Female Zebra and Male Society help

[Chimelette]

Hello friends!
First-time finch owner here! (The Zebra is Egg and the Society one is Toast)!
I recently got a couple of finches. A zebra female and a male society.
Unfortunately, when I bought them from the guy, he said the society was a female but I'm not too sure because she's singing quite often. I took out their nest to lessen the chance of breeding but I have a few questions about how to properly care for them.

1) My society's (Toast) tail is abit ragged, I think from the cage he was living in previously, is there any supplement or dietary change to help him fix up his tail?

2)So I know removing the nest helps them not want to mate but is there anything else I could do on top of that?

3)If they do end up breeding, how well will they be able to raise their zebra/society babies? I heard societys are excellent parents.

4)I think they're not feeling too hot, either the guy gave me sick birds or they're just stressed from the move because their poop is yellow and a little watery. Is there anything I can give them that will help make them feel better?

Thank you so much!

[Flight Feathers]

Congrats on the new birds!! The zeb looks like a female CFW. Sounds like the soceity is a male. I'm not sure a zeb and a society would breed but I guess you wouldn't know until they hatched babies haha.

Not sure about the tail, maybe provide a bath or spray with water to get him/her to preen their tail?

They should be okay, provided they are feed a good diet with vegetables instead of an all seed diet.

Best of luck with your birds!!

[Chimelette]

Thank you so much! Theyre such lovely little puffs of birds. I wanted a same sex pair because I was just worried if one had eggs, she'd get eggbound which would be REALLY tragic. So hopefully that wont happen and theyll be okay

[Chimelette]

Lastly,

I've had my zebra for about 2 days now, she sits perched and is pretty quiet. Like, I dont know if I've even heard her peep or beep. She does drink water and eat though but is she not feeling well? or is that due to stress? or is that normal in females?

[Flight Feathers]

Thank you so much! Theyre such lovely little puffs of birds. I wanted a same sex pair because I was just worried if one had eggs, she'd get eggbound which would be REALLY tragic. So hopefully that wont happen and theyll be okay

Yeah finches are just gorgeous!! You're so lucky to have a bengalese/society finch!

Well I'm pretty sure they won't breed and if you give your female lots of calcium she shouldn't get egg bound! I bred Zebs and one of my females has laid soooo many eggs I have lost count but I would say she would've have laid at least 30, most likely more and she's never gotten egg bound because she gets plenty of exercise and loves eating her cuttlebone. On the other han I had one female finch who didn't really like her Cuttle bone and she was a small finch and she died from egg binding or something (well I had to put her down)

[Flight Feathers]

Lastly,

I've had my zebra for about 2 days now, she sits perched and is pretty quiet. Like, I dont know if I've even heard her peep or beep. She does drink water and eat though but is she not feeling well? or is that due to stress? or is that normal in females?

Zebs can get pretty stressed I think. Does she have anywhere to hide? Perhaps some greenery like pitisporum would provide a hiding place. How big is the cage? she will probably take time to settle in. On the other hand if she looks puffed up and unwell she may need treatment but hopefully it's just a little stress and hopefully she'll be fine!

[Sheather]

Welcome, some recommendations:

- you should look into a bigger cage which is not round, square cages are better as it gives the bird a corner to retreat to if stressed, round cages are exposed and provide little room to fly. Minimum 24 x 16 inch size is usually recommended for two finches, bigger is better. You can use a small cage if they are allowed out to fly in the house.

- yes, if a society sings he is a male. And these two can cross-breed, though only a small percentage of their eggs will hatch and of those which do they are sterile and may be prone to health issues. Not providing a nest can prevent breeding, though zebras may lay eggs in the food dish or on the floor. Provide her a cuttlebone and some crushed eggshell in a dish so she can eat calcium and replenish any she might use up laying eggs. Throw away any eggs she lays.

- If you do want to see if they breed, provide a nest and let her sit on the eggs. But with a hybrid pair, fertility is low and she may never produce chicks. It also depends on if she bonds with the society and lets him mate, which may or may not happen. But they should become friends at least and keep each other company. Be warned a nest to protect may cause the zebra to become aggressive and territorial to the society if she doesn't think of him as her mate, in which case it must be taken out.

[Chimelette]

Oh boy, gotcha.! Thank you so much for the tip, I didnt realize the round cages would be so uncomfortable for them! right now, its about 40inches around, and 21 inches high. Will definitely look into more some square cages!

Thank you so much for all the tips

[Flight Feathers]

Oh boy, gotcha.! Thank you so much for the tip, I didnt realize the round cages would be so uncomfortable for them! right now, its about 40inches around, and 21 inches high. Will definitely look into more some square cages!

Thank you so much for all the tips

Yeah, round cages aren't recommended for birds although I do have a round cage for my budgie that can't fly but this is because she can't fly!. For me round cages are not the best for finches because finches fly back and forth so going straight up and down is difficult for them.

[Fraza]

Hi I think they look quite healthy and yeh u will have a boy if he’s singing and I can suggest the female may be abit quiet because she may have been paired to a zebra previously and now she’s with a society and she doesn’t want to accept it whereas the society’s is singing and happy because they are socieubak and oriobably just senjoying another finch, time will tell but I think they will be fine together.

I’d also say leave the nest in society’s love to build nests and I doubt they will breed, even if they do it won’t really matter but I highly doubt it

Goodluck and nice pair of finches

[Fraza]

You could also dangle some rope near the top of cage and down sides societys will climb on this or fly and hind onto ut

[Flight Feathers]

Oh that would make sense that the female was quiet if she was missing her mate.

[Fraza]

Flight Feathers yeh that’s my only guess sometimes when they are strong ly paired they don’t I have finchie with another female now and she was getting abit aggressive with it and was keeping distance as she was missing her mate but now after about a week she’s settling down

[Flight Feathers]

Flight Feathers yeh that’s my only guess sometimes when they are strong ly paired they don’t I have finchie with another female now and she was getting abit aggressive with it and was keeping distance as she was missing her mate but now after about a week she’s settling down

That's good she is settling down now. Zebra Finches are pretty disloyal and they always pair with the Zebs with the brightest beaks. So if there was another finch with a brighter Beak if I'm right they'd ditch they're mate and pair with the next one.

[Fraza]

Flight Feathers really not going to lie I didn’t know that