Shaft-tail housing fiasco (part 2)

[sarehptar]

(See this thread for all the original drama.)

Today, one of my female shaft-tails died (I believe she hit something or got caught on something ).

Unfortunately, she was the male's mate, leaving me with two hens and one now un-bonded male.

I thought I would re-introduce him to one hen at a time and see if he showed in any interest in one of them, so that I wouldn't have to house him alone.

He showed interest in my deformed hen, Blotchy; however, she wanted NOTHING to do with him, and it devolved into her panicking if he so much as landed on the perch near her. Since the other girl probably died due to knocking her head on something, I do NOT want any panicked flying going on. So no go there.

He then got into a knock-down-drag-out finch brawl with my other hen, Devil. There was beak jousting, harassing, feather plucking, etc. I pulled her out when it got to the point where I was uncomfortable and definitely feeling like it was more than the "establishing a pecking order" phase. So that was equally no good.

Now my hens are back together and looking much happier for it. But the male is alone. I have no idea what to do.

Should I put him in with Blotchy and hope she calms down, then get another friend for Devil? Or should I find someone to take him, and start my transition to more passive birds much earlier than I expected?

These finches are turning out to be the most stressful and heartbreaking gift I have ever received.

[finchmix22]

I haven't had Shafttails, but from what you've described, I'd keep the male alone and find a home or put him in a mixed flight with species who can handle a pushy cagemate. So sorry you lost the other hen.

[cindy]

You male sounds as if he may be in breeding mode, they can get aggressive with hens if they are not in condition or ready. A Shaft tails hen's beak will turn a bit darker when ready to breed, his to will darken.

My suggestion is if not wanting them to breed place another male in with him for companionship. If you place a hen in with him I would set the hen up in a temporary cage next to the male's cage and observe to see if they call back and forth to each other. Also make sure the hen is over 9 months of age. Once you put the hen in with the male be prepared if he is determined to mate he will pursue her and could chase.

How is your one hen deformed? Was it an accident. With shaft tail males that are a bit aggressive with hens the hen needs to be able to get away or stand her ground.

Your previous post about loosing you hen I neglected to ask if there was a nest in the cage. You male may have been pursuing the hen and she may have tried to get away. Not all pairings are like this most a re peaceful but once in a while a male is set on mating and hens are not and it can wear a hen down. You he also as mentioned in the other thread hit something when flying in play and injured herself.

Can you tell me if the male had been singing to her?

May I ask the age of the male and both hens? I had my shaft tail flights out in the main room and was able to watch them closely, they can be peaceful, active ad they can bicker. Adding a new hen and the bickering they do may be part of the dominance thing, each laying out their "rights" some settle down others do not. I had several males and females in very long high flights, it went in cycles of complete peaceful coexistence to occasional squabbles.

[sarehptar]

The male may indeed be in breeding mode; although there were no nests, I had seen him singing and pulling on the greenery in the cage. However, there was little chance that his mate died due to pursuit or because of him--he never had to chase her, because if one wasn't off eating, they were stuck together like glue; he was also way on the very far side of the cage preening himself when she died. (I'm 90% sure it was the closeness of the two food dishes, since she was lying between them on her back...)

My hen Blotchy appears to have been born deformed; my parents did not notice when they bought her, but she has one incredibly tiny eye and one incredibly large eye. Although she gets around okay, I think her vision is a bit impaired. She has never laid a single egg, but has tail quivered at the male before, when they were in separate cages within sight of each other.

My hen Devil lays eggs with no provocation, no nest, no egg food, nothing. I feel like she is in constant aggressive breeding mode; although she gets on just fine with Blotchy, she was the reason I had to split the birds up into pairs in the first place because of her chasing Shorty.

I can't verify the ages of the birds because they came from a standard pet store. When I went back to ask, they told me the birds came from "quarantine" (I'm assuming from overseas, which made me kinda antsy) and they couldn't determine 100% what the ages were, etc. etc. other fishy sounding stuff. However, I've had them since April and my parents scoped them out at the pet store two months prior to that; they were fully colored adult-appearance birds by then. In any case, they have not been encouraged to breed (no nest, limited egg) after the disastrous first attempt which occurred mostly due to me receiving bad advice from pet store clerks about the necessity of nests.

Based on his behavior with Devil at least, I don't think those two were just squabbling. It's bizarre that he wouldn't get along with her NOW, when he used to cuddle up to her every night when they were all in the same cage... Complicated family dynamics...

Anyway, tl;dr:
I could get another male shaft-tail, although I have been looking for males for more than a month and haven't been able to find any in stores or any reputable looking breeders, so I have no idea how long it would take me to find another male. How long can my male be alone before it starts to be tortuous for him?

Or, the other option (and it would be really sad) would be to re-home him to some place where he will either be in a larger group to cut down on the aggressive factor, or where he can focus on a single mate without another shaft-tail pair present...

Really difficult decisions. D;

[cindy]

Can you ship some males in from Singing Wings Aviary? http://www.singing-wings-aviary.com/

[sarehptar]

I'm not sure what I would do the extra one of the pair though, since the site says they're only sold in pairs. (The price is also a tiny bit too much for me too, once shipping is added; shaft-tails sell for about $35-40 in the stores here...)

But I didn't really think about the option of shipping... (It seems so easy for a bird to get lost...) I may be able to look a little wider in my internet search and see if there are breeders willing to ship a lone bird.

Thanks for the idea!