Over Zealous Preening
Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:53 pm
I have two male Zebra finches in a breeding cage separated from my other birds. One is quite old and can't see that well, so I figured he would benefit from a smaller cage vs the flight and having perches that are lower to the ground and closer to the food. The other had a freak accident last year and lost two of his toes.
It was my intention to put the younger bird that lost his toes back in the flight with everyone else but when he was healed enough to go back in, my Javas were raising chicks in there and, being first time parents, I didn't know how they would react to me putting a "new" bird back in there. So, I put him in the cage with the old Zebra.
I watched them closely, because I was afraid the younger Zebra might pick on the old one, as he was always pretty aggressive, but to my surprise, the two Zebras are best buddies. They sit next to each other on the perch and the young one preens the old one. In turn he asks the old one to preen him by lowering his head and nudging the old ones chest a bit, but the old one doesn't do anything..... sometimes he acts kind of senile like he doesn't know what's going on.
Anyway, I was watching them today and the old one was craning his head up trying to look at something and I noticed his neck is plucked. I haven't seen the two fighting, so I think this is a case of over-zealous preening on account of the younger bird.
Is there anything I can do? I just hate to see the poor old guy missing the feathers on his neck, but he seems so much happier when he has a birdie buddy in there with him, that I don't want to separate them either.
It was my intention to put the younger bird that lost his toes back in the flight with everyone else but when he was healed enough to go back in, my Javas were raising chicks in there and, being first time parents, I didn't know how they would react to me putting a "new" bird back in there. So, I put him in the cage with the old Zebra.
I watched them closely, because I was afraid the younger Zebra might pick on the old one, as he was always pretty aggressive, but to my surprise, the two Zebras are best buddies. They sit next to each other on the perch and the young one preens the old one. In turn he asks the old one to preen him by lowering his head and nudging the old ones chest a bit, but the old one doesn't do anything..... sometimes he acts kind of senile like he doesn't know what's going on.
Anyway, I was watching them today and the old one was craning his head up trying to look at something and I noticed his neck is plucked. I haven't seen the two fighting, so I think this is a case of over-zealous preening on account of the younger bird.
Is there anything I can do? I just hate to see the poor old guy missing the feathers on his neck, but he seems so much happier when he has a birdie buddy in there with him, that I don't want to separate them either.
