FINCHforum

A few years ago, I inherited some zebra finches, 2 males and 2 females. Over the course of about a year, one of the males has become steadily more aggressive. He was always the dominant male and we got used to him throwing his weight around to get the best food and the choicest bits of material for his nest, but over the last few months or so he has become violent rather than just pushy and he routinely follows the other 3 birds around the cage relentlessly and pulls out their feathers, even the one who is his mate! Then just a few days ago I watched him attack his mate and peck at one of her bald spots until she was bleeding. I have separated him from the others and put him in his own cage, but now he seems depressed. Is there a way to solve his anger issues so that I can put him back in the big cage with his friends, or do I need to think about re-homing him? The cage measures 29.5in long, 18in wide and 33.5in high, and it was the biggest one I could find that wasn't a parrot cage.

(I also have a pair of society finches who share the cage with the zebra finches, but he doesn't seem to mind them as much, mostly because they are careful to stay out of his way and spend a lot of time in their nest).

Zebras can and do get like that. I have had buddies where one bird turned on the other.... and kicked him. It may be that you just have to keep him in solitary. I had to do that with several unsocial zebras that I could not find a cagemate that they would not fight/attack.

In this case you also have to watch the remaining zebras. 3 birds is a bad number, 2 will pair up and start picking on the 3rd. I had 2 hens kill a 3rd hen.

ac12 is right. I have one ornery male zebra, 10 years and 4 months. He is just plain nasty. It's a good thing I love him. He was unable to be with a mate for the first many years of his life. I did time outs, first a week...then would reintroduce him, then a month, then 6 months. No matter what, he never would adjust and would resort back to abusing his mate. I'd get him a new mate after years of trying, about 7 years I believe, he finally liked the one I got for him. To me she had no personality. He just accepted her. She lived two years and died suddenly. I tried to give him another mate and he abused her immediately. I took her out 6 months, and put her back when I needed cage space and this time he took to her. It's just crazy...and I never thought he would. Now she doesn't take any guff from him. He tries to chase her around but she fights back and I'm happy about it! Zebras can be that way. I just had to remove a "plucker" who plucked his mate after having a clutch of chicks who fledged. Then he plucked his fledglings. He now resides alone...until I find him a home. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. Each case stands on it's own merits, and depends on the room you have, cages, mates, your tolerance.

Agreed with ac12 and Corkysgirl.

Birds are like humans in that each one has his own personality and those personalities do evolve with time. And also like humans, some are just plain antisocial.

I'd start with a time-out for a week or so. That'll let him think about what he's done!
But in all seriousness, sometimes a time-out is all they need for an attitude reset. Rearrange the cage (perches, toys, etc.) before you return him to re-draw the property lines in case it's territorial.
If that doesn't work, then I'd try another longer time-out -- 3-4 weeks.

And if that doesn't work, I'd see if removing a couple birds from the cage to see if that does the trick. So I'd put the other couple in your hospital cage for the weekend and put him in the big cage with his favorite female. Then, watch closely to see how he does with his mate. If they do well, I'd get a new cage for the other couple.
Sometimes, increasing the amount of space per bird can make a big difference.
I've also found that removing another male from the equation can lower the male's aggression levels. Again, like humans, they seem to be more hornery with there are other males around....like it brings out their need to dominate and prove themselves.

Is it only the female he's picking on?
If so, I might see how he does with her removed from the equation. Sometimes, birds get really nasty with one bird; they'll even gang up on him/her.
My society finch, when she was with her breeder, had to be moved around a few times because the others in her cage would pick on her and pluck her feathers. She's very submissive and oddly, it seems like that can precipitate attacks. Her mate Jackson was picked on too. They get along beautifully. It was love at first tweet!

Also, do you have nests in the cage? That can trigger lots of territorial aggression, so I might eliminate those and see what happens.
Best of luck!!

Mia, thank you for your advice. Wesker (the male in question) picks on everyone, all the time, but it was his mate that was getting the worst of it for some reason. I plan to leave him in solitary at least until everyone else grows their feathers back! He's awfully upset at being segregated, perhaps loneliness/feeling left out will produce the desired attitude adjustment! I hadn't considered rearranging the cage, but I will definitely give it a try.

All 3 pairs of birds have a nest, because they had them when I inherited them and I didn't want to shake up their world by removing them and also because I thought they needed them to sleep in. Now that I know that isn't the case, I'm considering taking them out, though I do love to watch them fill the nests with the things I give them.

I'm glad that this could be a case of "some birds are just jerks", rather than definitely something I'm doing wrong. My husband will feel vindicated

I'm not sure if I understood the cage set up correctly. If there are four zebras and two society's in a 29 inch cage? That is too crowded. You could try to put one pair in their own breeding cage or take out the Society's to their own cage, to reduce any crowding and fighting for perches, food, water, etc.

One thing that I tried with a pair was putting them into a breeder cage but separated by the divider.
At first, I had them together, and the hen would attack the male.
Then I separated them with the cage divider.
I kept them separated for a couple of weeks. The nasty hen mellowed down when she could see but not attack the male.
Then I pulled the divider and they got together and mated, no more problems.

But I tried that with another pair, and they still fought.
So like was said, each bird is an individual, and you just don't know how they will behave.