FINCHforum

Got me 8 new birds today! 4 societies and 4 orange cheek waxbills all for just $55!!!
I only had a pair of zebras before this but the male zebra is kinda picking at the new birds, particularly the smaller waxbills but the female zeb doesn't seem to mind the additional members of the community.
My question is can the zeb kill other birds or just threaten them because they're new? If this will continue, I'll have to find new homes for the zebs.

check the FIC link on the left of the postings. In there it will show you the three tiers that the birds are broken into in regards to their levels of agression. The societies and orange cheeks should be fine together they are both on level one. The zeb's really shouldnt be in the same cages with them as they are teir two and are more aggressive. I have seen a zebra make its own kind look like a volture from feather picking, let alone a non aggressive species that was a cage mate. I would seperate if I were you. Also, that is a lot of birds to house in one cage unless you have a pretty big aviary. You may want to check out the Housing section to and plug in the dimensions of the cage/aviary that you have to be sure they can all fit comfortably in there, that may be another reason for the aggression. Did you remove the zebras and rearrange the cage before putting all the birds in the cage at once? Doing that disorients the original pair for a short while and decreases their desire to defend their territory. If you plan on keeping the zeb's with the other 8, you may want to increase the amount of foliage or hiding spaces that you have before the new guys look like a flock of naked chickens

Are you keeping all 10 birds together? What size is the aviary?

I'll bet you're overcrowding...and new birds should never be added to an established flight...the resident birds will have established their territory.It's natural for birds to protect their food source from newcomers.

I agree...You get too many birds in a small space and territories will be constantly fought over and everybody will be stressed. I had Zebras with my Owls and Gouldians and they started out getting along then the Zebras got agressive....and sadly I had to rehome them.

You might try taking the Zebras out for a week or so..then the new birds can acclimate without hostility. Then put the Zeb's back in and see if they behave themselves. Good Luck!

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. My flight is a little over 5 ft long, 2 ft wide and 4 ft high. I checked the FIC and found that I was definitely overcrowding them. I removed the 2 zebs today and put them in their old cage, which is pretty spacious. Everything looks okay now. There is a lot of flying space for the 8 birds in the flight.

Sounds great!

I am glad you had a cage on stand by and that it came in handy for this situation. Question though, did you quarintine the new birds at all or did you mix them straight in with your zebras? If you mixed them together right away, you should know that in the future, it is very important to keep new birds away from your current flock for at least a month to make sure they don't have any hidden diseases or parasites that may pop up after you have had them for a week or two. Keep on eye on the zebras and the new guys, hopefully all will be well!

I DID mix them in at once, bad move! But my spare cage will not hold all the new birds and there are spaces that the waxbills might get through. They are all happy now since the zebs moved out of the large flight and the zebs seem content to be in their old home. I was thinking of getting another cage and removing some societies also, maybe try breeding a pair since my zebs don't seem to be interested in raising a family.

With societies if they have a nest, they will breed. They dont seem to care how many other birds are in the cage. They should produce tons of babies for you if you were able to get a male/female pairing in the set of four. Good luck with that project and try to keep a close eye on the birds, hopefully they were all fully healthy and you wont have any issues. In the future, quarintine them, even if that means moving the original animals to the other cage, disinfecting their present cage, then putting in the new birds.