jumping on each other, non breeding

[ivydivy]

Hi there!

I've noticed my female spice finch has begun jumping on my male spice finch's back. She just sort of stands on him for a sec and then hops off.
I don't have a nest for them, and far as I know they are siblings, so there will be no mating. Is this a dominance behavior, play or what?

Anyone with insight, please let me know. Curiosity has got the finch lover in this case.

[trevorama]

Hi - I haven't noticed this particular behaviour in my Spices, but I have noticed they are very aggressive towards each other. I had a pair (currently only have hen) who mated. It was succesful but the male was very aggressive pulling out her feathers, beating up on the chicks. One of them was pretty much scalped and to this day has no feathers on the top of his hed. I still have the hen and 4 of the babies (all grown 2 yrs old). The females seem to get picked on (she has no feathers on her backside and around her face) It's quite sad. I removed 2 hens and they will no longer be in the aviary. They only get picked on by the spice males. Also the girls do not back down from the "battles" they are feisty. I've nick-named one "train wreck". Hopefully yours are just figuring things out and you won't have any issues. Good idea not breeding. I won't breed spices again.

[blakbyrd]

I noticed the same with 2 of my spices last night (although I dont know right off which is male and which is female). The two who have done it are always together and I have never noticed any signs of fighting between them. They preen each other pretty frequently also, and pretty much remain together all the time. They have no nest either, although there is an empty one they can use but they completely ignore it.

Wasnt sure what it was right off, but mine are doing it as well. It's only for a split second though, then they go back to sitting next to each other or preening.