This post is going to be a long one! I originally bought a pair of goulds as a Christmas present for my father (we had them growing up as a child), but in the process I kind of re-fell in love with them myself and they have since turned into my own babies
I've had the two hens (a RH PB/LB? GB and and YH WB GB) for about 9 months or so now, and thought it would be nice to add two cocks to the mix. My hens had been living in a flight cage (30x18x18) during that period, and they've done very well. I'd see an occasional squabble, nothing serious though--usually only when one encroached too much on the other's space, a little open-beak hissing, but that would be the extent of it.
When I realized just how finch-enamored I was, I decided I wanted to build a much bigger cage so I could add buddies to my girls with ample space. I ended up purchasing a bunch of those Petco flight cages and wired them together to create a 60lx18wx36h open flight. My initial plan was to move the ladies to the new open flight and then place the boys in the original 30x18 cage both for quarantine and so they could slowly acclimate to the hens in nearby proximity. When I talked to the woman I purchased them from, she said it would be better to put all 4 in the same cage together at the same time so it was "all new at once". I had reservations about this and was going to disregard, but at the last minute I went with her advice. ( I did treat the cocks w/S76)
I purchased a RH PB Dilute and a RH PB GB male. The dilute, within 1 minute of release, began singing and dancing for my WB hen (who in return gave him a couple of pecks and went on her way. Other than that, the girls had been slightly subdued and the boys were going wild--flying around like crazy, singing, dancing, generally acclimating to their surroundings.
But gradually I've noticed a separation begin between the males and females. The second day of their togetherness when I got home form work, I noticed a little blood swiped on a perch and my dilute had a small spot of dried blood on the top of his beak-no signs of actual injury though. He was rather quiet the following 24 hrs, but seems to be back to his normal self. (I will post another thread for this issue with images.) The males are definitely more dominant, but it SEEMS as though my dilute can be a bully at times. For example, if he is on a perch and another girl tries to land, he'll basically spar at her to get her to leave. In turn I've noticed the hens have become defensive themselves, i.e. if a male is flying around, the female will watch his flight pattern with beak open, prepared to peck/spar if he comes too close. The swing has become a hot commodity too, once one has landed on it, the occupier seems to become territorial and won't let anyone else share it.
This has even seemed to manifest into displaced aggression between the two hens; for example if one is at a feeding dish and the second one follows suit, the two will spar with one another for several seconds. Prior to the boys, they would always feed together without issue, they enjoyed it.
I don't have the experience to know if this is true aggression/incompatibility, sorting out the "pecking order", or just natural squabbles amongst a group of finches. Though the girls have been a bit more subdued that usual, they still seem to be acting healthy (eating, drinking, flying about). They haven't been "talking" as much though. They boys seem to be doing just fine, they're exploring, signing and dancing, testing out herb salad and the like. Through all of this, there are have been NO signs of injury other than the small blood spot on the top of my dilute's beak, but I honestly don't know if that's from aggression or if he accidentally ran into something.
So please, ANY feedback on ANY aspect would be greatly appreciated. I will post images of my cage setup to see if it's too crowded, if there's not enough landing space, enough dishes/millet etc. I originally had nests in there, but I removed them since I felt that was placing unnecessary breeding pressure on them. I do think I need to buy a second swing though, since that seems to be very popular.
My direct questions are:
- Do I put a divider between the layout so the hens are on one side and cocks on the other? So they can see one another, but not interact?
- Do I place the males (or females) into the original 30x18 cage entirely? And if so, do I keep them by the hens or sequester them entirely?
- Do I let things take their course and allow the 4 to acclimate to one another?
