FINCHforum

I go 10 Zebra finches yesterday. Was told there are 5 breeding pairs. I was wondering if I had to keep each pair in separate cages, or if I could put them all(well not all) in a aviary? I know some of them are related so I know those will have to be kept separate so I thought about making a aviary that is split into 2 or 3. Not sure yet haha. I have them in 5 different cages but im not liking how it looks in my apartment. I was hoping for something neat looking like some sort of aviary or something. Any ideas?

Thanks
(pictures of the new ones later! I know 2 are normal. I think she said some are light backs, 2 are CFW, and ill have to check about the rest lol)

HI congratulations on getting some birds. Zeb's are lovely birds and will be happy living and breeding in an avairy or cage but there are a few things to bear in mind.

- size of avairy, although most zeb's get along fine, they can get aggresive when they are breeding and the avairy would need to be big enough for them to stay away from each other. For that reason if you you were wanting to breed them the best way is in cages, one pair per cage. If not then avairy would be better for you and your birds.

another thing to bear in mind if breeding is that 5 pairs can very quickly turn into 25 pairs

I did plan 2 breed, but not all pairs at once of course lol. I really would like to breed my white pair(new to the color mutations so bare with me lol) I would love to build a large aviary though . And just a question. I have a pair or society finches who have 2 babies. When these babies get older, and if I do get or build a aviary. Would it be ok to put them in with some zebras?
And one last question for now lol. Can you tell the sex of zebras? Or do you have to go by behavior like the societys?

The societies may be overwhelmed by the zebras.
I had one society have his tail chewed and ratty by a zebra chick.
I have not seen a society act aggressively, however I have seen many zebra being aggressive to other zebras.
So what I am saying is that may not be a good mix.

Except for a few mutations, you can M from F during/after their juvenile molt when they get their adult colors. Check out this site:
http://www.efinch.com/varieties.htm

Yes you can always tell the sex of Zeb's, some are difficult may be, for example a pure white Zeb, cock and hen are all white but you should be able to tell by the beak (male red, female orange).

I have no problems keeping zeb's and bengalese together. Zeb's can be aggresive sometimes but if your avairy is big enough they just get out the way of each other. And it is only really when they are breeding and an intruder comes near their nest.

Just i thought, if you are going to build a large avairy and not sure how large.

Just make it as big as you possibly can then a bit bigger!

Justin-2-finches wrote:
I have no problems keeping zeb's and bengalese together. Zeb's can be aggresive sometimes but if your avairy is big enough they just get out the way of each other.

Same here. When I had Societies and Zebras in a 3' x 5' flight the Zebras were overly aggressive, but there are no issues now that they are in my small aviary (100 s.f.)