Zebras - Father kind of aggressive to kids

[frantic]

Hi everyone,

First of all let me introduce myself, my name is Liviu, as you can see I'm from Romania (by the way....not too many around ... ), secondly a heartfull BRAVO to everybody on this forum, very usefull information, excellent chats and nice people.
I'm new with the finches but I love this little creatures. I've read a lot before buying my friends yet I still learn with every move they/I make. My pair is Merlin and Lilo, zebra finches, regular ones (grey), I've bought them kind of two months ago. Unfortunatelly at that time I've got cheated by the petshop guy and bought them a round cage, 30 cm diameter. Anyway I've got them a bigger cage already but I cant use it at the moment, you'll see why immediatelly. Within about 3 weeks Lilo layed 5 eggs, both parents were very carefull, incubating the eggs perfectly, taking care of everything just like husband and wife . Then the "little worms" hatched as per schedule. Unfortunatelly the 2nd day one of them didn't make it and passed away. The other four were well fed by both parents... in a word everthing went perfectly up to today. A note only: they've got out of the nest 3 days ago, meantime i took out the nest to avoid an eventual new clutch. During these 3 days out they are all well fed by both parents although one is quite featherless and seems a bit behind the others. Today I've noticed one of the kids with feathers missing behind his right eye and having the skin red and looking hurt in that area. He used to perch with his other brothers (or sisters) but he's not doing it anymore now, staying down on the bottom. Being at work all day long, didnt see anything wrong, but this evening spending little time just watching them I've seen Merlin (dad) pecking aggresivelly to another kid, he actually didn't let him come up on any of the three perches. Beating him whenever he tried a move. Now my thoughts that need a little clarification from you guys :

- Should I pressume that the other one (the bitten one) has been aggressed by the father ? Is that possible ? To agress him in such a manner as hurt him bad ? I'm afraid that maybe another one will follow. It might be a desease as well but yesterday he was ok, no signs of illness, nothing wrong.
- I would move them to the new cage but I know it's not right, they are not yet weaned, shall I only move the father ? Will Lilo manage to wean the four kids without dad's help (I have to admit that he was a very devoted and helpfull father so far).
- How can I help the youngest one (featherless) ? Shall I provide him/them with some water and seeds at the bottom of the cage ? Will this help the not-weaned ones or it will not make any difference ?

All the kids are presently very well fed by the parents, even the featherless one, even the hurt one and of course the other two, no complains to Merlin & Lilo.
I was not able to get some good photos of them. If any of you think this will help, I'll do my best and get them into some pictures.

Many thanks
Liviu

[Finch Fry]

Welcome first of all.

With a cage that small, those finches are literally on top of each other. The male will be ready to mate again and the chicks are interfering with him getting to breed since the hen is busy with them and not busy with him.

So you have father in breeding mode as well as stress from having such tight quarters. You can safely remove the father and the mother will have no problem weening her little ones. When they are weened, if you reintroduce the male, the same thing will happen. Also, if you introduce the mother to the father .. they will mate again.

I have 1 large cage with a divider in the center. When i want my zebras to breed, i pull the divider out. They have eggs inside of a week. After the eggs hatch and the chicks feather up and the mother stops staying in the nest, the father wants to breed again so i put the divider back in and keep them separated for a while.

[ac12]

I agree separate the father immediately.
Mother will take care of the kids just fine.

Once the kids are able to fully eat on their own, wait a couple more weeks, THEN you can separate the kids from mother...if you want to separate them.

You will need to wait for them to molt to really determine the sex of the chicks. And if you do NOT want any more chicks, keep all the males in one cage and the females in another, including the parents. This is what I am doing, as my pair WILL mate if they are in the same cage, even without a nest.

[Finch Fry]

as my pair WILL mate if they are in the same cage, even without a nest.

Same here. Mine have to be physically separated or they are mating irregardless of nest or not.

[frantic]

as my pair WILL mate if they are in the same cage, even without a nest.

Same here. Mine have to be physically separated or they are mating irregardless of nest or not.

many thanks finch fry and ac12 as well. i also thought to remove the father, i just wanted some kind of confirmation from experienced people like you. i'll do that right away. will let you know if things turns to normal.

regards

[frantic]

as my pair WILL mate if they are in the same cage, even without a nest.

Same here. Mine have to be physically separated or they are mating irregardless of nest or not.

many thanks finch fry and ac12 as well. i also thought to remove the father, i just wanted some kind of confirmation from experienced people like you. i'll do that right away. will let you know if things turns to normal.

regards

I forgot to ask one thing. When father is separated from mother and the rest of the kids should I place the father's cage away (like another room) or side by side is ok ? Because I have them placed side by side now and it seems like they're crying after each other.

Many thanks

[L in Ontario]

Having the father in a cage beside the mom and kids is fine. They are just calling HI to each other. You don't need to move him to a different room. Glad you separated the father out. As the others said, mom will do fine with the kids.

[frantic]

Having the father in a cage beside the mom and kids is fine. They are just calling HI to each other. You don't need to move him to a different room. Glad you separated the father out. As the others said, mom will do fine with the kids.

Many thanks L. Unfortunatelly the hurt one didnt make it over the weekend , the other three seems fine, father still "crying" for the wife and kids but otherwise doing fine as well. Thanks again.

[ac12]

Sorry about loosing the chick. Always a bummer, and especially when they were picked on.

He will call for his mate for a LONG time.
When he is paired with another male, after a while he may kind of forget about her as he has a new "buddy." But even after many months of separation my first pair will still call to each other.

After you determine the sex of the kids, and after they are weaned, you should separate them into male and female cages. This is so they won't keep breeding. I had to separate my pair, cuz they would mate and she would lay eggs any place that she could, including off the perch where it would just crash to the cage floor. Separating them was the only way to stop the eggs.