why is daddy zebra chasing baby

[star]

Daddy zebra keeps chasing one of the 3 week old chicks around the cage. He doesn't bother the other three. He has been a very good daddy . So why is he chasing the one baby?

[L in Ontario]

The one could possibly be the only male baby and he now considers it as competition for his mate. He also wants to start breeding again. If the chicks are completely weaned I would remove them. If they are not yet weaned, I would remove the father. If you don't want any more babies - I would remove the nest if you haven't yet done so.

[ac12]

If the one that is being chased is a pied, it could be the white feathers. I have had that happen 2x, both times with pied female chicks, but it was the mother that was chasing them.

The first time, I was new to finches and just kept them together. The mother relentlessly chased the pied chick.

The 2nd time I knew better and I separated the family soon after mom started chasing the pied chick. I put mom with 3 kids, dad with 2 (one of them was the pied that mom was chasing). Mom and dad both took their chicks thru to weaning, as single parents.

[star]

Thank you for your replies. The chicks are not weaned yet. I will remove daddy. I saw mommy chase that baby off a perch once too. I wonder if mommy will continue to feed that one. Daddy wouldn't. Can the babies drink out of a water dish yet? I have not seen them do that.

[ac12]

Or you could split the clutch like I did; 2 chicks w dad and 2 chicks w mom. Just make sure the one that was chased by dad is with mom. That way both parents get to go thru the feeding weaning process w the chicks.

[Finch Fry]

I wouldn't recommend splitting the clutches. Just take out dad. I have done this numerous times and all works out. The moms reason for pecking at one or more of the kids is to encourage them to eat on their own. As soon as they are weened, suggest removing the kids from the parents otherwise there will be some bickering.

Also, if you have a significantly large enough cage, none of this will be a problem. But most of us have zebs in 30x18x18 cages..which is suitable for 2 finches. If you have a big open space, i have heard that zebras are cool and calm little birds.