can I keep a male finch alone?

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Hbt
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can I keep a male finch alone?

Post by Hbt » Thu Oct 25, 2018 3:09 pm

.... so I have a dilemma:

I rescued a finch (mannikin) 6 weeks ago

Two days ago, I rescued another mannikin finch

Yesterday I rescued a third.

I don't know, and have no way of finding out (I live in rural Ghana and I am not a bird expert) but I think that my original finch is a male, the second rescue is a female and the third rescue is a male. As a result, from looking at their behavior, I have separated the third rescue from the two others. (this wasn't an easy decision but it was being territorial over the original bird and is bigger. it also has a broken wing and I had to chose one and the original one is heavily imprinted on me).

I know how lonely these birds get so I can hope for a 4th rescue but otherwise, I have set it up alone. So my question is, is it going to be unhappy and therefore if it is, is it humane to keep it? (Unfortunately there is no real alternative except for to 'humanely' kill it - somewhat of a contradiction, but with its broken wing, it will not survive in the wild I don't think). It is reasonably likely that there might be another lost/abandoned fledgling that might be happy to pair up with it - its the time of year where I come across several fledglings in trouble).

Icearstorm
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Re: can I keep a male finch alone?

Post by Icearstorm » Thu Oct 25, 2018 4:58 pm

Hbt

It should be okay alone for a while; a mirror might give it some company (provided it doesn't fight its reflection). If you put both of the cages next to each other, the aggressive bird could safely interact with the others, although this may not work if they stress each other out. Alternatively, you could leave the other two together and give your imprint finch its own cage, and it may remain friendly toward you if you interact with it enough.

Hbt
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Re: can I keep a male finch alone?

Post by Hbt » Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:57 am

Thank you so much! This is a great piece of advice, seriously appreciated!

The main issue overall is that although I live here in Ghana, I am an expat and I return to England for a few months every few months - actually this is because I rescued a street dog in Ghana who I sent to England so I go back to spend time with it!!

So therefore, in 5 weeks time I will not be here for 1 month and although I can pay security guards to put some feed down, check on the birds and refresh water etc, I won't be there to spend time with my imprinted bird. And it hates being alone! Which is why I was so pleased it got on so well with the second bird.

I put the cage with the pair, next to the cage with the male and sat there listening. The male was non stop talking - don't know whether it was a territorial thing or a desperation thing, but it sounded stressed as it was a chirpy talk, it was like an alarm that was stuck - a series of rolling 'R's. So I moved the cage away, still close by but not right next to it.

I guess I will just see what happens. I was thinking about alternating the female between the two cages, but I assume that would be unfair on all three birds? And I won't be able to do that when I am away.


One final question, if another bird is rescued and it turns out to be a male, in theory, do a pair of males work? Sort of hoping that without the competition of the female, two males might be OK together and happier to have company than nothing?


Thanks again,

Hannah

wildbird
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Re: can I keep a male finch alone?

Post by wildbird » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:59 pm

Two males should work. I have three male societies together and they are good. At any rate, don't kill the bird. It's wing will heal.

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