I have a rejected male

[Moon]

I have a rejected male zebra finch. I removed him from his cage and flock for his safety but he's showing issues of being lonely. I'm unsure how to proceed except to introduce him to another pet bird I have.

A female sparrow.

I'm looking for suggestions aside from purchasing another finch who might reject him as well. I've tried caging him with another finch, rejected. I tried flock cage. Rejected. He just keeps getting rejected by the other zebra finch.

[lovezebs]

Moon

That's a really odd situation...
Is he overall healthy? Sometimes if the other birds sense an illness of some sort, they will drive the lone bird away.

I would not put him in with a Sparrow.

What I would suggest, is getting him a Society Finch companion.

[Fraza]

I was gonna say the same thing get a society because these are social and won’t try to bully him like zebras do then when he’s got a mate aswell he might get abit more upfront to the other zebras who are trying to bully, you could even maybe try pairing the zebra society and sparrow ?

[Moon]

I'm checking with rehabbers I know and other sparrow parents. The main problem with my finch seems to be the female (only one in the flock) bullies ALL of the males. And her mate is the one that was rejected.

I did a lot of reading before I considered it so now I'm asking the questions.

My main priority is the birds health and happiness. Imprinted birds aren't like their wild breathern. They lack the social interactions they'd have learned from their parents.

My sparrow's case was parents abandoned the nest when pigeons nested on top of them. Bat-chat was the only survivor. I was told that when I took her in, she'd not be releasable because of human imprinting. That's the case with all hand rescued single birds.

This male is my most tame. I'm going to try and find a zebra finch rehabber too given the fact that my finch aren't hand tame, but human reliant.

[Fraza]

That’s so cool

[Babs _Owner]

Moon

With all those males and only one female in the same flight, I would think after you remove the rejected male.......another male in that cage might become the next victim.

I'd keep an eye on that. ;)

Even with peaceful societies, 5 males and 1 female, tensions can rise amongst some of the males.

[Moon]

I'm looking for local breeders or at least a place I can purchase an aviary and 4 females from.

I haven't had any luck. I removed the female to a separate cage a long time ago, but it didn't prevent her from rejecting or attacking males during the social times I've put into place so they stay healthy.

I'm looking into plans for a two-level cage. The birds do much better with a full flock experience rather than separated into ones, twos, or threes.

But even if I did get more females, what's to prevent Soprano from going ape on them?

The problem is her aggression, I'd think. Yes, you were correct Babs about her attack other males. She jumped the other four.

I'm reading mixed stories about taming the zebra finch. I know they'll need extra attention if separated into single cages. I have four males that are content to stay with one another if I've got enough housing for them.

It's Soprano I'm uncertain what to do with, by extension her former mate Alto.

[Babs _Owner]

Moon

Taming a finch is rare. And they can't be around the rest of the finches or they revert back to wild.

Taming a zebra, I would think would be very hard indeed.

Have you tried reintroducing her to her chosen mate with just the two of them?

[Moon]

Three of the five males are her brothers.

The two males she's most vicious with are the ones she tends to 'mate' and 'cheat' with. I'm wondering if her aggression is because she's never had a successful clutch of eggs.

I've reintroduced her to her first mate several times over the last two years. The second male she picked up on just in the last six months.

[Moon]

So, here's what I did. I have separated the hen and one her males into a separate cage on the other side of the house in the same room as the Sparrow. I only have so many rooms.

Since Bat isn't a predator species, I hope the change will help. I am cleaning out one of my standing cabinets and installing a lamp in there so they can have a chance to bond a bit more. My only other option is more female zebras and that'll take even more time and money. I've been looking for two years in my local area and the closest pet store/breeder I found worth two cents is in another county.

[ac12]

When I had an aggressive hen, that would attack the males I put with her to mate, I put the pair M/F into a divided cage, with the divider between them. After about 2 weeks, the hen calmed down enough for me to remove the divider.

Do you know her parents?
I had a particularly aggressive hen, and all her offspring turned out to be as or more aggressive than her. It was like her aggressiveness was passed down to her chicks. I stopped breeding her.

Do NOT make a cage of 3 zebras.
2 will pair up, then pick on the 3rd odd bird. I lost 2 hens this way. They were picked on/plucked so bad that they both eventually died.

[Moon]

Honestly, these are my first finch. I've had them almost two years now and they were barely a year old when I got them. I had no idea what was happening, but my hen has never had eggs. I've placed her with mate number one Alto since he was the first one. I'm looking into ordering more hens for the other males, but it'll take time and money.

Three of my males are her brothers, so I need to get hens from different stock.

I'm hoping to find a mated pair too.

[lovezebs]

Moon

How is the crew doing?

I Would not house one female with five males, that's just asking for trouble. The males, especially Zebras can and will fight (sometimes to the death) over the one female.

I would house the little Princess with one male only.

When you mention 'social time', I am assuming you mean putting them all together (?). This unfortunately is not a great idea as it might sound.

Every time Zebras are seperated then placed back together, the pecking order has to be reastablished, which means hissing, chasing and pecking each other, with each bird trying to come out as the TOP bird.

[Moon]

Soprano is going to be housed alone. She just beats up her cage mate. I'm going to look for some other female zebras for the males, but now I don't know what to do with her except to leave her alone in her own cage. I have space near my sparrow for a third cage and given sparrow female temperments...

My sparrow has established her 'mate' and territory but she's still under a five months old.

Regardless, until I can get some more zebra hens Soprano won't be mixed with my males. She beat up her nest mate Houdini, beat up Alto, and Young'un. Etc.

Sport and Looksee are a male mated pair, so I won't be messing with that.

[Moon]

Soprano is odd.

She attacks the males but tries to adopt everything that hatches. O.o Until a year ago, she groomed Young'un as if he was 'her' chick rather than what she does now.

She even attempted to take over care of Bat-Chat (my sparrow) when she escaped by accident.