Lovebirds are supposed to be in pairs-I dont know how many homes Rio had been in but in his first home he was attacked by a larger parrot thats how he got his cracked beak and the woman I got him from she had his mate there too she had separated them because she would attack him and now that he lives with me he has the company of two cockatiels that he gets on rather well with and talks to Tiko from their cages as he can hear her making lovebird sounds Tiko also mimics the cockatiels.I think hes very happy what do you guys think about him being single?

That's a myth. Actually, lovebirds tend to like being only lovebirds more instead of in pairs.

Really I always knew it was a myth they would die without a mate but I know its true that thats its unfair if they dont have a mate same with cockatiels because its fair if they have their own species with them.

Some birds prefer to be alone, regardless of species. Individual personality has a play in it, too. He seems happy though, so I don't think there should be a problem. Even if he's not with another lovebird, hes still with other birds, and that should be good enough. Heck, it sounds like he already made a friend in Tiko.

Lol hes actually with Tiko now he was standing on a toy and Tiko grabbed it and Rio went flying off im afraid for him to get too close to Tiko incase he gets hurt

Its not really that they need a friend its like say two cockatiels hate each other but they would still like the other to be around.

Two birds that hate each other will still want to be fairly close to each other because they have a flock bond. Birds are safer when they're in a group than when they're alone, so their instincts drive them to be in a group. Rio IS in a group even though there aren't any other lovebirds there, and this will help satisfy his need for companionship. Birds will also form a flock bond with their humans and satisfy their social needs that way.

Yeah thats kinda what I just explained

Well thing is with birds, if they have some sort of defect, injury or illness, they'll often be picked on by fellow flock members. This is because, as prey animals, the weaker one in the flock will be an easier target to predators, and so they try to drive the weak one out. That's probably why Rio's mate started attacking him.

What Carolyn's trying to say, is that he's still in a group, regardless if there's other lovebirds or not, so you really don't have to get a another lovebird, since he's perfectly happy with the birds that he's around already, especially since they seem to accept him, regardless of injury.

I have my own hypothesis about why birds chase a sick bird away from the flock, because the "predator risk" explanation doesn't make any sense to me. Predators are going to be on the lookout for lunch all the time anyway, and if they can't find a weak bird to attack they'll go after the strong ones. So it seems like having a weak bird in the flock to attract the predators' attention would actually make the healthy birds safer from attack.

I suspect that the real reason is disease control. A flock that chases away a sick bird is less likely to have a contagious disease wipe out all of them.

In any case the birds aren't thinking any of this through, they're just responding to instinct. But the "avoiding germs" explanation seems more likely to contribute to the survival of the species than the "predator risk" explanation.