FINCHforum

Monotwine told me that RFP cocks can be a bit oversexed and up to now I have seen little evidence of that. This morning I went to my aviary and saw that the one PF cock was trying to mate with his female, but the other 2 males were interfering all the time. My aviary is 12 meters from the one end to the other end. I just saw this poor hen zipping from the one end to the other end of the aviary, chased by 3 very amorous cocks. I have never seen such a thing. The word r@p3 (children on this site) comes to mind. Next weekend I am closing up the gap between the 2 flights and will have 3 aviaries, 4.5 meters X 1.8 X 1.8. I will house a pair in each flight. This is the only way to be sure of my birds paternity. The one aviary will be a bit bigger with an enclosed glass section on the side.

Sounds like a good idea. Although I love big open flights it is probably best for the female and to know the parents of your future chicks

At the moment I only have 3 pairs and a few chicks, I plan to get another 3 pairs of RFP finches. I still can't believe what I saw this morning. It was very violent. Even a young chick was badly chased around. I think it is because it the cock that wanted to mate with his hen is not a dominant bird, and the other cocks are much more dominant. Maybe it is nature's way of ensuring that only the strongest get to propagate. I hear the the blue faced parrots are much violent when it come to mating. They actually kill hens.

MariusStegmann -- Aw, poor hen!
Indeed, the PF males can be a bit pushy! I've seen something similar.

That reminds me of a time when I had a stray cat in heat.

I looked out onto my porch one morning and saw the female sitting on one of the chairs, with four males sitting around her. It took me a moment to figure out what was going on, as typically, these males fight. And they never hang out during the day.

Then I realized it when the female got up to to to the bathroom and all four males followed, clearly jockeying for an opportunity to mate.

It was terrible!
Poor girl realized that the chair was the one spot where they wouldn't bother her.

Needless to say, I captured her and got her spayed straight away!

I think your plan for dividing them up sounds like a good one. Definitely less stress for the ladies!