Can a Geriatric(?), “Widowed” Z Finch Live on her Own?

[Fraza]

Can’t wait to see pictures and I always let them be in the same room and only have quarantine for bout 5 weeks but before that I put cage next to each kther

[LesLu13]

I gave in yesterday and put the two girls' cages next to one another. They're still "quarantined" but they seem much happier this way. And as far as when the time comes for them to move in together, I'm thinking of doing some early holiday shopping for my girls and getting some new perches, etc. Oh, and I got my computer to stop being finicky (hopefully) so let me try to upload a picture of Peggie...I forgot I snapped a pic of her shortly after getting her into her cage when I got her home.

[lovezebs]

LesLu13

A warm welcome to little Peggy.

Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

[LesLu13]

Hello Finch Friends,
As you can see my computer apparently wasn't done being finicky so I will keep trying to get a pic of Peggie uploaded on here.
In the meantime, quick update: I've moved Lulu to another smaller cage for the day so I can clean out and rearrange the Finch Cage. I'm doing some "XMas shopping" for the girls today, getting new perches and whatnot, so I can make the cage as "unfamiliar" as possible.
I will let you know how the transition goes!

[lovezebs]

LesLu13

Sounds like everything is coming along nicely.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only nutty bird lover who Christmas shops for her babies, lol.

Looking forward to some pictures .

[LesLu13]

Happy to say that my two girls have moved in together and so far everything is going well!
Lulu is still warming up to living with another bird again, but Peggie absolutely adores Lulu. They've eaten/drank since I moved them about 3 hours ago, and now they're settled in for the night. They've had a long day.
I'm going to do a little more cage-modifying tomorrow (ie, figure out where to put the ladder Peggie really likes and add the foraging box) so hopefully tomorrow Lulu will be a little more adjusted.
And if I know myself as well as I think, I'll probably do more shopping for them than just the basics I got for them today.

[lovezebs]

LesLu13

Ha-hah-haah....
More birdie shopping .

[LesLu13]

Hello finch friends.

It breaks my heart to have to tell you that my Peggie passed away 2 weeks ago, Fri, Mar/9/18.

She became eggbound, but because she seemed fine when I went to bed -- eating, drinking, etc. -- I didn't notice until I awoke the next morning, when she was displaying the telltale symptoms.

We took her to the vet, who injected her with calcium and antibiotics and lubricated her vent in hopes it'd help her pass the egg. Unfortunately, the egg had cracked, but it was situated so that the crack wasn't visible on the x-ray, so it was too late. Infection set in, and she was gone by that night.

PLEASE make sure your finches are getting the calcium they need: Peggie was never one to nibble on the cuttlebone, and I thought the VERY occasional treat of spinach wouldn't be enough to seriously do damage to her calcium levels. But the x-ray showed she had poor bone density, and poor bone density usually means the hen will produce a weak eggshell...which is probably what happened and the reason it broke inside her and caused septicemia. I'm trying not to beat myself up over this, and I have decided since Lulu's so far been getting along pretty well that I just cannot get another finch. I don't have it in me.

I feel awful Peggie died so young and after only 4 months with me. But I am glad I had that time with her. She certainly brought me so much joy.

[Flight Feathers]

Hi, four is young for a zebra finch. They can live to be twelve, and I know someone with three who are almost ten. I would try to get another companion for it - another female zebra.

While a bird can be kept alone, its quality of life is greatly reduced as these are such social animals.

Social animals

To be honest Dylan I really wouldn't of said that,

What about yer recent thread about not wanting zebras anymore ( zebras are not for me ) because of their repetitiveness of bickering and bullying against one another

For keeping zebras on there own there shouldn't be any problems with this as many of me champion zebra finch freinds keep the majority of their zebras all singly in single stock cages within their birdrooms,

The zebras always seem to cause problems when you've got 3,4 or 5 birds housed together,
Zebras obviously can be kept together but need to be very carefully monitored, a pair kept together is generally ok but even then still need to be watched as the moods can change quite rapidly, 2 hens together should under normal circumstances be ok aswell

At one time I used to have various zebras of all colours etc that I used to keep with me foreign birds but have now completely given em up because of the very reasons above, just to temperamental and unpredictable for my liking.

I find Zebs are perfectly fine. Sometimes they get a little territorial over nesting sites but they never actually harm each other.

[Fraza]

Flight Feathers sorry but I can’t agree I’ve had a zebra kill a star and I’ve had a murder of a heck aswell which I’m putting down to the zebra

They can be horrible in pairs alone they are fine but once there is more they will fight each ther or they will bully other birds they are nasty

But I do have to say when there’s only one pair they are fine