FINCHforum

A couple weeks ago we had a unique animal expo not too far from where I live and...surprise, surprise, I came home with 5 zebras and 2 societies! They were separated in three groups for several weeks, two zeb pairs having been purchased from separate people and the societies (both male) and a nice big male zebra from a third breeder. Before I get to my question, here's a rundown on the colors we ended up with:

-a large white female zeb and young normal male with a bit of white on his forehead (group 1)
-two small-bodied zebs, female all white; male white with gray back and small patches of color around face (group 2)
-big, handsome normal male zebra; one all white society, one pretty fawn pied society (group 3)



Finally, a few days ago, we introduced them all into one large cage, then sat back to watch. The large male zeb has taken to the big white female and the small pair have stayed together, leaving the young normal male odd man out. Here's the interesting bit, though: when the societies laid eyes on the white and gray patchy male zeb, they immediately started trying to breed with him and court him (meanwhile, he was getting harassed by the big male). Things have since settled down quite a bit, but I'm curious if anyone else has had similar inter-species reactions when introducing new birds.

Ummm nope can't say as I've had that happend. Must have been cute to see!

Odd, I was supposed to go the UAE too, but decided to buy from the breeder directly for first pick.

Societies aren't picky on who they want to breed too. If you're keeping all seven birds in the same cage, you might be asking for trouble....with an odd cock. Societies will court and mount another cock. Horny little devils! If it were me, I would separate the societies from the Zebras and get another Zebra hen.

It was the first time I'd made it out to the UAE, I thought it was pretty descent. We were there helping out at Pam's Chams with the panther chameleons.

We're on the look out for another nice zebra hen, but beside that one display with the small male, the societies been very peaceful. They seem to be keeping mostly to themselves, so maybe we ended up with some not-so-horny boys.

Which breeder did you end up buying from (and which species)? The big male and societies are from Jeeper's Peepers and the white female and young male are from Angelwood Nursery & Aviary. The small pair are from a small time breeder, the name slips my mind.

I've purchased one Gouldian from Shirley (can't remember her last name), but I usually purchase or trade birds from Dan Pitney or his friend Dave Sutherland from southern Oregon if he comes up.

I've never purchased birds from KJ, due to the fact that everyone seems to claim he over medicates his birds and his aviary is too sterile for them to build up any natural resistance on their own. He seems like a very knowledgable and friendly guy. Societies and Zebras are incredibly hardy, so I wouldn't worry about them.