps to soothe the bird.
Your bird will not only grind its beak against its cage bars when sleepy, it may also grind its beak on its toys, on its perch, and on everything around it.
What to do:
If you see this behavior in your birds you can let the bird be.
Your lovebird will start to sleep soon enough so make sure that you leave the bird in a calm space with no noise
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Does My Bird Open His Mouth When I Pet Him?, Chick Hatched With Open Navel, Why Is My Canary Whimpering?, Pipped Egg Rolled Over, What Do Birds Sharpen Their Beaks With?, Canary Sleeping With Its Head Down, Why Do Birds Adjust Their Crop?, Bird Opening Mouth And Stretching Neck, Can Baby Birds Drown In The Nest