2 males 1 female in same cage

For questions about finch enclosures (cages & aviaries).
Post Reply
crazycoop12
Pip
Pip
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:39 am

2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by crazycoop12 » Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:05 pm

Please be patient I am new to finches. I purchased what was supposed to be a female black cheek zebra finch and a regular zebra finch. Turns out I think the black cheek is also a male. They were both in the same cage when I got them. I have another group that I purchased that is 2 females and 1 male. All three of them are nesting in 1 nest. I can tell one of the females is the odd duck out though. The 2 males also sleep in the same nest. My question is can I put one of the females in with 2 males or will this cause problems? Thanks!

User avatar
tinysparrow
3 Eggs Laid
3 Eggs Laid
Posts: 754
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:33 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by tinysparrow » Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:21 pm

Hi and welcome to the forum! It sounds like you have some beautiful zebras! Its generally not recommended to put three zebras together, and having 2 males and one female will be very hard on the female. Its best to house zebras in even numbers, or as you said, they will leave one poor bird out and it will get picked on.

Since you have five birds, would it be possible for you to get another female to even it out?
amy :-B
Image

crazycoop12
Pip
Pip
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:39 am

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by crazycoop12 » Mon Dec 03, 2012 9:42 am

Thank you! I think that is what I am going to do. I think I will leave them alone for now until I find another female. Then I can put 2 in each cage. Also, I have read that I shouldn't breed a black cheek with a black cheek. Is that true? If so, can I put any type of zebra finch with the black cheek? Will I get black cheek babies?

User avatar
GeeQ13
Pip
Pip
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2012 1:23 pm
Location: West Side of Canada

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by GeeQ13 » Mon Dec 03, 2012 12:24 pm

Two pairs will not work because it will be a constant warzone inside the cage but three pairs or more will do depending of the size of your cage(flight.) TinySparrow is right though, that two males and a female will not work also.

Zebrafincher
Proud Parent
Proud Parent
Posts: 1165
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:17 pm

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by Zebrafincher » Mon Dec 03, 2012 9:14 pm

You also need to look out for the individual disposition or character of each bird. Some will bond easily, and you might get 'bossy boots' amongst some of the pairs. Regardless of the gender, keeping them in pairs is important. They really need company of other finches, whether Zebra or otherwise

User avatar
cindy
Bird Brain
Bird Brain
Posts: 18754
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:33 pm
Location: west central Florida

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by cindy » Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:46 am

Black cheek to black cheek is perfectly fine...I have not read it is unadvisable anywhere and I have a flock of BC and BCCFW and Crested BCCFW....all do fine with the pairing. The only pairing I am aware of that may have issues I believe is fawn cheek to fawn cheek.

http://www.efinch.com/species/fczeb.htm

Zebra, Gouldians, Java, CBM Shaft tail & Grasskeets


~ My Facebook groups ~

*Finchaholics ~ finches, hookbills, softbills & canaries are welcome here!
discussions regarding species, housing, breeding, preventatives, treatments

*Birdaholics ~ Avian Classified Ads Only

mazurkiewiczdjr
Pip
Pip
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:49 am

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by mazurkiewiczdjr » Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:51 am

can you put a male red face parrot in with two male gouldian

Flight Feathers
Brooding
Brooding
Posts: 1356
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 4:02 pm

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by Flight Feathers » Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:56 am

Hello and a warm welcome to the forum from flight feathers!!

For now, while you are trying to figure things out you could always try putting the 3 males together and then the two females or would this not work and result in fighting? I agree 2 pairs fight a lot! Usually best to keep the pairs in uneven numbers - eg 1 pair, 3 pairs, or 5 pairs etc.
Zebras are lovely wee birds despite they're supposed aggressiveness.
If you are wanting to breed your Zebs flick me a pm.
~Flight Feathers Bird Home~

14 Zebra Finches, 4 Budgies, 3 Cockatiels, 2 Canaries, 7 Chinese quail, 3 Bengalese Finches, 1 Turquoise Parrot, 1 Goldfinch

Now a member of the NZFBA!


http://www.thepictaram.club/instagram/f ... thersbirds

User avatar
lovezebs
Mod Extraordinaire
Mod Extraordinaire
Posts: 18214
Joined: Sun Dec 15, 2013 11:51 am
Location: Calgary Alberta Canada

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by lovezebs » Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:36 am

mazurkiewiczdjr

Hello, and welcome to the Forum from Canada.

Your male Parrot Finch should be fine with the 2 male Gouldians as long as there are no females. If female Gouldians are introduced into the equation, you will have a problem.... Parrot Finches and Gouldians can hybridize.

Good luck.
~Elana~

Linnies~ Canaries ~ Zebras ~ Societies ~ Gouldians ~ Orange Cheeks ~ Shaft Tails ~ Strawberries ~ Red Cheek Cordon Bleu ~ Goldbreasts ~ Red Brows ~ Owls ~ Budgies ~ Diamond Firetails ~ Javas ~ Forbes Parrot Finches ~

Hbt
Pip
Pip
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2018 7:23 am

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by Hbt » Thu Oct 25, 2018 5:07 am

Hi,

I am piggy-backing onto this topic because i am trying to find out a similar answer.

I had 1 mannikin finch (I live in Africa and i rescued it 6 weeks ago) and then this week, i rescued another one and the two birds formed a nice bond. (this time of year there are lots of fledglings dying/getting lost or into trouble!) Then yesterday i recused another one (which had been stuck in a storm drain for 2 days and i managed to break the storm drain to get it out but it has damaged its wing and can't fly) so now i have three. But now the 2nd and 3rd finch seem to have bonded and i am worried that 3 together is not good. i don't know if they are male or female and I'm sure this would make a difference, but wanted to check to see whether having 3 birds of any sex, together, will be bad because 2 will pair up and one will be left out?

Then i guess the next obstacle, is working out how to sex them?

Icearstorm
Weaning
Weaning
Posts: 1612
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2016 5:21 pm

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by Icearstorm » Thu Oct 25, 2018 8:32 am

Hbt

Some birds can be housed in odd numbers (society finches are often okay with it), but I don't know about mannikins in particular. As far as sexing goes, the males will start to sing once they're a few months old; however, your youngest one probably hasn't been exposed to much birdsong, so if it is male, its song might consist of some odd squeaks and regular bird chirps. The dance/display the males do seems to be semi-instinctual though, so any male should puff out his feathers a bit or start posturing when he sings.

Hbt
Pip
Pip
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2018 7:23 am

Re: 2 males 1 female in same cage

Post by Hbt » Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:11 pm

thank you - very interesting to hear!
the one I have, I've had for 6 weeks and it has lots of different sounds for different communication (i.e. when its worried, when its hungry, when its comforted etc) but I haven't noticed any 'song' or any sort of dancing.

the two new ones are very different ages - the '2nd' one is about the age of my first one when I got it and the 3rd one is bigger and therefore I should think a few weeks older than my first, so all in all, its like I have a small, medium and large spectrum of the fledglings!

someone warned me that if I happened to have 2 males and 1 female, the males could fight to the death but that wasn't 'mannikin' specific - in fact, I haven't found anyone who knows a great deal about mannikins so I guess they aren't as popular as some of the others. its painstaking to know what to do as the reason why I made the decision to rescue the 2nd and then the 3rd was because I knew my first bird would ideally like a bird friend, so it was then difficult to watch it being a third wheel to the other two.

I guess I will wait with baited breath!

thanks again,

Hannah

Post Reply