Zebras: Ages groups together?

[soloisok]

I'm curious to know, at what age do you let your Zebra juveniles join a mixed (zebra) community cage? I've kept mine apart, but know eventually I'll want to let them join the rest of the gang.

[ac12]

This is tricky.
I used to wait till they finished their molt, so they don't have the double stress of the molt and being put in w adults.
However, I found that they develop a pecking heirarchy among themselves, and when they get moved to the adult cage, they try to keep that same heirachy. The problem is the top juv then gets into a fight w the top adult.

The next time I plan to move the male juv in w the males halfway thru the molt, and I plan to move one at a time several days apart. This is so that they have to join the adults individually, and not as a group.

[soloisok]

Good points, I would have leaned toward the same mistake.
I have 3 that are 7 weeks old and have a lot of their color in.
Thoughts? Is that too young? Right now these 3 have their own cage and are really happy. There is plenty of room in the group cage where we've moved everyone that isn't breeding in for the winter. I'm in no hurry, just wondering at what age they could join the group.

[ac12]

Another option is to let them finish their molt, then move them in 'one at a time' separated by several days. Then hopefully they don't have the other juvs to form up their heirarchy again. But which bird to move in what order? Do you move the top bird first or last?