Female zebra tries to mate with another female?

[chappie]

Hi,

I have two female zebra finches and sometimes they make funny noises and it sounds like they want to mate. I am sure they are both female because I have seen them both laying eggs. I don't understand why sometimes one of them would want to "stand" on top of the other one (almost like how a male tries to mate with a female.) The other bird didn't like it of course, and started screaming. A few minutes later they began to fight for a spot to rest/sit, and they tried to gather paper strips or feathers to make a "nest" on the spot. How can I stop them from wanting to mate? Or should I just let them? I do not want so many finches so I don't want to get them partners because I know that finches tend to breed nonstop but it makes me feel bad that they don't have a partner.

Thanks in advance!

[lovezebs]

chappie

You can't "stop them from wanting to mate and breed".
It's a biological thing, that is imprinted on all of our brains, to procreate and continue the species.

However, what you are describing, sounds more like a dominance thing to me. They are trying to figure out who is the top bird or the head bird, if you will.

Once they figure it out, things should settle down a bit .

[chappie]

Thanks Elana for your reply. The reason why I asked that is that I heard female zebra finches tend to lay more eggs if they are fed eggs so I am not sure if I did something that contributed them to laying more and more eggs. There are people who said their females don't lay eggs simply because there's no male around them. I don't own any male birds so I was just wondering why mine would do it (that's why I asked such a question in the first place). Or that piece of info doesn't apply to all female birds? On the other hand I'm worried about them losing too much calcium from their tiny bodies.

There was a period of time that they stopped laying eggs for maybe two weeks but I thought that was because I got rid of the spot (outside of the cage) where they usually used to rest/sit to lay their eggs. I'm not sure if providing them a spot has caused them to lay eggs or it's due to some other reasons. If they are going to do it no matter what I do then of course I would just let them (if it's something natural). It just kind of pains me to see that they are quite desperate but have no partners to do it with. If I got them partners, would they mate nonstop or mate less after they have a family? How do people deal with having a zebra finch family with so many babies? Is there any way for them to stop giving birth (some said to take away their nests)? Or do they still do it regardless?

I also heard that when you put two birds tgt they tend to fight but if there's three then the fight would stop, is that true? And I thought I was doing them a favor for getting them nests (for sleep) would it be a factor that has contributed them to want to mate and breed? They had the nests since the first day they joined my family so they are quite attached to them; if I took them away they would start yelling and looking for it as soon as I turned off the lights.

Sorry for having so many questions but since I can't get any info elsewhere online it's nice to see if I can get all my them answered here. Thanks again!

[lovezebs]

chappie

I don't mind the questions.

Nests trigger breeding behavior in these little guys, so removing them may help. I say 'may' because once these gals start laing eggs, they might continue to lay some eggs in the food dishes, or even on the ground.

One thing you can try, is to shorten their daylight hours, to seasonal daylight hours. That would mean no lights on before sun up, and no lights on after sunset. If needed, you can cover the cage with something like a light weight dark bed sheet.

Regarding feeding eggs, i would cut down on egg food to twice a week.

Regarding Calcium.
I would make sure that you offer them different sources of Calcium. Cuttle bone, crushed egg shells, and oyster shell grit are good sources, that should be offered daily.

Offering your girls male partners, will give you an endless supply of Zebras, lol. They will breed like bunny rabbits

About the fighting....
I would place some greenery in the cage, offering some private areas, for them to get away from each other. Swings are great toys to add to their cage, and most finches enjoy them.

Hopefully this is helpful.