Gould and owl finch fighting

kevensquint · Post by **kevensquint** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:29 am

Hello, I have recently been given 3 Gould finch's, one male his mate and his sister. They are housed in a 36"x30"x24" cage. I have had them for 3 weeks. Two days ago I added 2, 2 month old male owl finch's (Bichenov finch) And the male gould attacks one of the owl finch's if he goes too close. Unfortunatly he seems to often go too close. I was told that these finch's would get along fine together. What do i do? Is this just temporary or have I mnade a mistake?

Post by **Sally** » Wed May 21, 2008 12:11 pm

There may be several things going on here. First, you have three Gouldians that, if they lived together before, may be a bonded trio. The male may resent intruders, especially males. Even though Gouldians are easy-going, they can be possessive about their little 'family'. Second, you have two very young male Owls. Though they should have been weaned by now, they are going thru a lot of stress in a short period of time, and they may seek comfort from older birds.

If you have another cage, I would put the two Owls in it and let them grow up a little. If not, I would take out all five, rearrange perches, etc, in the cage to make it look different, then put all five back in at once. Also, keep a close eye on those two Owls. All of these changes are hard on them, they are still babies, so make sure they get lots of protein (egg food).

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Wed May 21, 2008 5:03 pm

Many times on here I see the question of birds being housed together.The idea of a cage with lots of various coloured birds in it is a pretty concept.
But they are not tropical fish.Try to be satisfied with less birds, or if you want more have another cage.
Better a happy little community than a cage full of stress.
Paul.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Thu May 22, 2008 7:11 am

cant argue with nor add to what Sally & Paul have said. sound advice

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Fri May 23, 2008 10:44 pm

I agree with the bonded trio theory. I'd say Sally and the others are spot on.

Sean

williep · Post by **williep** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:52 am

poohbear wrote:Many times on here I see the question of birds being housed together.The idea of a cage with lots of various coloured birds in it is a pretty concept.
But they are not tropical fish.Try to be satisfied with less birds, or if you want more have another cage.
Better a happy little community than a cage full of stress.
Paul.

Paul is so right, unfortunately space is a problem for most of us so we will have to be content with housing fewer species. I have success housing mixed species in my LARGE aviary but this is just because I don't overcrowd the cage. According the cage size calculator I can house 55 - 74 birds in my large aviary but I have nowhere near that many (15 at this stage). Even passive species sometimes clash when overcrowded or in breeding mode.