Today was the day - Moving babies away from Mom and Dad

[BillHess]

Well today was not a happy day for the zebra family. Babies are all fully eating on their own and drinking. Beaks are changing colors and the fighting with Mom and Dad started. So, I moved them into their own cage today to give everyone a break from the chasing and settle in to eat and build their strength up and have some peace and quiet.

You would think, right?

Well now that they are separated, the babies and Mom and Dad are constantly screaming for each other. It's a bit upsetting actually. Did I move them to soon? Do they really miss each other that much?

Well everyone is eating and doing their own thing in their own cages but man, are they loud

Question is how long does this usually last until they settle into a regular routine again? I have them in stacked flight cages so they can't see each other. Could this be the problem or am I just over thinking this?

Thanks everyone....

[Babs _Owner]

BillHess

Societies will do the same thing. I was weak and actually cried while they called to each other and I put them ALL in a 5 foot flight cage ( I only lasted 2 days before I gave in)......but it ended up in me rehoming the females , and keeping all the males so I would not have random eggs being laid and eggbound females from constant mating.

I learned a lesson from it. If you dont want parents mating with children, sisters with brothers, etc... then creat co-ed dorms and endure their early morning cries for each other. They WILL do it for weeks and I suspect months.

But they will eventually understand and learn "this is your cage, this is ours", but their conversations back and forth will eventually calm down.

My all-boys society finch dorm is an absolutle RIOT to watch, with all the males trying to out-sing each other. I know zebras are different, but their mating urge is as strong as societies.

I guess it depends on what you want to do next with the zebra babies.

[lovezebs]

BillHess

Hey Bill.

You could try the cages side by side ( next to each other) so that they can still visit and see each other.

I would imagine, that if your kids disappear all of a sudden, and you can't see them, but they are screaming for you, it would be very disturbing .

What are your plans for the babies? Are you going to rehome them, or keep them?

[BillHess]

lovezebs They are going to a friend of mine. I have her all set up but she is away for another two weeks. Once she gets back they will be going to a good home. She has a few parakeets and has been wanting finches.

[lovezebs]

BillHess

Oh ok.... Just make sure she doesn't decide to house the finches together with the hookbills. That would be a major disaster, and she would very quickly have footless, leggless, wingless finches.

[BillHess]

lovezebs Absolutely, I set her up with a flight cage and all the trimmings. The finches will be in a different room than the budgies since she lets them out. They won't have access to the finches.

[Babs _Owner]

BillHess

Like Elana said, I would put their cage near their parents cage until they leave for re-homing. Less stress for everyone over the next two weeks.

[lovezebs]

BillHess

That's good news, sigh of relief......
Some people figure, that a bird is a bird, and try housing finches and hookbills together in one small cage, with disastrous results, that's why I mentioned it.

We do have one member, who housed Budgies and finches together successfully, but that was in a free flight bird room, not in a cage or a flight.

I hope your friend enjoys the little Zebras .

[ac12]

When I bred zebras, when it is time to move the kids, I just moved the kids, and ignored the racket they made. The kids all went into a juvenile cage, until I could sort out M from F. Then they went into a M or F community cage.

My gouldians are similar. But rather than a juvenile cage, I put them into a male community cage. This is so the males learn to sing like males. After their molt, then I move the F into the F community cage.

Similarly, at the end of breeding, the M/F pair are broken up and sent to their respective community cages. Sometimes they will call for each other, but that seems to stop within a day or two, as they adjust to the commotion in the community cages.

[BillHess]

Update:

All is well in the bird room. It's only been a few days and Mom and Dad have already stopped calling out to the babies in the other cage. Everyone is peaceful and calm, eating their food and settling in. The screaming has stopped. So thank you everyone for your input and now I know that it really doesn't take that too long as long as they have good food and actually, not seeing each other calmed it down quicker I think. Could just be this batch but all is well.

So much fun watching my known male in the babies trying to start his song. So scratchy but he is a trooper and is really trying to match Dad's song.

[ac12]

Tip: I number band my birds.

Left leg is a colored numbered band. color = year + sequential number printed on the band to ID the specific bird.

Right leg is a plain colored band, coded to the last digit of the numbered band

ie the number 2 or 22 or 32 = red, so the bird would have a red band on the right leg. This makes it easier to ID the bird without having to read the number on the band, from outside the cage.

That way I don't have to try to figure out which bird just sang, to ID it as a male. I just note the color of the band on the right leg, and it is IDed.

BTW, you don't have to make up a color scheme, it already exists.

0 = black
1 = brown
2 = red
3 = orange
4 = yellow
5 = green
6 = blue
7 = violet/purple
8 = gray
9 = white