Finch aggression (severe) help!!!

Birdmom · Post by **Birdmom** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:07 pm

We've had our 2 sweet little zebra finches for 6 months. One has displayed some aggression towards the other in the past (mild feather pulling) but nothing too serious. Suddenly, last night this finch has become extremely aggressive towards the other. He (?) has pullled almost her entire tail out!! He chases her around the cage and she seems terrified of him. Help! (We thought they were both femals when we got them, but now suspect that one is a male). She has laid several eggs over the last few months, but they have all been infertile. Help! What do we do?

plantsandbirds · Post by **plantsandbirds** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:00 pm

What color are your Zebs? Usually the males will have the orange cheek feathers. If your Zebs are white the cheek feathers will be a faint orange. Your female will not have any orange feathers.

Are your finches in a good sized cage? That helps.....also providing material for the male to pick at will sometimes stop the feather plucking of the female.

I provide shredded paper, bath tissue that has been put into strips, some straw toys and hay (which you can get from the pet store).

If your little male is kept busy he may leave the female alone.

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:03 pm

Oh no how sad for the litle female, I agree LARGE cage as large as ya can afford or makeone,
And lots of interesting things to keep the other one busy. maybe some artificial plants in there so she has a place to hide out from him???

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:18 pm

Hello BirdMom ....I can't offer much in the way of advice but I just wanted to say Welcome to the Forum and I hope you enjoy this site...it has so much to offer! In the short time I have been here I have learned so very much.

Birdmom · Post by **Birdmom** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:01 pm

Hi,
Thank you for the welcome to this site, and for the advice about my two little finches. (They are white zebras. The one we think is male is pure white, even his cheeks. However, his beak has turned redder than the other one). We've kept them in the largest cage that the petstore had when we bought them (about 29" wide), but wish we could build a bigger one. The finches have seemed to calm down for now, but I'm scared that the one we think is a male will start feather pulling again. Does anyone think that it would be a good idea to isolate them from each other for a bit? (I.e. seperate them into seperate cages where they could still see each other, but the one could not hurt the other)?
Thank you,
Birdmom

Birdmom · Post by **Birdmom** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:02 pm

Hi,
Thank you for the welcome to this site, and for the advice about my two little finches. (They are white zebras. The one we think is male is pure white, even his cheeks. However, his beak has turned redder than the other one). We've kept them in the largest cage that the petstore had when we bought them (about 29" wide), but wish we could build a bigger one. The finches have seemed to calm down for now, but I'm scared that the one we think is a male will start feather pulling again. Does anyone think that it would be a good idea to isolate them from each other for a bit? (I.e. seperate them into seperate cages where they could still see each other, but the one could not hurt the other)?
Thank you,
Birdmom

Post by **Sally** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:41 am

The one drawback to Zebras is that their aggression can get out of hand, sometimes. There is an article at the FIC about dealing with aggression--it might give you some ideas to try.

hilljack13 · Post by **hilljack13** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:18 pm

Sally - thanks for mentioning the FIC. I have recently had to do a little rearranging with my finches because of aggressivness. Were doing alright for now but I dont like my current setup..