How to Care for Masked Lovebirds: Diet and Cage

Written by the Birdsville team. Last updated October 2026.

Masked Lovebirds are small, stocky parrots with a short rounded tail, a dark mask over the face and a bright white ring around each eye. They are one of the most popular pet birds in the world, and it’s easy to see why. They are colourful, clever and full of mischief. This guide covers how to care for Masked Lovebirds, with a big focus on the right diet, plus cage setup, enrichment, breeding and health.

Birdsville sells Masked Lovebirds, and we sometimes have hand raised birds in. More importantly, we make and stock everything they need, from our own Birdsville Blends seed to pellets, vitamins and toys. Shop in-store at 684 Botany Road, Alexandria NSW 2015, or online through Petsville with delivery right around Australia.

Violet Masked Lovebird in the middle, with a Peach Faced Lovebird on the right and a Fischer’s Lovebird on the left — Three popular lovebirds side by side: Fischer’s, violet Masked and Peach Faced

Masked Lovebird Quick Facts

Scientific name: Agapornis personatus
Other names: Yellow Collared Lovebird, Black Masked Lovebird
Native to: northern Tanzania, East Africa
Adult size: about 14 to 15cm, 40 to 50g
Lifespan: around 10 to 20 years with good care
Colours: wild green with a black mask, plus blue (cobalt), mauve, slate, violet and other mutations
Diet: lovebird seed, a Birdsville Blend, pellets, greens and vegetables
Cage: at least 90 x 60 x 60cm for one or two birds
Clutch: usually 3 to 6 eggs, sometimes up to 8
Experience level: a great first parrot for owners who can give daily attention

Masked Lovebirds as Pets
The Best Diet for Masked Lovebirds
Essential Supplies
Cage Setup
Toys and Behavioural Enrichment
Bathing
Handling and Taming
Health Care and Medicating Your Birds
Cleaning
Household Dangers
Choosing a Healthy Lovebird
Sexing Masked Lovebirds
Breeding Masked Lovebirds
Holiday Care and Travel
Living With Other Birds
FAQ
Recommended Vets and Links

Masked Lovebirds as Pets

Lovebirds got their name because pairs love to sit close together and preen each other’s feathers. They are affectionate with their mate or their owner, and a hand raised Masked Lovebird can become a very tame, playful pet that loves riding on a shoulder.

They are also feisty. Lovebirds can be territorial and quite aggressive with each other if they have a disagreement, so always watch closely when introducing a new bird, as the resident birds may defend their space.

A single lovebird bonds closely with its owner and needs company every day. A pair will keep each other entertained, which suits busy homes, but they may be less interested in people.

The Best Diet for Masked Lovebirds

Diet is the most important part of keeping a healthy lovebird, and it’s where most problems start. A seed only diet from the supermarket is low in vitamins and often full of filler seed that birds throw away. Here’s what we recommend at Birdsville.

Option 1: Our Three Part Diet (Most Popular)

This is what we recommend for all our parrots, and it’s how most of our customers feed their lovebirds.

Start with a quality basic lovebird mix, our Basic Peachface Mix, as the base of the diet.
Mix in Birdsville Blends Cockatiel and Lovebird, our own blend and one of our most popular products. It’s packed with high nutrient extras you won’t find in a basic mix: chillies, pumpkin, legumes, dried fruits, dried vegetables and herbs, along with a wide range of quality seeds. Mixing it through the basic seed lifts the nutrition of every meal and makes your Birdsville Blend go further.
Add pellets, such as Vetafarm Nutriblend Small, in a separate bowl or mixed through, for balanced vitamins, minerals and protein.

Option 2: Pellets and Seed Enhancer

If you’d rather keep it simple, feed pellets with our Birdsville Blend Seed Enhancer. The Seed Enhancer is a nutrient rich mix of dried vegetables, dried fruits, legumes, herbs and other healthy goodies that you sprinkle over your bird’s seed. It turns an ordinary seed mix into a far more varied, vitamin rich meal, and lovebirds love picking through it.

Why Birdsville Seed Is Better

Birdsville Blends are made by us, for the birds we know best. Every blend is packed with high nutrient foods such as chillies, pumpkin, legumes, dried fruits, dried vegetables and herbs, giving your bird the variety it would find in the wild. Our seed and Birdsville Blends are bagged fresh on site from quality ingredients, and because we sell so much of it, it never sits on the shelf for long. Many supermarket and chain store mixes are old, dusty and full of low quality grains and filler seed that affect the health and vitality of your birds. Buying direct from the people who mix it also means better value.

Fresh Foods

With either option, add fresh food to your lovebird’s diet:

Vegetables and greens, offered regularly: carrot, green peas, broccoli, spinach, chickweed, milk thistle, dandelion and fresh seeding grasses.
Fruit, every now and then: rockmelon, apple, stone fruit (stone removed), guava and fig.
Sprouted seed: a favourite with all lovebirds and a great source of vitamins. Rinse sprouts in water with Aviclens before feeding to remove any bacteria.
Millet sprays: fresh millet still on the stem is the freshest seed you can give. We recommend French white millet sprays.
Egg and biscuit: a great protein source, especially for breeding birds. Some breeders add chopped boiled egg.

Always make sure anything you pick from the garden hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides.

Foods to Avoid

Avocado, onion, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, and salty or fatty food.

How Much to Feed

Adults: offer about 1 to 2 level tablespoons of seed and pellets a day, plus fresh food in the morning. Blow the empty husks off the seed dish every day so you can see how much is really left.

Breeding birds: keep plenty of food available at all times, and add egg and biscuit daily while chicks are being fed.

Calcium and Vitamin D

Lovebirds need a supply of calcium at all times. Offer a cuttlebone or calcium bell, and add Vetafarm Calcivet to the water, especially for birds kept indoors. Don’t mix calcium powder into the seed, as most of it ends up in the bottom of the dish.

Birds need unfiltered sunlight to make vitamin D, which they need to absorb calcium. Sunlight through a window doesn’t count. If your lovebird can’t get direct sun, add a vitamin D supplement such as Vetafarm Soluvite D to its drinking water.

Vitamins

Add a vitamin supplement such as Vetafarm Multivet to the drinking water, not the seed, so you know your bird actually takes it in. Every bird benefits from a regular vitamin boost, whatever its diet.

Water

Fresh, clean drinking water must be available at all times. Change it daily and add a little Aviclens to help keep it clean.

Essential Supplies for Masked Lovebirds

You’ll find all of these, and much more, in-store at Birdsville and online at Petsville.

Housing

Cage at least 90 x 60 x 60cm, with bar spacing of about 1.25cm
Natural perches in different thicknesses
Lovebird nest box or sleeping hut
Shallow bath dish
Carry cage

Three wild green Masked Lovebirds with black masks, yellow collars and red beaks standing on a perch — The natural green form of the Masked Lovebird, with its black mask and bright yellow collar

Cage Setup

Masked Lovebirds are small but very active. Choose the largest cage you can, at least 90cm long, 60cm deep and 60cm high, and remember that length matters more than height because they fly from side to side. Give your bird supervised time out of the cage every day.

Lovebirds are strong chewers, so pick a sturdy cage and expect to replace wooden perches and toys regularly. Many lovebirds like to sleep in a hollow, so a sleeping hut or small nest box gives them a cosy roost at night.

Setting Up the Cage

Place the cage in a bright, busy room, away from draughts and the kitchen.
Fit natural perches at a few different heights.
Put food and water dishes high, away from perches, so droppings don’t fall in.
Hang a swing, a bell and a couple of chew toys.
Add a sleeping hut and a shallow bath dish.
Cover the cage at night so your lovebird gets 10 to 12 hours of sleep.

Toys and Behavioural Enrichment

These intelligent little birds love swings, bells and chew toys. Without enough to do, a lovebird can become bored, noisy or start plucking its feathers, so enrichment is just as important as food. Browse our hanging toys, foot toys, swings, ladders and perches on Petsville.

Chew toys: soft wood, palm leaf, paper and cardboard for shredding.
Bells and noisy toys: lovebirds love anything that rings or rattles.
Swings and ladders: keep them fit and help with balance.
Foraging: hide millet or treats in paper cups or foraging toys so they have to work for them.
Foot toys: small balls they can pick up and throw.
Fresh branches: unsprayed eucalyptus, bottlebrush or fruit tree branches to strip.
Rotate toys every week so they always have something new to explore.

Bathing

Masked Lovebirds love a bath. Put a shallow bowl of clean water in the cage a few times a week, or gently mist them on warm days. Bathing keeps their feathers in great condition.

Handling and Taming

Hand raised Masked Lovebirds can be very tame and affectionate. Give a new bird a day or two to settle before handling it, then spend short, quiet sessions together every day. Millet spray from your hand is a great way to build trust.

Lovebirds can give a sharp nip if they feel cornered or bored. Stay calm, don’t react, and gently put the bird down. Use positive training: reward good behaviour, ignore unwanted behaviour and never punish. “Step up” onto your finger is a great first lesson. Read our parrot training guide for more (https://birdsville.net.au/pet-bird-advice-and-training/bird-training-clicker-training-parrot-body-language/).

Health Care and Medicating Your Birds

Lovebirds hide illness until they are quite sick. A bird that sits fluffed up, stops eating or has messy droppings needs attention straight away. See our Common Bird Illnesses guide (https://birdsville.net.au/common-bird-illnesses/).

Worming

Worm your lovebirds every 3 months if they live outdoors in an aviary, and every 6 months if they live inside. Most bird wormers go in the drinking water, with the dose on the bottle. Choose an all wormer, as many worm syrups don’t kill tapeworm. If your bird is newly weaned, check with our team on when to give the first dose.

Mites and Lice

Mites and lice are as common in birds as fleas on dogs, and they’re easy to control. Spray a bird mite and lice spray under the wings and around the bird’s rear end. Don’t spray your bird in the face, as it stings the eyes and can make your bird lose trust in you.

Moving or Introducing a New Bird

Moving house, buying a new bird or adding one to your aviary is stressful. Add Vetafarm Spark Liquid to the water for a few days to give your bird electrolytes and energy while it settles in.

Sick Birds

If your lovebird is fluffed up and quiet, keep it warm straight away with a heat globe, heater or heat pad, as warmth makes a big difference. Then see an avian vet, who can diagnose the problem and prescribe the right treatment, such as an antibiotic if it has picked up a bacterial infection.

Beak and Feather Disease

Lovebirds are among the birds most often affected by PBFD, a virus spread through feather dust and droppings. There’s no vaccine, so buy from a clean source, quarantine new birds for 4 to 6 weeks, and keep your birds well fed and stress free.

Egg Binding

Hens can lay eggs with or without a mate. A hen that strains, sits fluffed on the floor or wags her tail may be egg bound and needs a vet urgently. A good supply of calcium helps prevent it.

Two cobalt blue Masked Lovebirds with black masks and white eye rings standing on a perch — Cobalt is one of the most popular blue colours of Masked Lovebird

Cleaning

Daily: change the water, blow husks off the seed and remove leftover fresh food.
Weekly: clean the cage tray, perches, dishes, toys and bath, and weigh your bird.
Monthly: disinfect the whole cage with a bird safe disinfectant such as F10, and replace chewed perches and toys.

Household Dangers

See Foods to Avoid in the diet section. Around the home, also watch for:

Cats and dogs, which should never be left alone with birds
Ceiling fans, windows, glass doors and mirrors
Fumes from non-stick cookware, aerosols and smoke
Zinc and lead in cheap metal, keys and old paint
Cleaning products, glue and insect spray
Open water such as sinks, toilets and cups
Power cords, which lovebirds love to chew
Cold draughts

Choosing a Healthy Lovebird

When choosing a Masked Lovebird, or checking your own, look for:

Eyes: bright and clear, with a clean white eye ring.
Body condition: as a bird handler, I always feel a bird’s keel, the breast bone under the chest. It should have firm muscle on both sides. Birds burn energy fast, so a sick bird can lose weight here very quickly.
Beak: clean and not overgrown.
Nostrils: clear and dry.
Feathers: smooth and complete, with no bald patches.
Vent: clean, with no staining.
Behaviour: active, alert and chattering.
Appetite: eating keenly.

Birdsville offers wing and nail clipping in-store (https://birdsville.net.au/wing-clipping-nail-clipping/).

Sexing Masked Lovebirds

Masked Lovebirds are monomorphic, which means males and females look the same. An experienced bird specialist can check the spacing of the pelvic bones, which is wider in mature hens. It isn’t 100% accurate, but it is very effective for choosing pairs. For a definite answer, DNA Solutions can sex your lovebird from a few plucked feathers sent by post (https://dnasolutions.com.au/animal-dna-testing/).

Breeding Masked Lovebirds

A varied, high quality diet is the most important part of breeding healthy lovebirds. Feed our three part diet, with plenty of egg and biscuit, greens and sprouted seed, and keep calcium available at all times.

Masked Lovebirds usually won’t breed until they are about 11 months old. Mount a lovebird nest box high in the cage or aviary. Lovebirds breed well in pairs or in colonies, but always provide more nest boxes than pairs, hung at the same height, to stop fighting. Give them palm fronds, willow, gum leaves or straw, which they carry in their beaks to build the nest.

The hen lays up to 8 eggs, usually a day or two apart, so the chicks hatch at different times and vary in size. Incubation usually takes about 22 days. Chicks fledge at 30 to 35 days old and take a further 3 weeks to fully wean onto seed.

Masked Lovebirds will breed all year round if you let them. To keep your hen healthy, remove the nest box after 3 clutches and give her a rest. Vetafarm Breeding Aid (https://petsville.com.au/products/vetafarm-breeding-aid-100ml) helps support breeding birds.

Holiday Care and Travel

Seed doesn’t spoil, but fresh food and water do. Ask someone to visit every day, or book your lovebird into our bird boarding in Sydney (https://birdsville.net.au/parrot-bird-boarding-sydney/). Bring your bird’s usual seed so its diet stays the same.

For travel, use a small, secure, ventilated carry cage, keep the trip short and never leave your bird in a parked car. See our carry cages (https://birdsville.net.au/carry-cages/).

Living With Other Birds

Masked Lovebirds are best kept with their own kind. They can be territorial and may bully or injure finches, budgies and other small birds. Quarantine any new bird for 4 to 6 weeks, then introduce it slowly, keeping it in its own cage beside or inside the aviary for about two weeks first.

Keep Masked Lovebirds away from other lovebird species when breeding. They readily cross with Fischer’s Lovebirds, and the hybrids are often infertile.

Breeding colony of Masked Lovebirds in different colour mutations, with nest boxes hung in the aviary — Masked Lovebirds breed well in colonies, so give them more nest boxes than pairs

Masked Lovebird FAQ

What is the best food for Masked Lovebirds?

We recommend a three part diet: a basic lovebird mix with Birdsville Blends Cockatiel and Lovebird mixed through it, plus pellets. The blend adds chillies, pumpkin, legumes, dried fruits, vegetables and herbs. Add fresh greens, vegetables, sprouted seed and the odd piece of fruit. If you prefer, feed pellets with our Seed Enhancer sprinkled over the seed instead.

Do Masked Lovebirds make good pets?

Yes. Masked Lovebirds are colourful, clever and affectionate, and a hand raised bird can become very tame. They need daily attention, a roomy cage, plenty of chew toys and a good diet. They can be feisty and territorial, so they suit owners who enjoy a lively, characterful little bird.

Should Masked Lovebirds be kept in pairs?

They don’t have to be. A single lovebird bonds closely with its owner but needs company every day. A pair keeps each other entertained, which suits busy households, though paired birds may be less interested in people. Never put a new lovebird straight in with others, as they can be territorial.

How long do Masked Lovebirds live?

With good care, Masked Lovebirds usually live around 10 to 15 years, and some reach 20. A quality seed and pellet diet, fresh greens, calcium, clean water, regular worming and plenty of exercise all help your lovebird live a long, healthy life.

How can you tell if a Masked Lovebird is male or female?

You can’t tell by looking, as males and females look the same. A bird specialist can check the pelvic bones, which sit wider apart in mature hens. It’s very effective but not 100% accurate, so a DNA test from a few plucked feathers is the best way to know for sure.

How often do Masked Lovebirds breed?

Masked Lovebirds will breed all year round if allowed, laying up to 8 eggs per clutch. Incubation takes about 22 days, and chicks fledge at 30 to 35 days. To keep your hen healthy, remove the nest box after 3 clutches and give her a rest before breeding again.

Masked Lovebirds and Lovebird Supplies at Birdsville

Birdsville has been Sydney’s bird specialist since 1985. We’re a small business that does things in a big way, and because nobody tells us how to run our shop, we keep our seed, Birdsville Blends and supplies the best of the best.

We sell Masked Lovebirds and sometimes have hand raised birds in. Visit us at 684 Botany Road, Alexandria NSW 2015, on the corner of Gardeners Road, servicing the Eastern Suburbs and Inner South Sydney. Call (02) 9669 1766 to check what’s in, or shop Birdsville Blends, pellets and toys on Petsville (https://petsville.com.au/collections/shop-small-parrot-products) with delivery Australia-wide.

Follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BirdsvilleRosebery/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/petsvillesydney/) and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@birdsvillepets) to see new birds as they arrive.