Male Zebra Going Nuts/OCD After Mate's Death?

[MiaCarter]

Hi all!
I didn't see a "Finch Counseling Couch" section, so I hope this is okay for the general questions area.

I have a male Zebra finch named Jackson.
He's 7 years old and his mate Maggie just died about 2 weeks ago. They had been together for about 6.5 years.

Jackson lives with 2 other zebra couples.
One of the other couples has a 9-10 day old chick. (This is actually Jackson's biological chick; but the other couple started sitting on the eggs once Maggie died -- they basically comandeered her nest.)

So, lots of upheaval in my flock lately.
Jackson is NOT taking it well and I don't know what to do.

He used to enjoy being handled. I'd put my hand in the cage next to the perch and he'd "step up" onto my finger and I'd take him out for petting.
Now, he wants no part of it. He'll either fly away or nip me -- a very clear "back off."

The most disturbing part is his OCD-ish behavior.
For the past several days, he's been on an OCD tear. He's flying back and forth between his favorite perch and the corner of the cage incessantly.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
(And it's a very quick back and forth; he barely touches the side of the cage before changing direction and returning to the perch. It's about a 2 second round trip.)

It's dizzying to watch.
He literally does this for hours on end.
It seems he only stops to eat or sleep.

I feel awful for the little guy. I'm assuming it's behavioral as the flock dynamics have changed a lot in the last couple weeks, with his mate Maggie's death and now, the new chick.
He doesn't seem sick in any way.

Is he upset by the baby?
Or is Maggie's death upsetting him?

Normally, when one dies, I get a new bird within a day or two. (And to be honest, the mate of the deceased has never seemed all that bothered.)
I haven't gotten a new finch yet due to the chick. The pair that's caring for him is a bit snippity with the others when they come near the nest and I thought adding a newcomer would be a recipe for a pecking war.
Plus, I know that stressors can cause them to stop caring for the baby properly.

Any ideas on why he's acting like this?
And more importantly, any idea of how to help him?
I hate to see the little guy acting to nutty.

[cindy]

If that was Jackson's nest then he is likely protective of it and clearly stressed out. It is not OCD but clear stress. He is also the odd man out now, lost his mate, lost his nest and eggs. (one big reason I do not colony breed zebras, to pushy and take over other's nests and territory)

Also he is less likely to want to bond with you since he was in parenting mode until his mate passed and nest taken over.

My suggestion is to remove him to a smaller cage, give him a nest to build in and sit....it will give him something to do and remove him from the nest and baby that are his. You can then get him a mate once separated and later reintroduce the pair into the cage with the others (rearrange it and put all birds back in at the same time).

How big is the cage for the 3 pairs?

[MiaCarter]

Hi Cindy!

Thanks for your reply!

The cage is pretty big.
It's about 2 feet wide by 2 feet deep, by about 3.5 feet tall.
All six of them have always gotten along very nicely.

I'd thought of that too -- separating him into a new cage and perhaps giving him a new mate. But I wasn't sure if that would cause more or less stress.
He is good friends with the other couple (the couple without any chicks.) They preen each other and so forth. (Though now they preen him, but he doesn't reciprocate.)
I feared that it would make it worse by separating him.

But perhaps you're right -- it would give him something to do as a distraction and it would let me give him a mate sooner rather than later.

What's odd is that he wasn't really "into" the nest, so it didn't occur to me that he could be upset by the fact that it was stolen. But I bet you're right.

The other two couples would sleep inside the nests, but Jackson and Maggie would usually sleep on top of it or on a nearby perch.
(With the exception of the last week before Maggie's death when she'd started sitting on the eggs. He'd go in there with her on occasion, but mostly he'd sit on top.)

Poor little guy is clearly upset.

[MiaCarter]

Another thing....
I'm not sure if it's relevant, but I'll mention it just in case....

Jackson did something really disturbing to Maggie when she died.
I have no idea why she passed other than age. She was 11, so no spring chicken. But she wasn't showing any signs of illness (or maybe she was and I didn't notice because she spent most of her time sitting on her eggs.) It was very sudden.

In the morning, I found Maggie dead in the food bowl with Jackson standing over her, plucking out her feathers.

He'd already plucked out quite a few.
Her back and sides which were facing up were essentially bald.

This was **really** disturbing to me.
I mean really disturbing.
I've never, ever seen a finch (or any other bird) do this.
I felt like he'd desecrated her body.

It looks like he was putting the feathers in the nest, though a few were on the bottom of the cage.

Why would he do that?
Is it just stress?
Or was it a practical thing? (The feathers are good nesting material; might as well use it....??)

[cindy]

It is normal, some sit vigil other pull out feathers. Budgies go a step further and some turn a bit cannibalistic. I had shaft tail that were loosing one of their flock, I placed the elder on a towel and they all gather around and sat on the floor of the cage as he passed, the males called out to...it was a very sad thing to watch. They stayed by him for a while.

[MiaCarter]

Oh that's heartbreaking -- your story of how they gathered around the dying bird.
I'd have been a crying mess, upset along with them!

Thanks for answering my question on the feather plucking. It's been something that's really left me disturbed and upset. I researched it, but only found articles about plucking related to live birds, so it's good to have an answer. I just hope he waited until she passed before he did that.

Goodness, I've never heard of budgies going cannibalistic! I was pretty horrified by a few missing feathers; that would be even more upsetting!

I just feel so bad for Jackson as he's clearly very upset.
I think I'll try moving him to a new cage like you recommended. I'll get him a girlfriend and we'll see how it goes.
I was planning on waiting until baby Squeeperton was older and the gender determined so I could get two at once -- a potential mate for Jackson and a potential mate for Squeeperton. But I can't bear the thought of leaving Jackson alone and stressed like this for weeks!

Do you think I should put the second cage alongside the old one or within the same line or sight?
It's an odd "L" shaped room, so I could put Jackson and the new mate out of sight and around the corner.
I just don't want to upset the parents of the baby too much. I've rearranged cages before, but never while chicks were involved in the mix!

It's funny as I've never seen them act so upset over the loss of a mate. (I completely understand it, of course.)
But I've always been quick to get a new mate, so perhaps that never really allowed for much time to mourn.