Rescued finches

[aeriadne]

Hello, everyone -

I am new to this forum and also a new zebra finch guardian. This is more of a post to air my heavy-hearted feelings over drama with four rescued zebra finches over the last week and a half - during that time, I read a lot on this forum, which helped a lot. The four zebras were rescued by my avian vet and they lived together in a smallish cage for about a month at their office - the finches came from rather horrible, filthy, crowded conditions. I brought them home a week and a half ago to a flight cage that was about 2.5 times larger than the cage they were living in where there were about 9 different types of perches, various foraging toys, three to four feeding stations at any given time, two to three watering stations, cuttle bone, etc. - probably more resources than they had ever been exposed to. The first day I brought them home, they began fighting. There were three boys and a girl; the girl and one of the boys were both plucked on the back of their heads, the boy especially badly. A few days in, I noticed that the baldies were definitely very bonded and that in addition to new territory, the boys were also fighting over the girl and the bald male was warding off the others. All three instigated fights and conflict was daily. Nearly every day after work, I would come home to feathers all over the floor. On Tuesday, everyone had been plucked, even the two boys in good feathered condition. The bald boy was even more bald and had some lacerations on his head and some feathers plucked close to one of his eyes. At that point, I knew they had to be separated. So yesterday, I sadly made the decision to relinquish two of the four finches back to my vet and keep the bonded male and female couple. If the two boys get on well together at the vet, I will get another flight cage and take them back. (When I separated the couple from them for an hour on Tuesday, the boys still bickered.) If not, my hope is that they can be adopted separately into other flocks where they can find friends and perhaps even mates. I know that finches living in solitary do not do well; I otherwise would have kept both of the boys in individual housing.

Anyway, I wanted to thank you all in the forum for your posts and discussions about zebra finch aggression - from what I've read, what I experienced does not seem unusual. The birds, according to my vet, all got on well at their office, but they had just one toy in their small cage so it could be that this new, enriched environment triggered latent territoriality. I still feel pretty horribly and miss the two boys. I also don't think my vet's office is all that happy with me over this situation, which is doubly troubling.

[Sally]

Zebra finches normally are pushy and territorial. There are exceptions, of course, but you had the added factor of housing three boys with one girl. I can't explain why they got along in the vet's office, perhaps the cage was so small that they had no way to establish a territory anyway.

I do commend you for rescuing them, and I also feel you did the right thing in returning the two extra males to the vet's office. You should only take on what you are comfortable with and able to care for. I think sometimes people get in trouble because they don't want to admit they've made a mistake, or they have already bonded with the new pets and don't want to give up on them.

You've provided them with a larger cage, plenty of food and water, and toys. Since you kept the male/female pair, you may have to contend with breeding. If these finches all came to the vet's office as babies, chances are they are siblings, so you would not want to breed them. If they were adults, and they look healthy and happy, and most importantly, you are ready to take on the additional responsibility of more finches, then you can let them breed. If not, don't give them a nest for sleeping. Nests are for breeding and will trigger hormones, they can sleep just fine on a perch.

And welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, and the members are always ready to help. If you put your general location in your profile, it helps when answering locale-specific questions later on. And we always love to see pictures of member's birds.

[aeriadne]

Thanks so much for your reply, Sally, and your kind words!

The finches aren't babies but perhaps a year or so old - their background is unknown. All four are very different looking, and my vet suspected some might be hybrids. I am actually very opposed to breeding - no offense to breeders out there! - so I have no intention of breeding or adding features to their cage to encourage breeding. I come from a parrot background (I have a parrotlet as well) and know well how bad the abandoned pet parrot crisis is. That's also what probably made this exceptionally difficult for me emotionally. I know there are a lot of birdies out there in need of homes and I do not want to create a situation of offspring not getting on and adding to the crisis.

Last night and this morning was the first time I had a peaceful finch cage - no fighting, just the couple waking up and eating at their leisure. I have to remember that the birds' welfare is really the most important thing and all four were getting hurt and being continuously stressed by conflict. The couple is so content, peaceful, and calm. I just so hope the two boys find a happy ending, either with me or with devoted guardians who can give them space, enrichment, good nutrition, and, overall, a happy home.

[lovezebs]

aeriadne
Hi and welcome.
I think you did the right thing. With one female and three males, there was bound to be trouble sooner or later.
I have the same combination in a flight (they were four males, but one miraculously decided to start laying eggs ) So far however, there are no major problems other than the usual zebbie drama.
Regarding taking them back to the vet.... they will probably get snapped up by someone fairly quickly. It's also possible, that once the female is no longer around, they may settle down together.

[aeriadne]

Thanks so much, lovezebs! I actually came across your post during my research - the one when you found out to your surprise that one of your "male" finches laid eggs. My little ones definitely came with some baggage - overcrowding, poor living conditions, filth - so on top of what seems to be normal zebra finch aggressiveness, they undoubtedly have the weight of their past contributing to their behavioral problems with one another. I studied chickens at great length in grad school and they were exhibiting a lot of the same displacement and stress behaviors that chickens do in industrial farm settings. The fact that my baldies were plucked so badly definitely indicates that they had been in a stressful living situation. One of the boys I had to bring back I quite liked a lot and he was more tolerated by the couple than the other one. I really liked the second male, too, and he was a beautiful little boy, but he was definitely the misfit of the group, not allowed to snuggle with everyone at night and plucking the little girl. He was also the boldest. I feel like the other boy was a mellow little bird and got caught up in the middle of things - he wasn't as aggressive but he was also not with the girl, who seemed to like him (I saw them allopreening at one point). The vet says they're doing ok, so I'll wait and see how they do. I still have to honestly assess if I can maintain three cages on a daily basis (and where will I put that third cage??) on top of the general apartment that my parrot has free run of when I'm at home, but for now I'm just glad there is no more fighting!