A striking eye-ring lovebird with a dark brown 'mask,' yellow collar, and white eye-rings, native to Tanzania. It is a hardy, popular aviary and pet bird with a confident, busy temperament.
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Lovebirds (genus Agapornis) are small, stocky African parrots famous for their intense pair bonds, vivid colors, and big personalities packed into a tiny frame.
From the minimum an animal needs to be kept humanely, up to the ideal setup. Bigger is almost always better — minimums are floors, not targets.
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Minimum
Pair flight cage
32 × 20 × 24 in, bar spacing 3/8–1/2 in
Yellow-collared (masked) lovebirds are small but highly active — keep in compatible pairs (rarely solo unless raising as single companion). Provide horizontal flight, varied natural perches, foraging toys, bathing, and a nest box only when breeding is intended.
Photo coming soon
Recommended
Long flight cage + foraging
48 × 24 × 30 in flight cage
Larger flight cage with rotating foraging puzzles, shred toys, daily bathing, and several hours of out-of-cage flight on a bird-safe playstand. Lovebirds chew destructively — provide unlimited safe wood.
Photo coming soon
Ideal
Outdoor aviary or bird room
8 × 3 × 6 ft+ aviary or bird room
Walk-in aviary with frost-free shelter, natural branches, foraging substrate, and bathing. Best welfare for these intensely social parrots — pair life and flight space prevent feather plucking and aggression.
Life & growth stages
How this animal changes through its life — each stage often has its own care, diet and space needs.
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Egg
Birds develop inside a hard-shelled egg incubated by the parent(s). Egg size, shell color, and clutch size vary by species; the embryo develops over days to weeks before hatching.
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Hatchling / Chick
Hatchlings are either altricial — naked, blind, and dependent on parents (typical of parrots and songbirds) — or precocial — downy, mobile, and self-feeding soon after hatching (typical of poultry and waterfowl). Down gives way to the first feathers.
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Juvenile / Fledgling
Fledglings grow in their juvenile plumage and begin to fly and feed themselves, though they may still beg from parents at first. Juvenile feathering is often duller than the adult and is replaced as the bird matures.
Adult
Adults attain full body size and mature plumage, and are capable of breeding. Many species show distinct adult coloration, and in sexually dimorphic birds males and females differ in plumage, size, or markings.
(c) Natalia Kurze, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) via iNaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66576813
Color & pattern variants
Natural variants occur in the wild; selectively bred (man-made) variants were developed in captivity.
House a pair in the largest cage or flight you can provide, with a sensible minimum around 60 x 45 x 60 cm and ideally a planted aviary for real flight. Use roughly 1 cm bar spacing, natural-wood perches of differing diameters, and supply ample chew toys and shreddable foraging material to keep these active beaks busy. Offer a shallow bath dish, as masked lovebirds enjoy bathing.
They do best at typical indoor temperatures (about 18-29 C) and must be shielded from drafts and cold; they are not frost-hardy. Outdoor aviaries in cooler climates require a dry, draft-free, frost-protected shelter and winter heat. Balanced nutrition removes any need for UVB indoors, though full-spectrum light is beneficial.
Substrate
Use plain paper liners (newspaper or paper towels) on the cage floor for hygiene and easy waste tracking; skip loose litters that hide droppings and harbor mold. Replace the liner daily and keep the tray bare for fast cleanup.
Equipment & setup
House in a robust cage with narrow (about 1/2 inch) bar spacing and a horizontal climbing pattern, fitted with assorted natural perches to prevent pressure sores. They tolerate normal household temperatures without added heat, appreciate full-spectrum/UVB lighting on a consistent photoperiod, and need a shallow water bowl for the frequent bathing this species enjoys.
Diet
Base the diet on formulated pellets or a good lovebird/small-parakeet seed mix, supplemented daily with leafy greens and vegetables (kale, broccoli, peppers, carrot) and modest fruit. Sprouted seed and a varied chop encourage foraging. Avoid an all-seed diet to prevent obesity and fatty liver disease, and never feed avocado, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, or excess salt.
Provide cuttlebone or a mineral block for calcium and always supply fresh water. Treats such as millet spray can be used for training and bonding in moderation.
Behavior & temperament
Yellow-collared lovebirds are bold, inquisitive, and social, forming intense lifelong pair bonds. They are vocal and can be territorial, particularly in breeding season, so multi-pair setups need space and careful management. A single hand-raised bird can be a delightful, interactive companion but requires generous daily attention to avoid loneliness.
They are intelligent and need constant enrichment: shreddable toys, foraging puzzles, swings, ladders, and fresh branches. Hens often tear strips of paper or bark and tuck them into their rump feathers to carry nesting material. Without stimulation or company, lovebirds may scream excessively or pluck feathers.
Health
Watch for obesity and fatty liver from poor diets, respiratory infections, PBFD, polyomavirus, and stress-related feather-plucking. Breeding hens are prone to egg-binding if calcium is inadequate or laying is over-stimulated.
Prevent illness with a varied diet, clean and uncrowded housing, quarantine of newcomers, and regular avian-vet exams. Because small birds hide illness and crash fast, any fluffing, lethargy, tail-bobbing, or change in droppings should prompt urgent veterinary care.
Tips, DIY & hacks
Unlike peach-faced lovebirds, masked hens carry nesting material in the beak, so offer fresh willow, palm, or millet stems for natural foraging and shredding. Provide foraging toys and skewered greens to keep these busy, social birds occupied, and house in same-species pairs or singly with lots of human interaction rather than mixing aggressively with other parrots.
