FINCHforum

i am just about to let my zebras loose out into the new open aviary i am thinking about getting some more birds, but what species mix well with zebras and society finches, also is it advisable to put nest boxes in the aviary

Stephen,

Zebras can be tricky birds in a mixed aviary but you can house some birds with them. They are classified as "pushy" so stick with birds in the same class.

Check out this link

http://www.finchinfo.com/housing/compatible_species.php

I have also housed Java Sparrows with them with no problems.

The nest question is easy. If you want babies put in nests if you don't then don't put in nests. Finches do not need nests to sleep in although societies enjoy having them, but if you do not want babies keep away from nests.

my preference would be for no zebras in the aviary, cute they are, but aggressive as well. they tend to dominate an aviary.
but like willie says have a look in the finch info centre.
there are also quite a few posts about zebras that you could read

I HAD zebras uin my mixed aviary. Noticed I said "had'.
They can exist buy it is very tricky. The shaftails will work . But I would not put star finches or courdon blues in with them.
I have nest up because many of my birds love to sleep in the nest every night. My society, owls and silverbills sleep in a nest.
The zebras will also sleep in a nest, but if they have one, there will more than likely be many babies.
I had to toss eggs from their nest on a daily basis.

i dont know if its something im doing to keep them very satisfied but, my zebras dont even bother my goulds, orange cheeks, bronze wings or socities. They only get pushy with eachother but i have hatchlings and there very calm.

jamezyboo21 wrote:i dont know if its something im doing to keep them very satisfied but, my zebras dont even bother my goulds, orange cheeks, bronze wings or socities. They only get pushy with eachother but i have hatchlings and there very calm.

That's great. I hope they continue getting along. I could have tolerated the pushy part with mine because I had plenty of room in the aviary for the others to escape them, but the constant nestling was too much. I could see being taken over by zebras.

Willep
Do the Javas get along well with other birds? I really do love the chestnut colored ones and would love to add a pair.

yeah i have zebra hatchlings everywhere and eggs that are just being laid by other pairs, its crazy.

dfcauley wrote:
Willep
Do the Javas get along well with other birds? I really do love the chestnut colored ones and would love to add a pair.

I would much rather have Javas in a mixed aviary than zebras and they have a wonderful song as well. I still have two Javas with my Cordons and stars. The Javas are mostly gentle birds and seem to get along with everyone else until it comes to food. The Javas prefer mostly seed so I have a couple of feeding stations setup around the aviary and the other finches have learned to keep away from the seed hopper when the Javas are there. I have never seen them kick other birds out of a nest, in fact my BCCB raised 3 fledglings with them around. I wouldn't recommend keeping too many of them together though.

I came sooooo close to buying a pair at the last bird mart, but wanted to do some more research on them first. I think if they have any that I will buy a pair in June. They sure are pretty birds.