Senegal Combassou (Indigo Finch) behavior

[AngieCort68]

I've been watching these little guys and they are so funny. However, I have a question about their behavior. The older one flies in the same area all the time. Is this a problem? He jump from the bottom perch to the top perch to the food bowl and does this back and forth. The cage is a flight cage 30" wide but he stays in the same 6 inches of space. Not sure why. Thanks for any help.

[cindy]

Sometimes with hookbills they do odd things like pacing or going back in forth in the same pattern over and over and it is usually done out of stress. I have seen this in finches if the male and female are separated from each other, the pacing back and forth, calling out of stress,confusion as to where the mate went.

Which one is this, is it the one that is more passive or the territorial male?

[AngieCort68]

The territorial one.

[cindy]

Is he still going after the passive one, is he plucking him?

[AngieCort68]

No he's pretty settled down now. The quiet one just flies, eats and sleeps. The territorial one just goes in his pattern every now and then. They seem healthy and settled in. No fighting or anything crazy. He just jumps in this pattern sometimes and it's goofy. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a sign of something going wrong. If they are just goofy, it's ok. Thanks Cindy.

[kenny66]

i had a male jacarini finch do this until I put him in a much larger cage-solved the problem straight away.

[cindy]

I agree with Kenny...they may need a bigger cage or separate cages. It is a sign of stress, with two males the space might be to small in regards to territory.

Have you thought about getting females for them?

[kenny66]

yes,my experience is that these type of finches need about 2sq metres per finch, territory wise. The jacarinis go into stress mode if they are in a small cage maybe the Senegals do the same. Also with 2 cock birds in the same enclosure neither will really thrive. Just an observation