So I've heard a lot of conflicting things about keeping lovebirds together; a lot of people say not to keep them together, other say keep them together if they're bonded. Does having birds (of any sort) being bonded to one another mean they can live together??
In general, no. Unless they are a naturally large flocking species, such as budgies, keeping more than one bird in the same enclosure is exceptionally dangerous, stressful, and risky, it’s generally just not good for their health. Even bonded birds can fight and unless you are completely capable and knowledgable on how to provide for multiple birds in the same area it can be a major risk. Bonded birds in the wild have plenty of space to evade one another when they bicker and their main goal is to breed, in captivity we don’t want them breeding since the average individual is not capable of properly caring for babies should the parent be unfit and the excessive stress and hormones related to breeding can be quite harmful to their health, not to mention the amount of nutrients lost during egg laying and the risk of egg binding which commonly kills females. Multiple birds can be safely kept in the same enclosure if you know what you’re doing, they need a massive aviary and careful attention needs to be paid to their interactions, constantly moving things around, providing enough toys to keep them from feeling threatened of the other and plenty of monitoring is done to alleviate the aggressions that show up. Keeping birds together puts them at a very large risk of death regardless of their relation to one another, it’s simply natural behaviour and is something we try to avoid. For their health and safety it is much better to be keeping birds in separate, safe, enclosures and only interacting during supervised periods of time where they can escape one another should things turn sour. If the birds have severe separation anxiety there are plenty of training methods that can be used to help them feel more comfortable apart or the owner will have to be providing the enormous enclosures and spaces they need to minimize the risk of death.
