Handicapped Zebra

[Nagdabit]

We've had a male pied Zebra (Jacob) for about a year and a half now. He has one wing that is bent back behind him and sticks straight up. Not sure if he was born like that or if he broke it falling out of the nest(we weren't home when he fledged) but either way the poor little guy can't fly. We set up his parents cage so he could hop from perch to perch to get where he needed to go. Their cage is a bigger one (3ft. high) but Jake got to the point where he could zip from the bottom to the top in no time flat. Getting down was always kind of difficult so we put some shredded product (Eco-Nest) down to soften his fall. Not the most ideal situation but good Ol' Jake made the best of it.

About three months ago Jake was finally able to move out of mom and dad's place into his own cage, a standard 30 x 18 flight cage. We temporarily had him in with another male who had just lost his mate. They weren't the best of buddies, but there wasn't any blatant hostility so it worked on a temporary basis. In the meantime, we'd been searching for a similarly handicapped female to put in with Jake. We found Raquel, a smallish normal female at the pet store where our niece works. She too had wing issues so we brought her home and after the quarantine process, put her by herself in a cage beside Jake and Mongo. In the meantime we found some more females so we figured we'd just wait until those girls were out of quarantine to switch everybody up.

Well Sunday we were able to put Jake and Raquel together. Unfortunately it's not going well at all. While little Raquel has had some time to herself, her wing actually healed up fairly nicely so she can fly pretty well. And she doesn't want anything to do with Jacob. In fact she's actually being mean to the little guy. Now we've had new couples squabble in the past and most always work out their differences, but with Jake's condition we're not sure if we want to wait it out for fear Miss Raquel could hurt the little guy. Even though Jacob is larger than her, he quickly will try to get away from her when she goes after him.

Since Jake is our only experience with a handicapped bird, we were wondering if those of you who have, can offer us some suggestions here? Can a handicapped finch pair up with one who isn't? When we put Raquel in the cage, Jacob tried to mount her right away but with his bum wing just fell right off the perch. Never even thought about how important wings are in the whole mating process until that point. So should we search for another female more like Jake and give Raquel to somebody else?

We really would appreciate some input

Thanks
Rory and Sherry

[Finch Fry]

I have no experience with them so this is only my opinion. But I dont think he will ever be able to mate. I base this off of having seen my finches mate. The male always is always airborne. The female is the only one that could potentially be disabled and still breed in my opinion since she is stationary and planted on a surface with her rump up.

I hope someone can prove me wrong!

[Nagdabit]

I hope someone can prove me wrong!

I'm thinking Jake is too

[CandoAviary]

I would think that it would not be important if Jake bred or not. He would make a fine pet. He may always end up being the scapegoat....then again maybe not. When you pair them up like that and the male shows interest in mating it is not unusual for the female to reject the advances if not in condition. Also she may just never bond with him. If it were my bird I would probably put a few finches with him...maybe all female.... create a flock and the agrression will be dispersed throughout the flock until they get the pecking order in tacked. I am sure if you put several young female zebs with him one would probably bond...then it would be safe for him to be left with a passive hen.
Don't be surprized if Jake doesn't figure out someday that he can fertilize that hen while she is in the nest........ not much balance is needed in there
After keeping Zebras for many years I am never amazed at their adaptations...they have such heart and will that they can overcome most anything.

[Nagdabit]

Thanks Candace for your suggestions. And you're right, Jake being a daddy never was our priority. We just wanted him to have a buddy. Mom and dad raised him but that was about it. He's never had anybody to snuggle in a nest with or even to preen the feathers in his face for him. Even though he's never really been in a cage by himself, the poor little guy has always been alone.

We'll give the flock of females a try if things don't improve with Raquel (and if we ever can find some more girls) And I wouldn't put it past Jacob to put all the pieces together and make some stunning little finches someday. He's a pretty sharp little guy.

Rory and Sherry

[Finch Fry]

Looks like I have 2 females about to fledge. If I get to Hanover, PA to visit my parents again this summer, I will bring them and drop off the females in York.

[Nagdabit]

Thanks Chris we appreciate that. Just let us know before you pack up just in case we are able to find some girls in the meantime. We plan on going to the finch show in Towson MD. in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll find some girls there.

Rory and Sherry

[Nagdabit]

Wanted to provide an update on our buddy Jake. Since we were waiting on the other hens to come out of quarantine and Raquel's hostility diminished somewhat, we just left them together. Basically they tolerated each other's existence, rarely even sitting on the same side of the cage together. We still planned on following through with Candace's suggestion, but had to wait until the other girls were ready. Well as many of you are aware, we then ran into health issues with some of the hens so the whole process got further delayed.

In the meantime Raquel stared sitting on eggs, which really didn't help the situation all that much. She'd go into psycho homicidal female finch mode and scream at Jacob, chasing him around the bottom of the cage. But we noticed they'd take turns sitting in the nest in between her rants, so we left things be. About a month ago, they would perch together on occasion and then a little while after that, actually sit in the nest together. (also only when Raquel saw fit for Jake to be in her presence)

This past Thursday I was doing my rounds with the cages and when I got to Jake and Raquel's cage I noticed movement on the paper that's lining the bottom of their cage. It was a squirmy little pink fuzzy thing! I've been in the habit recently of checking for babies on the bottom of the cages since we have three couples cooking up some kids right now, but considering Jake's handicap, never even thought to check in his cage. Jacob is the man! Guess he figured it out after all, bum wing and all.

When I scooped the little guy up he was ice cold, but still squirming to beat the band. So I held him in front of the infra red light for a couple minutes and put him back in the nest and the two of them have been dutifully taking care of him ever since.

Obviously we're really excited how everything has come together finally. We got Raquel especially for Jake, even named them accordingly. Jacob was named after the bible character who after wrestling with an angel was touched on the hip and rendered lame. We then named Raquel accordingly since her name is the Spanish equivalent to Rachel, Jacob's wife.

They're first time parents so we're not expecting too much, just happy they're finally getting along, even though Raquel still has her psycho homicidal moments.

[CandoAviary]

That is just the greatest news...must be in the names.Jacob and Rachel.... God can use all things for good

[lovemyfinch]

Such a beautiful and happy ending. Isn't it just amazing how much we can fall in love with these little characters.

Yeah for Jake

[Nagdabit]

Okay turns out Jake really is the man. Just saw two babies in the nest. Both him and Raquel are doing good keeping after the little hungry ones, especially considering they're first time parents.

[ac12]

Thats better than my penguin.
First time parents.
2nd clutch of eggs, and all are duds...again.

[Nagdabit]

I realize this isn't much consolation now, but with Zebras there's probably going to come a time when your thinking "enough already". With Jake we had absolutely no expectations, so anything that came out of his cage was a bonus. Didn't think there was any way that those eggs that she was sitting on were fertile. He and Raquel are the only couple that doesn't have to share a flight cage. It's set up especially to take care of his needs.

All our other guys have no problem pumping out the kids. Not counting Jacob and Raquel, we only have five breeding couples, and we just took 16 juvies to the pet store this past weekend. And three of those nests have more on the way. I don't know what we were thinking when we got all these other hens, When it's all said and done we'll have at least 15 breeding couples. No wonder the wife wants to put a sign that says "The Finch Factory"

I do however very fondly remember how anxious we were once our first couple started sitting on eggs. And even after well over 50 little finches, we still thoroughly enjoy the whole process. Especially now that we have some couples that we're really curious to put together so we can see they produce. Much like you and you're penguin, no doubt.

[ac12]

Yup. I've been biting at the teeth to breed the penguin.
It was a frustrating 3 months waiting for him and his mate before the first egg appeared. And now 2 clutches in a row are all duds.

I have one other gray that I have paired up, cuz he never had a clutch. But again, its a waiting game. They were put together on July 24.

The expectation of eggs and what the chick ends up looking like is like Christmas presents. Can't wait to get them, and can't wait to see what is inside. That is why I finally rigged up nest-cams, so I can peek into the nest all I want w/o spooking the birds.

[Nagdabit]

Quick update on my buddy Jake. For first time parents, he and Raquel are doing a tremendous job. Both of his little ones are getting big. (and LOUD)

However I've been noticing a behavior with Jake and Raquel that I don't think I've taken note of with any of our previous couples. As the babies grow, they take nesting material out of the nest to make room. Every day when I check to make sure no one has fallen out of the nest, there are bits of material on the bottom of the cage underneath their nest. I've been putting it in a pile off to the side and they haven't touched it at all. And there isn't any material available to them elsewhere in the cage. So they aren't adding anything to the nest, only subtracting. Has any one else observed this behavior with their couples?