FINCHforum

Recently our finches apache and tear's baby fledged the nest. however every time the little one leaves the nest the male, apache, seems to get very angered and agitated, he hops around making his cross powing noise in the little ones direction and checking the nest when the baby is out of it then jumps about a bit more getting very cross, then the female, tear, starts hissing at apache and trying to peck him protecting the baby (who seems oblivious to everything!).
Should he be behaving in this way is it normal? he doesn't seem to peck him ever, in fact on the one occasion he wasnt cross with him he cleaning him and they both looked very happy.
He's always seemed to be like this when the baby was a nestling ( i think thjat is the correct term?) and was begging for food,apache would get cross and "shout" but then a minute or so later after thinking about it and would go and feed him.

i dont think he would ever harm his baby i'm just concerned as to why he's behaving like this?

also the little fledgling/baby still has a couple what i would call baby feathers, theyre on his eyebrows and look just like eyebrows sticking off of his head actually! i was just wondering if it was normal to have these feathers now he has left the nest?
he only seems to come out the nest for about 5-10 mins then retreats the nest, is this normal?
he's been in and out of the nest since tuesday

answers to any of my many questions would be greatly appreciated =)

Should he be behaving in this way is it normal?
hehe, yup, thats a zebra finch for you. He is ready to mate again. If the cage is not large enough or he is not stimulated by a proper toy (usually something to tug on like string or lace) then he wants to get back to business with his lady. You only compound this desire to mate with the nest there. If the chick has fledged, the nest should be out, otherwise you are just encouraging him to mate, which triggers this behavior. You should remove the nest, add a piece of leather lace or a CLEAN shoe lace/string, or piece of yarn and tie it so he cant pull it off. That should keep him busy. If the cage is too small, you need to remove the male or he will start harming the chick.


i dont think he would ever harm his baby i'm just concerned as to why he's behaving like this? he will harm the chick if his stress is not reduced as mentioned above

also the little fledgling/baby still has a couple what i would call baby feathers, theyre on his eyebrows and look just like eyebrows sticking off of his head actually! i was just wondering if it was normal to have these feathers now he has left the nest?
yup, totally normal
he only seems to come out the nest for about 5-10 mins then retreats the nest, is this normal?
yah, its ok but the nest is causing the dad to get crazy cause he wants to mate, take it out as soon as you read this. The chick will be 100% fine without his/her nest.

I removed the nest this morning and made a new toy for him, it consists of alot of ribbons for him to tug and pull about, he seems to enjoy it, i'll be watching them carefully over the next few days

how big is the cage they are in? Dimensions please. We can let you know if there is cage induced stress from being too small.

Typically, I would never recommend anything less than a 30x18 base by 18 high (these are inches) cage/flight for 2 birds. Thats it. When you have chicks.... you need more space. I use a 30x18x18 for my zebra pair and when they have chicks, all the toys and nests in the world wont stop my boy from going nuts. Too much action for him to chill out. My cage is dividable, I will usually put in the divider and keep dad on his side and mom with the chicks on the other. This works JUST fine for the next month until I take the little chicks out (after weening of course).